What colleges should I apply to?

College Search & Selection
1

I want to find good colleges to apply to. I keep trying to use those college match websites, but I feel like they don’t really show me good matches.

I’ve already asked a question similar to this before, and I was recommended flagship state colleges, but I don’t know if they all have education majors or are otherwise good for me.

What I’m looking for in a college is a large student body, name recognition, preferably good sports teams, sororities and frats, and a good location (I’d prefer the south over the north).

My grades:
GPA- UW: 3.6, W: 4.3
ACT- 30
SAT- 1370 (720 English/650 math)

Based on this, what kinds of colleges should I apply to?

2

Clemson, UNC, University of Florida/ Georgia/ Alabama/ Texas

3

Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, and Miss State would offer you a partial scholarship with your stats. Right now I’m looking at Alabama’s website and you qualify for a $19,000 scholarship. That brings your tuition to $8k a year, which is lower than most in-state tuition. All the other schools I listed offer very similar programs. Here’s what I copied and pasted from the Alabama website:

UA Scholar
A student with a 30-32 ACT or 1390-1480 SAT score and at least a 3.5 GPA, he or she will be named a UA Scholar and will receive $76,000 over four years ($19,000 per year).

4

I could see you really liking University of Georgia. My cousin went there and she loved it.

5

Thanks!

6

How about Elon University in North Carolina? I think it meets all your criteria, except for the fact that it is a mid-size national university, (6000 undergrads) not a large one. It is an emerging national university. Your profile is a good fit for the school. It has an education school. Not big time sports (like Alabama), but D1 sports. Greek life. Great weather. Beautiful campus. It’s in a nice town with great walkable areas (restaurants, shops, etc.) for students to go.

https://www.elon.edu/home/

I know it’s not as well known in the Midwest, but it is really an impressive school.

Also take a look at James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, VA. Larger school, great sports (won the FCS football national championship and was runner up the last couple of years), students love it there, very well respected in VA and DC area, where it has competitive admissions. Good luck!

7

Where do you live? Where do you intend to teach?

There’s a LOT to be said for getting your education degree in the same general area or state that you anticipate teaching. For one thing, your certification will be valid without any extra hoops to jump through. And in addition, the contacts you make while student teaching and observing may be very useful in attempting to break into some tough education markets.

8

I live in the Midwest (IL), but I don’t want to live here for the rest of my life. I intend to teach in a different state, so I want to go to college out of state.

9

Have you asked your parents how much they will spend each year on college

10

I’ve asked them, they said they’d pay for any college.

11

Probably every one has ed majors. To Check just go to the website and look

12

I didn’t see it listed as an option when I looked at the websites for a lot of them like UCLA, UC Berkeley, UT Austin, and UV.

13

At what level do you think you want to teach: early ed, primary, middle, high school?

14

Primary or elementary school

15

These schools are worth checking out for their Elementary Education programs, but I’m not sure if each matches your other criteria.
Purdue
Texas A&M University - College Station
Marshall University
Louisiana Tech University
University of Texas Arlington
University of Houston
University of Southern Mississippi
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
University of Maryland - College Park
Arizona State University - Tempe

16

Also, University of Arkansas has one of the best Elementary Ed. programs.

17

Thanks! Purdue, University of Maryland, ASU, and University of Arkansas look like maybe they could be good fits for me. I didn’t see elementary education listed as majors for UT Arlington, Texas A&M, or University of Houston, and the rest just didn’t seem like they fit the rest of what I’m looking for.

18

At the three you didn’t find, they offer specialty programs at the elementary level (Bilingual/ESL or Special Ed.).

19

Ok thanks! I’m not sure if those are good options for me then since I probably want to just study regular elementary education.

20

I should correct an earlier post about U. Arkansas. I’m not sure it’s “best”, but worth checking out. University of Georgia has been mentioned already, but I want to add that it consistently gets mentioned as one of the best. Vanderbilt too, though that’s a smaller school. Another highly rated is University of Virginia (Curry). Good luck in your search!