what schools are right for me?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>*Gender: Female
*GPA: 100.6 (my school weights grades in a funny way. honors classes get 2 percentage points, ap gets 5)
*Class Rank: 1/200
*ACT:32 (english 34, math 32, reading 34, science 27)
*SAT: 2080 (critical reading 680, math 680, writing 690)
*SAT II: chem 660, math2 670 (this is so depressing...)
*intended major: some type of engineering
*math competitions (placed at county, region, state)
*science competions (placed at region, competed at states)
*Future Problem Solving Program International, aka FPSPI (went to states 7 times, placed 6 times, went to internationals 5 times, placed in top 10 once)
*marching band (brass choir in 9th grade, solo in 10th grade, solo in 11th grade, will be section leader this year)
*9th, 10th, and 11th grade president
*played basketball since 1st grade
*made it to state track meet in shot put
*Several of my friends and I started a project dealing with childhood obestiy. we gave 6 presentations to 600ish local K-3 students and gave away 1000ish free jump ropes.
*attended engineering camp at marshall. only 36 students from across the country. various team competitions, my team got 2nd
*attended music camp at UNCG twice</p>

<p>i was just wondering what type of schools i should be looking at. ive been doing some research and have somewhat of an idea but im not sure if im being realistic or optimistic or pessimistic or what. so what schools would be right for me? advice is greatly appreciated!</p>

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<p>oh i forgot to say i will need financial aid</p>

3

<p>What’s your criteria?</p>

<p>Ex. region, climate, size, area, your intended major?</p>

4

<p>Ethnicity?</p>

5

<p>Northwestern and Illinois look like a pretty good fits for you. Solid engineering program (w/ co-op), support for music/fine arts, GREAT Big Ten athletics and traditionally Marching Bands (I believe modern marching was invented at Illinois).</p>

6

<p>Certainly your state flagship U. What is your home state? Most OOS public Us (except UVA and UNC which are hard to get into) will provide minimal FA. For privates, Case Western, RPI, WPI, RIT. Case would be a match, the rest would be more safetyish.</p>

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<p>region and climate arent big factors for me. i wud prefer north eastern us but im not picky. i dont want to go to a huge school, i would prefer 20,000 or under. i plan on majoring in some type of engineering, just not sure what kind yet. ethnicity is white.</p>

8

<p>Erin’s dad haas good suggestions, I’d add CMU.</p>

9

<p>Case Western Reserve. Strong engineering, solid for your stats, good aid. Cleveland is downer though.</p>

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<p>thanks everyone for the help! how are those schools mentioned for financial aid?</p>

11

<p>Financial Aid or Merit Aid? Those are two different things. Do your parents earn a good living but can’t afford a pricey school? Or are they very low on the wage school and you have a low EFC?</p>

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<p>The above mentioned schools will all offer you rather poor financial aid (if substantial FA is needed)</p>

<p>With your great rank/gpa, good/great ec, and average scores, I suggest that you aim higher. You have a chance at any school in the nation, albeit a small chance at a few select schools.</p>

<p>Also, I have nothing personal against Case, but please steer from that school.</p>

13

<p>FA is a questionable thing.</p>

<p>First of all, you need to find out what your FAFSA EFC is and what your institutional family contribution will likely be. </p>

<p>You may “need” FA, but your schools may say that you don’t qualify.</p>

<p>What is your situation? If you have a noncustodial parent, then some schools will consider his income.</p>

<p>Most schools do NOT meet need. Usually only top schools meet need, so when looking for match and safety schools, you typically would need to look at schools that will give you BIG merit for stats.</p>

<p>How much will your parents pay each year? If you don’t know, ask.</p>

<p>You need to also apply to some schools that will give you ASSURED BIG merit for your stats. </p>

<p>ASSURED SCHOLARSHIPS…$$$ CC Important links to Merit Scholarships given for stats… </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>erinsdad: hey ill take whatever i can get lol. lets just say my moms total income does not equal one year of tuition even if every penny was spent on it.</p>

<p>noobcake: thamks for ur confidence in me lol but im not sure what u mean by “aim higher” or “steer away from case”?</p>

<p>mom2collegekids: yeah i have a noncustodial parent but i dont think either of my parents will be able to pay for much. ill be sure to check out that link tho!</p>

15

<p>The need for aid needs to be the first thing mentioned.</p>

<p>Sounds like you should be looking for need based aid if you have one, low income parent. This gets more complicated if there is a second parent, which many private schools will look at, even if you don’t live with him. But with your stats, you would get into several schools that meet 100% of need, so google the list.</p>

16

<p>thanks for the advice!</p>