I listed and tried to categorize all of the colleges that have really sparked my interest so far. I put a lot of thought into this, so anyone can feel free to let me know if I’m missing something, wrong about something, etc. I added a couple from my own research too. It’ll obviously change a lot by the time I apply to colleges and I can’t apply to this many places, but I want to have a good start.
Safety: UIUC, Alabama, UGA, UCF
Match: UF, UCSC, UCSB, Elon, UW, U South Carolina, Penn State, Ohio, IU, UCI
Reach: U Southern California, UT, UVA, UM, UNC, Davidson
Dream: Vanderbilt, Brown, Cornell
I don’t think UGA is a safety for you. I would add UNC and Davidson as dream.
Thanks. You’re right, I don’t know why I thought UGA was a safety.
Good list extra21. For OOS applicants, Michigan and UNC are roughly as selective as Brown, Cornell and Vanderbilt.
Northwestern also has an excellent Education program…certainly worth checking out (mostly graduate programs, but some undergraduate programs as well).
Thanks, Baylor is a good suggestion! As a match?
As great as it is, I don’t think Northwestern would be the right school for me. I probably wouldn’t get in and it’s a little too close to home.
I think definitely send an application to 'Bama. With a 3.6 GPA (as long as that is UW) and a 30 ACT you would be a UA scholar and get a $19k a year scholarship. At the moment their OOS tuition is $28k so you would only have tuition of $9k your freshman year - at the moment OOS tuition seems to be rising around $1000 a year. This is, at the moment, $7k cheaper than your in state option. Room and board is also about $1500 cheaper than UIUC but this will even out with the cost of travel.
3.6 is my unweighted GPA. Weighted is 4.27. I’ll definitely apply to Bama.
I’ve known two people who went to Cal Poly SLO to become teachers, although they both graduated years ago!:
my sister did both her undergraduate (liberal studies) and graduate work in SLO; an acquaintance did ug at Stanford and grad at SLO. Cal Poly SLO is geared for teaching in California, if that is your goal. There is now an emphasis on STEM studies and includes an internship in teaching.
Also, if you are interested in elementary school in California, knowing Spanish is highly in demand, as is having a Special Education credential.
I don’t speak Spanish. I’m willing to take classes in college to learn it and get a special ed credential if that’ll help me.
I believe BU has a bilingual education major which could be very useful if you’re seriously considering ESL or teaching in parts of the country with large Hispanic populations.
I haven’t seriously considered esl but it could be a possibility, and I am absolutely considering teaching in parts of the country with large hispanic populations (like California), so that degree would probably be helpful.
I would think a match. You should get some scholarship money too. I had multiple job offers, in Texas, right after I graduated. However, I moved back home to FL. Adding a FL certification process was pretty easy.
Thanks! That’s really helpful!
What language do you speak?
Safety: UIUC, Alabama
UGA, UCF => for both you need to get into the Honors college or it’s not worth it, so I’d put both as matches. Acceptance to UGA without honors = no “make your own major” for education and UCF without Burnett is not worth it.
Penn State on its own is a safety, but admission to Schreyer is a reach. (Essays and curriculum will be very important - it’s one of the top Honors Colleges in the nation and it’s very selective). Penn State is worth trying on its own and if you major in one of the Liberal Arts or TESOL in addition to Education, there’s a pathway into Honors called Paterno Fellows Aspirants so you can still take the smaller, more interactive Honors classes.However they don’t have many scholarships.
USC same idea, it’s a safety but admission to Honors makes it a reach. The Honors college is top-ranked nationally and they have excellent scholarships. If you can’t get Honors, USC is not worth it due to the state of public education in SC.
Match: UF, UCSC, UCSB, Elon, UW, Ohio, IU, UCI = You’ll have to pick 5 out of those 
Perhaps UF, Elon, UW, either IU or Ohio State, and your favorite UC?
Reach: U Southern California, UT, UVA, UM, UNC, Davidson
Dream: Vanderbilt, Brown, Cornell
The last ones are good.
I’ve been taking French throughout high school, but the only language that I’m fluent in is English.
I’m pretty confident I’ll apply to both UIUC and Alabama as my two safeties.
It’s hard to choose favorites out my matches, especially because a lot of them are so similar. I think my top 5 would maybe be UGA, UF, Ohio State, UW, and UCSB. But most of my favorites are reaches.
I don’t think UM or Davidson are worth it for me since Michigan is so cold and Davidson is so small and they’re both such reaches. USC (cal), UT, UVA, and UNC are all reaches that I’d really want to get into though as well as all three of my dream schools. How many of those am I supposed to apply to? And which ones? Or is it too early to decide?
Your list is good, and you have plenty of time to decide. The most important thing is that you have solid safeties. You can build the rest of the list upwards from there.
USC same idea, it’s a safety but admission to Honors makes it a reach. The Honors college is top-ranked nationally and they have excellent scholarships. If you can’t get Honors, USC is not worth it due to the state of public education in SC.
Not sure I understand this comment. How does getting into the Honors college change anything if the state of public education is poor in SC.
^Because Honors students at a nationally-ranked Honors college have more options than students who are “just” in the College of Education at that university. They have more support, help with grants and fellowships, contacts other students don’t have. The “Honors college” designation is also a “signal”. Concretely, in addition to support, networks, and symbolic benefits, they may get a stipend to teach abroad and get a foothold in the education there, then upon return leverage that experience in another State, or convert the SC licensure + experience elsewhere into licensure in a decent state for teachers.
@extra21: I’d keep either USC or Penn State because their Honors College is so good compared to the others’.
2 safeties, 4-5 matches, and as many reaches as you wish/can handle/can afford to apply to - well, 12-13 applications total would be a good idea. 
That’s a good number. (2+4-5+5-6?)
French can be useful in some areas if you can find a place (community education? community center?) where you can learn Creole. Creole is derived from French (the spelling is different, you have to read it aloud, for example mwen or mwe means moi.)
Here’s a song partially in French and in Creole:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQTh7_sxZdk
Here are the words:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzKdOblIf8c
Push your French to the most of your abilities, find a place where you can learn spoken Creole, and think of volunteering where you can use it (BTW it’s a neat EC for your applications and for your teaching portfolio).
Do plan to take Spanish in college. To make things a bit easier on yourself you might want to take Spanish 1H in HS. (Spanish 1 is covered in about 2 months in college so it helps if you actually learned a bit before you take it.) Taking Spanish 1 would only count as an elective in your HS schedule.
What’s your senior schedule like as of now?