college suggestions?

amandaplease
Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:44:26 +0000

Hello (: I am entering my senior year in the fall and still have very little idea which colleges I should apply to. I’ve never given in that much thought before, but I figure it’s about that time. For the most part I know what I want, I just don’t know what schools match the description. And since it seems like everyone here knows pretty much all there is to know about every school in the US, I figure there should be at least one person that’s able to help me. So if you could give me some suggestions based off my stats and preferences I would greatly appreciate it! Also, I know that I have a lot of information in here, so if you just want to browse through what you think is important, you won’t offend me :D

GENERAL INFO:
I am a 16 year-old white female. Neither of my parents graduated college and none of my older siblings have graduated or even attended, if that means anything. My school offers very few AP courses and no honors courses, so I don’t have a weighted gpa at this time. We are only allowed to take AP courses as juniors or above, and I will be taking my first two next year (see below). My school uses a block scheduling and our APs are 3 quarters long (so the equivalent of 1.5 years of regular scheduling). I don’t know if they are all like that or not, but I figured I’d point that out, since the length makes it hard to fit a bunch of them into my schedule and still find room for my other grad requirements. APs are graded on a 5.0 scale, rather than a 6.0. The freshman classes with a 1 at the end are basically our equivalent of honors. I skipped sophomore English and went straight to the junior level as a sophomore (hence the jump from English 1 to 3). Each Spanish is one year long (spanish 1 was taken in MS). Our math courses start with Transition and Algebra, which I took in MS as well. I was in all those gifted kids courses in middle/grade school, but I’m guessing that doesn’t count for anything xD

STATS:
-GPA: 3.8
-Class Rank: don’t have an official number, but I’m guessing somewhere around 50/400
-Freshman Courses: US History 1, English 1, Biology, Geometry, Spanish 2, Art Fundamentals, Beg. -Painting & Drawing, Teen Living (Family Consumer Science Course: cooking, sewing, interior design, etc.), and P.E.
-Sophomore Courses: English 3, World History, General Chemistry, Advanced Algebra, Spanish 3, Interior Design, Business for Teens, Acting, and P.E.
-Junior Courses: Earth & Physical Science, Functions Statistics & Trigonometry, Spanish 4, Creative Writing, College Grammar, Journalism, General Psychology, Quantity Meals, Parenting, Health , and P.E.
-Future Senior Courses: AP English, AP Psychology, Pre-Calculus, Spanish 5, College Writing, and Government.
-ACT Composite: 29 (First time, no prep, will probably retake)
-English: 33
-Math: 25
-Reading: 34
-Science: 24
-EC: I am very weak in this area. I have little to no extracurriculars. I was in Speech freshman year and did a little bit of volunteer work sophomore year (painting murals for special education students), but that‘s pretty much it. I have taken guitar lessons at a local music center for about 3 years, but idk if that counts since it’s not school related. I plan on joining Key Club in the fall and start volunteering at a local animal shelter soon. I would be on newspaper staff if that were an option, but sadly it is not. You can only write for the paper while taking the journalism course. And our art club is a joke and people just go there to hang out, otherwise I’d be in that too. The only reason people join is to make themselves look good on applications (same goes our anti-drug program, which I also refuse to join. Half of the members are regular drinkers/partiers).
So to summarize, I am good at art, writing, and guitar, but don’t have any ECs to reflect that. Is there anything I can do?
-Current Residence: Iowa
-Financial Aid: Very important
-Parental Combined Gross Income: $93,369

PREFERENCES:
I am looking to go out of state, but I have University of Iowa, Iowa State, and UNI planned as financial/acceptance safeties.

-Location: Warm weather, meaning NO SNOW! The only places I might break that rule for would Seattle or Boston. I’d love somewhere in the west or south, but not TOO Southern if that makes sense (think more North/South Carolina than Alabama/Mississippi). Coastal would be great. Not too touristy, like Miami, Los Angeles, NYC, etc. My ideal school for location is UNC-Wilmington, just to give you an idea.
-Majors: Journalism, Writing/English, Music Business/Industry, and Psychology.
-Prestige: Not a huge factor. I have no intentions on going somewhere like Harvard. Not that I’d get in if I wanted to. The most competitive level I’d consider would be like that of UNC-CH, Tufts, etc.

-Atmosphere: I’d like somewhere with friendly atmosphere, obviously. Since I’ll most likely be coming from OOS a really welcoming environment would be ideal. Size isn’t a huge issue, as long as it’s not extremely small. I’d prefer Public over Private, but only because of the cost factor.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! (: