Need help finding a school.

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Race:Black
Gender:Male
GPA:3.8UW
Rank: 4/90
ACT: 28
High school: Sends no one to top schools. Ever.</p>

<p>ECs
Art Club
FIRST Robotics
National Honors Society
Some non-profit work</p>

<p>Courseload
No AP's/Honors (not offered)</p>

<p>Problem
I'm working this year. Not going to a foreign country. Not saving starving kids in Africa, just working (if I can find another job). </p>

<p>Looking for a mid-sized 2,00-15,000 university, preferably in the Midwest or Northeast. The South is OK too. Interested mainly in business, economics, art, engineering (possibly). It has to give out significant need-based aid or gift-aid (if my stats are good enough).</p>

<p>Don't be afraid to suggest a less-than selective school. Don't be afraid to suggest and super selective school (got a friend that go into Rice, Carleton, and Williams with ACT and GPA that's lower, about same ECs too)</p>

<p>So far I have only four schools, and I'm pretty sure they're all reaches</p>

<p>Emory U
WUSTL (yes, I know)
CMU
UVA (out of state)</p>

<p>Help me look for a school please. Thanks!</p>

2

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=377931%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=377931&lt;/a> Read my post!</p>

<p>Also here are some books you should get:</p>

<p>The Complete Idiot's Guide to College Planning
Winning the Heart of the College Admissions Dean</p>

3

<p>dude i'm afraid</p>

4

<p>there is just no way that I can give you all the sources I have used to go through the ENTIRE application process. If I just give you a list of websites and books I'll bet my money that you will be completely overwhelmed and confused and frustrated. This is why I'll go about this slowly. I really enjoy doing things slowly, so don't rush me!</p>

<p>First, I'd advise you to ask yourself a silly question: Why am I going to college in the first place? You are the one who will go to college. It is absolutely essential that you know why you want to go. </p>

<p>Read this: <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/student/...oints/156.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeboard.com/student/...oints/156.html&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>Come up with several good reasons why you want to go to college. You need to think about this carefully. Ultimately, it comes down to this: You should go to college because it enhances the quality of your life.</p>

<p>Now that you know why you want to go to college, you have to do a critical self-assessment of yourself. This will take time. </p>

<p>What kind of student am I?
What kind of student would I like to become?
What aspects of high school have I enjoyed the most?
What parts of school do I like least?
How do I define success?
Which subjects do you love or hate to study?
Do my grades reflect my ability and potential?
Are SAT scores an accurate measure of my ability?
How hard do I work--not only in school, but in other areas as well?
How independent am I?
What do I want to get out of college? What are my goals in college?
Who am I? What are my abilities? What can I offer to my college?</p>

<p>These are just some questions to get you started. Of course, I can't just give you a list of questions and expect you to know the answer to "Who am I?" just by answering them quickly. You need to spend some time. This self-assessment is critical. Later you'll be finding colleges that will match who you are--think of it as dating. You want to find someone who will match your personality. The same with colleges. Your ideal college is the college that fits you well; it's where you'll excel and have lots of fun and learn lots of new things. That is where the best college for you is.</p>

<p>Okay, I need to take a break. Here are some more resources to use:</p>

<p>-The Complete Idiot's Guide to College Planning by Dr. O'Neal Turner. It used to be The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting into College. There's really very little difference between them. If I had to recommend one book, it would be this one.
-Winning the Heart of the College Admissions Dean by Joyce Slayton Mitchell.
-Looking Beyond the Ivy League by Loren Pope.
-<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=377931"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=377931&lt;/a>. Read it, read it, read it! My post is excellent, if I do say so myself. </p>

<p>Off you go! Do your self-examination! What do you want from college?</p>

5

<p>If you get your ACT score up a bit more, keep your grades up, get good recommendations, and wrote a good essay or two, I think you've got a very shot at UVA and Emory.</p>

<p>Also, it's totally okay that you're working a normal job instead of building houses or saving kids in some impoverished country. Colleges know that the kids who do that are usually really privileged with daddy's large bank account open to them.</p>

<p>Since you stand-out in a high school that does not stand-out, colleges will see you as having real potential and just not enough opportunities to shine.</p>

<p>Some other schools you might want to look at are the University of Chicago (top economics program), Boston University, University of Rochester, and the University of Michigan (great business program). </p>

<p>How about schools in the South like Vanderbilt, or Tulane? They give out pretty sizable finaid.</p>

<p>By the way, have you looked at historically black colleges like Howard University and Morehouse? I visited Howard and they have a really strong and REALLY unique business program. They also give out merit scholarships which I think you might qualify for. They're good with financial aid, and about $20,000 cheaper than other top universities. Don't know much about Morehouse but the guys I meet from there are really impressive. Both schools also have a lot of support from both alumni and even those who aren't affiliated with the school.</p>

<p>I hope that helped! I know there are a lot more colleges, but those are some that come to mind. Of the ones that I listed, I know a good bit about UChicago, Vanderbilt, and Howard so feel free to PM me if you've got more questions.</p>

<p>I think you've got a great shot at Morehouse, UChicago, Vanderbilt, Howard, UVA, Emory, and Tulane if you do a good job on your application.</p>

6

<p>I'm considering Morehouse. It's a great school but I'm told its stingy with aid. UVA is my dream school, with Emory not far behind. I haven't heard much about Tulane, but that's definitely a place to consider.</p>

<p>I've never heard of Vanderbilt.</p>

<p>I can get a pretty good recommendation from one of my teachers, but the rest don't even write recommendation -- the make students write the recommendation themselves. Then they sign them after a brief spell check. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.</p>

<p>Should I retake the ACT? I think I can get at least a 30 with some study and practice.</p>

7

<p>dont you have affirmative action to help you abit? i wish asians were back in AA. :P</p>

8

<p>Yeah, but it's hard to determine how much race plays into a decision.</p>

<p>That you've taken a year off and are applying to schools now I think is a positive rather than a negative-- it shows that you really want to return to school. Too many people go to college directly after high school, only to flake on it.</p>

9

<p>Rice is really working on its affirmative action this year according to our alumni magazine.</p>

<p>You might consider Villanova: its business program is highly ranked. It also has engineering. Located in a suburb of Philadelphia. Lehigh is also a good choice. It's located in a small town in eastern PA.</p>

10

<p>I agree about Howard, Vanderbilt, and Tulane. What state do you live in? Just wondering how good your state flagship university is. Case Western Reserve University likes people who were in FIRST. So does U Rochester. They offer special FIRST scholarships. And they both offer good aid. I think that George Washington University is also a good place for you to look. It is great in the financial field, offers good aid, and is right in Washington DC. It's a large school, has everything, including engineering. Most years, it is ranked about number 52 nationally, which is quite good.</p>

11

<p>You have a shot at all your choices, though a higher ACT would help. Your qualifications are solid. </p>

<p>My suggestion is to expand the list with a range of highly selective, more selective, selective (reach-match-safety) and then delve into research. Look into the "fit" aspects of the college for you --- how it suits your intended major, its location, size and feeling you get on campus, the social and activities scene (are there clubs or ECs that interest you), big sports scene, moderate sports scene. Are you able to visit? </p>

<p>And spend time on the college websites or with the materials colleges send out and research the programs in your areas of interest. Being very familiar with what a college has to offer not only helps you to narrow your list and make a decision, it makes you stand out in your application if you can discuss with specificity what it is about the college's programs that make it a fit for you. Consider whether the college makes it easy to switch majors, allows flexibility in double majoring or attending classes in all its colleges, provides for UG research, study abroad, the quality of advising, not to mention quality of life. And btw, WUSTL is a yes for all of the above. It could be a great fit for you.</p>

12

<p>I find Princeton Review's Counselor-O-Matic (<a href="http://princetonreview.com/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://princetonreview.com/&lt;/a&gt;) quite a helpful place to start a college search. You can put in as much or the least possible information you want and it will come up with three groups of results: Reach, Fit, and Safety. (as any computer-general search engine, it's not perfect, but I find it the best available for free :) )
All you have to do is register and put your information in.
Whatever you decide, good luck!</p>

13

<p>boho_girl, I think most people definitely found Counselor-O-Matic not helpful at all! It's really inaccurate.</p>

14

<p>Well, yeah. But aren't all of college-match engines out there anyways? ;)
I find it most helpful out of the ones that are offered. Most of them just list only literal data (like College Board's or U's).
As I didn't have A CLUE about colleges I find it nice place to start. Just to know what all is offered.</p>