Parents - Help me find some colleges!!!

Parents Forum
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<p>(cross posted in Search forum)</p>

<p>So, I'm a rising junior (class of 2010), with an idea of what type of college I want (largish public or a meduim size "tech" school), but few actual colleges to research. I live in Wisconsin, and would like to go OOS, but no one from my high school goes OOS, meaning everyone here knows nothing about "outside" schools.</p>

<p>I've started a small list, but could use some help!!</p>

<hr>

<p>Stats</p>

<p>Location- Rural Wisconsin, middle class family
Gender- White female
GPA- 4.0 UW (assuming I keep my grades up for junior/senior year), school doesn't weight
Class Rank- 1/216 (class size will be down to maybe 170 by graduation, though)
ACT- 36 composite - 36E, 36R, 34M, 36S, essay - 8 (ouch!!)
PSAT- 218 - 79CR, 75M, 64W
SAT IIs- US History and Math IIC- just took in June, expecting great USH, not so great IIC (didn't prep at all)
APs- sophomore -APUSH - still waiting on score
next year (junior) will take Calculus AB, Biology, English Language, and US Government.</p>

<p>My school only offers 5 AP classes, and I will have taken them all by the end of my junior year. Normally, that is impossible to do, but I'm a year ahead (by my school's system) in every subject. In short, I will have exhausted all curriculum in my HS by the end of junior year. So, senior year, I will be taking 18 credits at UW LaCrosse (the school district will pay for 18 credits, no more than that). My college classes will likely be: Calculus 2, Calculus 3, and Linear Algebra with Differential Equations, Macroeconomics, and Comparative Political Systems.</p>

<p>My academic weakness is that I am only taking 2 years of a foreign language, because the teacher's can't teach and I hate it. In college, I would love to take Arabic or Latin.</p>

<h2>ECs- heavily involved Girl Scouts (12 years, Gold Award), involved in my church, lots of Band stuff, track and field, etc</h2>

<p>My list currently includes UMich, MSU, Rose-Hulman IT, UW Madison (safety), MIT (reach), Caltech (reach).</p>

<p>I would want to major in math, computer science, or physics.</p>

<p>Any ideas?</p>

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<p>You have great stats! Good job and congratulations on all of your accomplishments so far. (I am thinking, wow, how on earth did you finish a Gold Award before the start of 11th grade? You really worked at Girl Scouting.)</p>

<p>RPI is a very nice school, great internships, etc., and they really need more women. At least check it out.</p>

<p>It is hard to find a college that offers a lot of Arabic, although many schools offer the first two years of Arabic, and that is probably enough if you aren't trying to become fluent.</p>

<p>A third year of foreign language would be helpful to you for college admissions, especially since your high school offers more than two years and you have chosen not to take the third year. Would you consider doing more of your language at UW LaCrosse?</p>

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<p>Carnegie Mellon has a fantastic CS program, though I don't think their math or physics department measure up to the standard set by engineering/CS. However, it is very common for people to double major in CS and math there, since there's a ton of overlap in the classes.</p>

<p>For more safety schools, you can look at RPI, and Case Western as they're moderate-sized tech schools. Berkeley and Stanford are also good schools at CS, though I think they're considerably larger than most of the other schools you're looking at. I see a lot of suggestions here for people to look at Rice if they're interested in technical fields, though I'm not very familiar with the school myself.</p>

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<p>Wow, you have tons of choices!!!
For big publics I would look at UC Berkely and UCLA. I have heard that publics give limited merit aid to students from other states - not sure exactly what your financial situation is as far as paying for school. Cal Tech would be great, the fact that you are female should help there.
Good Luck!</p>

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<p>What is your financial situation? That could play a factor. Also, it is highly recommended to take a third year of a language.</p>

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<p>Ditto the question on how the finances will work. </p>

<p>And ditto the suggestion of doing a language at UWLacrosse. No reason to have the "only 2 years" thing count against you. I think your profile is so strong that Admissions offices might overlook it, but why take the chance when your reason for not continuing is poor teaching... and you can solve that by doing it at UW.</p>

<p>I'm not sure I would focus on UCBerkeley or UCLA as an out-of-state student. Although you certainly have great stats and female/physics-Engineering-math is a good combo.</p>

<p>Would you consider Purdue? Is Stanford large enough to interest you?</p>

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<p>One thing that will help for your "reach" schools would be some kind of EC or outside activity in math or science, since that is what you like best. Now that you are done with your Gold Award (wow), do you have time to compete in a science or math contest/team? Robotics? Programming? If your school doesn't have a team, think about starting one. Or perhaps one of your instructors at UWLacrosse might let you help on a research project there.</p>

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<p>If you are interested in entering a four year university after the end of your junior year, rather than taking courses at LaCrosse, the USC Resident Honors Program might be tailor-made for you. Every year, the RHP accepts 20 - 40 students after their junior years of high school. While USC is not a "tech" school, take a look and see how strong the departments are in your areas of interest. Also, USC encourages and make it very easy for students to double major or do minors in disparate subjects, so if you wanted to go into Arabic or Middle Eastern Studies in depth while pursuing a tech major, you could do it, maybe with additional funding as a Renaissance Scholar. USC is very generous with merit aid in general. All students in the Resident Honors Program receive at least a quarter tuition grant, but if you're a NMF, you'll automatically receive a 50% tuition grant, and with your academic credentials, it's hard to believe you won't be invited to interview for even larger merit-based scholarships. Finally, RHP students are eligible to be in USC's small (200 students per year) multi-disciplinary honors program, so you could have small seminars for all of your core and writing courses.</p>

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<p>I know what it is like to want to leave- I ended up across town for college at UW (at least you get to leave town) and ended up loving it. First of all, apply to UW-Madison as your safety. Despite the fact that everyone goes there it is large enough that you may never see anyone you know. Next, look at the schools with at least as good as or better stats for students - no reason to settle for a lesser school just to go OOS. Identify potential majors and look at schools with strength in them- you may end up switching majors so go for the overall caliber of schools also. I recommend getting the special issue of US News and World Reports ranking colleges from a bookstore- there is a wealth of information about choosing a college as well as stats about them. Pay attention to the ACT/SAT 25-75 %iles, public school stats will likely be lower than elite private schools but have honors programs. Your stats allow you to dream big, but be warned that even perfect test scores, excellent grades and extrcurrriculars do not guarantee entrance to any college (hence UW as a safety).</p>

<p>After you have browsed information from there and your library start making lists of the factors that differentiate schools that appeal to you. Think of location- distance, city size, culture (campus and area), climate, etc. Prioritize your list- things will sort themselves into manageable groups. Try to visit schools during this summer and next and during spring break of junior year. </p>

<p>Some considerations include the practical stuff like finances. It may be cheaper to go to a private school than an OOS public school. Some schools are conservative, unlike liberal Madison. Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Northwestern and Chicago are all very good schools and all different from each other- you may want to use these as starting points to learn how to compare elite academic institutions. You may decide one or more factors excite you or make you dislike the places. Once you have discovered what the very top schools are like and what you like about them explore (computers are wonderful for this stage) a lower ranked (but still highly ranked) set of schools that fit many of you now-defined criteria. </p>

<p>Marking boxes on tests gets you on mailing lists, this will also expose you to schools you have never heard of. Have fun this summer exploring college via the internet. Your HS will have prepared you for any school but to get accepted in this world of a surplus of excellent students you have to show the school why they should pick you instead of equally qualified candidates. Your research will help you figure out a list of schools you think will be a good fit, those are the one to apply to senior year. PS- reread your post, could edit mine but will leave it as is - you are off to a good start. PM me if you ever want to ask me anything, went through things with similar son and self.</p>

<p>Addenda- you need more foreign language to apply competitively to schools such as UW, suffer through the bad teachers. Four years of a language would satisfy the L & S reqs at UW for a BA or BS, 3 would mean taking a second language... Consider continuing a language at UW-La Crosse instead of zooming ahead in math. Although it is a good school you will have better math courses (and much more theory) at more elite schools, even UW-Madison.</p>

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<p>Did you get National Merit recognition? if so you are likely to get some very good offers for full scholarships with honors program, summer stipends for travel or research, laptops etc. Dont' ignore them--take them seriously. My d dug in her heals and ignored a few which she now wishes she had taken due to the travel stipends, and other perks....</p>

<p>As far as language. See ifyour state offers AP classes online where you could take a few online and go to school 1/2 day. Or consider joint enrollment in the local college/community college. As the poster said there are colleges that take in Juniors for this reason.....they are tapped out, and ready for college classes.....</p>

<p>Applied Mathematics may be an interest to you....or mathematical decision sciences which is my d's major....check those out.</p>

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<p>Before you spend your 18 credits on math courses, check the math requirements for likely majors at some of the schools in which you are interested. I have heard of advanced math students from Illinois aiming at some majors at UIUC and other leading tech schools being told that the department would NOT accept advanced math classes (meaning calculus and beyond) from the colleges where those students could take those subjects while in HS. The departments wanted majors to take <em>their</em> math classes.</p>

<p>Using at least some of those credits to beef up your languages might be more productive.</p>

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<p>The problem is, I can't take language at UWL, because I haven't "maxed out" the high school curriculum - which goes up to German 4. The other problem is that math classes are 4 credits, and almost anything else is 3 credits. So, I have 3 math classes (12 credits) + 2 "other" classes (6 credits) = 18. </p>

<p>Math is my favorite subject, so I really want to challenge myself senior year. My high school classes senior year will all be "fluff" (but academic fluff :D ). I could just take German 3 as a senior, but then I could lose val because of the tie-breaking process. Val goes to the 4.0 student with the most credits in the math, science, social studies, and english departments. I'm already short on academic credits because of skipping a year of each subject. I'm counting on my senior year to make up some of those credits in extra social studies and english classes. Is German 3 > #1 ranking?</p>

<p>(I'd post links to my school's policies, but then I'd be giving away my identity.)</p>

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<p>What an awful choice to have to make, German 3 vs #1 ranking. Is it possible that you could take German at UWL or a local community college, but it wouldn't be free? Could you pay for the credits?</p>

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<p>My parents would make me pay to take German at UWL. Since I"m too young to be competitive for a job and can't drive, I have no money except 5 dollars a week allowance. I'm planning to work as a counselor next year at Girl Scout camp, but that would only be $1200 for the entire summer and wouldn't cover the cost of the class. That future $1200 is the entirety of my college fund :D</p>

<p>There are 3 people (including me) currently tied for #1, and if both of their GPAs drop for some reason, I could take German 3 senior year with no worries. I guess I'll just wait and see what happens........</p>

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<p>BookWorm- we need more info about your finances to help you expand your list. No point applying to places you can't afford to attend. Also- will Val help you out financially if you end up at U W? If not-- then forget about it. Being ranked number 1 with your stats is great; being ranked number 2 or 3 with your stats is also great, so unless there are financial consequences to losing Val status... just let it go. You will go on to do great things in life and this just may not be worth worrying about.</p>

<p>Look at U Missouri at Rolla for a fantastic engineering department; UIUC for many strengths in CS, Engineering and other sciences; agree with the suggestion of Case (they are very generous with merit money for a kid with your stats), and on the reach side check out Brown and Cornell- both would be great for a woman interested in engineering, applied math, or for something combining a humanities discipline with a science. Brown is urban but up a beautiful hill overlooking Providence, a funky small city in New England; Cornell is rural by East coast standards but very beautiful (cold in the winter) with a lot going on virtually every day. </p>

<p>You will have some great choices- and you sound like a really terrific, hard-working kid. I agree with the other posters that you shouldn't let your boredom in language class keep you from a college that otherwise would be a slam-dunk for you. So grit your teeth....</p>

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<p>I forgot about this but it is relevant to this discussion - Case Western has a scholarship for Gold Award winners. Not huge but money is money. And Case is good for tech.</p>

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<p>Don't worry about being Val, a lot of schools don't even have one. Plan your courses around your future regardless of who else gets the "Val" position. Max out on HS courses in HS, save the higher level college courses for the tough college you plan to attend (UW-Madison's Honors calc sequence has much more theory/proofs than the regular sequence, for example)- not all college courses are created equal. Pay attention to the UW-Madison admissions criteria, meeting the average admitted students courses taken in each field will prepare you for admission to most elite schools. Being in the Honors Program at UW-Madison can be a good, cost effective choice, there is NMS and other financial merit money to top students. PM me for more math/physics/UW et al info. Do consider MIT et al...</p>