Overall college application and financial help and advice GREATLY appreciated!

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey so I'm a Junior in high school this year at one of the best High Schools in the country (Neuqua Valley) in Naperville, IL. Im strongly interested in civil engineering and architecture and have thus aspired to either go to Purdue or University of Illinois for their engineering programs. If it was based on grades and classes taken alone, I believe I'd have a great shot at getting in to Purdue and a possible shot at making it into U of Illinois. I've taken Honors classes every year (Honors English I, Honors English II, Honors Geometry, Honors Alg.2/Trig, Honors Pre-calc, Honors Physics, AP Human Geography. next year will include AP Physics, Calc BC, AP Spanish IV, AP Statistics). I've also taken engineering classes every year since back in 6th grade including Project Lead The Way starting this year and next year I am taking a class actually titled "Civil Engineering & Architecture" through that program.</p>

<p>I'm not a lazy student, but I'm not the kind of person that spends hours studying for tests. In all honesty, I haven't studied for more than a few minutes for any test or final in all 2 1/2 years of high school yet. </p>

<p>Overall, my unweighted GPA is 3.35 so far. Weighted, it is about a 3.7 and it will go up hopefully to around a 3.8 by the time I'm applying to colleges. </p>

<p>I have not taken an official ACT yet, but practice ones through the school have gotten me a 28 the first time, and a 29 the second time. If it wasn't for my reading scores which are lower than the other sections, I'd easily get in the 30s. I'm projected to get a 32-34.</p>

<p>Anyways, here are the problems...</p>

<p>I am not involved in extra-curricular activities and I don't have community service hours. I'm sure I could pick up a few hours over the summer but nothing significant considering I am taking 2 classes this summer to make room for my rigorous schedule next year and to be able to be a Senior Advisor to the Freshman (hopefully that counts as an EC), along with the fact that I have a job where I get really great hours. That is a huge concern to me. It makes me feel like I'm lazy. Is this not as big as a concern that I feel it is?</p>

<p>Also, my family's financial situation is a problem. My parents aren't going to be able to help very much with the tuition and they want me to go to a community college first and then transfer to a University in order to save money. I, on the other hand, very strongly wish to immediately leave for a University. I'm going to see how many scholarships I can obtain to save as much money as I can. I don't want to finish college with thousands and thousands of dollars in debt. Student loan debt is unavoidable for me, but I want to minimize it as much as possible.</p>

<p>Any advice to help my situation? Comments? Concerns? Anything?</p>

<p>Thank you very much</p>

2

<p>With your GPA, unless you can get that ACT well into the 30s, you’re going to be iffy for UIUC; and given your finances, it’s unlikely you can afford OOS tuition at Purdue.</p>

<p>All Illinois CC’s have articulation agreements with UIUC’s College of Engineering that guarantee that if you take the specified courses and do well in them, the credits will transfer. Your home CC, College of DuPage, is one of the most highly regarded CCs in the state. So your parents’ suggestion should not be dismissed out of hand. </p>

<p>Another option might be UIC; you could live at home and commute. NIU has an underrated engineering program and is another possibility.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the reply.</p>

<p>My parents were talking to a lawyer that deals with finances and he told them that he has heard about Purdue giving District 204 students (my district) in-state tuition for their engineering program because they want to pull these students to their school.</p>

<p>Have you heard anything about this? Or anything similar?</p>

4

<p>No, I haven’t heard that, but I’m not from Naperville, so the fact that I haven’t heard anything means nothing.</p>

<p>In your other thread, you say you’re looking for Midwestern civil engineering schools; as a safety, you might want to look at the University of Evansville, which has a reasonable COA for a private, good FA, and is less selective than some other schools on your list.</p>