Nothing amazing, just average schools please

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey everybody I'm a junior at a huge public high school in Michigan. I will be the first in my family to go to college and I grew up very low income.</p>

<p>My GPA is (after 1st semester junior year) 3.63 UW, 3.73 W. </p>

<p>All A's and with 1 B each semester in Spanish up until my junior year. </p>

<p>Junior year:
AP English: A-
AP World History: A
AP Calc AB: D+
Chemistry: B
Honors Anthro: B
Spanish 3: B-</p>

<p>Really bad semester with lots of medical issues that my counselor will explain when she sends my transcript. </p>

<p>Anyways, I have really good ECs. Hundreds of hours of community service, started 1 club and 1 nonprofit organization (my passion), a few leadership positions including president of 2 clubs my senior year, and a few hundred hours of tech on plays. I am in NHS and am a Thespian. I did 9 years of dance but had to quit before high school due to knee injuries. I have also done 10 years of softball, 7 of basketball and volleyball, 2 of swim, and I've coached basketball for 3 years. [No varsity sports due to the knee injuries.]</p>

<p>Scores:
ACT: 30 (Don't remember the breakdown but I had a 31 in English lol)
SAT IIs:
-Math 2: 650.
-Bio M: 640. </p>

<p>AP tests: (all self-study) Bio-3, Psych-4, Gov-4.
Taking this year: World History, English Language, English literature, Calculus AB, and Chemistry (self-study).</p>

<p>I am also self-studying Latin. </p>

<p>I'd like to go to a good school with good programs in history (preferably emphasis on ancient/classic civilizations), classics, or anthropology. </p>

<p>I want to go to a smaller school (maybe 10,000 students max?) with little to no Greek life. </p>

<p>Please and thank you for any and all suggestions =].</p>

2

<p>do you have a preference regarding geographical location of the school?</p>

3

<p>Nope not really. I'm from Michigan, so any out of state schools would need some good financial aid.</p>

4

<p>Bump. Suggestions please?</p>

5

<p>Post this in the parents forum. I think you'll get a lot of support and a lot of good ideas.</p>

<p>Frankly I think you look pretty good to me. Its silly to compare yourself to the posted stats on CC. With your background, you sound wonderful to me and I think you might have much better chances than you current give yourself credit for. But the other parents will have more specific ideas than me. </p>

<p>Good luck to you! (PS: I and my husband were the first to go to college in our families too, now we are professors!).</p>

6

<p>I agree with the suggestion to post in Parents. </p>

<p>What is stumping the crowd, though, is the nixing of Greek presence on campus. Not that many colleges have little to no Greek activity. Glancing through S's Fiske Guide, looking for colleges that might be forgiving of a rough junior first semester, appreciate the 30 ACT, and have no Greeks, I came across Drew University in N.J., Earlham in Indiana and Wheaton in MA. There are other excellent colleges, such as Macalester, Grinnell and Vassar, that don't have fraternities, but these are much more selective (not that you shouldn't consider applying, just be aware they are reaches.)</p>

<p>Bend on the frats a bit and you could consider: Denison, St. Olaf, Knox, Ursinus, Kenyon to name a few.</p>

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<p>btw, just to point this out, you are not "average" so you won't be going to an "average" school :)</p>

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<p>Haha thanks viewer, but what I meant was just not Ivy schools lol. </p>

<p>And jazzy, I more meant that I don't want Greek life to be the center of the social scene.</p>

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<p>Take a look at SUNY New Paltz....they have very interesting Anthropolgy and History Depts. Greek life is not big there, the town is fun and funky and the school is on the small side 5,000-6,000 undergrad. They are very strong in the arts too. Worth a look.</p>

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<p>LilyMoon, how large are New Paltz's freshman gen ed classes? How large are their largest classes, and do they use TAs to teach?</p>

11

<p>Check out Hendrix in Conway, Arkansas. Despite being in the South, the school is INCREDIBLY liberal. By liberal, I'm not exclusively referring to politics. It's very accepting, very counter-cultural and very artsy. </p>

<p>If artsy fartsy, peacenik liberals aren't your type of people, then Hendrix probably isn't a good fit. Otherwise, definitely look into it because for private school, it is reasonably priced and they give a good ammount of aid. Although I don't say that their aid is good with a ton of confidence, its a popular school at my high school and a friend of mine got a very generous merit scholarship that's covering almost everything. Additionally, she's not ruling out the possibility that she will also receive need-based aide to cover whatever's left.</p>

<p>Plus, Hendrix has no Greek life whatsoever. It's a really close knit community that has no use for the worthless Greek system (I'm with you, Greek life is a big turn off for me).</p>

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<p>I would definitely check out Drew University in NJ. You have better than average stats and I think aid is pretty good. Small school, excellent liberal arts, anthropology, classics, very close to NYC but a beautiful quiet and safe campus.</p>

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<p>About aid at Drew- I just checked it out. List price is 44k+. They offer 42% of freshman an average of 11k in merit aid. Perhaps 10% lose their merit aid after freshman year, but I am not sure. I can tell you that it seems that only 32% (dropped 10%) of non-freshman undergraduates get an average of 11.5k in merit aid. They only meet on average, 85% of financial need for freshman, and after that it drops to meeting an average of 81% of financial need. This school seems expensive to me.</p>

14

<p>If money's the issue, I'd suggest going to Michigan State (which is supposed to have a more intimate ungraduate focus than UM). </p>

<p>If you really want something smaller, maybe one of these schools will be good...</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Gourman Report ranking for undergraduate Classics</p>

<p>Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges
California-Berkeley, University of
Yale University
Princeton University
Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of
North Carolina-Chapel Hill, University of
Bryn Mawr College
Texas-Austin, University of
Brown University
Columbia University
Pennsylvania, University of
Cornell University
Stanford University
Chicago, University of
Illinois,Urbana-Champaign, University of
Duke University
Johns Hopkins University
California.Los Angeles, University of
Indiana University-Bloomington
Boston University
Catholic University of America, The
Fordham University
Vanderbilt University</p>

16

<p>How about NO tuition needed Berea College in Kentucky?</p>

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<p>izzybella: You have a true U.Mich. & Michigan State perspective when you refer to a "smaller" school as one with a maximum of 10,000 students. Would a particular geographic location help your medical conditions? Are your medical conditions chronic? As you probably know, an ACT score of 30 is just on the cusp of outstanding which allows you to consider at least one hundred colleges and universities from the likes of Colorado College and Bowdoin to Wake Forest Univ. and the Univ. of Chicago. My suggestions are Indiana Univ., Fordham, Vanderbilt Univ., & St. John's College with interchangeable campuses in Santa Fe, New Mexico & Annapolis, Maryland.(I am fairly certain that St. John's has, at most, 10,000 students).</p>

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<p>Although I realize that Indiana, which I recommended above, has about 29,000 students, it is an excellent school with a great collegiate atmosphere. Consider the Univ. of Chicago & St. John's College (New Mexico and/or Maryland--it is a very small school focused on the classics), Colorado College, Vanderbilt, Fordham & Wake Forest Univ.(for history). Then try to refine your search based on likes/dislikes that arise after looking at a few schools closely. Then repost with a refined "wish list" of attributes that you are seeking in a colllege or university, including--if relevant-- geographical considerations. My understanding of your first post is that basically you don't want to go to Michigan or Michigan State & that you intend on studying history or the classics.</p>

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<p>^^ Yes that's true. I don't want to go to Michigan/ Michigan State. I want to go somewhere that you're beyond simply a number and I want to study classics or ancient history. My high school has a little over 6,000 kids so I'm not sure I'd want a college much larger than that.</p>

<p>No, my medical condition isn't chronic. </p>

<p>I don't mind where it is, I just want somewhere with good financial aid and where I can have access to wilderness and a decent sized city within about a 30 minute car ride.</p>

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<p>I think the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC would fit your reqirements.</p>