<p>Since you have looked at ‘the top’ colleges (campus visits etc), do all the application processes and see what happens. </p>
<p>I still would encourage you to do a campus visit to UA - a University Day visit, Capstone Scholars Visit Day. Schedule a day with the dept you want to major in, and see what Honors at UA is all about. Call UA admissions to get details, and perhaps talk/email the UA recruiter that handles GA.</p>
<p>You do not say what you want to study - and maybe that will change. You may think a ‘top college’ (maybe defined by stringent admission requirements, or by the marketing, or the incoming student stats). </p>
<p>Your parents may see a school that they think is a good fit for you and are not willing to pay the difference for a school that they do not think is cost effective. If they are willing to send you where you want to go and they have plenty of money to pay ‘full freight’ without a problem, so be it. Sometimes it helps having them in all of the discussions, because they may have some good insights that you may realize are important.</p>
<p>The list of match/high match that others have posted might be correct and may help you determine where you want to apply. After acceptances, you may want to visit your final picks to decide for sure.</p>
<p>My nephew who now has a PhD (is teaching on tenure track, and is maybe going on to law school to further his career) and his dissertation is a book (published) was a Rhodes finalist. He has an active and satisfying career. Since his parents wanted him to stay fairly close to home (he lived in Iowa), he decided that the best college for him was Drake (he was student body president as a Junior, was a Senator Aide one semester in DC, and triple majored with summa cum laude). What he did during his undergrad years was more important - he said the main things he ‘learned’ was how to read and write. He worked hard but was capable of the work load to be a top student. A mistake he made with Drake was that he tipped his hand that he really wanted to go there, and he did not get the top scholarship at the school (and did better at college than others that got the top scholarship).</p>
<p>The school(s) you think are exclusive and desirable may have a great overall appeal, but the major/degree might not be that strong. A small private school may not have the flexibility if you decide to change your major.</p>
<p>ACT/SAT and GPA are only one facet of admissions for selective schools. Perhaps your school guidance counselor can be helpful. If your parents indeed are financially comfortable, perhaps you want to pay someone to ‘help you’ with your admissions applications. There are automatic scholarships tied to these two facets with some schools (like UA). Someone could be smart (high ACT/SAT) but not so high GPA - meaning they are not willing to work at school, so less appealing candidate; a high GPA and not so high ACT/SAT also is a measure.</p>
<p>Learn all you can about the ‘selective’ schools you want to attend - the more you know, the better your application will be when you can relate your interest and how you can be an asset as part of the student body.</p>
<p>nnocnat2, maybe you didn’t want to hear more from me, but if you don’t, maybe other parents/students do. I have degrees from 3 universities all in different states (one private - double majored with honors, two graduate business degrees), worked for two universitities, and taught business courses at one. More importantly, I have followed my friends’ kids on their college pursuits (national merit and other terrific students), and have help guide my 2 DDs in this process - so I have recent experience (second D going to college in the fall). You have more ‘choices’ with OOS private and public options - so other parents/students can help you on that, but for my DDs degree pursuits, we found the best match (within our resources and with the best scholarships) at in-state public school (two different ones). Nursing major, and civil eng major.</p>