<p>I am a junior interested in majoring in physics. I could use some advise on which colleges would be reasonable for me to apply to, any advice is appreciated.</p>
<p>I go to a small private school for native Americans in Oklahoma.
Ranked 1st
Act 30
Sat will be taking soon
Gpa unweighted 4.0
Honors in all subjects
No ap classes at my school so I take ap phy and ap calc at Ossm currently and have A's expect 5 on each as well as chem sat sub 5.
I also am a cuncurrent college student with 24 credit hours 4.0</p>
<p>NHS sec
Aices treasurer
3 year Robotic programmer/ qual for worlds 3 years
3 year captain scholar bowl
50 hour community service</p>
<p>Those are some nice stats and ECs and your high school may be a diversity hook. Plan on taking the SAT or the ACT again. Schools will be paying attention to that math score in particular. Start out by taking a look at the SuperMatch function here at CC. Plug in your data and as many prefs as you can, produce several lists by adjusting the prefs for the options you might take. Go to your parents and ask them to get out their most recent tax return. Go to the Net Price Calculators for several of the schools on your lists and plug in the information so you can calculate your Expected Family Contribution. Adjust the lists to meet the EFC. Come up with 20 schools you might want to attend and which you can afford. Come back and see us, letting us know what work you’ve already done on this effort. </p>
<p>Hopefully, other CC members will be able to speak to the opportunities available to Native Americans. </p>
<p>Your current stats are very good, and should give you a lot of choices admission-wise (including safeties, matches, and realistic reaches). However, cost constraints are important to determine what schools have the potential to be realistic financially, particularly when selecting safeties.</p>
<p>Some of the most selective schools (MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, etc.) make generous need-based financial aid claims (“meet full need”). However, their determination of “need” can vary, and they have different student (work and loan) expectations. To get estimates, go to each school’s web site and search for the “net price calculator” and use it.</p>
<p>For the most selective schools, you may want to try the SAT as well, since some students do better on the SAT than the ACT. Then retry the initially higher one in the fall if you want to try for a higher score. A few more points on the ACT or SAT may also improve your chances at large merit scholarships. Some of the most selective schools also want some SAT subject tests (check their web sites).</p>
<p>Thank you for the advise everyone. I just did the super match on here and a few were Cornell, Brown,Case Western,Tulane,Carnegie Mellon to name a few. I will go check into the financial side of these schools. As far as financially my parents make to much for Pell grant eligibility which as I understand it disqualifies a lot of options. Of course not so much that 50 grand a year is doable. Should I be looking into schools that offer merit based scholarships as my only choice?. Thanks again</p>
<p>Adcoms are various famous colleges reading this will just be drooling.
I’ll recap: Valedictorian, Native American, OK, ACT30, 4.0, dual enrolled at 4.0… You’re like the embodiement of everything they’re looking for.</p>
<p>Then, request info (actually fill out the form on the website - don’t be a “stealth applicant”, adcoms would rather have you on their radar) from CalTech, HarveyMudd, Stanford, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Rice, the entire ivy league, Williams, Tufts, Swarthmore, Columbia…
(if you’re a girl: Barnard, Smith, Wellesley)
Safeties: Lawrence U; Agnes Scott (if you’re a girl)
Once you get the brochure, try to determine fit. Borrow or buy “INsider’s guide to the colleges” or “Fiske guide”. In August-October, register for fly-ins to discover as many colleges as you can.</p>
<p>Thx so much…questbridge info looks promising besides the income part of it. I will still apply and see what they have to say. I will be first generation but not low income…the joys of middle class… sigh.</p>
<p>It depends whether you’re “college confidential middle class” (100-150k) or regular middle class (60-100k) I don’t know at what level Questbridge considers you’re wealthy enough to fend on your own. It’s a combination of being girst gen and lower income.</p>
<p>Go fill out the “request info” forms now I promise you’ll get literature to distract you about every day. </p>
<p>As far as physics academics go, the undergraduate physics major is fairly standardized:</p>
<p>Frosh/soph:
Math: calculus, multivariable calculus, linear algebra, differential equations.
Physics: calculus-based introductory physics sequence, including mechanics, electromagnetism, and other topics (an honors sequence is sometimes available).</p>
<p>Junior/senior:
Physics: advanced courses in mechanics (classical and relativistic), quantum mechanics (often two semesters), electromagnetism (often two semesters), statistical and thermal physics, and laboratory experiments. Electives in astrophysics and other topics may be available at some schools.
Math: optional or recommended real analysis, complex analysis, algebra / group theory, advanced differential equations.</p>
<p>In addition, some schools require or recommend introductory chemistry and/or computer science courses for physics majors. General education requirements vary by school.</p>
<p>You can check on-line course catalog at each school for course offerings. But also check on-line schedules to make sure that each of the junior/senior level courses are offered at reasonable frequency (once every two years is the bare minimum; every year or every semester is preferable).</p>
<p>For preparation for PhD study, undergraduate research is important, so check each school for undergraduate research opportunities in physics.</p>
<p>Huh, didn’t know they still had private native American high schools, but I presume it means something completely different now than it did in the past. Anyways, everything that MYOS said, except for maybe the Agnes Scott recommendation and the Cal Tech thing (I don’t think the school gives a hoot what your back story is). Your safety is the University of Oklahoma. Only space grant school in the state, and there are a ton of scholarships available for Native Americans at the school. </p>
<p>Beyond that, you should look at Brandeis, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, U Rochester, and if you’re not too overwhelmed by your options, Harvey Mudd. </p>
<p>Does OSSM provide help in applying to selective colleges for the branch schools like it does for the main OKC option? If so, you should try to tap into that. It’s easily the best high school in Oklahoma and the college counselors know what they’re doing.</p>
<p>If you are into smaller LACs (besides the obvious Harvey Mudd) Reed and Oberlin have better physics departments than most, although you should check their net price calculators on the financial front.</p>
<p>^^ An advantage is that all UMN Morris students are guaranteed admission junior year at UMN Twin Cities. Sure, at that time, OP would need to pay tuition, and since OP may be eligible for scholarships at UMN Twin Cities as a freshman it may not make financial sense, but it may be something to keep in mind.</p>
<p>OP: what does your school’s guidance counselor suggest? Do you have Naviance? Where have former students with similar stats gone in the past 5 years or so?</p>
<p>Twin Cities might be a reasonable choice as a frosh, due to its relatively low non-resident tuition. But you should talk to your parents about what the price limit is.</p>
<p>^I think so, as long as the student has a 3.0, if not officially at least in practice, to the point there are special scholarships for those who stay junior-senior year .
But it may not be financially worthwhile for OP (just mentioning it in case other students are reading).
It may be worth discussing on the UMN forum if OP ever feels like exploring the option.</p>
<p>What great advise everyone thank you so much. I checked into a few schools and it seems to be more affordable to go to a top school than a oos state school. Using the calculator suggested my parents costs is for sure within reach. I am going to start narrowing my list down and try and get my scores higher. My adviser has’nt been all that helpful honestly. All she has really said is" if so and so got into Brown you can" ok but how do i do it. I will find out if I can use the Ossm adviser in ok city I don’t have one at my Ossm campus…great idea. Ou is for sure a safety school. </p>
<p>OOS publics are typically very expensive unless you get merit aid. But with your stats you should be able to get into a “meet full need” (private) school and although each schools calculates differently, you should be able to get good financial aid packages (schools like Harvard provide the best financial aid packages.) Don’t forget to include schools in between the tippy top ones and OU. </p>
<p>What kind of school do you want to go to? People have suggested a wide range of schools here, from small liberal arts colleges with less than 3,000 students (in all kinds of environments - urban, suburban, rural), large public flagship universities, the branch campuses of such universities (which tend to be smaller), elite medium-sized private universities…</p>
<p>They’re all going to be quite different in feel. I get that you may not have really thought about what kind of school you want to attend, but I think that’s the next step - thinking about what kind of environment you want to be in.</p>
I don’t know at what level Questbridge considers you’re wealthy enough to fend on your own. It’s a combination of being girst gen and lower income.</p>