I have no idea what colleges to apply to

College Search & Lists
1

W GPA: 3.35
UW GPA: 3.25
ACT: 26, Writing 10 (taking the SAT soon which will hopefully be a lot higher due to studying)
3.5 APs
1 College Class

EC:
Junior State of America Chapter President
Media Specialist on Cabinet for Junior State of America
Expansion Specialist on Cabinet for Junior State of America
Science Olympiad placed 3rd in the region on an event
Played in 2 Quartets as a 2nd violinist
2nd Chair Violinist in school pit orchestra
Tri-M musical honors society member

Volunteered for tutoring middle school orchestra students
Camp Counselor
Library Summer Volunteer

Worked full time in a warehouse in the summer and 8-12 hours a week during the school year
Worked seasonal job at a book store for several months around the holidays 16-20 hours a week
Worked bussing tables year round 8 hours a week
Worked at a fast food restaurant temporarily for several months in the spring 24 hours a week

Other Things:
1st generation college student
graduating a semester early to complete internships outside of school next semester TBD
designed and taught a class for real credit at my high school
I live in Ohio and don’t care if I go in or out of state as long as it’s preferably on this side of the country

My GPA dropped a lot junior year due to my single mother losing one of her jobs and me having to work two jobs at once on top of ECs and taking the maximum course load. My low GPA is mainly due to a few unfortunate Cs and Ds in elective classes and pre calc. However, I am back on track now and although I cant fix the past, I’m not working as many hours and plan to get all As my last semester of high school.

I’m looking for a small liberal arts college with a strong sense of community and pretty good aid. Maybe alternative or different in some way, I like some CTCL, though I don’t know which ones would be good reaches or safeties based on my stats. I’d prefer somewhere with lots of clubs, an orchestra, and a variety of good humanities programs. I definitely want to push myself and have some reach schools (although realistic reaches) while also finding some safety schools that I would enjoy too.

Before my GPA dropped from a 3.7 to a 3.3, I really really loved smith, oberlin, mount holyoke, hampshire, earlham, wooster, clark, allegheny, lawrence, and denison. Are there any schools like these that are more realistic for me? Do I have any shot at any of these at all with good ECs, essays, and letters of recommendations or should I throw them out the window completely and not bother applying? Would it be realistic to go to a state school, say Ohio University or Miami U, for a year and then apply to these or is there really no chance of me getting in ever because I messed up my high school grades so badly? I should also mention that I got a D in dual enrollment honor pre calc (basically i took it at a different high school and my high school that i took trig and geometry at didnt prepare me for this at all) will this ruin any chances i have at ever transferring to a good school since I already messed up my permanent college record?

I had a bad year, but I love learning and want to go up from here. However, having a parent who didn’t even graduate high school, I have no clue on where I should even apply or how to succeed from this point forward. I don’t have the money or transportation to visit any schools outside of my area, and I can’t find any distinct colleges I would like and that I would get into; they all look pretty much the same from their website.

What are some good target, safety, and reach schools for me? How should I go about looking for colleges when I have no idea where to start?

2

What do you want to study ? Any career in mind ?

Centre College in Kentucky. 98% live on campus. Heavy presence of Greek life.

Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky offers majors in business, health professions, psychology, biology & parks & recreation. Louisville is an interesting city.

Definitely apply to your in state options of Ohio University & Miami of Ohio.

But it would be helpful to know what you want to study–even if the answer is “liberal arts or I am uncertain at this time”.

My school suggestions are designed to elicit a reaction from you since you have not shared any desired major career goals or location preference (other than the vague “on this side of the country”.)

3

Perhaps Wooster college? Practice for your next ACT if the SAT doesn’t work out. That will help.

4

Keep Clark and Lawrence on your list. Clark is very interested in WHY a student’s grades would drop and does consider that. The fact that you are first gen and from Ohio would help with Clark too. Try to get your standardized test score up.

5

Which class did you design & teach at your high school ?

What is a realistic budget (how much, if anything, can you & your family afford to pay each school year for college ?

If you need close to 100% financial aid, then consider Berea College in Kentucky where all students receive significant financial aid & almost all live on campus.

6

I admire that you’ve worked so much. It will be great for college admissions and in helping prepare you for life. It looks like you are asking great questions and doing great research, which is a strong indicator of future success, in college and otherwise.

Obviously doing better would have been helpful to you, but you have in no way ruined your chances of living your life as you want to live it. The important thing is that you are self aware and wanting to move forward in a more productive way. You sound positive and forward looking and that is very important. Imagine after a strong senior year and a couple of strong, hard-working years in college. You can be in very fine shape and really in no way different from other college students who are working hard and doing well.

It sounds like the financial side is going to be very important. You will want to look first at your OH options, like Ohio University. That will probably provide you your most affordable options. There are plenty of good choices. If they are not your first choices, going to one of them and making the best of it–embracing the talented people around you, going to class, and working hard–will put you in the best position whether you stay there or transfer. (I do think it important to go into college not planning to transfer. Doing that would make it harder to integrate yourself into a school’s community. You can always take a look at transferring down the road.) Community college might very well be the best option.

Among the schools on your list, I’d think you’d have a very reasonable chance still at Earlham and Hampshire, not sure about Clark, but certainly worth continuing to explore it (and good tip above). Maybe communicate with them. Sign up on the admissions page, to show interest and learn if they will attend any college fairs or do interviews in your area, especially if you are near a big city. You might also contact the admissions rep for your region (this is usually available on the admissions page, under contact us or meet the admissions team). Express an interest, ask any questions you have that are not readily available on the website. You want to create a relationship with the rep, since they will be the one who will read your app. Don’t send too many communications though, they are busy. But now is a great time to contact them. They will obviously be very busy once apps start rolling in. (And always be positive and forward looking in your communication–no excuses.

Would you qualify financially for a “work college” like Berea? That seems like a good choice for you if you qualified. Note they require an interview (not too far from OH) and you must start process very early. Great school and seems like the kind of place you are seeking.

https://www.berea.edu/admissions/applying-for-admission/new-freshman/

Good luck!

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You can look up the GPA and test score distributions of enrolled students in each school’s online Common Data Set, section C. In case information is missing, often you can find it on collegedata.com (Google: [college name] + “average GPA SAT” + collegedata.com]. Naviance might help, too, if your school has a subscription.

In building a reach-match-safety list, most families do need to consider costs along with admission selectivity. For each school that interests you, use its online Net Price Calculator to estimate your Expected Family Contribution. Talk to your family about whether they can cover the EFC.

In-state public schools, possibly including colleges within commuting distance, may be among your best safety options. Several of the midwestern or mid-Atlantic CTCLs (such as Goucher) may be in match territory for you.

8

I think you can still apply to the Colleges you were aiming for but you’ll need to add a few more.
Fill out the Request information form because “interest” counts at small colleges.

What’s your EFC?
How much can you mother afford to help you with college costs?

9

^ What @tk21769 wrote made me think of Shawnee State. It’s an Ohio Public U and if you get your GPA and ACT/SAT up you could get a scholarship. It’s only ~4500 students so about the size of a large LAC.

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Private schools are a funny bunch. The prices are so atrocious they have to ask donors to give them money so students would actually go there. Here’s my advice. You can never depend on the financial aid generosity of a private school, at least not without an affordable back-up school. It’s not uncommon for students to get burned by a last minute financial aid package. State schools are a lot more predictable. My advice is pick a good affordable university and go there 4 years. I would say OhioU, Cincinnati, Cleveland State, Akron, etc. Transferring is expensive because you inevitably lose credits in the process.

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I disagree. Many public universities can see budget cuts depending on legislative decisions, sudden tuition hikes, etc. And because public universities depend more upon said legislature than privates, they pay more attention to their requests than to students’.
In many states, private universities are very competitively prices with public universities.
In addition, depending on the state (cough, Illinois, cough, Pennsylvania) public universities aren’t necessarily offering low prices or financial aid.

@mrp1027 : run the net price calculator.
In addition, look into UMN Morris, Truman State, UNC Asheville, St Mary’s of Maryland, UMW. All are public LACs that would be matches.

Beloit, Lewis&Clark, Allegheny, Ohio Wesleyan are all high matches. Run the NPC on them as well as St.Lawrence, Hobart WilliamSmith, Wheaton MA, Drew, Goucher…

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@Publisher I’m not exactly sure what I want to study :slight_smile: I do know that it won’t be anything related to math or science though. I am really enjoying teaching, so that is a possibility, maybe English or History but I’m leaning more towards English. I also plan on doing one of my internships in the film industry. I’m not sure which aspect of film I’m interested in, I’ve just always been fascinated by the cinematic process and am using my part of my experiential learning semester to hopefully see if this is something I want to do.
Also, I really don’t have a preference for location. While it would be nice to stay close to home, it would also be really nice to get to experience living in a new place for a few years. Though I guess going to a (preferably) small school, I would like to balance it with a bigger town or city that has a lot of culture to it and things to do. I visited Antioch and one of my biggest concerns was that not only is it one of the smallest colleges in the country, but I’ve also never seen a town that small and can’t imagine spending four years in a place so isolated.
Thank you for your current advice, I’ll take a look at them!

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I designed a class focused around politics, political engagement, and activism while incorporating elements of debate, discussion, mock trial, history, and sociology into it.

I’d like to stay at no more than $15,000 net total a year. Though I know this can be unrealistic in some places with my lack of merit. I’d be willing to go up to 17,000-20,000, but for that to happen it would have to be a school that I really really wanted to go to. I can really only seeing myself paying that much if I got into one of my top reach schools and felt it was the best fit for me after visiting it.
@Publisher

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Also, I know that apply EA can increase your chances of getting in. However, should I wait to apply RD so that my last semester of senior year grades will be on my transcript and show an upward trend even though it won’t do much to my GPA? Should I just apply to my safety state schools EA or just wait on those too?

On top of this, I was wondering if you need to apply to community colleges now or if you can wait until after hearing back from other colleges. I’m still pretty worried that I’m not going to get into any of the schools I’m going to apply to and would like to have that as a last resort backup.

15

You like Hampshire; and given your high achievement in things you like to do, their self-directed program may be exactly suited to you.

High achievers who work independently are their kind of student. However, it seems to be a place other kinds of students might get lost, in a number of ways. (Very high transfer rate and very low graduation rate compared to some others on your list.)

You can get classroom teaching experience your first year at Hampshire, if you choose to organize it. Classes at Amherst College, U Mass Amherst, Mount Holyoke, and Smith in the 5 college consortium would be open to you too.

Another school that comes to mind for you is Sarah Lawrence. Very strong writing program, English lit, and I believe they thumb their nose at standardized tests. (Not sure how well-regarded their science program is.)

You might want to check out Bard. They are, like you, a bit out of the box. Select for strongly verbal types, music, and now bent for science too.

Bard offers some alternatives to the typical admissions stats-driven appraisal. You probably could write an essay and get yourself in.

I could also see you at Vassar, if they could bend their envelope a bit. You may have an advantage if you are gay and also some other URM. I think they’re serious about being open to certain kinds of academic and personal nonconformists, though it would be a very high reach. Strong in English lit, writing, science.

With the possible exception of Hampshire, the above schools have really nice campuses. Personally, I also like Sarah Lawrence for its proximity to Manhattan. There’s more to do nearby than at the others.

Good luck. I think you’ll do well if you choose well. Try to visit before you accept anywhere.

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@mrp1027: Ignore my earlier suggestions as your latest posts have provided a great deal of useful information.

Your numbers (GPA & ACT) do not seem to be reflective of your talent & intellect. You are a great communicator–a trait necessary for film makers & sought after by top MBA schools & many employers.

My strongest reaction after reading your most recent posts is that you would do well at Amherst College, but your numbers are low. Bard College would be a match for you, although it might be too expensive. Consider Wesleyan University in Connecticut. It is a bit of a reach, but offers everything that you are seeking. Very strong in film.

Grinnell College in Iowa is another to consider although located in a rural area.

Wesleyan University & Amherst College should be great fits based on your interests. Your numbers hide your true intellectual abilities in my opinion. Try to emphasize your teaching experience. Creating & teaching a high school course for credit is a significant accomplishment & demonstrates talent in organization, maturity, intellect & communication skills.

Occidental College in Los Angeles might be a match school.

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Agree that Vassar College seems like a school for you to consider. Elon University in North Carolina is another. Elon requires or encourages projects so that should be an opportunity to pursue film making.

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@IvyGrad09

I do love Hampshire and see myself fit there from the website, however, the very low graduation rate makes me skeptical. Is this truly due to the unique program not working for many people or are there other reasons that contribute to this? I guess what worries me the most is in the event that I do see it fit to transfer for whatever reason (which isn’t entirely unlikely considering its transfer rate) will not having any official college grades other than my awful dual enrollment math grade make it hard to do so?

I really do like Sarah Lawrence, but that one was crossed off my list a long time ago due to its standing of 4th most expensive college in the country.

Bard is another I’ve just started looking at, although this too is quite highly priced. I’ve just begun working through the essays in the event that I end up applying. I still need to get all of the info to run the NPC for schools.

I could see myself at Vassar, however I’m doubtful that I would get into it given that my school only offered 2 AP classes and a few honors classes and class rigor is something they really value. I did TRY to go to another campus to take AP Biology and AP Studio, but ended up with Cs due to scheduling conflicts with my school (basically I had another class at the same time at my actual school and could only go to AP Bio and AP studio every other day which did not work well when I didn’t have much time to devote to these outside of school.) If it were free to apply, I would go for it. But I only have so much to spend on college apps and $70 is a lot for a college that I really don’t see myself having a fighting chance with (I do happen to be gay though, but I don’t know how that would make a huge difference.) If you still think I have a shot, I’ll definitely look into it though as this is somewhere I’d love to look into attending.

In the event that I wanted to get my grades up at a state university like Miami or OU and try and transfer to, say Vassar, would this be a better route? Could I still use my high school achievements on the application and how many years do you have to attend one school before you can transfer?

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@Publisher I would love to give these schools a try, however, realistically I’m not sure that I stand a chance at all. While my GPA is low, my school only offered 2 AP and a couple honors classes, so my transcript does not reflect the typical student who’s applying to these schools with a variety of AP and IB classes.

I know that a lot of colleges, especially smaller ones, take a more holistic approach to reviewing a student’s profile, but will my other experiences truly make up for my lack of rigor and numbers?

Another thing I’m unsure about is my essay. Obviously this is pretty important because this could even further make up for my deficiencies in other areas, however, I have no clue what to write it about. In your opinion, should what route should I take in writing this essay? Would it be beneficial to try and find a way to explain my low grades (like what it was like to work a lot in high school, or what how i was able to learn more than my transcript shows) or should I highlight an achievement or experience (such as making a class, although one of my teachers will likely put this in their rec. letter) that will further enhance the experiential part of my application?

Like I’ve stated before, I would love these schools and want to make it there one day, but as of right now I do not have a lot of money to spend on applications, and to apply to several places where I statistically have a very very low chance of making it in is taking away money from applications I have a shot with.

Basically what I’m asking is, knowing that I not only have a low downward trending GPA, but also low rigor and mediocre test scores, do my other experiences still give me a fighting chance in the schools you’ve mentioned? If so, I can maybe pick the one or two I have the best chances with, but unfortunately I need to save money for a safety or two along with a couple of target schools.

Are there any other colleges you would suggest with free applications that are like these? Is there any one school in particular you mentioned that I would have a decent chance at?

Thank you for all of your help and effort, I really appreciate it.

PS I will likely give Grinnell a shot because of its free application, thank you for suggesting that one.

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I think many of the schools @Publisher listed are a significant reach. I do think the OP can possibly punch a bit above her weight in admissions — she seems articulate and accomplished in her ECs. Higher test scores would help offset a lower GPA, too. But your odds are still pretty low at a lot of these schools.

I’d suggest you put a brief comment in your additional information section about your situation last year when your grades dropped.

I do not think you should just be drawn in by free applications. You still need to pay to send test scores and CSS profile unless you have waivers in many cases. And it is a distraction from schools that might come closer to meeting your need.

You need to get the NPCs run. This is very important. One school that is a reach for you, but not as high as some mentioned here, is Dickinson. They meet 99% of need, too.

You mentioned possibly being interested in being a teacher. It is generally easier to meet the state licensing qualifications in the state where you go to college. Every state has their own rules, and you can save yourself some time and headaches if you go to school in the state you hope to teach in. It isn’t required, but something to consider.