College Search Process......Then and Now

jeannemar
Wed, 27 Mar 2013 12:59:32 +0000

My music teacher encouraged me to apply to Northwestern so I did. Also applied to Oberlin (did not get in) and Furman (scholarship committee followed me out the door after my audition so I wrote them off as desperate!). Looked at IU but did not apply as it was scary big. My dad had gone to state school where his dad was a professor so his tuition was basically zip. He had major sticker shock and told me I could not go to NU as all their scholarships were need based and we did not qualify. He later relented and said if I got in, he would pay for it, so that’s where I went. I wanted the university experience as well as a good music school.

My GPA was 3.2 and I had a good SAT (NMSF and NMF). I did not take ACT as it was not required by any of the schools I applied to. I knew with the NMF I would have full in-state tuition covered so that was my safety. I heard about AP tests but I am sure our school did not offer AP classes. They talked about CLEP tests a lot, but NU did not offer credit for them. I remember Achievement Tests (now SAT II) but maybe they were not required for music majors. I didn’t take any tests that were not required!