So as the title suggests I am both gay and kind of intelligent. I have realized these two things are both important to what kind of colleges I want to attend. I try to talk to my school counselor about colleges but she seems to think that OOS state schools like Oregon State University in Corvallis. Thing is Corvallis is a small town so I would never consider it because of such a small dating pool.
So since I am getting the feeling that my counselor is not quite in tune with what would work for me, I am hopeful that you guys can help me find places.
So for a little bit about myself:
I am currently a sophomore at a Catholic private school in Idaho. I would say the school is a college prep school in everything but name. I currently have a 3.5 GPA due to severe mental illness which caused my grades to dip in the second semester of my freshman year as well as in my middle school years. I took 3 years worth of high school level math and science before high school which transferred over to my high school transcript. Regardless of that, I should be able to raise my GPA up to a 3.7 by the end of my junior year.
Moving on from my lackluster gpa, I am predicted to be able to get around a 32 ACT based on the ACT ASPIRE which I took as a freshman. And that score is from without studying, so I should be able to raise it some.
If you have not figured out based on me taking a bunch of math and science courses, I am interested in entering a STEM field, specifically biochemistry. In fact, I am about to start an internship for a professor at my local university. So I have a deep interest in biochemistry.
I also like to run for the cross country and track team. I also participate in the schools competitive speech and debate team.
I have never really traveled but I would love to live in a more urban environment with a decent LGBT community. I would like to have an actual dating life in college.
So there is a bit about me. I know that is not much to base on, but you do you guys have any suggestions for schools which sound like half decent matches for a sciency homosexual?
Any large university will have a large LGBT community. It’s not a big deal. I’d just pick the best for academics and future jobs and exclude faith based unis (ND, BYU, etc.) outside of major metro areas. You will be fine in smaller college towns too.
My parents can’t contribute much if at all to my college costs. They can barely pay to send me to private school and they a way to retire. So I basically get to pay for college all on my own.
Realistically, you need a net price under $10,000 that you can cover with work earnings and/or federal direct loan (the latter is only up to $5,500); lower is better.
If they are low income, then some schools may offer enough financial aid; check their net price calculators on their web sites. Most out-of-state public schools do not give good financial aid.
To expand on what ucbalumnus said about schools meeting need, this link has a list of schools which promise to meet full need for students or which meet on average over 90% of need (those schools are in bold text). If you get a 32 and can raise your GPA, you will be competitive for admissions at many of these schools (and you will have better chances at merit scholarships at other schools).
Note that some schools which promise to meet need use formulas which frequently calculate need far below FAFSA-calculated need (I’m looking at you, USC). Also, some schools will award heavy loans as part of the financial package.
And run NPCs because there’s also a chance that your need according to calculators will not match up with what your parents are actually willing to spend.
As others have said, most schools in a an urban location will have a sizable enough gay population for you to find your fit socially. And as others have also said, your biggest concern is going to be financial. Take the ACT (and the SAT too) and let us know how you actually test. I’m also assuming that your GPA of 3.5 includes the non-representative freshman year: So your sophomore and junior years are stronger, right?
Yeah, honestly I am not entirely sure if my parents will pay for ANY of my college expenses.And now that they are divorced, so their finances are already split. My dad makes 50,000 and my mom makes 40,000. I live with my dad , so I assume that the financial aid is based on his income. So I might be able to get some need based aid depending on the college I go to.
Have you talked to your parents specifically about how much they can pay or are you assuming?
Is there anything in their divorce agreement about paying for college?
So you need to figure out how to pay for anything that your parents won’t cover.
I think in most desirable order:
If the school uses only the FAFSA for financial aid application, then your father’s income will be used (i.e. $50,000 income).
If the school uses the CSS Profile in addition to FAFSA, both parents’ incomes will be used, unless the school specifically states that it does not use the non-custodial parent income. In this case, you should run net price calculators with both of their incomes (i.e. $90,000) and assets included, but be aware that some have reported that some net price calculators are not very accurate even when this is done. Obviously, if your mother is not cooperative with financial aid forms, you will not get financial aid from such a school unless you can convince them to waive that requirement (which is generally considered difficult).
I have asked before and they have literally nothing saved for me for college at all. They basically just hope I will get a nice scholarship to some university. So I am operating under the fact that they will not be able to pay for college. Also due to the extensive issues in my family, I would prefer to limit my ties with them as much as I can.
With their help, run the NPCs at a few schools. With a household income of $90k, your parents will have to contribute, but if their savings are very low as it sounds, this number might be reasonable.
And while you might prefer to limit ties, that’s essentially impossible for FA. You will need them to fill out the forms for 4 years, and most likely you will be expected to pay over $10k/year, which you won’t be able to cover on your own. You are still considered dependent until the age of 24.
Based on the parental finance situation, you need to look for big merit scholarships to afford college without any help from them. See the links in reply #4.
As someone asked before - did you take the PSAT? If so what was your Scholarship Index? As a sophomore it will not be used but will give an indication of how well you might do for the junior year PSAT. If I were you I would put in a lot of effort to get that high if you are indeed close. Being NMSF/NMF will open more doors for paying for college.
On the list for automatic full tuition scholarships is Temple University in Philadelphia. I’m sure it has to be on lists for being gay friendly and I’m sure their organization does things with UPENN’s, Drexel, St Joe’s, and the many other universities in and around Philadelphia.