<p>I am nearing my junior year of high school and at this point I feel that there is not many college willing to accept me, at least not the ones I would l like. Son of single parent, so, financial aid will be a factor and hopefully a generous one. From a relatively small town in Ohio where we are viewed as underachieving students ( me excluded), and the ones that do graduate with intentions to attend college only go as far as the local college, which is nothing much. I have a general idea of what I want to major in, which is either going to be physical chemistry or astrophysics.
Here are my stats...</p>
<p>*GPA UW 3.9
*27 Pre-ACT
*4.51 Scholar
*In/Out of School Community Service
*Science Bowl
*Quiz Bowl
*Mock Trial
*Key Club
*Pep Band
*Concert Band
*French National Honors Society
-I do generally score high in science and math courses if that is relevant.
What college do you think would be appropriate for me to start considering?</p>
<p>Andrew- Keep up the great work!
Your ACT score should improve as you take the ACT in your junior year.</p>
<p>Suggested schools:
OSU
Miami of Ohio
Wooster
Case Western Reserve</p>
<p>Hopefully your ACT will improve enough to get you some good merit money/grant money and you will borrow the least you can!</p>
<p>Repost again next spring when you have your ACT score. If you apply to schools where you are in the top 10% or so, you should get good merit money, at least from private U’s. Once you have current scores, many on this site will have great suggestions for you. Merit money is key for you!</p>
<p>Good luck and keep up the good work!</p>
<p>
Part A of this statement is false, most colleges in fact accept most of their applicants. The top 200-300 out of the 3000 or so in the country are the selective ones everyone wrings their hands about getting into. Which brings us to part B of your statement. If the “the ones I would l like” are in that group, well, you get the picture. </p>
<p>At this point you have a big decision to make. Pick colleges that will impress your friends, or pick colleges that are right for achieving your goals. I hope you choose the latter. In that vein, the premise of your post title is wrong. There is no “what college” as if there is one universally acclaimed choice that is right for you and all others start to fall off from there. Hundreds of colleges in this country can give you a fine education. Know, too, that if your interests are in physical chemistry or astrophysics the “union card” to get a good job in the field is a PhD. A BS degree simply doesn’t get you a good job in the sciences, sorry to say.</p>
<p>So if I were in your shoes I’d have two goals. First and foremost would be to find colleges that are affordable. Get a book from your library on financial aid to understand how the system works. Second would be to find colleges that you’d like to attend. Consider things like class size, personal attention, advising system, type of students that tend to enroll (you already understand the drawbacks of your local college), etc. These things are discussed at length in any good book on admissions such as “Admission Matters”.</p>
<p>And then realize that to achieve your goals is more a reflection on what you do then the name of the college where you do it. You might imagine that everyone graduating from a name-brand college has a leg up, but in fact its going to be up to you to earn good grades and get to know some profs (key for getting the good recs you’ll need for grad school).</p>
<p>A top school for physics that is a match for your stats and would even probably offer merit is Lawrence University (WI). Top-ranked for physics, “R1” program (Research at both a big U lab and at Lawrence), great preparation for PHD.
Other schools that meet 100% need and have good science programs include Gettysburg and St Olaf.
Run the Net Price calculator on all of those.
Work on your ACT (number2.com, prep books, Red Book of Real ACT’s, etc.) Devote a lot of time and aim for a 32: that will open a lot of merit scholarships to you. This will be hard to do as most students only improve by 1-2 points, unless they took the 1st test unprepared and prepare for the second one.</p>