I am a girl who is looking for advice on which college would be a good fit for me. Although I excelled at school academically (32 act, 4.4 weighted gpa, 6 AP classes and 8 honors) I plan on focusing on having fun in college while still keeping up my grades ( i never really had to study in hs so im prepared to do more in college). I also want to go to a school with a good reputation (my parents are super critical of that). I want a school with a fun social scene, good/popular football team, greek life, etc. Basically I just want to have a fun freshman year. I am wondering if I could get some insight from people who have gone to UW Madison, Penn State, University of Miami, Boulder, Ohio State, and more!! If you think I would like a school or where you went plz comment and comment why 
Are you a senior or a junior?
What’s your budget or budget range (ie., What your parents can afford per year strictly from their income and savings) ?
If a senior, where have you been admitted?
I’m a senior!! My budget range is probably around 40,000/year, but I also am expecting aid from FAFSA and school scholarships!! I have been accepted to UW Madison, Minnesota, Indiana, Mizzou, but I’m not really interested in any of those (besides madison)/am waiting to hear back from other schools before I consider those. I haven’t heard back from Boulder but am expecting to get in and I haven’t heard back from Miami. I am in the process of applying to Penn and Ohio State.
@MYOS1634 ^^
Penn State fits your preferences but will not give you much, if any, financial aid if you’re out-of-state.
By “in the process of applying” do you mean you’ve already submitted the application, or you haven’t yet?
@bodangles I haven’t yet!! I meant I’m in the process of writing essays and filling out the actual app. I’m doing them now because I realized that a lot of the schools I applied to were more so safety schools and I want to apply to more schools that are similar to UW Madison and other target schools I applied to.
Penn State’s priority deadline was November 30 – your weighted GPA is very good, but nothing is assured when applying late.
I would get that app in as soon as possible, because more spots will fill up the longer you wait.
You missed the scholarship deadline for tOSU, I think.
Syracuse and northeastern would be good pick but deadlines were Jan 1st unless the storm pushed that.
American, FSU, Virginia Tech are still accepting applications.
Did you apply to Schreyer ? If not, don’t expect any scholarships from Penn State (exception of you were invited to For The Glory weekend).
Madison is unlikely to give you any aid either.
Have you run the Net Price calculators on each college you applied for?
UW certainly fits your list of preferences. Tuition and room and board for an OOS student is about $48,000. Miami of Ohio might be one to consider adding, it is a public Ohio university, big greek life.
FAFSA does not “give” a student aid – it is analogous to “the common app” for financial aid, so the school takes that data and identifies what the student’s “need” is and what, if any, financial aid will be offered. For OOS publics, any aid offered is often in the form of pure loans, and a student is only eligible to borrow roughly $6000 a year so the rest of it is parent loans. UW does not give scholarships, generally, to OOS students, or really anything but a loan package. Indiana does give merit to OOS students, and also fits your list of preferences, and has much more prominent greek life than UW.
Hard to beat UW for those criteria. Very very hard. They are improving OOS merit aid to some extent. Ignore the editorial content of this piece. http://hechingerreport.org/why-uw-madisons-plan-to-become-bigger-merit-aid-player-is-bad-for-u-s-public-higher-education/
Penn State probably won’t work for you. If you didn’t apply before the priority deadline of November 30, it’s really tough to get in. I’ve seen kids with your stats rejected because they missed the deadline. Penn state is stingy with both merit and non-merit aid. Limited scholarships are available through the honors college but you’ve missed that deadline. Also, even kids with high stats like yours have to study freshman year. And as a parent, I would be bothered to learn I might be paying $40k so my kid could have fun and put out in minimal effort. I’m not sure you are approaching college with the right mindset.
All the possibilities you’ve named will suit your purposes just fine. I second the suggestion of Miami of Ohio, but the priority consideration deadline for merit aid has passed.
@Sophley As stated in my original post, I am prepared to study more in college. Good thing you aren’t my parent!
I second having a look at FSU as it hits most of the things you are looking for in terms of greek, sports, social scene, and academics. Looks like you have until Feb 7 to apply. You would likely qualify for the Honors Program and the OOS tuition waiver (maybe more). Good luck!
I’m with @Sophley. Wouldn’t be happy if that were my kid’s attitude, either. They could find their own $40K a year if it was.
I’d be very happy to have you for my daughter. Nothing wrong with having some fun in college. UW is full of smart work hard play hard types. It would be ideal. Boulder nice but short on the smart work hard portions. Texas Austin another good one but not many from OOS.
It’s not a matter of “working more” - the challenge is time management. For the first three weeks you won’t have a single test or paper. It’ll be VERY tempting to go out every night. Your roommate, people in your corridor, friends will do that and will invite you to join.
Except that over these three weeks you’ll cover roughly the equivalent of 2 months’ work of work in HS, and if you don’t do the 2 hours of work per class period (even if you have no check, no test, nothing) you will be hopelessly behind when midterms toll around. If partying is your thing, no problem, go out all night on Friday and Saturday, sleep in a drunken stupor the day after, go to tailgate, cheer on your school’s team… (be careful to always go to a party with a friend AND leave with the friend). But tell yourself, right now, that Sunday-Thursday evening will be for prep, study groups, clubs, etc. In short, weekends for anything you want, but during the week prioritize academics and leadership opportunities. (I think some parents here are concerned you intend on spending all evenings partying, which some freshmen do, although their GPA takes a hit at best or at worst they have to drop out…)
Time management will be a huge challenge because 1° it is, for all freshmen, even the most accomplished ones 2° it’ll be harder for you because you never had to “struggle”, “juggle”, “work hard”, so you’ll have an extra adjustment compared to kids who had to handle it in HS (you will have an advantage in that, based on your HS background, you’ll learn fast.)
@collegeboundgal2018 , yes I am tough on my kids. Not every kid is blessed to be naturally smart, but a great work ethic can be learned and will take you far. Good luck with your decision.
We took our daughter to Penn State and Ohio State. She very much liked PSU but not so much OSU which seemed very flat and not as treed… also urban. In addition, we went to Purdue which is big on engineering and Indiana Univ. Bloomington. IU is drop dead gorgeous and located on the edge of a funky and friendly mid-size town. I agree with your parents! Have fun, but behave and don’t disappoint them… they’re spending a boatload of money for the benefit of your future. Large universities have so much to offer… sports and tailgate parties, etc. As a graduate of UT-Austin in the 1980’s, I wish I had availed myself of more cultural things, like museums, symphonies and theatre; much of which is free for students. All the best.