Help me find my perfect college!

College Search & Lists
1

<p>Hi!
I have just started my senior year and for the past year I’ve been trying find the best colleges to fit me. I am planning on being an International Studies major and perhaps double major with a language so I would appreciate it if colleges that have good IS programs were mentioned. I also won’t qualify for FA but my parents aren’t really helping too much with paying so colleges that have good merit aid packages are great too. Medium to small sized schools would probably be more “me” but I don’t think I would find large campuses if they were the rights ones. </p>

<p>Stats: 3.944 GPA which will hopefully go up 30 ACT and retaking it Saturday…many AP classes and Honors courses as well.
Thanks</p>

2

<p>Any geographic preferences. Most colleges have some sort of study abroad programs. Do you have a particular region or culture that you intend to specialize in? Some small colleges may not have all the languages and specialized classes you might seek. West coast colleges are likelier to have stronger Asian Studies programs, but there are surprises (e.g. religious-affiliated colleges that had a long missionary tradition, et al); colleges in Florida will be stronger in the Caribbean basin; those in the Southwest will be strong in Inter-American relations, etc. Are you more interested in business or in a field like development or government service? You might bring your inquiry to the “Majors” threads on CC, as well. I think you have good enough stats for Occidental or American U., but not necessarily for merit aid. Do you think you’d prefer more traditional colleges, or ones where you can design your own course of study (e.g. Pitzer, Hampshire, New College of Florida, et al)?</p>

3

<p>Go to the financial aid forum and look at the pinned threads at the top. </p>

4

<p>You are a strong candidate for American U. It’s in DC, so you will have access to tons of internships.</p>

5

<p>Macalester seems to have a very global focus but I don’t know if they offer much in the way of merit aid. Kalamazoo sends most of their students abroad and makes it very integral to their program. They are both pretty small though, so you’d have to be happy with that.</p>

6

<p>Beloit College in WI and Concordia College in Moorhead, MN </p>

7

<p>I second Macalester, as well as Carleton. I know Mac offers a lot of merit aid and Carleton is close too. They’re both relatively small colleges except one is in a city and one is relatively rural. </p>

8

<p>Another Midwestern LAC is Earlham College in Indiana. They have a strong [International</a> Studies](<a href=“http://www.earlham.edu/international-studies/]International”>International studies : Earlham College) program. Most students do a study abroad semester, if that’s something you’re interested in. Lots of international students on campus. </p>

9

<p>Carleton offers $2K to NMFs. That’s all their merit aid.</p>

10

<p>@woogzmama I live in the Midwest and I think my mom would be devastated if I went anywhere too too far (like California)… I’m more interested in government service and development. And to everyone else, I appreciate your feedback and I apologized if I posted in the wrong section, this is my first post.</p>

<p>I really just want a college that has an intellectual, curious atmosphere where I will gain an international outlook on life but I still don’t want to be drowning in debt when I graduate. </p>