Hi, I am a junior in high school, and my parents have asked me to make a list of 10 or so colleges I am interested in applying to next year, so that we can plan to visit some of them over the summer. The problem is, I have no idea where to even start. I have pretty good grades with a 3.8 uw & a 4.4 w gpa. I also have an act score of 32 (but I plan on retaking), and solid extracurriculars, with some leadership positions. I live in Kansas, and the only thing I know for sure at this point is that I am applying to KU as a safety. I can see myself at any school (large or small, city or rural), however I have a slight preference towards larger colleges. I would also like colleges located in a city with a warmer climate, although this is not as important. I am interested in pre-med (biology), and my parents have told me I can go to any school as long as they are not paying more than $40k per year. Anyone have any suggestions on schools that fit my criteria that would be matches/safeties for me?
How far from Kansas are you willing to go? Are there any restrictions?
@beligr129 nope, I’m open to anything at this point
anyone???
Since you have a $40k/year budget, your family’s income and financial need will be a big factor in your evaluation process. My suggestions for a starting place:
- Assuming you are unlikely to get significant financial aid from out-of-state public colleges, make a list of warm-climate private colleges. Here’s a sample: University of San Diego, USC, Pepperdine, Claremont Colleges (Pomona, Pitzer, Scripps, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd), Occidental, Loyola Marymount, Stanford, Santa Clara, Reed, Rice. Go to any college search web site and find more by filtering by state.
- Run the net price calculator (NPC) for each and keep track of the results. This should give you information about how much financial aid you qualify for and provide a starting point for those colleges that meet your preferences and budget.
- Depending on the NPC results, you may need to fine tune your search to less expensive colleges that are not necessarily in warmer climates. Examples: Drake, Miami of Ohio. Again, a college search web site can help you make a filtered list.
Good luck!
In case you haven’t found them yet, Net Price Calculators are on the college websites. Usually on the financial aid page.
Here are some schools, of at least medium size, in warm(er) climates – St. Louis or DC and points south, basically, and California – that offer need-based aid:
Reach:
Stanford
Duke
Georgetown
Rice
Vanderbilt
Washington U (St. Louis)
Low reach/High match:
Emory
UVA OOS
USC
UNC OOS
Tulane
Match:
Miami (FL)
SMU
Pepperdine
GWU
American U
Low match:
TCU
Tulsa
College of Charleston
You have a very solid safety with KU. Additional safeties include heavy merit schools like Alabama and Ole Miss. Runthe NPC to make sure a school is affordable before applying.
Including smaller schools:
Caltech
Pomona
Claremont McKenna
Washington & Lee
Harvey Mudd
Davidson
U of Richmond
Occidental
Pitzer
Scripps (women)
Rhodes
Sewanee
NEW College (FL)
Hendrix
Furman
Santa Clara
Check other threads & think about attributes that you might care about, besides the ones you’ve mentioned.
Sports
Greek life
% of students who live on campus
Average class size or student faculty ratio
Male female ratio
Single sex college
Any EC or special interest group you want available
Diversity (can mean racial, nationality, socioeconomic, etc)
The first few colleges you visit should be middle of the road or safeties. If you visit Stanford first, nothing else will quite match up. Visit an assortment of colleges, even if you’re not that interested in one but it happens to be close by. It will help you figure out what matters to you.
It’s harder to get a true feel for a school in the summer but if that’s all you can do, go for it.
If you’re premed, don’t major in biology. There’s an oversupply of them due to how many don’t get into med school and the market is oversaturated.
Run NPC’s and see whether need-based aid fits into your parents’ budget. If not, look into merit aid.
Rice and Tulane immediately come to mind.
@magtf1 @prezbucky thanks for the response, but unfortunately with a family income of $200k I doubt I will qualify for any need based financial aid. I would need to look at schools that offer lots of merit aid.
This might startle some people. Portland is cold and rainy from November to March, often with some snow.
@kcgir316 If you’re looking for additional academic rigor at your safety school University of Kansas, you may want to explore the Honors Program (https://honors.ku.edu/) if you haven’t already.