<p>Hi, I’m a highschool senior who is headlong in the application process. Basically, I’m just looking for suggestions for colleges to which I should apply. I hope I’m posting this in the correct category and am not being too demanding or forward in asking for suggestions. </p>
<p>I’ll provide a little information just so that things stay realistic as to where I could potentially get in:</p>
<p>UW GPA - 3.95ish
SAT - 2260
SAT Subject Tests (730 Lit 650 USH - I was thoroughly disappointed in myself with these)
Class Rank - Top 10%, but barely.
Decent Extracurriculars</p>
<p>I titled this thread because I think that the only thing I have going for me is my SAT score. As such, I’m looking for schools that value the SAT 1, don’t require the SAT 2, and provide good financial aid. The financial aid portion is really important to me.</p>
<p>I’ve done a good deal of research and am considering the following schools (in no particular order):</p>
<ol>
<li>Claremont McKenna College</li>
<li>Carleton College</li>
<li>Davidson</li>
<li>University of Florida (It’s in-state)</li>
<li>Vanderbilt (though I feel like this might be too big a reach)</li>
</ol>
<p>Where else might I apply and have a decent chance of gaining admission?</p>
<p>Your GPA looks good, although it seems odd that your rank is only barely in the top 10% with such a high GPA.</p>
<p>Is that because your school has a lot of good students (a good thing if it is well known among colleges), or because your school has high grade inflation (a bad thing) or you chose less rigorous course work (also a bad thing)?</p>
<p>For financial aid, have you checked the net price calculator at each school’s web site?</p>
<p>Ah, my bad. My weighted GPA (which is used for ranking) is 4.44ish. I’ve been enrolled at a local college since 10th grade, and those grades are on a 5-point scale. My freshman year classes were not at all rigorous. I think my school must be competitive. </p>
<p>I’ll check out that Full Tuition Scholarships link! Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>I really like your list so far. Davidson is one of my favorite LACs and extremely underrated. </p>
<p>You haven’t given us a lot of information about what you’re looking for, but I’d say Tulane and Trinity U (TX) would be worth a look; both are great schools and very generous with merit aid. Rhodes is reasonably generous with merit scholarships as well and is sort of a less selective Davidson. If it’s not too close to home, check out U Miami as well.</p>
<p>Carleton doesn’t offer merit aid, so if that matters to you, you might want to look at Grinnell (the Trustee Scholarships). A lot of cross-applicants AND merit aid.</p>
<p>I was definitely thinking Grinnell and Wake Forest as well. I’m not particularly anxious about merit aid because I won’t be a STANDOUT applicant at any of these schools. I also think my need-based aid + loans will be enough to fund my own education.</p>
<p>As for what I want to study: I’ve been told not to choose a school for a major or program because everyone changes their major in college. However, I’m interested in polysci, philosophy, lit, English… basically anything that isn’t hard science or math.</p>
<p>Given that you are undecided, you need to find a school with a reasonably strong departments in all of your possible majors, so that you won’t have to transfer away if you decide on a major that is weak or limited at your school.</p>
<p>Since you are undecided, you also want a school where declaring or changing among your possible majors is administratively not difficult (although you should be aware that all majors have some freshman and sophomore prerequisite requirements that you need to meet before declaring in order to avoid delaying graduation). This type of thing needs to be evaluated for each school individually; generalizations can be incorrect for a given school.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen so far, the colleges on my list have solid departments for everything I’m considering.</p>
<p>I’m really giving some serious consideration to Carleton. I had a great interview with them recently and think I’d fit in well there. However, from what I’ve been reading, job placement with a Carleton degree seems to be lacking. I want to work for a few years before grad school (though I do want to go). What schools are routinely respected by employers? Are those the big universities like the ivies, notre dame, stanford, etc?</p>
<p>Big universities do attract more recruiters because they are bigger (i.e. more students recruited per visit). Small schools may not even be that well known enough to be noticed by recruiters; students may have to be more aggressive at finding employers and applying to them for internships and post-graduation jobs.</p>
<p>That makes sense. What Universities have good enough financial aid and don’t require subject tests? I found Uchicago, which fits that criteria, but I don’t really think I have what it takes to get in there.</p>
<p>In-state public universities and less selective schools offering big merit scholarships (e.g. automatic full tuition from Alabama for your stats) may meet your criteria.</p>
<p>provide good financial aid. The financial aid portion is really important to me.</p>
<p>What does this mean? Are you low income, so you’d qualify for lots of aid at the schools that give good aid?</p>
<p>Or does that mean that your family has a good income, but just won’t be able to pay as much as colleges will expect them to pay?</p>
<p>Do you have a non-custodial parent? </p>
<p>Would you QUALIFY for the amount of aid that you need? Have you had your parents run the net price calculators on various schools’ websites to see what they’d be expected to pay?</p>
<p>Schools that “give great aid,” usually do NOT give great aid to those who don’t qualify for the aid. That’s why there are “full pay” students at many schools that give “great aid.”</p>
<p>Are you a NMSF? How did you do on the PSAT?</p>
<p>Since you like Carleton you might also like Reed. Your stats look like a match (meaning a 50/50 chance) for Reed, but stats comprise only 20% of Reed admission criteria. Reed meets full need.</p>