<p>ec-
No one is saying you have to go to a 4th tier college, but everything below UGA and Tech in GA will put you in the second tier rank (GCSU is 34th in the “regional” school list but didn’t make any ranking in the national list).</p>
<p>I believe you are correct that UGA will look at your GPA without fluff classes. They look at core courses, not art, drama, journalism, etc. This is particularly true WRT calculating GPA for the HOPE scholarship <a href=“https://www.admissions.uga.edu/article/first_year_admission_criteria.html[/url]”>https://www.admissions.uga.edu/article/first_year_admission_criteria.html</a></p>
<p>If you are concerned about cost, consider Mercer (they have nice scholarships) and other lower ranked schools who will see you as an asset. If you want merit $$ you have to be the top of the middle, not the middle of the top. You need to be realistic and explore schools where your GPA and SAT will put you in <em>at least</em> the upper 1/2 of their applicant pool. You can bolster chances by knocking the SAT or ACT out of the park, so you’d best put your energies into prepping for those, and take it at LEAST once this year, at least by Jan 2011. </p>
<p>I found your post on another thread about your PSAT. Not a score that will, unfortunately, be of any help to you.</p>