REVISED: Going to school out of state in Texas

Archive State Forums
1

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I’m in high school (9th grade) and have been thinking a lot about college for the past year now. I lvie in Louisiana and have done my research on the schools here and am really not impressed with any of them except for LSU. Though LSU seems like a good school, I really don’t know if I’d want to attend there because I want to get away from home and be on my own. I live 30 minutes from LSU, so if I went there I would probably live at home. My mom keeps telling my I need to go to school in LA because the TOPS Program will pay for my college if I get a 21+ on my ACT. My current GPA is 3.3, I take honors english (and plan to take it for the remainder of highschool), and am in BETA. I feel like I could have done better this year and even slacked a bit at times. I plan to get my GPA up to around a 3.7 or higher next year and for the rest of my high school years. I have been looking at schools in Texas, but have been focusing on the smaller schools because of the difficulty of getting into the big schools like UT, Rice, etc. I am not exactly sure what school I’d like to attend, so I was hoping for some opinions. I am interested in becoming a psychologist, by the way. How hard would it be to get a near full ride/full ride scholarship? What type of grades should I maintain to get into a school out of state? I really just want to know how difficult it will be and, what schools are good, and how I can get there. Thanks.</p>

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<p>Congrats on starting to think about college early. Being out of state for private schools is simply not an issue in terms of admissions. They also give out the best scholarships so that they can be as affordable as public colleges. Southwestern actually gives a breakdown of sat and class ranks at [Southwestern</a> University: Financial Aid: Types: Scholarships: Merit Scholarship Program](<a href=“http://www.southwestern.edu/assistance/types/scholarships/merit.php]Southwestern”>http://www.southwestern.edu/assistance/types/scholarships/merit.php).
Take a look at the College That Change Lives book for more information. Some schools to look at are
Rice
UT Dallas
Texas A&M
UT Austin
Texas State
Texas Tech
Rice
Trinity
Southwestern
University of Dallas
Austin College
TCU
SMU</p>

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<p>Thanks for the reply. I always thought it was tougher to get into private schools! lol. Texas Tech looks interesting. Always thought it was a public school. I just got my ACT scores back last night, and I got a 20 (non-writing test). I guess that was ok, seeing that I had to guess for the majority of the math and a lot of the science. Once I take geometry next year, I think that will help me a lot to get my score a bit higher to get TOPS (TOPS is 21+). I know that many seniors have not even been able to get TOPS yet, so I was satisfied with this being my first test.</p>

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<p>conn96</p>

<p>I write all this not to discourage you but to give you some realistic point of view. </p>

<p>In April 2015 (your senior year) you would realize one very simple thing: you don’t go to a college that you want and sometimes you don’t go to a college that you are admitted to, but you go to a college that your family can afford, including willingness of your family to take loans.</p>

<p>That’s why I would advise to listen to your mom and apply to several LA colleges as your back-up plan and financial safety schools.</p>

<p>And just several simple facts and calculations.</p>

<p>TX is academically more challenging than LA. ACT 21 in Texas doesn’t entitle anyone to merit scholarship. TX college readiness score is ACT 23 (it means that if you get ACT 23 in high school, 10 or 11 grade, you can take college/dual credit classes or if you get 23 your senior year you can enroll to TX college without requirement of taking THEA (Texas Higher Education Assessment) for placement in, well, probably remedial classes. Remedial classes will not count toward your degree but will cost you money and will be prerequisites for regular classes required for degree.
Even ACT 23 doesn’t entitle you to any merit scholarship in Texas public university, only some need-merit (much more need than merit) scholarships for Texas residents only. I don’t know any private universities that will give merit scholarships to students with these low scores. But you can try to find them, of course.</p>

<p>Texas Tech that you mentioned in your previous post will give freshmen merit scholarships to students with ACT 27 and up. [Merit</a> Scholarship Information](<a href=“http://www.scholarships.ttu.edu/Meritscholarship.aspx]Merit”>http://www.scholarships.ttu.edu/Meritscholarship.aspx) And it will be 8,000 per year only with OOS COA 31-32,000 a year. Do you want to ask your mom if she is willing to pay the difference?</p>

<p>In Southwestern University that was suggested in another post the scholarships start with ACT 25 and it’s 7,000 per year. OOS COA is 45-46,000 a year. Do you want to talk to your mom about these numbers?</p>

<p>I am not sure I understand your GPA expectation. Let’s clarify. Do you expect to get 3.7 GPA only for next year? Well, it is possible, your cumulative GPA would be 3.5. Do you expect to have cumulative GPA 3.7? It is impossible, you’ll need 10th grade GPA higher than 4 to get it (I calculated it for 7 classes per year, but it is impossible for 6 classes either)
For college admission purposes when you first apply your GPA would include only 3 years without 12th grade. If you keep your GPA 3.7 both 10th and 11th grade your cumulative GPA will be up to 3.6. Well, if you get GPA 4.0 both 10th and 11th grade than your cumulative GPA will be 3.77.</p>

<p>If you want to go OOS you need to know your ACT/SAT with writing. Both tests include Algebra II questions which means you’ll not get your best score until the end of 11th grade.
You need to know your cumulative GPA for 3 years, the end of 11th grade.
You need to run Net Price Calculators on colleges websites to see how much money it will cost. And since the COA is changing and prices are going up the best calculations would be in the end of 11th grade.
And I would suggest to show the results of net price calculators to your parents so they would tell you if it is realistic for them to pay this amount or not. </p>

<p>You alone cannot borrow more than 27,000 for 4 years and 31,000 total if you study more than 4 years. Everything above this amount is parents’ loans and up to your mom to decide.</p>

<p>And the last realistic comment about desire of being a psychologist. You will never-ever find job as a psychologist with Bachelor degree only. Here in Texas even school psychologists positions require Master degree. To work as a practicing psychologist you’ll need PhD or PsyD
[What</a> Is the Difference Between a PhD in Psychology and a PsyD?](<a href=“http://gradschool.about.com/od/psycholog1/a/phdpsyd.htm]What”>Ph.D. in Psychology or Psy.D.?)
I would suggest to make some research about this degree and profession to understand what you are getting into.</p>