Hi! I’m a junior in high school, and I need to be looking at colleges so I can arrange visits, but I have no idea for what level of college I should even be aiming for. Help me plss lol
Stats:
-4.0 uw, 4.2 w
-4 APs so far, and 4 more next year.
So far: Euro (5), Physics I, APUSH, Lang
Next yr: Lit, Psych, Bio, AB Calc
If I get all As again next yr, my GPA w will be a 4.4
-34 ACT
-Academic achievement awards/National Spanish Exam awards (1 gold, 1 bronze)
-Top 5%
-English-y Youth Options class next yr
-Taking SAT math II & lit tests in Oct
ECs (lacking?):
-Red Kettle Club (RKC), NHS, Spanish Honor Society (SHH)
-SHH Board member next yr
-School Newspaper
-Editor next yr
-Volunteering (110+ hrs this yr)
-Tennis
-Lol JV bc last yr was my first time on a team. I miiiiight be able to make it to varsity reserve for next yr
-Some other clubs, but they’re not at all prestigious, even though I love them (book club, art club, Spanish club).
I go to a relatively competitive high school and am a little worried. I know I can get into a college, but I kind of want one with some level of prestige that matches what I want at least a bit (Northeast/Central, middling size, neutral/liberal politically, financial aid friendly… but I’ll suffer the loans if it has a good grad & post-college job rate)
I want to study English (journalism), Spanish, or Education. What level of prestige should I be looking at, & which colleges are renowned for their English/Spanish/Ed programs? Kind of was considering colleges like NYU, Carnegie Mellon, University of Michigan, etc. U-W Madison as a safety. Am I aiming too high/too low/just right? Any suggestions? And do the universities I mentioned even have good English/Spanish/Ed programs? I’ll be the first in my family to go to an American college (I’m Hispanic) so I’m quite clueless about college in general.
Hi! I’m a junior to so I’m by no means an expert, but college counselors will usually tell you to pick schools out of three different categories- reaching, goal, and safety schools. Based on your profile (which actually is kinda similar to mine) your reaching schools can go as prestigious as you want, because they’ll be the upper range of prestige. Your goal schools I’d say are still selective since you have a pretty solid profile, my goal schools are around 20-30% acceptance rate. Your safety schools are schools that you’re 100% sure you can get in to, just in case your other options don’t pan out. I hope this helped at least a little bit, I’m pretty new to this process too.
My counselor isn’t as helpful as I’d like… They seem to expect me to already have some colleges in mind but there are so many that idek. Thank you though! You were helpful, so thank you so much for replying!
“What level of prestige” None. Stop worrying about prestige and start looking for colleges that offer what you are interested in studying. Consider things like if you want a traditional campus, city vs rural, large vs small, university vs college, etc. Use some on line resources like the college finder on this site.
lostaccount- I am definitely considering other aspects of college. I listed just a few of mine in my question lol. I think prestige plays into people’s first impressions of you, which are incredibly significant.
Do you know of any other college search tools btw? This one doesn’t take ECs & stuff into consideration and keeps suggesting Ivies for me (outer space level reaches lol) Thanks for your comment!
newjerseygirl98- Woah, where can one find this stuff out? I was kind of expecting to have loans until I die, so the idea of going for free, or being paid- 0.0 This was such a helpful response thank uuu
Michigan at least gives some aid to out of state students. UWisconsin - you need to look into the finances if you are not in state (I seem to recall that merit is a possibility, but don’t know details). You should run the net price calculator on each college website – as an English major, large loans are not advisable. Do that right away – there is no point in considering colleges you can’t afford. What is your home state?
Kenyon might be a good low match to consider – great English department. But run the calculator. What about Scripps in California? Part of the Claremont consortium, so you get the benefit of a larger community and cross registration with the other colleges, and the benefits of an LAC. And they meet need, which is important.
For any LAC, be sure you show interest. If you can’t visit, at least get on their mailing lists and go to any events in your area.
This thread might be helpful. You may want to apply to fly in programs for the fall:
(you could apply for Pomona’s, and then see both Pomona & Scripps if they accept you for the fly in). Pomona is great also, but more of a reach than Scripps. Nothing to stop you from applying to both colleges, of course.
I do want to add that public administration is something else I’m considering studying. idk what I’m doing with my life lol. Thank you to everyone so far though
Please go to each school’s website, read up on their available financial aid and run the NPC for each school. You’ve already received some incorrect information on this thread (Temple will not pay you to attend and Bama has generous merit aid but it wouldn’t be free to attend) so be wary of any information received from the unknowledgeable (i.e. other students).
For specific school recommendations, you need to provide home state and budget (i.e. What your parents have told you they can pay each year for college).
I live in WI. My parents paid barely anything for their higher ed, so they’ve been a little lax with setting a budget. Cheap as possible while still being a good school I guess
Don’t " guess ". It can only lead to disappointment.
Choose a few universities with different fa policies (umissouri, Syracuse, Macalester, Pomona, uw Madison…) and run the NPC with them. Ask them what they consider okay, what they don’t.
Sit your parents down on this long Memorial Day weekend, pull out the tax papers and run the net price calculator (NPC) on a few colleges here…some private, some in-state, some out of state. It will give you an exact amount of what the colleges will expect you to pay (this is your EFC).
And then realize you can only take out a certain amount in loans. I believe the limit is $5,500 for your first year and then it goes up a bit each year. Borrowing more will require private loans where your parents have to co-sign or Parent Plus loans. The interest rate is higher and the conditions of the loans are much less forgiving.
After you have all that information, you and your parents can talk about what they can actually pay Per year. Without going into significant debt.
If you have a lower end EFC, you should really google the list of schools that guarantee to meet full need. These schools will still expect you to have your EFC, but they will fill in the gap between the cost of attendance and your EFC and they guarantee to do it without loans.
It is a horrible plan to make a list of colleges based on a presumption that you will “expect to have loans until you die.” With a little research you can create a list of schools that are reaches both academically and financially; matches in both categories as well as absolute matches and reaches.
For what it’s worth, there are LOTS of parents and kids here on CC whose EFC is just too high for the schools in the NE all of our kids want to attend. We have had to say “no” and steer them inwards towards state schools or private schools that meet full need. I would never let my kid go into crazy debt ( a little bit is fine with us) and we refuse to give up our financial future just so our kid can go to school in her location of choice. Don’t get me wrong, she still has some of those schools on her reach list. But she also has a list of schools that will be super affordable with no loans and where she would be happy attending.
Dream big, keep your feet on the ground, SET THAT BUDGET and have a clear and specific talk with your parents. Financial vagueness in junior year seems to be the one quality that a lot of kids have in common here in April of senior year when they are posting on this forum “help I got into my dream score but now my parents say they can’t afford it.” Get the vagueness out of the way and get the numbers on the table.
You should be able to find a few colleges of further interest within this online article: “The 25 Most Literary Colleges in America,” Flavowire. Success as a future journalist may not relate to the availability of a journalism major. Teaching will often be certified on the master’s level; an education studies major will often be suitable for this goal. To roughly compare the selectivity of small and large schools, see “The 610 Smartest Colleges,” Business Insider.
Brown has an undergraduate Education Studies major as well as strong English and language programs; with the flexibility offered by the open curriculum, it would be easier than at most schools for you to pursue all three (though probably not triple-major).
