sharon2013

im interested in schools with open curriculums or not as strict of a core curriculum. also i like an urban environment like providence for example. below i have listed information like my gpa, sat scores, extracurriculars, and my coursework. based on everything below, what do you all think would be good schools to apply to as reach, match, and safety schools?


GPA: 3.65
SAT: 1670
SAT (superscore): 1740

EXTRACURRICULARS:
Blue & Gold, student newspaper
- Editor in Chief: senior year
- Head Sports Writer: junior year
- Head of Photography: sophomore year
-reporter: freshmen year

Key Club (community service organization):
-president: junior and senior year
-vice president: sophomore year

Class of 2013 Student Government
-president: sophomore and junior year (elections coming up hopefully reelected for senior year)
-secretary: freshmen year

Breast Cancer Awareness Club
-Historian: sophomore junior and senior year
-member: freshmen year

MA State Student Advisory Council
-Member:senior year

Greater Boston Student Advisory Council
-member: junior and senior year

Lacrosse team
-varsity: all 4 years

soccer team
-junior varsity: 1 year

National Honor Society:
-member: sophomore junior and senior year

COURSEWORK:
summer before freshmen year: geometry summer enrichment course
freshmen year: biology honors, english 9 honors, algebra 2 honors, u.s. history 1 honors, italian 2honors, gym, health, journalism
summer before sophomore year: took two courses at the Art Institute of Boston Pre-College Program
sophomore year: english 10 honors, chemistry honors, AP U.S. history, trigonometry and precalculus honors, AP Statistics, italian 3 honors, journalism
summer before junior year: attended Phillips Academy Andover Summer Session - 5week program
junior year: AP World History, AP Calculus AB, AP Biology, AP Biology Lab, English 11Honors, italian4 honors, journalism
senior year: AP Lang and Comp, AP Physics, AP Physics Lab, AP Italian, AP Government and Politics, School to Career, Journalism, & an additional college math course through a dual enrollment program ( b/c i have taken all the math courses offered at my high school)


thanks so much!!

happymomof1

What can your family pay?

If you don't know that, sit down with your parents and have The Big Money Talk. Find out how much they can contribute each year, how they feel about you taking on some student loans, and how much they expect you to earn with summer jobs and working during the school year. Until you know about the money issue, you will not know how deep you are going to have to dig to find safeties that you can afford.

mom2collegekids

How much your parents will pay will LARGELY determine where you should apply.

sharon2013

when i talked to my parents they said they cant really afford to pay for much because they have already put in most of their savings to help my sister with tuition. they are relying on me a lot to get scholarships but they are okay with me getting student loans to pay off after college because that was the path we took with my older sister

sharon2013

we are hoping for scholarships but they want me to choose the best schools for me and then depending on where i am accepted i would choose based on where i get the most financial aid from

mom2collegekids

Your stats aren't really high enough for scholarships. You also can't borrow much, nor should you.

You're in Mass? If so, then probably your most affordable choices will be publics and your safety will be a public that you can commute to.

What was your sister's EFC? How much did she borrow?

What is your major?

momrath

sharon, as others have pointed out you really need to clarify your financial situation. Ask your parents to use an on line calculator to get an idea of how much NEED based aid your family will be eligible for. If that works for you then you can have an open ended list.

If on the other hand you must get MERIT based aid in order to attend a private college your situation is quite different. Merit aid is offered by many good colleges (though not many located in the northeast) but it is fiercely competitive and only goes to the most accomplished students. There are exceptions, for example students who can contribute to the college's diversity percentages. Factors that would be considered are race, ethnic background, economic status, first generation to go to college.

Sports are another point of attraction. If you are able or willing to play at a varsity level, start contacting coaches now. This may make a difference in the financial help you receive.

Your ability to borrow money for college will be limited and your parents may not want to incur any more private college debt. For undergradate school, piling up big debt is not a good idea.

sharon2013

she borrowed about 25,000 each year and i have been thinking about journalism or something in the science field but i am not certain, i am either going to start undecided or do a major and minor

ucbalumnus

$100,000 in debt over four years is generally considered way too much (regardless of major). Most here would say to limit your debt to the subsidized Stafford loan limit of $23,000 for four years.

Journalism, biology, and chemistry do not have particularly good or well paying job and career prospects, so keeping debt down is important if you major in those fields. Applied math, statistics, and computer science currently have better job and career prospects, though computer science can be extremely cyclical (e.g. very poor 2001-2003, but generally good 2006-current). See the University Graduate Career Surveys .

Talk to your parents to get the actual limit of what they can contribute, then run the net price calculators on your candidate schools to see if their need-based aid will be sufficient. If not, then you need to seek merit scholarships.