I thought I knew what I was doing till recently I realized I have no idea what I’m doing.
I’m a running start student in Washington, this is my senior year of High school, And I’m confused on how to even start looking for colleges I want to attend, and once I do I’m confused about how to apply to them. Honestly don’t even know what the common app is, and all the essay stuff I’m completely lost, and starting to panic.
I’m just now taking my first SAT this coming October, I know that’s late I had signed up to do it awhile ago but missed the date and have just been procrastinating. Recently I’ve had a reality check and realized that I needed to start getting things done. But I feel a little behind with everything now.
Can someone please explain the college admission process, regarding what I should be looking for in a school, how the common app works, and what it’s use is, what essays do I need to plan on writing, what’s an early decision deadline, etc
I’m a first generation college student in my family. So my parents aren’t very helpful in this regard. I’ve talked with my counselor, but his help is limited.
Is your HS guidance counselor available to help you? Do you know another adult such one of your friends parents that may have been through the process before, that can help you?
What is your Unweighted GPA?
What was your PSAT score?
Can you list the classes you have taken 9-11th?
What amount can you and your family afford to pay for college?
Do you want to stay in Washington state for college? Do you have any target colleges you are interested in applying? Have you looked on their websites for application instructions?
You might want to start with in-state public universities.
Each school’s admission office should post a page with detailed application instructions, like this one: https://admit.washington.edu/apply/freshman/
Whether or not the University of Washington is right for you may depend on many factors, starting with cost. Run UW’s the online net price calculator. Try to determine if you can cover the predicted net costs (the “Expected Family Contribution”). If you can’t, then you’ll need a cost-management strategy, one that might involve commuting from home (to save on housing and meal costs) or finding merit scholarship opportunities.
Besides cost, other major factors include your intended major and personal preferences for size, location, etc. There are online college search/match tools to help you find colleges that meet your criteria. https://www.collegeconfidential.com/schools/search
Once you’ve built an appropriate list of schools, eventually it all comes down to following instructions and taking things one step at a time. There is a ton of information on this site. Google is your friend, too.
One is to know what your budget is. You need to talk to your parents and find out how much they can afford. If you want to apply anywhere other than in-state public schools, and if what they can afford is less than $70,000 per year, then you will want to run the Net Price Calculator for schools that you are considering and see whether they are likely to be affordable.
A second thing to think about is what sort of university you want to attend. Would you prefer a large school or a small school? Do you want to stay in-state or do you want to apply out of state? If you are in Washington State (as opposed to Washington DC) then you also have nearby schools on the other side of the US/Canadian border that you could consider, and I think that you might be eligible for the WUE which provides some more relatively affordable options.
You also need to look at your GPA and SAT scores and see where you are likely to get in.
One more thing: SAT preparation does help quite a bit. You should try to get at least a little bit of preparation in between now and when you take the SAT test.
You have really good options in your in-state public universities. You should look at the requirements for admission to both the University of Washington and Washington State University.
If you really can’t figure out where you want to go or what you want to do then taking a gap year is not a bad option. However, it is much better if you can find something productive to do during your gap year, even if that is just to work for a year.
Take a look at the following site: https://www.fairopportunityproject.org It is a non-profit that offers a free college admission guide that is a good place to start.
Freshman:
Drawing Studio/Sports Development/Metal Design/Health - Electives
Band
Freshman Honors English
Algebra 1
Physics 1
Sophomore:
Band
Sophomore English
World History
AP Biology
Honors Geometry
Chinese 1
Junior - First year running start:
English Composition 1
English Composition 2
College Essentials
Adult CPR and First Aid
Japanese 1
Japanese 2
College Algebra
Career exploration
Self Esteem
US History 3
Cardio Conditioning
Senior - Second year running start so far I’m taking:
Political Science
College trig.
US History 1
Womens Literature
Health 2
…
My courses are really scattered cause I didn’t know what I wanted to do till just recently.
My family is willing to help me, with what they can but I know there contribution won’t be ginormous but helpful here and there. I was looking at OOS schools cause I like new places and new experiences but I saw most OOS tuition prices were very high.
I’m pretty set that I’d like to into Mechanical engineering, and then graduate school later down the line for Aerospace engineering.
@DadTwoGirls I was thinking about schools in Canada, cause I am in Washington State, but that even confused me more cause I have no idea how their tuition and financial aid work. what’s WUE?
Also, you can do do free online SAT prep through Kahn Academy through this site. I highly recommend taking some timed practice tests so you have a sense of pacing when you take the SAT. And this resource will help you with any areas where you need to re-fresh / practice.
@Isaiah919 Okay, you’ve got this. You’re taking the SAT in October, right? Okay, cool…first things first…go to the common app website and set up an account…you could do this tonight. You’re not filling it all out…you’re just starting the application. https://www.commonapp.org/ Okay, choose 2 or 3 colleges in WA state (you can always add more later). Also set up an appt with your guidance counselor as soon as you get back on Monday. Then keep checking back here…we’ll walk you through it.
WUE is the Western Undergrad Exchange. If you live in any of the Western states then you pay less as an OOS student. Some campuses have limitations on majors but worth a look.
You really need to get an actual $$$ amount from your parents so you know what schools to target. You also need to find out if you qualify for need-based and/or merit aid. Any school you are interested in should have a Net Price Calculator (NPC) that can give you an estimate of your college costs. Mostly likely your in-state Washington options will be the most affordable.
Pursuing an Engineering degree without at least Pre-Calc Senior year will be an issue since you will be taking a heavy math load in ME. Also a Physics course is really important. I think you will be way behind the curve with your current schedule and will spending extra time to get up to speed if you plan to pursue ME.
Have you considered attending a local Washington Community college and taking the ME pre-req courses and then transferring to a 4 year university? This might be a more affordable and better path to take since you recently decided on ME.
“I was thinking about schools in Canada, cause I am in Washington State, but that even confused me more cause I have no idea how their tuition and financial aid work.”
There is usually relatively little financial aid at Canadian universities. Given your GPA the University of British Columbia (which is nearly always referred to as UBC) would be a reach. However it is also more expensive for international students compared to many other Canadian universities. Two very good universities in British Columbia which you should have a very good chance to get into would be the University of Victoria, and Simon Fraser University. You can google both of them and find out about admission requirements, tuition and cost of attendance (note that this is listed in Canadian dollars), programs and majors, and quite a bit of other information. They are both likely to be pretty close to your in-state public schools in cost unless you get very good financial aid from your in-state schools. I have not however specifically looked at what they will cost you.
I looked into WUE and what is has to offer for a few hours, and I’ve come to the conclusion that even with the money it saves me at some OOS schools the tuition with board is still far too expensive, so I think I’m going to cross OOS schools off my list. What do you think is an affordable yearly tuition for an OOS school?
Also I will have up to Calculus 2 done by the end of my senior year, I’m currently dual-enrolled at a community college right now for a 2 year Transfer Associates Degree, that i should have by the end of this school year.
Thanks for the suggestion, I’m going to look into those two when I’m done with this.
Does anyone (based off personal experience) have a good number for an average year of tuition? my in-state schools are putting me from around 7-12k, is that decent? I have no idea. I saw much bigger figures elsewhere.
WSU in Pullman is about $10K/year tuition, but there are fees & room/board on top of that pushing it up to $23K/year. That is a pretty typical instate cost before applying any aid. But you could be eligible for need based aid or maybe get merit aid. Run the net price calculator on the school website to see how it looks. You can borrow $5,500 freshman year in federal loans, and a little more each year after that. If you are very low income you could get a Pell Grant. Run the FAFSA EFC for more info on that.
I don’t think Washington State U uses the common App. I’m pretty sure they have their own online application. And I think UW uses the Coalition App. So filling out the Common App might be a bit premature depending on what schools the OP ends up with on their list.
Nobody here can answer that question for you, at least not without knowing many details about your family’s financial situation. You and your parents need to run the online Net Price Calculators on a few schools and discuss what they are able and willing to pay. The number that matters isn’t so much the yearly tuition but the total net cost after financial aid, if any.
If $7800 is the Expected Family Contribution you get from UW’s net price calculator, you may be able to cover much of that from “self help” (federal student loans, work-study, summer employment).
WSU gives out a fair amount of scholarship money, too. I think they have a scholarship form to fill out when you apply. I’d say apply as soon as you can, although you need test scores. Their priority application date is Jan 31. If your GPA is over 3.5 and you are in the top 10% of your class, you are guaranteed admission, according to the admission section of their website. But applying earlier is good, as scholarship money can be easier to get early in the year. They may accept your running start credits, too — they evaluate that after they get your transcript and accept you.
Bottom line - keep your GPA above a 3.5 this semester, get a SAT prep book and study as much as you can before taking the SAT, and get your app into WSU as soon as you can. UW may be a reach, especially for your major.
