<p>I am currently a junior in high school and I am unsure of how to decide which schools are worth applying to. It seems like every person I talk to has a different opinion and it confuses me.
To give some background about myself that might be useful I am in IB classes and my curent unweighted gpa is a 4.7 my grades are mostly b's (due to the rigor of the classes I take) freshman year I had an even distribution of a's and b's and sophmore year I had mostly b's (I have been in IB for all of my high school career)
however my plan act is only a 23 by the time I take the real one I am expecting to get a 28 (due to act prep classes and preparation)
I play basketball and I'm an African American (I'm just stating this because I've heard that being a minority can help in getting into some colleges)
I also have done band in school since 5th grade (non-stop)</p>
<p>I am interested with schools that have strong pre-med and psychology programs and good environments for relaxing and having fun. I live in Chicago (the mid-west) and I'm looking for good schools around the midwest or in California because I'm interested in studying their, mainly around the L.A. area.But I am looking to go anywhere in the U.S. as long as there is a lively atmosphere. I need to find a school that gives out a good amount of financial aid. Also I know I would like a school with small class sizes, good facilities, and a high graduation and retention rate. (lots of diversity also).</p>
<p>I am currently looking at:
Ucla
Usc
Emory
Northwestern
UIUC
Illinois Wesleyan University
Loyola Marymount University
UW-Madison
Notre Dame
Syracuse
Marquette</p>
<p>Please help! Any tips or suggestions will be greatly appreciated :)</p>
<p>First, you need to find out what your financial situation is.</p>
<p>If your parents will pay $60k per year for college, then you’ll have lots of choices.</p>
<p>If you need (and qualify for) financial aid, then take off schools like UCLA and UW-Madiosn and other OOS publics since they don’t give the aid that you need to OOS students.</p>
<p>edited to add…now I see you need FA…OK, you need a carefully made list.</p>
<p>Is your family lowish income or do you have a high unaffordable EFC? </p>
<p>Do you have a non-custodial parent?</p>
<p>Take both the SAT and ACT…you need the best scores that you can get.</p>
<p>how did you do on the PSAT? Is it possible that you’ll make National Achievement Finalist?</p>
<p>If financial aid is going to be an issue, also target schools that are likely to give you merit money as well. You can start by looking at schools where the 75th% test scores are at or below yours. Then modify it by graduation rates, diversity, etc. It’s a different approach and will generate a different, and less known, list of schools.</p>
<p>You might have a better chance of getting some scholarships from your directional IL universities. UCLA will cost more than your mom makes each year. If you get into USC they will meet your FA need (as defined by the school). Frankly I think your list is mostly composed of reaches.</p>
<p>Yeah I’m mostly trying to apply to schools that aren’t too hard to get into that are still good schools. I haven’t even considered Ivy leagues. That’s pretty much not an option for me</p>
<p>For a cheap safety, try for an ACT of at least 28 (assuming your GPA is 3.0 or higher) to get [UAB’s</a> Blazer Elite Scholarship](<a href=“Error 404 | Not Found”>Error 404 | Not Found). Deducting the $15,000 scholarship from the [cost</a> of attendance](<a href=“Error 404 | Not Found”>Error 404 | Not Found) of $20,906 to $24,350, plus $3,474 if you average 15 credit units per semester instead of 12 as assumed, per year gives a net cost of $9,380 to $12,824 per year.</p>
<p>Try each college’s net price calculator on its web site.</p>