<p>This post actually is not for me, but for my sister – at my Mom’s request. She graduated in 2006. She fought with my mom tooth and nail for MONTHS because she couldn’t decide where to go. She felt like she had to prove something to everyone, started dating a boy who narrowed her sights completely, zoned out of school, and put on 25lbs in the three months prior to graduation. She applied to eight schools (Clemson, Denison, Grand Valley State University, Calvin College, and a few others) and it really came down to GVSU and Calvin. She actually showed up to orientation at both places but finally decided on one. Long story short she ended up hating it and the lifestyle she started in those three months before graduation continued with a vengeance.</p>
<p>She’s going to Community College this Spring and after a semester (or possibly a year and a half) will transfer into another school. I need help finding such a school. She had a VERY hard time finding a school, and actually sent out deposits to several schools. She feels like what she picks now, requires her to make a decision on her career as a freshman. So I turned to my trusty CC to help…</p>
<p>Requirements:
- Location: Preferably in the midwest (she lives in Michigan), but she looked at Eckerd College the first time around. No further west than the Rockies.
- Tuition: Isn’t of issue right now. Definite plus for places with any applicable merit scholarships for transfers (though it would be up in the air if she would be a transfer or just considered a HS graduate with college credit, depending on the school)
- Size: From approx. 2000-12000ish
- Not very religious – or at least socially tolerant. She just finished up a semester at Calvin College – she attends church fairly regularly but was astounded at how much religion was in the classroom.
- Internships/Fellowships: My mom wants a place for her (since my sister continues to be ambivalent even after the experience not caring got her) where she HAS to have an internship (or a program like the Teaching Fellows at Elon) to give her experiences and help her develop a passion that neither my mom or I have seen since she finished diving. She thinks that she wants to be either a Marine Biologist, and Engineer or a Math Teacher
- A decent Study Abroad program would also be a plus</p>
<p>Stats:
- ACT: 22
- SAT: took it, but for all intents and purposes n/a
- School: Very competitive public
- No APs
- High School GPA: 3.4/3.5 UW 3.6/3.7 W
- High School Extracurriculars: Varsity Diving Team all four years, Captain Senior Year
- College GPA: n/a right now, will be the result of that one semester (or more) at Community College
- College Jobs: Teaches diving for two separate teams. Our local middle school being one of them. Also volunteers at a local senior living home.</p>
<p>Thanks for any and all help CCers – Mom and I are truly at the end of our ropes.</p>
<p>Okay, so let’s see if I can “read between the lines” as to what your sister really needs:</p>
<p>(1) She needs to be someplace that allows her to believe that “all things are possible” and that she can do and be whatever she wants in her career</p>
<p>(2) She needs someplace away from home, but not too far away (and therefore in the midwest)–so that she feels like she controls her own life, but yet an come home for the holidays and for the support that her family provides on a regular (maybe three times a year during the school year) basis.</p>
<p>(3) She needs to feel that she isn’t “lost in the crowd”, but rather will get some personalized attention, both in her studies and in her career ambitions (including an internship) to get her back on track.</p>
<p>(4) The school shouldn’t be too small, since she doesn’t need so much scrutiny that she’ll feel confined in her actions and activities (as was done at Calvin College); and</p>
<p>(5) She wants a school that has a student body that in general is supportive of a religious lifestyle, but that doesn’t make that one of the priorities of the curriculum.</p>
<p>(6) School needs to meet the GPA/ACT criteria given 3.4/3.5 unrated GPA; 3.6/3.7 weighted GPA and a 22 ACT.</p>
<p>Wealth of info available on sites like the students review.com, princetonreview.com web sites. Yahoo Answers also is a great resource.</p>
<p>Did she get accepted or rejected at Clemson? We have a lot of christians down here but it by no way can be seen in the classroom and religion does not “dominate” campus as much as it does at a christian college since Clemson is a public college. We have a very good study abroad program, lots of places to choose from, we have a really strong science and engineering and education program here (no marine biology here though). Clemson is only 12,000 students so it isn’t a huge school but not tiny either but you will find personalized support here if you need it.</p>
<p>It would be really helpful if we could know her college GPA.</p>
<p>Let me know if she has any questions! I’m a freshman in general engineering at Clemson.</p>
<p>Well I don’t have any good answer for this one, mostly because it’s your Mom asking not your Sister. Makes me question if your Sister is ready to move on or will sabotage any decision that someone else makes for her. So the question becomes - what makes your sister happy? If your Sister has no passion for anything then she may need a talented therapist to help her remember that we all have passions and some of us make the unworkable choice to depress them. </p>
<p>The first thing that comes to mind (without the Mom thing and possible depression) is a lower/mid level state college that has students with your Sisters common interest and a first year college exploration program. </p>
<p>In any case I hope someone is reminding your Sister that even students who think they know exactly what they want to major in, change their majors several times in the first years of college and it’s just fine to not know who she wants to be yet…</p>