Sophmore starting the research game

College Search & Selection
21

<p>Here's my advice. Throw away the list you have and start over. From scratch.</p>

<p>Let me explain why. You're a sophomore, for gosh sake. You don't need a list this month, or this year for that matter. You have a luxury a lot of kids don't, the time to think carefully about what you want in college and then spend the time to find places that offer it and that you can afford. This is a luxury denied to the kids that start thinking about college in, say, September of their senior year. Your counselor has handed you a golden opportunity, so don't waste it by rushing things!!</p>

<p>You write "I cannot really say what i want in a college" and that should be a dead clue you're NOT ready to pick colleges. What would you say to someone who was going car-shopping but couldn't say what they wanted in a car? Who didn't know if they wanted new or used, pickup or car, what color, what brands, etc? Well, you're in the same boat with regards to college. How will you know when you've found what you're after if you can't explain what it is you're looking for in the first place?</p>

<p>Now a lot of kids are worried about college because they hear about the 10% accept rates and figure they're lucky to get in anywhere, assume all the power is in the hands of the colleges. Not true!!! Outside of the same 50-75 colleges everyone is chasing after, the truth (believe it or not) is that the rest accept most of their applicants. The key, then, isn't blindly choosing one of the competitive colleges just because that's what everyone else is doing. One of them may be right for you, but then again, maybe not. You won't know until you actually know what you want in college.</p>

<p>I'd start by reading a book or two about the college admission process. I'd suggest "Looking Beyond the Ivy League" by Pope (although the book has a bias towards LACs), and "Admission Matters : What Students and Parents Need to Know About Getting Into College" by Franck. The latter if you read only one. A good online article is at <a href="http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/78/07879796/0787979678.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/78/07879796/0787979678.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Then read thru the thread <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=41480%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=41480&lt;/a> because Carolyn gives some great advice on thinking about what you want in college. </p>

<p>Use this as a springboard to figure out what you're ideal college looks like. Just like the ideal car or ideal mate, it may not exist (or may not be obtainable). But with an ideal in mind you can evaluate options, make tradeoffs, etc. This is also the point to talk finances with your parents; have them fill out one of the financial-aid estimators online and discuss with them what you're family can afford. Keep in mind that many colleges will meet all demonstrated financial need with a mix of loans and grants, so money doesn't have to keep you out of private colleges.</p>

<p>And as you're deciding be sure to visit samples of various types of colleges to help get a feel for what is right for you. Visit a school in a city, one in the burbs, a rural campus. A LAC, a U. One with primarily commuters, one where everyone lives on/near campus. They don't have to be the ones you're interested in, you just want to get the flavor of the different types out there.</p>

<p>As a soph you have plenty of time to make a good decision. And you don't need to finalize anything at 16!! Keep an open mind and be willing to rethink things if need be. See what your older friends think as they go off to college, and factor in their experiences.</p>

22

<p>My freshman daughter is majoring in Egyptology. Since are only a handful of colleges in the US with many relevant undergraduate courses in the subject (and only one with a major!) and they are all selective, we also did research into archaeology in coming up with her application list.</p>

<p>U Wisconsin - La Crosse looks good initially. However, read what the web site says. You are in the college for a year and then compete for any slots that open up in the archaeology department. There may not be slots or you may not make it.</p>

<p>Have you looked at U Missouri - Columbia? It has an archaeology program and was my daughter's safety. It also has rolling admissions, which means you can have one in the bag while waiting on the others. It was a nice feeling.</p>

<p>Don't go to a school just because it has a particular dig or field school. For most places, applications are taken for slots from all interested individuals, not just those at the school. My daughter submitted her first such application today. (If she goes to this one, the credit granting institution will be Northern Illinois -- perhaps there's another one to look at!)</p>

<p>What I found we had to do is get a list of places that SAY they have archaeology (from <a href="http://www.petersons.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.petersons.com&lt;/a> -- it is a subcategory of social sciences I believe). Then I went through the list, checking web sites and course offerings. Some places only offer a particular type of archaeology; others have maybe two courses in total and you wonder why they are listed at all.</p>

<p>You can play with the search function at Peterson's, putting in your stats and other criteria, which might give you a more manageable list, too.</p>

<p>The other pure archeology schools we came up with were Wash U St Louis and UNC - Chapel Hill, but both of these are very selective (if you aren't in state NC), also Bryn Mawr (classical and near eastern archaeology), UNC - Greensboro, and Appalachian (didn't apply to the last two, because Missouri seemed the better program and my daughter only needed one safety).</p>

<p>I think U Chicago is a reach for about everyone (the admit rate is higher than other places with students with similar stats, but I think the applicants self-select; it is a challenging place academically), but you don't have ACT or SAT scores yet, and only have three semesters of high school grades. So it is hard to really tell at this point what WILL be a reach or not.</p>

<p>Try to visit some colleges if you can. Then you might get a feel for whether you like big or small, city or small college town, etc.</p>

<p>warblersrule86, where did you see the Egypt dig for University of Arizona? It must not be a field school, because we've been going through all those. The only field schools we saw in Egypt were Penn State's, which were rejected because they were only three weeks long and very pricey. My daughter's department said she would do better to find a longer general field school. Also digging in Egypt in the summer? Ah, we were just there and around Luxor it was hot. I can't imagine digging there in June!</p>

23

<p>Richard Wilkinson runs it (an Egyptologist at U of A). I found the link, but they're not accepting volunteers right now. :o</p>

<p><a href="http://web.arizona.edu/%7Eegypt/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.arizona.edu/~egypt/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Johns Hopkins has one, but it's during the year.
<a href="http://www.jhu.edu/%7Eneareast/egypttoday.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.jhu.edu/~neareast/egypttoday.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Michigan has a dig in Abydos run by Janet Richards; another dig at Abydos is run by the NYU-Yale-U Penn expedition. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, I don't know when these digs run, or even if they admit students from other universities.</p>

24

<p>I agree in that you probably shouldn't say where you can and can't get in yet. You're just past the halfway point of your sophmore year. While freshman year is of some importance, it really won't hurt you too badly. Don't rule yourself out of top schools already. If you bring your grades up starting now and work through senior year, you still have a chance at some extremely good schools. Your PSATs for a sophmore are strong. My scorews were not much lower than yours my sophmore year, but they went up almost 30 points taking them junior year. If you work hard this summer in prepping for SATs, your scores could definitely reach the 2200+ range. It's a test you just need to work at, some people can naturally get a 2400 without prep. Lucky them. For the rest of us though, working hard at figuring out the test is necessary. While it's great you are interested in colleges, I think you should devote most of your time to your grades and scores, because I think to rule colleges out this early is putting yourself in the mindset that you cannot achieve acceptance to the highest schools. You'll be amazed how far working hard on a daily basis can get you. Best of luck.</p>

25

<p>My understanding is that regular digs in Egypt are available for those with training (usually grad students) and aren't for volunteers. It isn't a question of what the dig sponsors say; it is a set of requirements imposed by the Egyptian government. They have gotten very strict in recent years. (I read through the new regs once but I don't remember all the details). Even if undergraduates are theoretically eligible, there is such a demand to do this only those with experience or special skills are likely to be allowed. This was the explanation given for one program I remember -- I think it was the U of Toronto's.</p>

<p>I don't know how the Penn State field schools get around this, or if they do for that matter.</p>

<p>Other new wrinkles -- discoveries have to be disclosed to the government first (if not, you end up banned from digs, like the woman who did the special claiming a particular mummy was Nefertiti) and must be initially published in an Arabic journal.</p>

<p>About French and German -- what is needed is reading ability, not conversation ability. Most colleges have such courses for grad students. My daughter's department suggests getting reading ability in German early in one's academic career so she took it first semester. She used it right away to translate a passage for a paper in another course.</p>

<p>We've also been told by two Egyptologists that ancient Greek is useful. Latin would also be good.</p>

<p>And you have all the ancient Egyptian itself to take (not just middle Egyptian but probably Early and Late; not just hieroglyphs, but hieratic and demotic).</p>

<p>So it is a very language-intensive discipline!</p>

26

<p>Mikemac has good advice - it is better to use this time to figure out exactly what you want in a college rather than choosing colleges without being sure of your criteria. Several people have mentioned good choices for Egyptology and fieldwork in general, but my question is: how sure are you that you like/want to pursue this field? The difference between becoming an administrative secretary and an archeologist is significant, so you might want to do some career exploration before using archeology programs as major criteria in selecting colleges. </p>

<p>How much experience have you had with archeology? If you have not been on a dig yet, that is a good place to start. As my advisor told me: Don't go into archeology until you've tried excavation and are sure you like it. Many people who think they will like archeology end up disliking the actual fieldwork - not only because of the physical labor/heat/insects/etc., but also because discoveries are usually much less impressive than what new workers might expect, involve significant paperwork, and may take years of laboratory processing before they can be interpreted. </p>

<p>You might want to use the next few years, then, to spend some time involved in local archeological projects to see if you like this line of work(again, I recommend the CAA because it is relatively close, potentially free, and digs near some of the most significant archeological sites in the country) and visit local colleges as Mikemac suggests, to see what kind of atmosphere appeals to you.</p>

27

<p>^
So true. I participated in a Native American dig at Western Carolina U (there used to be a mound in the middle of the campus), which people thought was incredibly cool...until they found out we only found two potsherds, mud/wattle, and a couple of bone fragments. It was hard work, not terribly exciting, and we only dug about 2 inches the whole time we were there. Fun, though.</p>

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<p>Again I want to clarify something.
my dream is to be an archeologist however due to me being below average and not having much money I doubt I will be able to go to a 4year college, So I will have to go toa two year one and get a job based on that education which can range from a secretary, recipnist-food service worker to whatever.
Dream-archeologist
Will probably have to do something else-like a food service worker.
Could someone please give me a good evaulation of my EC's in general so i can imporve there-I doubt I can improve elsewhere so please help me~!!!!!!!!!!!</p>

29

<p>
[quote]
my dream is to be an archeologist however due to me being below average and not having much money I doubt I will be able to go to a 4year college, So I will have to go toa two year one and get a job based on that education which can range from a secretary, recipnist-food service worker to whatever.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>You can still achieve your dream of being an archeologist. Some four year colleges do actually give financial aid. What you can do is to start browsing through the Financial Aid section on CC, work towards getting a higher PSAT score for junior year, so that you can qualify for National Merit, start looking at schools that give out full rides or pay a big bulk fo tuition for National Merit Finalists, start looking at scholarships at fastweb.com, look at need-blind colleges that offer 100% of need met financial aid, and also look at colleges that you can apply to their own merit scholarships. If you really wanted to go to a four year college, then you can make it possible, it really isn't that unattainable if you start looking realistically for solutions at this stage. </p>

<p>For your ECs, the reason I think that some people said that your ECs weren't "spectacular" was because it looked scattered and not very focused. I think some of your ECs are very good...for example, Girl Scouts (you don't find that many that continue it all the way into high school and has earned that many awards), and also working as a waitress for 20 hrs/week (shows responsibility).</p>

<p>Here is a way that you can group your ECs to make it "look" better and less scattered and unfocused.</p>

<p><em>These are all your ECs by the way</em></p>

<p>Work Experience
waitress and Babysitter 20 hrs/week</p>

<p>Model United nations
won a research award
at th end of this year i will have done 4 muns will try out for a leadership role.</p>

<p>Prosody Literary Magazine
staff (9th)
Editor (10th)</p>

<p>Tennis
JV(9th,10th)</p>

<p>Community Service Club
Student Leader of Northwest Settlement project (9th,10th)
Tsanumi Concert-help run (9th)
Hurricane katrina commitee (10th)
Martain Luther King Jr volunterring day (10th)
I have 59 hours of community service but soon I will have a lot more.</p>

<p>Girl Scouts (Been doing since Kindergarden)
Senior Girl Scout
Earned my silver award
Working on my gold award
arranging a World thinking day Event</p>

<p>Theatre
Shakespeare play -singing fairy (9th)
costume designer (10th)</p>

<p>Hope I could've been of some help.</p>

30

<p>
[quote]
my dream is to be an archeologist however due to me being below average and not having much money I doubt I will be able to go to a 4year college, So I will have to go toa two year one and get a job based on that education

[/quote]
You ought to march back into your counselors office and see if she/he agrees with this assessment. I doubt it, BTW. You have a good gpa and test scores, hardly below average. There are plenty of good colleges out there, even if they aren't named Harvard or Yale. Take a look at the US News article <a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/articles/brief/06average_brief.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/articles/brief/06average_brief.php&lt;/a> about great colleges for B students, and you're probably doing better than that.</p>

<p>As for not having too much money, you and your parents should fill out one of the online college financial aid calculators. Find out what your family's expected contribution (EFC) is. Colleges will meet your need which is the difference between their cost and your EFC with a mix of work-study, loans, and grants. Its not the case that your family has to pay $30K a year if they can't afford it (as determined by the EFC).</p>

<p>I know this is a lot to put on your shoulders, but I think you're making big decisions without being fully informed about your options. You're at a school with a counselor who is there to give you advice, and I encourage you to spend more time with the counselor making sure you fully understand your situation and alternatives before deciding you don't have the grades for a 4-year college, and couldn't afford it even if you could get in.</p>

31

<p>Thanks siren for organizing my stuff-I had it somewhat organized but then my computor kinda screwed it up.
I would talk to my counslar more but there are only two counslars at my school and they are really busy at the moment dealing with seniors and Juniors at the moment. Anyway at my school during your sophmore year you are supposed to meet with your counslar only once-unless something tramatic happens like you fail all your classes.
Alright perhaps I am not below average but I feel below average compared to everyone on CC
Again thanks for all the advice</p>

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<p>Also, something that siren brought up my eC's may look scattered but some of them I have to do is because of my school's requirements.
Every year i have to do one sport and one play. i personally am not a athlete but I somewhat enjoy tennis and all friends do it with me so it is fun. I am no actress either but I like being apart of plays even though it may be behind the curtain</p>

33

<p>Your EC's are fine. Lots of people who go to small schools have scattered EC's, because the school only offers a certain number of clubs and teams. Working and helping support your family is a big plus in your favor. </p>

<p>Here's something you can do to help your college efforts: every time you write something, read it over a second time and try to make it as accurate as possible. Look up words you don't know. Grammar and spelling are learned through repetition. Your teachers will be impressed, and so will college admissions counselors and future bosses.</p>

<p>Keep working as hard as you can at school. The goal is to make your dreams a little more realistic, and to make your reality a path to those dreams.</p>

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<p>Thanks midwesterner-great advice i'll take it to heart</p>

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<p>Pretty poetic for a former waitress, don't you think? ;)</p>

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<p>since your access to counselors is limited this year, I'd urge you to read the book by Franck I mentioned earlier before you go any farther. It will explain exactly how financial aid works, how colleges decide who to admit, etc. Its about $10 on amazon, money well spent in my opinion. Time is on your side here, you have more than a year before you need to make firm decisions. So I can't say this strongly enough, start the process cleanly from the very beginning instead of jumping into the middle (eg. "which colleges have good archeology programs"). Use this book to become informed about the whole college process and THEN start your explorations and choices.</p>

<p>While many students posting here are the "superstars" its wrong to conclude that if you don't match them you won't go to college at all. Maybe not HYPS, but a good college nonetheless.</p>

<p>And since you seem concerned with your grades and abilities, let me also recommend the book "What Smart Students Know". Its written by one of the cofounders of the Princeton Review test prep company, and explains how you should be studying different materials (math, history, literature, etc). Its ironic but in 12 years of schooling almost nobody gets lessons in HOW to study; its just something you're supposed to figure out on your own. The book explains what the best students do in order to learn various materials. It has things it took me years in college to realize, and things I never did get. Its no book of magic; you're not going to get top grades with 10 minutes of studying a day. But what it WILL do is ensure your time is being spent as effectively as possible.</p>

37

<p>Midwestern-Indeed very poetic!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)
I'll will check out that book you mentioned, mikemac. It sounds like it may help me. Actually i am pretty good at studying it is just sometimes I don't have the time to! Actually when I was freshman we were all required to take a class called freshman seminar- actually it may count in my GPA, I got an A in it! I 'll have to ask my dean. Back to what I was writing-the Freshman seminar taught us how to study and how to be organized in such.
I think my grades have improved though, I am in the middle of my second term and I think my midterm grades are
Painting-A
AP Modern European History-A
Chemistry-no clue yet
Math-no clue yet
Spanish-B+ or B
Emglish-Aor A-
Which have imporved since first term
History was a b+ now an A
Spanish B- to at least a solid B
Chemistry and math are a toss up. I am good at chemistry but we were given this ridiculus lab wuith one day of prep so i don't think I did to well on that. Math is just a challenege for me especially now since my teacher is on sabatical and we have an awful sub. Praying for a b-, cross your fingers for me!!!!!!!!11</p>

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<p>I've been advising you to start carefully from the beginning, so I'm hesitant to ignore my own advice. However I do want to pass on some info about grad school you (and many others) may not know.</p>

<p>To be considered a professional archeologist (or a professional economist, historian, etc) takes a PhD in the field. You may be concerned with how you could possibly pay for all those extra years of schooling.</p>

<p>What most people don't know is that grad school is free!! Not only that, you actually get paid for attending! It may sound too good to be true, but it's not. Students in PhD programs are funded by a combination of the university and their supervising professor who gets grants and in turn pays his grad students. Many students also get outside grants.</p>

<p>At the better colleges more of the money is given in terms of scholarships/grants and less in terms of work-study. For work study, thats what the TAs (teaching assistants) and RA's (research assistants) due to work their way thru school. Bottom line, though, is in PhD programs you are actually paid to go to school! Granted you're not living high on the hog, but enough to survive and medical coverage is usually included. See, for example, <a href="http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/financial/standard.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/financial/standard.html&lt;/a> for an overview of financial aid for grad students at Yale.</p>

<p>If you were accepted into the Yale Sociology PhD program, for example, a Yale web page at <a href="http://tinyurl.com/ale95%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://tinyurl.com/ale95&lt;/a> says "All accepted students are fully funded for five years. In the first four years they receive full tuition and a living stipend and in the fifth or sixth year students are eligible for the dissertation write-up fellowship. In the third and fourth years students are required to serve as teaching fellows to receive their stipend. In 2005-2006 the annual stipend is $18,000. "</p>

<p>I'm just posting this so that you don't rule out grad school because you assume you could never afford it. However let's not put the cart before the horse! As was wisely pointed out, you should get some experience in archaeology ASAP to see if it's what you really enjoy. And I always recommend college students, no matter what their career field, explore it with internships, day-on-the-job, etc. before graduating .</p>

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<p>I know I am told to strike the list of colleges i started with however just for fun- could anyone tell me info on these colleges I selected at th begining of this post.
Thanks again to everyone who has responsed and will respond:)</p>

40

<p>Misty you need to calm down on getting as many ECs as possible. Just stick to the ones you like and do it for all 4 years. </p>

<p>I used to be like you wandering what I should do with my life, but realize, you only live once, and shoot for the stars, I'm sure at the end of your life you don't want to look back and say "what if i did go to college - and became an archaeologist?" </p>

<p>I was considering just trying to get some job which would let me live comfortably, but I now realize since I only live once, I might as well shoot for my dream job. </p>

<p>In the end, colleges will see that you come from a low-income family and that you have to work a lot. They will understand that you cant have 100s of ECs. What you are doing already seems fine. Just keep in mind, here, Misty - most of the people on CC are the top5% of high school students in America. </p>

<p>You can be normal too, you dont have to be someone with 2400 SAT, 1000 Hours of community service, who invented the internet after curing world hunger. </p>

<p>All in all, I think your in great shape to get into college, and you should stop being so pessimistic.</p>