Some colleges I'm curious about

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

Right now, I’m not too sure what i’d like to major in but I selected some universities of varying prestige that seem I seem to have a reasonable chance of gaining acceptance into and that give off a good vibe.
Can you guys give me some info on what majors are good at these colleges and what I can expect my life to be like while attending? Thanks! here’s the list (in no particular order):

Georgia Tech (mainly included because it’s a state uni)
UC Berkeley
Columbia
Swarthmore

Haven’t taken the SAT yet since I’m only a highschool sophomore, but here’s my PSAT scores from last semester:
M:59
R:59
W:65
For what it’s worth, I took the Kaplan SAT predictor test the other day and the scores for Math and Writing were identical, but the reading score went up to a 69. This leads me to believe that either my PSAT reading score was a fluke or the extra length of the PSAT wore me down which in turned lowered my score.

2

I think you should pick a major first and pick the college based off of that major.

3

Well at first, I was pretty interested in pursuing computer science (computers are a personal hobby of mine), but my poor math performance relative to my other academic assets is discouraging.

4

The real question is: What do YOU look for in a school? Location? Social environment? Rigor? Prestige? Cost? Size?

Every school is going to be different in each area and it’ll be up to you to decide what you want… Once you have a good idea, then start looking at specific schools! Your list may change completely.

5

@PilotKhyle well this is more or less my preliminary list and I loosely based it on the criteria you mentioned. I was hoping some members on here who have experienced the universities first hand or know enough about them could drop off a bit of info on them.

6

Don’t worry about your math score yet if you haven’t taken Algebra 2/Trig or finished Geometry. I went from a 57 to an 800 through practice. Those are excellent schools, but make sure you are comfortable with both the big student population and lack of seasons at UC Berkeley as well as the small student population and four seasons of Swarthmore.

While your SAT is likely to go up, make sure to focus on some safeties and matches, as those schools are all reaches. If you like Swarthmore, check out Carleton, Reed, Oberlin, Vassar, Haverford, Grinnell, Williams, and other LACs. Reed technically doesn’t have a CS major, but they have a Math/CS major.

7

Swarthmore is one of the most rigorous schools in the country.
If you’re from GA, UC Berkeley is unlikely to be affordable unless your parents have 55KX4 set aside for your college.
I agree with Cosmological above.
Don’t select based on major: odds are, your major will change between now and senior year, and even then the vast majority students change their major again once in college…
Look for “vibe”. Go visit UGA, GTech, Agnes Scott, and if you can another small college in a more rural location (Sewanee? Hendrix? neither is in-state but both would give you an idea about “vibe”.)
Use your visits to answer these questions:
Do you like huge campuses with huge spectator sports or do you want classroom interaction and active intramurals? Do you want a big city or a college town?
Do you like quirky traditions or “Old South” traditions?
Do you feel more comfortable around quirky people, conservative people, liberal people, competitive people, laid back people?

8

I think a mistake some students make is not visiting enough schools, and not visiting them early. Since you are from Georgia you can make a quick circuit and see some schools of varying size, all with great academics: Georgia Tech, Emory, Sewanee, Vanderbilt, Furman, Chapel Hill, etc.

9

@Cosmological‌ Swarthmore is really what I like more as far as population/season structure goes but at the same time I could really care less about those things (not really a priority for me). I was also curious about Reed because I’ve read good things about it on here but I haven’t looked into it yet.
@MYOS1634 I am lacking in the financial department and will probably only apply to UC Berkeley if I can earn the right scholarships. About those questions, I think I could answer most without having to make those visits (although I definitely will try and get that organized). Huge campuses are great, but so are small ones. I’m not really big on sports, so I don’t really care about the intramurals or spectator sports offered at the colleges. Personally I think I’d enjoy living in a big city but I’m not too sure what the term “college town” entails. I prefer the quirky traditions over the “old south” traditions. As for the people, I’d say laid back is what I’d most like (since I consider myself to be pretty laid back).
@midwestdad3 are you saying that I should go have a look so I can get a feel for what “vibe” I like most like @MYOS1634 mentioned?

10

You should do some visiting, BUT your scores are nowhere in the ballpark for Swat or Columbia at this point. Even for a sophomore… (for example, my kid who got into Swat had a 212 on her soph PSAT). So you have a lot of work to do before even putting schools like that on your list as a reach. You might look at Case Western, strong CS and good merit available.

11

Sen, Regarding visiting, in our experience it just really helps to see a number of places–large & small, urban & rural, public/private, etc. As a personal example, Skidmore looked perfect to my D on paper. But when we visited, it just didn’t click for her. Great school, but not for her.

Definitions of “college town” probably vary depending on who you are talking to. I would say that a college town is one where the local college(s) might be one of the largest employers and/or where the town closely identifies with the college. So, I would suggest that Ithaca, NY and Ann Arbor, Michigan would probably be considered college towns.

As for “old south,” some places might seem that way on the surface, but actually aren’t. I think Sewanee is an example. While it is located in the south, it has a national student body and an international outlook. We visited 3x and I found little that is old south about it, for example.

For “quirky” combined with top academics, consider Oberlin.

12

@intparent to say that I have a good shot of getting into Columbia at this point would be an overestimation of my own abilities, but I don’t think the same can be said for swat (at least not to the same degree). While your daughter may have had exceptional scores, I’m sure a good portion of swat students had similar scores to mine in their sophomore years. Btw, did your daughter enjoy her experience at swat (or has she enjoyed it so far)?
@Midwestdad3 I think visiting anything out of state would be out of the question, but I’ll definitely see about UGA, Gtech, Emory, etc. Looking at Oberlin’s website, it definitely seems appealing and it seems to be a reasonable choice for my level of academic strength, but I’m unsure about one thing: What exactly distinguishes a Liberal Arts university from a “regular” university? From what little info I’ve gathered, Liberal Arts universities tend to have a reputation for not being worth the expenses.

13

She got into Swat, but did not attend. Don’t underestimate how difficult it is to get into Swat, it is a top 3 LAC. And it has extremely rigorous academics.

To answer your question about liberal arts colleges, they are generally much smaller than universities. They have smaller class sizes (you won’t generally end up with 200+ students in a lecture hall), classes are usually taught by professors (few or no TAs because there are no grad students), they don’t tend to have “professional” majors like business or nursing (and only a small number have engineering). LAC professors all do research, but they do not have grad students, so undergrads are able to get more attention and opportunities.

Universities tend to have larger course selections, a larger social pool, and (if you go to an in-state option) a lower price tag. Although some LACs offer a fair amount of merit aid (but only if you are near the top of their applicant pool), and need-based aid can be very good at top LACs. Some would say that research opportunities are better at universities (sometimes better facilities), but I think this can be offset by the grad student factor.

If your parents won’t foot the bill or take the time to take you to visit out of state, what makes you think they would be supportive of you applying to these schools?

14

@intparent, that’s a fair point. better to underestimate yourself than underestimate the challenge.

So in other words, if I plan to build myself a solid foundation for future expenses in life, an LAC would not be a good choice?
It’s not so much that my mom is un-supportive, we just don’t have the comfort of wealth to make those expenses. Call me a fool, but I mainly expect to meet college expenses with scholarships and financial-aid.

15

So one of the first things you need to learn about is the net price calculators. Pretty much even school has them now, on the financial aid page of their website. You can get your parents to help you enter in your family’s financial information, and it will tell you what your likely cost of attendance will be. However, if your parents are divorced, own a small business, or own rental property, they may not be reliable (you will generally pay more than they show). But they are a good way to figure out if your parents are at all willing and able to pay for any of these schools.

If you expect to make up the difference in merit scholarships, many schools do not “stack” scholarships. If you get a merit scholarship, they just reduce the amount of your need based aid, and your cost to attend is the same. There are a few schools that “stack”, but many do not. You often can’t tell easily from the websites, you actually need to ask them. Also, the best merit is usually available from the schools themselves. Outside scholarships tend to be small and for only one year, unless they are super competitive. There are some schools that guarantee scholarships for good stats (link below), and if you study for the PSAT for next year and can meet or beat the national merit semifinalist cutoff, there are some great scholarships available at places like University of Alabama.

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

I would not say that going to an LAC reduces your chance at a good job, far from it. One of my kids attended Dickinson, an LAC in Pennsylvania, got a very good job after graduating, and has been promoted twice in the 2 years since graduation. She is making a very respectable salary, and majored in a humanities subject. Her boyfriend has done the same. My other kid attends Harvey Mudd, an LAC with a STEM focus in California. Mudd routinely tops the Payscale survey for top salaries mid-career for college graduates (covers all US colleges). You are painting with a broad brush to assume an LAC isn’t worth the expenditure. Plus, some LACs give very good financial aid.

LACs also offer majors that are very marketable. Econ, math, computer science, and physics are some that tend to do particularly well in the job market. Some also offer engineering. They are also great places to prepare for medical school, law school, MBA programs, or any kind of graduate school.

16

I’ve also looked into computer science and it looks like you need the following maths. Everyone I’ve talked to says College Algebra and Pre Calculus are easy if you took them in high school and really, really, really hard if you didn’t.

College Algebra
Pre Calculus
Calculus I
Calculus II (THIS IT THE CO REQUISITE FOR THE FIRST COM SCI CLASS!)
Linear Algebra
Probability
Statistics
Discrete Mathematics

Stops here for Software Design and Business Options

Even more math And University Physics I and IIfor Science Option

Apparently everything up until Calculus II is really, really hard and everything after that is much, much easier except for University Physics I and II for Science options.

According to the internet I can test out of College Algebra through Calculus I but I’m really having trouble finding anyone who can confirm how that “really works”.

http://www.4year-plan.com/WordPress/

The site above says you can start testing out of stuff in college it but beyond that all I’ve really found is lists of what schools accept what exams; I’m not really sure what the limits are, or if you can really take the “CLEP Exam” in high school.

17

@intparent I was not aware that universities had those policies regarding financial aid. How underhanded!

I have been looking into the National Merit Scholarship and and the National Hispanic Recognition Program (essentially the same thing but specifically for hispanic students) and think I have a solid chance of qualifying for at least NHRP since the Georgia cutoff is usually 190-195–a score easily within my reach.

Just today my teacher talked to me about recommending me for the Gates Millennial Scholarship but I understand that it’s extremely competitive and currently my extra-curriculars are terribly lacking (my only clubs/involvement are Beta club and Orchestra).

I apologize for my narrow view of Liberal Arts colleges. Before today on this thread I wasn’t even very sure of what a Lib Arts college was.

One last thing. I’m currently undecided on whether I should take English 101 at a Georgia Gwinnet College through dual-enrollment or AP Language Arts for my Junior English class. According to the counselors, the highest grade you can earn in Dual Enrollment classes is a 95 vs a 110 in AP. Also, I’d have to complete the SAT this year (not really much issue with this, besides the approaching application deadline). I was also hoping to be able to take an additional foreign language (chinese) at GGC but I’m not sure if this is something permitted with the Dual-Enrollment program.

18

@EntranceExamGuy‌ I’ve heard of the CLEP exam too. It’s essentially like the AP exam in the sense that it will earn you college credits but it is much less difficult than the AP exam. I can’t really understand what you’re trying to say about those math classes. What I gathered from is is that the only difficult mathematics class will be Cal II and Physics (not sure if you’re saying it is or isn’t required)?

19

CLEP won’t help you for top colleges. Colleges want to see you take the most advanced classes possible. In your case, GGC classes would only be helpful if you can push past the 1st level, ie, you take Composition 1 AND 2 from the college, since it’d go past the AP. However, AP English Language is a very useful class, designed differently than freshman composition. If you already have a Level4 foreign language (or took the AP test in it), taking Chinese in college would be a great addition but be aware the pace is going to be brutal - you"ll cover 2 years of HS Chinese in 4 months! You can always “try” and drop it, ask your guidance counselor how easy it is and whether if Chinese is too fast paced whether you could take another language or another class without a mark on your HS transcript.

If you’d qualify (financially) for Gates Millenium, then you ought to consider universities that meet 100% need, especially LACs (as intparent said, any LAC ranked in the top 50 is going to be very strong academically, with personal attention, interactive classes, research opportunities, strong alumni, and, for those on the list below, excellent financial aid.) Also, check out Questbridge.
http://www.questbridge.org/

If you live near Atlanta, go visit Spelman or Agnes Scott (if you’re a girl), plus Emory’ Oxford College (co-ed), Emory University, and Georgia State. That’ll give you an idea of the differences between various types of colleges.

Financial aid is for people who need money for college because their parents don’t make enough. Only about 80 colleges meet 100% need (or up to 95 - Dickinson, where Intparent’s kid went, is one of those, as is Clark in Massachusetts, for instance). Many of these colleges do so without loans. In fact, many offer you the equivalent of a full ride, ie., they cover with their financial aid what you need for housing, food, books, transportation to the college. “Meet 100% need” means that if your parents have been calculated to be able to pay $1,200, the college won’t ask them to pay $10,000, but $1,200, and they’ll offer scholarships (and loans) to make up the difference. As you can guess from the fact there are thousands of colleges, very few universities meet 100% need.
Merit aid is given regardless of whether your parents make a lot of money or not, it’s based on your results. If you get high SAT or ACT scores ( a key criterion), you can get a lot of money even from universities that do not meet 100% need. However, these universities only offer merit aid to the top 10% of their applicants so you need to position yourself to be in that group.
Finally, there’s the PSAT - since you’re within range for NHR, prepare carefully over the summer, since it’ll mean full rides at many colleges and it’ll expand your choices.
If you’re lower income and/or first gen (ie., neither parent graduated from a 4-year college) you can apply to colleges that offer all types of aid - you’ll need to “apply widely”, ie., use your fee waivers to apply to a wide variety of schools, so that you are sure to have a choice of affordable colleges.
A “good” list will include 2 colleges that you like, have run the NPCs for and know you can afford, and that you’re sure you can get into; 3-5 “matches”, schools where your stats place you above the average but below/near the 75% threshold*, that you can afford and like; and as many reaches as you wish or can afford.

The website below is dedicated to helping first gen students and lists colles that meet 100% need:
http://blog.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/blog/colleges-that-meet-100-of-student-financial-need/

20

@myos1634, would I be able to take fr comp 1 and 2 in one highschool school year or would I have to take it as a senior in place of another language arts class? By the end of my highschool career I will have completed another foreign language (spanish) at the AP level. I’m not too scared of the pacing. I have several friends and even some relatives who could help me study for Chinese so it’d be fine. As far as I’m aware though, most community colleges have drop periods where you can drop a class without penalty? As you probably suspect though the conditions might me different on account of me being a hs student. My only question is: will I actually be permitted to take Chinese through dual enrollment if it won’t be in place of one of my highschool classes? Assuming I did dual enrollment for fr comp and take chinese, I’d still want to attend my other 5 hs classes (including spanish). The reason Chinese (or another foreign language) interests me is because the options are my high school are quite limited. Spanish, French, and latin: that’s it.