Help me find colleges

College Search & Lists
1

I’m a rising high school senior and I am starting to look for colleges to apply to. The problem is that there are so many colleges that I don’t even know where to start. Some of the colleges I’m thinking about are the Claremont colleges (Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Claremont, etc) and Macalester.

  1. Price: The tax report from 2 years ago states that the family income was $30,000. All of the college payments will either be grants, scholarships or loans.
  2. Major: Undecided as of know but probably something relating to biology or science.
  3. Preferences: a. Location: preferably somewhere urban or suburban (No rural areas); Trying to avoid the south and central US b. Size: smaller size as opposed to large; low student to teacher ratio c. would like it if there is a foreign exchange program d. leaning towards liberal arts college as opposed to traditional schooling
  4. Stats a. SAT II: Math II (790), Bio-E (770), Chem (750), Spanish (720), Lit (710) b. ACT: Composite (36), English (36), Reading (35), Math (35), Science (36), Writing (10), Combined ENG/WR (34) c. AP: Human Geo (5), Stats (5), Chem (N/A), Spanish (N/A), Calc AB (N/A) d. College classes: Psychology (A), Bio (A) e. Course: 9th: H. Bio (A/A), PE (A/A), Geo/Health (A/A), H. Alg 2/trig (A/B+), Spanish 3 (A/A), H eng (A/A)
    10th: H. chem(A/A), H Precalc (B/A), H english (A/A), Spanish 4 (A/A), AP stats (A/A), World history (A/A) 11th: H. english (B/B), discrete/finite (B/A), ap calc ab (B/B), ap spanish(A/A), apchemistry(B/B), ushistory (A/A) 12th: AP world history, AP physics, AP lit, gov/econ, PE, art f. Extracurricular: Mock Trial (10th-present, co-founder of club, activities coordinator), Water polo (9th- present, 10th,11th Varsity, Self taught swimmer), Animal shelter (10 hours/ month, 9th-present)
2

GPA? State of residence?

3

Well, the tax report from 2 years ago is irrelevant. The one from this year is the one that counts. Assuming the income hasn’t changed much you can look at colleges that meet need http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2014/09/15/colleges-and-universities-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need and for good merit aid. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html#latest

4

@N’s Mom, My GPA is 3.75 unweighted and 4.19 weighted. I live in California.

5

Maybe Reed College? The biology program is second to none (actually changes place with Caltech every year for the #1 spot in PhD production in biological sciences), and is probably the second-largest department at Reed by majors. And Reed is located in Portland, which has quite a lot to offer. Last year, for instance, I went to three theater shows, and four concerts, and was able to use local networks to meet people who share interests with me (like in wanting to speak German).

6

St Olaf (nice college town, excellent for sciences and study abroad, meets 100% need), Dickinson (same thing!)

7

St Olaf doesn’t meet need. Even their CDS shows that. http://wp.stolaf.edu/ir-e/files/2013/07/14cds-h.pdf Nor does Dickinson. https://www.dickinson.edu/download/downloads/id/2516/cds20132014update_pdf

8

muhlenberg college, happy students, beautiful campus, supportive professors .
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/

9

St Olaf meets 100% need for domestic students, as does Dickinson, but respectively appear as 97-99% need met because that includes internationals, who are not guaranteed 100% need, and 96-98% need met on average.

10

Maybe Haverford or Swarthmore on the East Coast . . .

11

My apologies @MYOS1634. I was using the wikipedia listing and the CDS to evaluate. I see St Olaf’s website state they meet need. Interestingly enough, Dickinson doesn’t state on their web site that they do meet need.

12

^ that’s correct. They tend to meet need but don’t promise to. Overall though, they meet 100% need for virtually all domestic applicants, but perhaps not for the bottom %?

13

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tax report from 2 years ago states that the family income was $30,000
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Is that income from an employer? or is that income from a family owned business?

Is there a non-custodial parent?

What was your PSAT?

Are you taking the SAT?

are you a URM?