Which Colleges Should I be Looking At?

College Search & Selection
1

This September, I will be a junior in high school and I am starting to get overwhelmed by the vast amount of colleges that may or may not be right for me. I don’t know where to start.

My top five choices as of right now are:
UPenn, Columbia, Princeton, Villanova, and University of Virginia.

Other colleges that I am thinking about are:
Rutgers, Drexel, MIT.

I want to major in finance and then either minor or dual major in computer science, so I am looking at colleges that are good in both those categories. I would also like a small to medium sized school that is either in or close to an urban location. Finally, I do not want to go too far from my home in NJ, and would like a college that is on the east coast.

My academics comprise of:

Freshmen Year - All A’s, All Honors Classes
Sophomore Year - All A’s, AP Class = AP Computer Science A(I got a 4 on the AP test), rest honors classes
Junior Year Schedule - AP Microeconomics, AP Language and Composition, AP Calculus, AP US History, AP Spanish, rest honors classes.

Weighted GPA - 4.3, Unweighted - 4.0, Class Rank - 3

211 on the PSAT

Volunteering:
1,500 hours at my religious institution.
350 hours as a summer camp counselor.
Close to 100 hours in a hospital
Around 25 hours doing other miscellaneous work.

I am also set for either a finance internship or an IT internship that is related to finance for the summer before my senior year.

As for my ECs:

Head Programmer in Robotics(Our team is one of the best in the world)
Have attended an engineering class at Columbia University
Part of STEM Club
PR Officer of FBLA(Will either become Vice President or Treasurer this year)
Press Secretary of Model UN(Will become President this year)
Student Council
Spanish National Honor Society
Will join full regular NHS this year(My school only accepts juniors)

I also do other activities outside of school including singing and playing a few instruments.

Do I have a shot at looking at the colleges on my list? Also, which other colleges should I be looking at?

2

What have your parents told you they are ready, willing, and able to pay? How do they feel about you taking on some student loans? What kind of savings of your own do you have? You are on track to be competitive for admission at all of the places on your list, but where you do end up attending will depend on what you can afford. If you haven’t had the money talk yet with your parents, do that now.

3

@happymomof1 I live with only my mom, so let’s put it this way, if I were to get into an Ivy, they would see my need as a full ride. So, I will be taking loans and I will apply for scholarships as well to try and take as much of the burden off of my mom as I can.

4

Ask your mom to help you run the Net Price Calculator at each website. That will let the two of you know what each place might end up costing you, and you will be able to think about whether it is likely to be affordable for you. Sometimes there are ugly surprises. The NPC will also give some indication as to whether or not your father would be required to file Non-custodial Parent paperwork. Depending on your situation, you may want to find out how to get a waiver of that requirement.

There are a lot of useful threads in the Financial Aid Forum that you can read through. Read up on Questbridge and Gates there. You might qualify.

5

Ok I will definitely start doing all that, thanks for all the info @happymomof1, I should really start researching financial aid.

6

http://www.bradley.edu/
a little further than you have mentioned, but a wider net can catch more fish or well suited colleges.

7

My advice, FWIW, is to start with potential matches/likelies, and then add a few reaches and a couple of academic/financial safeties. Penn, Columbia, Princeton, MIT and UVa obviously are all very, very difficult to get into. Consider looking into the School of Business at Ithaca College, or Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, for example. Once you find a few of these that you like, and could see yourself attending, then add your reaches.

8

@zobroward Bradley is a bit farther than I would like but I will definitely look into the college

9

@MidwestDad3 I know those colleges are extremely selective, but you gotta reach for the stars right? I was considering Ithaca College and another college I was looking at was Northeastern, any thoughts on that one?

10

D looked at Ithaca (though not for finance & CS), and liked it very much. They took us through the business school as the first stop on the tour. I think it’s worth a look.

You might also have a look at Hobart & William Smith. They have a really well-connected alumni network, and a lot of outstanding internship opportunities there. I don’t know much about Northeastern. D has a friend starting there, doing her first year in London which sounds really cool to me.

Yes, certainly shoot for the stars. But what you want in March of your senior year is a set of a few really good choices. That means making sure you have all your bases covered.

11

Northeastern sounds like a great fit, a match based on scores / grades. They do offer a popular Business and CS double major and you can concentrate in Finance. The CS and Business departments are probably two of the best departments in the school (I’m CS there).

A big factor in its fit is if you would be a fan of the co-op model. If you aren’t already familiar with it, basically, your academics are split up by 1-3 6 month paid jobs. It gives you experience, and often lands you a full time job after graduation. It’s a big part of Northeastern, so it’s something to consider.

NEU is expensive, but they offer lots of merit scholarship, and if you qualify, financial aid isn’t bad. As others have said, run NPC’s at any school you’re looking at, particularly for safeties and matches.

Seems like you should have a good shot at the top of your list. Good luck!

12

Thanks @PengsPhils the co-op is probably one of the most appealing things at NEU for me. As for the NPC’s, can you find them on the websites of the colleges?

13

@shimbroza Yep! You can usually find them very easily by googling “(school name) NPC”.

Here’s Notheastern’s, as a result of googling “northeastern npc”. It’s on college board, but they link directly to it from Northeastern’s website.

https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/northeastern

14

There should be a link to the Net Price Calculator on the page with information about financial aid. If you can’t find it easily, contact the college/university in question.