Starting the College Search

College Search & Selection
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<p>Even though I've been on here a while, as a soon-to-be junior, I figure it's time to officially start my college search, as my parents are pushing to start visiting a few colleges this summer and right now, I've got a ton I like, so I think the best thing to do would be to post up my stats and see what CC thinks would be best for me so I can narrow it down.</p>

<p>GPA: Currently 3.62, but I'm expecting it to go up to at least a 3.8 possibly by the end of next year (this is weighted GPA, BTW, my school doesn't do unweighted)</p>

<p>Class rank: School doesn't rank, at LEAST in the top 25% though, if not higher (out of around 550 students) </p>

<p>SAT/ACT: Haven't taken yet, but based on practice tests and PSAT, expecting at least a 1800/29</p>

<p>Finances: Not sure how much my parents are willing to pay, but I know I'll be needing some scholarships. Really not wanting to take out loans. I will be applying for a ROTC scholarship, though, so if I receive one, then cost won't be an issue.</p>

<p>State: Virginia</p>

<p>Prospective major: Double-major in journalism, history, or political science (some combination with those 3), possibly pre-med</p>

<p>** Extracurriculars**[ul]
[<em>]Track
[</em>]International club
[<em>]Newspaper (probably be the editor senior year)
[</em>]Youth group (we do volunteering, mission trips, vacation Bible school, etc.)
[<em>]Quiz bowl (probably captain senior year)
[</em>]NHS[/ul]</p>

<p>What I'm looking for in a school
Unless it's UVA, I am really wanting to go OOS, no further west than IL, per my parents request. As far as size goes, I don't know what my limit is as far as how big of a school I'd be comfortable with...no smaller than 7,000 students. I don't want to go to a school where the students go home every weekend. Good school spirit, halfway decent sports teams (not a requirement though). Don't care if it's rural or suburban, but refuse to look at an incredibly urban school (like GWU). I want a REAL campus, if you know what I mean. </p>

<p>Schools I like
So far, I'm liking UVA, Boston College and University, Northwestern, Georgetown, Alabama, NCSU, Ohio University, and University of Maryland. I know some of those are reaches, but I am working on getting my GPA up even higher. </p>

<p>I guess that's about it. Let me know if I left anything else out. :)</p>

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<p>Well, assuming that you are Catholic, Villanova may be a good fit. Being ROTC at BC will help, but it will still be a reach. Northwestern will be a high reach, as you know. (Not to sound doom-and-gloomy.)</p>

<p>If you like BU, you may like Tufts and Northeastern as well. UPitt and the SUNYs have relatively low OOS tuition costs. </p>

<p>Also, I would not ignore your in-state options. George Mason is great for political science and W&M could be a solid match for you. </p>

<p>How about LACs?</p>

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<p>Thanks, Mint. </p>

<p>I feel like most LAC’s are too small for what I’m looking for.</p>

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<p>Alabama does sound like a really good fit for you. Why not Va Tech for in state?</p>

<p>I disagree with suggesting Pitt - too urban for what you say you want. Penn State might work (pending acceptance).</p>

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<p>Eh, too STEM-y for what I want and I’ve been there before and it just didn’t feel right.</p>

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<p>Penn State would work well. I agree with you about Pitt being too urban (I visited), but I wouldn’t say that it is more urban than BU. Gtown and BC have their own enclaves, but Pitt and BU are spread about.</p>

<p>How does the ROTC thingy work, CE?</p>

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<p>Which part of it, Mint? You mean as far as applying/getting the scholarship, or what?</p>

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<p>True - I had missed BU being an option. I’m rather surprised it is if the OP doesn’t want “urban” without a campus enclave.</p>

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<p>Yeah, I don’t really know why I have that on my list since it’s so urban, I think I just put it on there since they have a good journalism program.</p>

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<p>to many restrictions! visit different schools including some LAC’s then go back and re-figure (IMO)</p>

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<p>“Not sure how much my parents are willing to pay”</p>

<p>Ask your parents to sit down with you and run the Net Price Calculators at the websites of your favorite home-state public U, the websites of their alma maters (if they attended college/university in the US), and the websites of a couple more places that you think you might like. Then talk with your parents about what the results mean. If nothing looks like it will be affordable, go spend some time in the Financial Aid Forum reading up on the whole money issue.</p>

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<p>All right, that sounds good, thanks happymom.</p>

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<p>So how about Notre Dame? (I think you are Catholic, right?)</p>

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<p>Syracuse and Mizzou both have excellent journalism programs. Cuse is pretty expensive though, whereas Missouri would be more affordable. Neither are urban, but they are in decent sized cities. They both have a lot of school spirit too. </p>

<p>The only problem is that Mizzou is west of IL, but not by THAT much. I’m sure if it was a good fit your parents would allow you to attend.</p>

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<p>You really need to figure out your unweighted GPA if you can. This looks like a weak point in your application, and even if your school doesn’t calculate it, colleges will! Just so you have a realistic idea of what a match, reach, and safety look like. Your test scores don’t look like they will offset the GPA, either. Not trying to be a downer, but you need to have a realistic idea of where you stand against the competition for acceptance to top schools like Georgetown, Northwestern or Notre Dame. There are some good suggestions on this thread for you, though.</p>

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I like Notre Dame, but I know it’ll be a reach. Nope, I’m actually not Catholic, even though it looks like it from my list. :)</p>

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Yeah, that’d be fine.</p>

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Okay, I think it’s like 3.5 UW, not sure though. I’ll ask my GC about it when we go back to school. Don’t college usually recalculate GPA to their standards? Because our grading system isn’t the 10 point scale like a lot of schools I know have so that’s what’s tripping me up. Instead of 90-100 being an A, 94-100 is an A for us, and so on. Because if we had the 90-100= A scale, then my GPA (UW) would be about a 3.8. I realize that’s not an excuse for my GPA, but I do think it’s something that’s holding me back. </p>

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I took a practice ACT the other day and got a 33. </p>

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No, I understand, thank you for being honest, I don’t want anyone to sugarcoat it! :)</p>

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<p>Definitely check the money thing. Your stats could get you decent merit/FA (if there is need) at many private colleges - yeah mostly LACs but check a couple out and see how you feel - whereas out of state publics likely will be pricey for you unless VA has a reciprocity agreement with any other states.</p>

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<p>I can’t speak for others, but my kids’ high school would generally consider 90-92 to be an A-, 93-98 to be an A, 98-100 as an A+. So in GPA calculation A- = 3.7, A = 4.0, A+= 4.3. And so on…I think colleges probably do something similar when they recalculate, but they don’t count honors or AP courses as anything extra in the GPA calculation. If you want to compare apples to apples with other applicants out here, you might want to re-calculate it based on that. Remember that probably already have 2 years of high school classes done. It gets harder (mathematically) to raise your average with only 2 or at most 3 semesters of grades to come in before colleges are looking at your applications.</p>

<p>Good news on the ACT practice! You might consider taking both tests (SAT and ACT) to see which one goes better. Also, some schools on your list require subject tests, so take those Saturdays into account when planning your testing calendar for next year. Try to get as much testing done as you can in junior year, it frees you up a lot in fall of senior year to focus on your applications. Know that you may want to take some tests twice, so leave some time for that.</p>

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<p>Just to give you some basis for comparison, the average weighted gpa of accepted students from my D’s Virginia high school this year were as follows: 4.25 for UVA, 4.15 for W&M, 4.0 for Tech, 3.8 for JMU, 3.7 for GMU. Only AP and IB get weighted, not honors. If you are from a small, rural town, it may not be as cut-throat for you, but in Nova, you typically need to be top 5% to have a better than average chance at UVA.</p>

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<p>@OHMomof2: Alright, sounds good, I’ll definitely check some of the LACs out to see how I like them. </p>

<p>@intparent: Yes, I plan on taking both and then if I need to, retaking. Yep, definitely planning on taking subject tests, thanks for the reminder. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>And thanks for the GPA tidbit as far as how colleges most likely recalculate them. I recalculated it based on the scale you gave me, and for 9th and 10th together, I have a 3.8 UW.</p>

<p>@nova2nola: I have some friends up there, and I heard that it was pretty competitive. I do live in a rural area though. Thanks for the numbers!</p>