Hello! I am currently trying to compile a list of reaches/target/safeties and wasn’t exactly sure where to start. I would like to major in Animal Science and minor in Art History. I would like to stay within the NJ, NY, DE area. Preferably under 30k a year. I have no preference in location or size however.
Here are my stats:
I’m a Latin American female
GPA: 3.7
SAT: 1260 ( I have only taken it once so far, I hope to take it again and get over a 1300)
I go to a very competitive high school and will be dually enrolled at a local university during the next school year.
Activities/Extracurriculars:
Member of the International Thespian Society and have been performing in plays and musicals since childhood. Performing on Off-Broadway stages (No longer want to go into theater however)
Intern at a well known Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in New York City
Have made many clothing garments over the years. Making own patterns based on historical fashion (mostly in smaller doll scale but also have dabbled in human sized garments)
Member of my church and teach youth group occasionally
I think that choice of major is pretty limiting- there aren’t a lot of schools with an Animal Science major, I think. They tend to be the bigger public schools, which is fine. They are good schools. Check out:
Rutgers
Penn State
Univ of Delaware
U Conn
Univ of Rhode Island
I think also Univ of Maryland, but that might be a bit of a reach with your stats.
I am not super familiar with schools in those areas, but I can give you some general advice that may help.
We need more information about your family situation to be able to give you feedback on cost. There may be schools with higher “sticker” prices that have merit money or financial aid policies that would change the cost for YOU. What sort of income threshold are we talking about? Are your parents college graduates?
We also need to know more about how long/how often you have been involved in community activities/service work and more details about your extra-curricular involvement. What else can you tell us about your fashion? Have you entered any contests or done any shows (even at school?) Do you have photos of your work that you can share with a school that accepts an art submissions or an art portfolio as part of your application?
Don’t lock yourself into the “Animal Science” title as a major. There are many great schools with outstanding life-science programs that have a focus on animal science without calling it that as a “major.” And, they are just as good (and potentially better) at getting you into grad-school and/or qualifying you for a job in an “Animal Science” related field as any school listing that as the name of a “major.”
Similar situation with the Art History minor. Don’t lock yourself in and limit your search by “titles” of majors/minors. You can get that same degree but it may be under a different name at different schools. To limit yourself to schools that have particular names like that for their majors is not necessary and it is usually counter-productive.
To be able to combine your focus on science with your interest in art, you will want to look at smaller LACs. They tend to be the schools that support that kind of combination. They will have higher initial price-tags, but also tend to have aid/scholarship policies to help students who are a good fit for their school.
You are going to want to look for schools that have “holistic” admissions policies and/or only moderately selective admissions rates. 3.7 and 1300 are pretty good, but not earthshattering. They will qualify you for merit at some schools, but not others. And… that may matter, depending on your financial situation and family background. (Which I don’t know enough about to give more specific feedback.)
It is in your best interest not to limit yourself by location, either. For example, there are some really good midwestern schools who have super programs in both of the fields you are interested in, holistic admissions policies… and midwestern schools tend to have significantly lower price tags than the schools in the states that you are talking about… where you could have trouble finding a school with COA that ends up being under $30k (Again, this depends on information we don’t have, like your family situation and other things that might qualify you for merit/scholarships.)
Smaller LACS with a stated/demonstrated emphasis on building a “diverse” cohort are a good option for you, especially outside of your area. For the midwestern LACs, being from the east gives you an extra edge. And, for the ones with a clear value for building diversity, you get an extra admissions (and perhaps financial) advantage because you are a) a hispanic woman, b) a woman interested in science, and c) not from the midwest. (You may have an economic diversity consideration as well, but we don’t know that yet.)
A 3.7 and a 1300 are good numbers, but not earth-shattering. Do you have any other academic stats that might help? Are you going to take the ACT? Are you taking any AP classes? Have you taken AP tests? (If so, do you have your scores?) How many dual-credits are you taking? In what subjects? And what college/university is awarding the credits?
Depending on your over-all numbers, you may want to really focus your schools with “holistic” admissions
You need to think about what kind of school environment you want. (Not major, but… attitudes, “personality,” values, habits, etc…) If you can tell us more about that, people in this forum will be able to be more helpful with suggestions for schools which might be good options for you.
“Fit” is a really important factor in admissions at schools that I think might have strong programs in your interest areas; that support flexible programming to accomodate both of your anticipated areas of focus; and that are good at limiting costs for students.
Depending on some of your answers to my other questions, the importance of this aspect might change, but based on the information you have given, it looks to me like your best option will be to look for strong LACs with holistic admissions policies and moderately-ranked overall admissions (based on “input”) but very high rankings (at least in your anticipated areas) based on output. I think you will have the best luck if you find those smaller LACs where you are a good “fit.” (There is a post somewhere on this forumn asking how to find “fit” and it is probably worth it for you to search that and look over it, if you don’t understand what “fit” is. )
Anyway – that is the guidance I can give you that I think might help you get started on the college app. process.
Best of luck to you. Senior year can be a stressful time, but you will get through it and it is important to remember that it should also be fun!
UConn won’t be within her budget. If you decide to venture further, UMaine has a flagship match program, which would be affordable and has both those majors.
@BB Hello! I know this was posted a while ago, and I haven’t been particularly active. But thank you so much for this advice, I really appreciate it. I can answer some of your questions here if thats ok. Some questions I’m not particularly comfortable answering in detail, but I’ll answer as many as I can. I can answer more in depth over PM if you would like.
My parents are both college graduates our household’s income is in the range of 80k-120k a year.
I’ve been an intern at the Wildlife Rehabilitation center since this June. It was meant to be a summer internship, but I plan to keep on helping out at the center in the school year. I teach class to young children every Saturday at my church, I make my own lesson plans for these classes. I’ve been part of and involved in the church since 9th grade. I haven’t delved too deeply into my fashion-side, I more so create clothing for my own enjoyment. But I have costumed some school theater projects. I don’t know why I didn’t mention this here but I also repair vintage toys. And I also publish poetry online regularly since the beginning of junior year. I haven’t entered any art contest, as I had mostly focused on my acting and theater in the past.
I’ve found since I made this post that I can choose from a selection of different majors/minors and still end up doing what I’d like to do.
I’d like to stay in the NY, NJ, DE area as that’s where I live. But I’ll definitely give some other schools a look.
I took the ACT and it almost directly translated my SAT score I stated here. My school didn’t offer any AP courses, so I in turn didn’t take any AP exams. My school’s program will allow me to spend my entire senior year at said university. I will receive 32 credits at the end of the year.
Thank you again for your advice. It was very helpful. Please if you are willing to help me a bit more, please PM me of you are able. (I posted this twice because I forgot to @)