<p>Hi everyone!
I am a Junior from Iowa with NO IDEA where i want to spend the next four years...where do you think I should apply? I'd prefer not to go instate because it seems so generic...and honestly who wants to be stuck in Iowa forever?</p>
<p>ACT: 32
GPA:3.8/4.4
APS: This year: Physics B, Calc AB, Lang/Comp, Microecon
Senior Year: Spanish, Calc BC, Government, Human Geograph, Lit
Medium Size highschool, nearly 300 in class, top 5 %
ECs: Varsity Football Cheerleading (3 years) Co-captain/captain(2 years)
VArsity Basketball cheerleading (3years) Co-captain/captain(2 years)
Varsity competition Squad(3 years, second in state in 2004)
VArsity soccer (will be 4 years)
JV Soccer(1 year)
Club soccer (11 years)
Marching band (2 years)
Pep band ( 1 year)
Mock Trial team(3 years, once third at regionals, once first)
Social committee
Prom committee
Youth group (5 years)
Library Volunteer(5 years)
Younglife
Various mission trips and other volunteer work
Awards: Honor roll, academic all conference, Hopefully NMSF, with iowa's nice and low cut offs! Shrine Bowl Cheerleader</p>
<p>what about baylor? seems ur very involved in ur community in church. towns not the best, but both ft worth and austin are about 80 miles away.</p>
<p>I have a friend whose going there this fall and shes really excited for it. Ive never been to Texas, though. How big is Baylor and what are some of its good programs?</p>
<p>with a solid ACT score, gpa and some good ECS, a kid from Iowa could go to a great school.</p>
<p>what do you want in a school? big/small? urban/suburban/rural? what major you want to study?</p>
<p>I know that I like bigger rather than smaller ( at least 5,000 or so, preferably more) a nice campus with people who are social but focused (not really a nerdy school or a party school) and suburban/urban. I want to have lots of opportunites, for internships etc, which tend to be more prevalent in larger cities. I really love california but I know the Uc's are tough to get into.</p>
<p>Michigan, Northwestern, UCLA, USC, Boston College, Penn, Georgetown, GWU, NYU</p>
<p>Thanks! I'll look into those Another question...What do adcoms think of Iowa education ?</p>
<p>bobbobbob's list is good --also consider Emory, UNC, Boston University, Tufts, Washington U.(St.Louis). Maybe American U. ?</p>
<p>well obviously we arent adcoms, but the school will generally know of the educational quality of your area so it will be taken into consideration whether youre at a top private school or a public school and such. The only thing you can do is to take the most difficult courses available.</p>
<p>baylors got about 15,000 students, 12,000 of those are undergrads. its fortes are biology(plus anything else premed), vocal music, business(the grad program is heavily ranked, and the bachelors side has a proven track record with big 8 accounting firms placement),computer science. u cant go wrong at baylor really, unless u wanna be an engineer. the big thing is it provides a christian environment at a top notch school. my father went there to play football, but what he got out of those 4 years of schooling led him to top notch job opportunities throughout his life.</p>
<p>I think they know that Iowa isn't just another state "out there." Iowa is a farming state, but it's known to take education very seriously. I went to grad school in your state for a while (U of Iowa), and was very impressed with the intellectual atmosphere. And I think when you combine the general state-wide public high school excellence with the fact that probably most top Iowa high school students are content to go to their own state's fine universities or the ones in Illinois, most elite universities in the East would be happy to admit an Iowa resident with your impressive credentials</p>
<p>I'm also from iowa and visited several OOS schools last year when i was a junior. Ultimately I chose Iowa State simply because I love the "down-home" feel I got from the school, students, and staff. It's also about 50 minutes north of my home so its far enough away that I probably won't come home except for breaks but I can come home easily if I have to. It also seemed like the best fit for my major. Some of the schools I visited include UNC--CH, Purdue, Wash U in St Louis, and Northwestern. These schools love having Iowa students apply, mainly b/c of what TourGuide said: we have excellent high schools and not many apply to those more elite schools. I actually had my heart set on UNC-CH (mainly to get away from home) and was accepted but my parents said they wouldnt help me pay b/c its so expensive OOS, so I'm going to ISU for four years and then hopefully UNC for grad school :)
good luck with your college search!!</p>
<p>Wow, thanks thats really encouraging! Guidance counselors, at least at my school, don't give us much advice beyond applying instate, which is very disappointing because we have lots of bright students and parents willing to fund expensive educations. My counselor, for example, had no idea about the cut offs for national merit and she advised me against taking Sat II's because "i dont need them" . The Ivy league students from my school have all been rowers. I'm not here to complain about her though. Are counselors at other high schools more helpful? Anyone else from Iowa like to share how they made their decisions?</p>
<p>my hs counselors are great, which would probably account for the high matriculations to ivies and service academies from my hs in tx</p>
<p>My S goes to NC State and one of his best friends there is from Iowa.</p>
<p>spartan i agree. my hs counselor doesnt encourage students to apply to elite colleges. if a student does apply to them its own their own doing and she's just there to sign the apps. i dont know about the other counselors. but onto your question</p>
<p>just go with what you feel is right. if you know you dont want to go to iowa, isu or uni, then apply to the more elite schools. more power to you. i know for a fact that if UNC were cheaper i would be heading there instead of isu, but that was me. it seems that you would have a good chance at most top schools, i say go for it. i dont plan on staying in iowa forever. i like the small town life but i'd love to get away for a while.</p>
<p>Earlier you mentioned California...I think you have a great chance at the UC's. Look at UC-Berkeley and UCLA. Also in California: USC, Stanford (you can always try).</p>
<p>I'm planning to do some college visits in california this summer, I want to get a feel for the campuses. UC's could be tough out of state but it's worth a shot i guess. I find it a little discouraging that they discontinued funding national merit in the past few years, which is why I am leaning towards USC</p>
<p>FFAgirl- Iowa State is such a pretty campus, definitely a good atmosphere its cool your happy there. Must be why the counselors at my school have the sole purpose of getting as many kids into the regent schools as possible. My Counselor encouraged me to apply wherever i wanted, but she didnt offer any information at all as to statistics or scholarships. I guess its just not common here to get out of the midwest. Ive learned much more on this site than I have from her.</p>
<p>Does it matter where I go for prelaw? I know that can be virtually any major, but are certain schools better for law school acceptance/entrance counseling?</p>