I am currently a rising Junior, and I know it’s too early for a chance me, but I’m really lost on what schools I have a shot at. For reference, I live in a Rural part of PA. My GPA is 4.0 unweighted and will be a 4.5 weighted at the end of the year. I’m taking the July ACT (practice tests have me at a 30) and I scored a 1280 on my PSAT in October. I assume by next spring I will improve test scores. My ECs are decent: founded a club, leadership on STUCO, two year varsity letter winner, a few other clus, I will be in NHS, I work a job, volunteer with my local political party, etc. I’ve taken all honors so far, a college Trig course currently, and will take APs/Honors next year. Rank is not given to me until next year, but I’d assume near the top, seeing as I have taken the highest level classes available. I would like to major in Supply Chain or another business degree.
The issue is I’m not sure what colleges I should be touring/looking at. My parents will want Penn State, but it is expensive for a instate school. If I go to a state school at a lower tier, would it be worth it for the merit scholarship I’d likely get? Or should I look at a private school, such as Bucknell? I would really like UVA or UNC Chapel Hill, but what would I need to be qualified?
To get an idea as to possible merit scholarship recognition at out-of-state public universities, search for estimators such as those below:
https://admissions.msu.edu/cost-aid/merit-based-aid/freshman/out-of-state.aspx
https://scholarships.asu.edu/estimator
For estimating costs at generally highly selective colleges, this resource can be helpful: https://myintuition.org/.
For a private school along the lines of UVA and UNC academically, look into the University of Richmond.
For a business specialty school, research Babson.
You still have a couple of years before you need to decide where you will go, which makes this a very good time to be starting to think about the types of schools that you would want to consider.
One thing that you need to do is to find out what your budget is. Find out what your parents can afford to pay without your taking on debt. If you can avoid taking on any debt this will help you quite a bit in terms of getting established in life after graduating university. You then can run the NPC on a few schools and see what they are likely to cost (if you Google "Net Price Calculator " then you will find the school’s NPC).
Another thing to think about is whether you want a relatively large school or a small school. Larger schools typically have more possible majors to choose from and often have more sports. Smaller schools often have smaller classes and make it easier to meet your professors. There will be research and internship opportunities at both types of schools.
You could also think about whether you want to be in a big city, small city, a town, or a more rural location.
You also might want to think about potential majors. Usually large schools have such a wide range of majors that this is not necessarily a significant issue in terms of picking a school to attend, but it is still something that will matter. Most students do change their major after starting at university.
Also, touring a few universities and colleges can be quite helpful. We started with schools that were near our home largely on the basis that at first we had no idea what we were doing, and schools that were nearby are easier to get to. There is not much point in driving for three or four hours to visit a university until you have some sense what you are going to look at once you get there.