<p>I'm a current HS junior with a 4.5ish weighted gpa and a 3.95 unweighted in the top 5% of my class. I haven't taken the SAT yet but I took the PSAT and got 201 if that's any indicator of how I might do. I don't do many interesting things outside of school other than a few clubs and volunteering at the local library.</p>
<p>I'm just starting the college search and I'm wondering what schools would be feasible for me. I live in MA so obviously I have looked into the Umass schools. I also visited Northeastern and I thought it was nice- the co-op program seems good and they have ample facilities for students- but I'm not sure if I'd like such a big school.</p>
<p>I'm not sure what I want to major in, but I do know that I DON'T want to major in anything science. </p>
<p>what’s going to determine where you go to college more than anything else is the financial condition of your parents. </p>
<p>Take UMass, Northeastern, and Brandeis and go to their financial aid webpages with your parents. Click on the Net Price Calculator of each school and fill in the npc. It will crank out an Expected Family Contribution. Show it to mom and dad and ask them if they can provide you with that much money each year. That info will help us to help you put together a list in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>It’s time to begin the money conversation. They might come up with any number of reasons why they don’t want to do this, but be patient with them and keep the pressure on because you cannot create a list when you don’t know what you can afford. </p>
<p>Also look at a the Princeton or Fiske handbook of colleges; try, too, to decide if there are other areas of the country where you would want to go to school. A suggestion: without better ECs, the ivies are not in play no matter what your SAT is. Study for the standardized test and do well and you’ll improve your admission chances and your chances of good Financial Aid.</p>
<p>Looking at your academics, I’d say you have a good shot at most >35ish% admission schools (considering you have a challenging course load), even more so if you got into a couple more extracurriculars, get good recommendations, etc. If you haven’t already, try the bigfuture (through college board website) college search. It has a broad range of info on a broad range of schools. I would say you should get a general idea of the size of the school you want, the region, a general idea of your major, cost, admission, etc. I’ve had success with bigfuture to find these types of things. From there you can keep narrowing your search down until you have a number of potential schools you’re comfortable with. Colleges have what seems like a billion different criteria so I think the best way to approach it is to just to look around and figure out what might be a good fit. Good luck!</p>