<p>Ok, so as of now I am an average senior in the class of 2010. 3.5 gpa, top 15%, 1790 SAT (600 CR, 580 Math, 610 Writing, 8 essay.) Ive been in AP English all 4 years, honors math, Honors Spanish, 2 years of honors history(freshman, and sophmore,) I suck at science but I passed every year. I'd like to become an accountant. Basically as I look at different colleges I find that not one of them meets the standards that I want them to meet. There are five standards that are the first questions that pop into my mind when I see a college. Here they are.</p>
<p>-Is the college in, around, or near Texas?</p>
<p>-Is the tuition under say around or under $16,000 a year</p>
<p>-Is the school a non commuter school (I want the school to have a campus life.)</p>
<p>-Is the school prestigious? Big plus
and</p>
<p>-Does the school offer financial aide scholarships to students like me?</p>
<p>Of course all of these questions depend upon the university to accept a student like myself. Any input you guys have would help immensely in this fascinating, yet frustrating search for the right college.</p>
<p>There is aid based on merit and aid based on need. Need-based aid isn’t connected to the selectivity of the school or qualifications of the applicant. Merit aid is - it’s only offered by schools to attract the type of students that the school couldn’t otherwise hope to attract. So most schools should come up with relatively similar need-based calculations of the amount of aid that you need. Whether they can offer you that in the forms of grants or loans, it a different matter, though. Only public schools would have a tuition sticker price < 16K, but private schools may turn out to be the same or less depending upon the aid for which you qualify.</p>
<p>Prestige, from the standpoint of a “wow” factor in and around Texas would be Rice - you’d need Ivy League-caliber credentials to be a candidate for admission there. From the standpoint of simple name recognition, Texas A&M and TCU are good suggestions. Another may be the U. of Arkansas. Trinity in San Antonio may be a good reach school.</p>
<p>I don’t think he’s going to get into UT with those stats and at this point his SAT isn’t high enough for the auto admission for A&M (needs a 1300 or 1310 I think, CR + M). However, with an increase in SAT and that grades/rank, A&M is still possible.</p>
<p>I would take a good look at Texas Tech. The Honors college is very strong and there might be some merit money for you if you get the SAT up. It is a great college experience.</p>
<p>You may also want to check out Austin College (in Sherman, not ACC) and SMU. Both are really good, and I know SMU actually gives pretty good merit aid for a private university.</p>
<p>Not to be mean, but if you want to be an accountant, you need much better math. Accounting is going to require you to understand Quant. Analysis, Statistics, and Business Calculus. The best accounting school in Texas is Baylor, a higher percentage of Baylor grads pass the Uniform CPA exam on the first try than anywhere else in Texas or the Gulf Coast. Texas and Texas A&M are also very solid schools, but they will also be very rough unless you are strong in math.</p>
<p>Hotasice, UT has more accountants than Baylor who pass the CPA exams <a href=“and%20more%20who%20fail%20-%20big%20school%20after%20all”>i</a>*, but Baylor has a higher percentage who pass on the first try. And Baylor is harder to get into than UT.</p>
<p>You beat us at football, basketball and baseball, we beat you at Med School, Law School, and Accountancy. Almost evens out. ;-)</p>
<p>^Baylor University doesn’t have it’s own Med School. Also, UTs Law School is considerably more prestigious, not to mention better ranked, than Baylor’s Law School.</p>
<p>UT is a far better school than Baylor, but because of the Texas top 10% law it can be seen as “easy” to get in if you’re already top 10% (thus guaranteed into UT) – however, this is ONLY if you are a Texas resident. When given the choice of going to UT or Baylor, the majority of people would pick UT I would assume. </p>
<p>UT blows Baylor out of the water in terms of academics and sports – I’m not even a Longhorn (but I did get into UT, out of state though) so I don’t really have any bias, but this is simply just the truth.</p>
<p>UT was ranked #47 by US News and World Rankings’ 2008, while Baylor was ranked #76. I think the numbers speak for themselves.</p>
<p>Based on what I’ve read, I think UT will be difficult and those stats are not going to earn significant merit money at SMU. You need top scores and grades to earn significant scholarships at SMU. You should be looking for a public Texas school - there are lots of them, how about Texas Tech? Southwestern in San Marcos? I’m sure there are more - but I would start with a search for public colleges and universities. If you are in state, and at a public school - you will find the tuition more affordable, and potential even qualify for merit scholarships, depending on the caliber of the school.</p>