Thinking over about College
 

Hi,


As I currently play the waiting game to hear back from the colleges, thoughts of second-guessing and wondering 'where else should I apply to' are on my mind.
The fuzzy feeling that everyone [according to my college counslor] gets after 30 seconds of hanging out on the campus they fall in love with that, it really never came to me.
Right now, it's in the middle of my senior year, near the end of college application time, and I feel the opportunity of selecting a college slip away.
My priorities include a college with a student body of smaller size [less than 10,000] and in a relatively large city and urban campus; along with a general liberal arts program and a location within 7-8 hrs of cleveland, home. I've always checked the 'undecided' box on the standardized tests, and every source of info has gently reminded that majors change all the time.

[my sisters, one started in mechanical engineering and ended up in poly science; the other started in biomed and ended up in social work.]



So far, Canisus [buffalo]; marquette [milwaukee] and pittsburgh have been sent out; and kalamazoo is on the way shortly.
Alums' advice and responses are greatly appreciated.

/reads this over, sees that it may be a bit vague for readers, unsure of what else background info I could give in order to give you a good perspective of my status.

/If you feel annoying that a college-bound teen is asking for info and venting, well, sorry.
I believe Tilted living is an appropriate where we could intelligently discuss matters like these.

thanks,
keyshawn..

not to get too personal, but what is your price range and your SAT score?


i may have a school for you

ACT 28, SAT 1250


Price range - Though it may sound ignorant, I want money to be as minimal of a factor as it could be. Seriously, this is my education here - I don't want it to be cheaped [though if a school is inexpensive, I'm all for it] Although, I'd expect anything over 35k/year [including room and board] would definitely be too much of a burden upon my family and me.

Look, college is different for everyone. I would suggest you do what you want to do and if the first year isn't working out great, think about transfering. Sorry for the short answer but its quite complicated in the end.

I'm in the middle of my senior year too and have finished getting my applications out. I applied to 7 schools. It's wierd, most are in the North East (Boston, NYC), but I also applied to UofA and ASU and even UC San Diego. So I'm either going to be in one corner of the country or another... hah :)

I know I have a warm fuzzy feeling for pretty much all the schools I applied too. My favorite is Boston College though, even though UCSD is nice too. My parents made me apply to some schools I know are way out of my reach too, but I haven't really become too attached to them so when I get my rejection letter I won't be too sad.

Like you I want a school in a big city or right outside a big city, but I don't really care about student population that much. I'm not really picky though so I think that works to my advantage. Plus, my high school is huge, over 2500 kids, so I'm used to big groups.

Good luck to you. It's all up to you in the end though. My best advice is go visit some schools this weekend (3 day weekend for MLK day), and HURRY UP AND GET YOUR APPLICATIONS IN!!! Applications for most schools are due very shortly or should already be in!

Have you looked at Xavier?
It is located in Cincinnati, OH and boasts a good 4,500 students. You have the city of Cincinnati to explore and you are extremely close to Kentucky.
With those scores, you would fit in well and most likely qualify for some sort of a scholarship.
http://www.xu.edu

In addition to the "fuzzy feeling" factor, think really hard about what you want to do. That's where I went wrong. I loved my school, I fell in love with the campus when I first went there, and I got in. But then I changed my mind about what I wanted to do (multiple times), and I really feel like I missed out on a lot of the opportunties that school could have provided me if I'd been more focused. I immensely regret that.

Schools you're even REMOTELY interested in, get your applications in the door, like tomorrow, if possible. Many schools provide scholarships that can help you, but they are given out on an application by application basis. I applied to ASU among other schools like September of my senior year, and was accepted and given a full ride scholarship. People who are applying now are finding out that many of the scholarships they would have qualified for have already been given to other people. You say that money is not an issue, but if it can help make your education more affordable, use it in your favor.

wesleyn in IL is a really good school small and expensive lol

Thanks for the advice and suggestions everyone.

Trish,
You reminded me to check out Weselyan, Ohio that is.

Helped me do some more self-assessment and pondering.

You should come to Hendrix College in Conway, AR. You would fit in as just about average with you scores and we have a student body size of 1100.

A left-field proposal would be the University of Windsor. Just the other side of Lake Erie. Tuition is about 5,000$ to 4,000$/year for American students, US Dollars. 18,000 total graduate+undergraduate enrollment. Post-secondary education in Canada is subsidized by the government, and, in addition, Windsor offers a really cheap rate to Americans. (non-Americans pay over 8,500$/year (US). Canadians pay about 3,000$ to 4,000$ (US) last I checked.)

Just an idea to think about.

Visit, visit, visit...after you apply to as many schools as humanly possible if you haven't visited already.

THAT is what will help you decide. Pick the school that the instant you step on campus you feel "home." I chose my school--a PAC-10 engineering school (19,000 students in a 50,000 person college town)--because it felt comfortable. It felt good. It fit. Liberal arts is definitely not the focus, but I decided that I didn't want to go to the big liberal arts state school as it didn't feel right. It was the best decision I've ever made--Oregon State turned out to not only be perfect for me, but the English department here is far better than anything I would have gotten at the University of Oregon. It's smaller, more intimate, and the professors rule.

So choose, ultimately, what feels best--but apply now. Applications never hurt.

I go to Pittsburgh, so I'd be happy to answer any of your questions about the school. I'm pretty sure with a 1250 you'll have no trouble getting in (provided your GPA is over a 3.0.)

I'm sure i dont have to tell you this but if you havent searched www.princetonreview.com then register and do it, ultimately it was the most useful application for my college search.

Don't stress too much over it, i know I did and it really wasn't worth it.

I'd suggest you reconsider the 7-8 hour (I'm assuming drive) radius of your search. Broaden that up! One of the most important things about college is experiencing new things, and what better way to start that off than by moving somewhere more alien to you? For example, I grew up in New Mexico. But when it came time to apply to colleges, I decided I really wanted a complete change of climate so I moved to Seattle, WA and have been loving the Pacific NW ever since.

Coincidentally, Seattle University (where I attend) sounds like it might be a real good match for you with the exception of it being further away.

Don't think so negatively. Go with your gut feeling right now and attend the school for a semester. If it isn't the school for you, you can always apply somewhere else. It's not like you're trapped there and if the other university you attend is for the same program you'll have transferable courses.

UNC ASHEVILLE! yeah, its a little farther away but it's got everything you are thinking about...
dude, my HB is currently at his forth college, and is still a year away from his Batechlor's...

college is supposed to be fun! sometimes you have to test drive a lot of cars before you buy!

I've always found seattle to be intriguing, the liberal/trendiness of it. Plus, I don't mind the rain @ all.
The only problems that I have with that, it would very difficult [compared to a small drive for the other colleges] to go home during the holidays, plus I'm not sure on the cost of living in seattle.

- I checked the website for more information and I really like what I'm seeing so far :)
Thanks very much, exizldelfuego, I'm applying there.

[I'll be PM'ing with a few questions]

Thanks to the rest of the TFP'ers with your insight as well.

Regards,
keyshawn

i feel for you. i was offered a full scholarship to ucla and turned it down because it was simply too far from my family. i was worried about getting home for holidays or making it back in the event something happened to someone.

i finally decided on pitt. it was only a few hours from home and i loved the campus. some people want a campus that is all together, i really liked having it spread around through the city. it was also close (about an hour) to morgantown (wvu) where i had friends going. and it was less than 3 hours to columbus where i had other friends. all in all, the perfect choice for me and i've never regretted it for a second.

if you want a really small school, you might take a look at fairmont college in wv. it's just outside of morgantown and only about an hour from pittsburgh. had several friends who went there, but it was a lot smaller than i wanted.

have you looked at wvu (morgantown) or marshall university (huntington)? i'm in wv and those are the two most popular choices around here. wvu is similar to pitt in student body size i believe. marshall is smaller.

First four years do not matter really. Just make sure you take classes that you plan to use later. For instance, say you want to go to med school. You can major in a liberal arts school, take classes geared towards med school such as histology, and spend more time doing volunteer and rounding out your education to look more impressive for an interview. The same applies to most other graduate level schools.

Maybe I'm not giving you the kind of advice you want but just really consider several factors such as price, distance from home, class offerings, politics within the school, and also think about its effects on your future life. If you go to a state school you can get into practically any graduate school or med school as long as you make the grades and meet the requirements. Especially ones within the state.