Part of the reason I applied to so many was because I wasn't sure of my HS education. I went through Pittsburgh Public Schools for all 12 years of my education. Don't get me wrong, I did well in school, took AP's, did honors program and just about every after-school program I could get my hands on and sports. But because I was coming from this pretty shady high school...I didn't want to place all my bets on a school where a high percentage were coming from private/nicer schools. Like I could never compete on paper with a girl with a diploma from Columbus School for Girls...my 3.9 compared to her 3.9? Riiiiight.

But I am happy where I ended up. Even though we get screwed by FAFSA (both parents alive, still married, working, I've had a job since I was 14), the financial aid I got from OC has been great. Money is a factor, but ultimately, its where you feel best that you should go...those two just happened to collide in one school for me.

You are expected to work independently. You won't be in class nearly as much as you were in high school, but far more will be expected to you. It is up to you to decided when work gets done.

Also, I've found that a "reading assignment" is a whole new ball game in college. Take them seriously.

Wow - I mean, I don't know much about the application process for UVA, but that seems a bit ridiculous (unless there is serious grade inflation). The only kids who had over 4.0s at my high school were those of us in the top 6-8 in the class. Plus, we could only get over a 4.0 by taking a certain number of AP classes.

I really encourage you to NOT choose a school based on what you think you will major in. Why? If for any reason that major doesn't work out, you need to still be happy with the school you chose.

I knew in high school that I wanted to be a doctor. I even did a special honors course at another school specifically for pre-pre-med kids my senior year, plus internships. When all the guidance counselors would go on about how all college kids change their major, I was the one that said, "Nope, not me."

Well, fast forward to my sophomore year of college where I was pre-med and miserable. It was no longer "me." I realized I no longer had any desire to be a doctor and go to school for so many more years, and furthermore, some of the classes (calculus and physics) did not come as naturally to me as it did for my classmates, which was a problem since everything was graded on a curve. I decided to go in a completely different direction and follow in my dad's footsteps as either an advertising or public relations major. And I LOVED my last two years of college. I was very lucky to be at a school that was equally excellent in both science and non-sciences. (Shameless plug: if you really want to know about a great pre-med program where you would also get a well-rounded education, Pepperdine's natural science division is superb at preparing its students for med school and has the acceptance rates to prove it.)

I'm also a big believer in liberal arts schools that give you a well-rounded education. People don't realize that there are plenty of science, business, accounting, etc. majors at liberal arts schools.

I'd also choose a school not in your own back yard. The best learning experience I got out of college was living on my own, away from everyone I knew, for the first time. You can go home at winter and summer break...don't go somewhere where you'll be tempted (or able) to go home on the weekends to see mom and dad. And while there are certainly some perks that come from being part of a large home-town university alumni network, it's been my experience that my far-from-home degree gets me more attention than the slew of UW/WSU/WWU/CWU grads employers in my state see.

Like others have said, make sure you visit the schools you're considering. That's what sealed the deal for me...I just felt really "at home" at what became my future university.

in northern virginia, the competition is fierce. its so heavily populated and are stereotyped to have the best schools in the state. nobody even thinks about getting into UVA unless they've taken AP classes and are at the top of their class. i'm not saying that other schools in the state aren't as strong, but if they went by qualified applicants rather than location, people with less than 4.0s would get in. then again, there are many out of state applicants too because of UVA's high ranking. the advice i was given was to apply out of state cause chances are i'd get a scholarship that would make it cheaper for me than staying in state.

but like i said before...i think college admissions is a joke.

A private school might give you enough money that would make it cheaper than going to a public out-of-state school. I don't know many public schools that give grant aid/scholarships to out-of-staters...they're just pressured so much not to.

I don't have an issue with a fellow Virginia resident from southwest VA getting selected over a candidate from a VA DC suburb. I do believe that William and Mary and UVa take too many out-of-staters as a percentage of the overall student body. North Carolina public schools have a max of 18% OOS students. This is mandated by the state legislature. W&M and UVa each have about 1/3 of the student population as OOS.

Arlington and Fairfax County schools as well as the City of Falls Church, and to a lesser extent, the city of Alexandria do push AP and IB courses. Cynics say this push is solely to improve the school's ranking in the Newsweek Challenge Index. My D took 8 over her hs career. At least five of my friends' kids took 11. I think the average number of APs taken at my D's school stood at about 3 or 4. Honors classes are taught in the lower grades but 11th grade English is either regular track or AP English Language followed by AP English Literature in 12th. There are students in the AP/IB courses who really don't belong in AP or regular college prep but there is no in-between honors.

I second my sister - this is the reason I transferred schools.

The district of my high school has challenged every high schooler to enroll in at least one AP course over their four years. This has resulted in HUGE numbers of AP tests and a very high ranking of the district by Newsweek, but also sends the message that no average or behind kids are allowed. It frustrates many of the parents and teachers in the district.

this came up a few years ago in the virginia general assembly, and i believe that its now required that 30% of students come from virginia. i believe UVA was the reason why this was mandated. i'm not sure about how accurate my memory is though.

Only 30% in-state? Ridiculous! If I were a state taxpayer in VA, I'd be pissed.

I hope they at least don't give the out-of-staters all the grant aid.

thanx..i love georgia! :) ..this summer im going to my cousin's house and she lives in atlanta so im going to see if she can take me to some campuses while im there...what did you like about gt?

Many of the Virginia schools contain a majority of in-state students. UVA brings in a lot of revenue from out of state students. I'm sure much of the aid is need based. I'm particularly happy to say that students I went to high school with received scholarships...academically and need-based.

Ha ha, I applied to W&M my senior year as out of state, and got a scholarship for 1/2 of in-state tuition. I ended up not going, but that was just because I got into my first-choice and decided to go there.

My HS had honors, AP, and IB. I think the maximum number of AP courses was about 5. AP is funny because most of the super-selective private schools don't even take the credits. I was offered a year for IB, but didn't take it because I wanted to study abroad.

I absolutely would not commit to a school just because of a specific major.

No, it's about 1/3 OOS, 2/3 IS. Virginians still feel that's too high a percentage of OOSers..,

Munchkin is absolutely correct. Tier 1 schools are very restrictive in which AP/IBs they'll accept as incoming credits, yet the adcoms expect to see these couses on an applicant's transcript.

Yep...that's what happened to me. The private school ended up being several thousand dollars less than the public school due to a generous merit-based scholarship. The public school offered me NOTHING.

What is sad that years eariler, State Colleges were open to all in state students, but not now. In State Tuition was cheaper than out of State students. Now it is becoming so cost prohibitive that unless some get Grants or scholorships they cannot afford to attend. GPA is become coming more important.

Private schools seem from what I have seen will give many more Scholarships for more money. I wondered about this and just figure that if they do not, they will close for lack of Students. Ergo, many Female/Male Schools are opening to either sex or close.

So, if you do not get a grant or a scholarship, you will not gain access to schools of secondary learning! So, you go to tech schools and learn to be a plumber, mechanic, electrician.

What is funny, most of them make more damn money!:D

[QUOTE=PhoenixAzul;1396727]When I applied, I applied to a really bipolar group of schools, and was accepted into all of them. I applied to :

Penn State main
St. Bonaventure
Ball State
Bethany College (WV)
Otterbein College
University of Alabama (yeah, I know)
University of Pittsburgh


I visited Ball State and St. Bonaventure...both were WAYYY too big for me, and had to have a big emphasis on partying...not what I was looking for. Plus, Ball State's representatives were rather rude to me when I did my visit.

QUOTE]


St. Bonaventure in upstate NY? My dad went there.. doesn't it only have about 1500 students?

I was accepted at:
-Miami (OH)
-UVA
-William & Mary
-Butler

I really did like UVA, but I knew as soon as I visited that I belonged at Miami.

It's funny, it was the opposite with me and BU. When I first visited I didn't think I would go there, but ended up choosing the school because of the scholarship package (money was a big concern in my household) and the mix of journalism and other programs. Luckily, on my first day I knew I made the right choice.

Texas
SMU
UVA
Washington and Lee
Alabama
Georgia

My advice: keep an open mind! When I was applying to colleges, my parents were going through their nasty divorce. I wanted to get the hell out of dodge, so I only applied to out of state colleges (in SC where I grew up) These are the schools I considered:
USC honors program
College of Charleston
Furman

I ended up going to College of Charleston and then transferring to Ohio University my junior year. I think if I had gone to Clemson, I probably would of loved it, since it's very similar to O.U. Alas, being a gamecocks fan (my Dad got his MBA at USC), I didn't even consider Clemson.

Very good!

Hey, me too!

I knew since junior year of HS that I definitely wanted to get out of Maryland, so I didn't even bother applying to in state schools. I looked at East Carolina, UNC Charlotte, Clemson, Virginia Tech, and WVU, but ended up only applying to ECU, Clemson, and West Virginia. WVU was actually my safety school but when I took the tour, I really liked it a lot. My mom was obsessed with Clemson's campus but I couldn't really see myself there, so East Carolina wound up being my second choice and Clemson my last. It really is true what people say about just "knowing" what school is right for you.. the only time I've regretted coming to WVU is during January and February when it's FREEZING and I see my East Carolina cousin's away message about having a BBQ. It makes it worthwhile though on the first warm day in the spring when everyone skips classes and just goes outside and drinks all day long. :)

Amen!:) I second 33's answer all the way. People still ask me to this day why I chose the school I did, and I can't really think of an answer, I just knew it was just for me. I mean, I know a lot of alumna that graduated from the university I'm currently attending, but besides that, I trusted my intuition. Initially, I wanted to attend ECSU and then I took Norfolk State into consideration. Its close to home, but then I had to realize how much money it was going to cost my family and I. They also told me to not worry about my finances because I was going to school one way or another, but that's still a lot of money your spending if you go to school out of state. Later on I confirmed my decision to attend ECSU. If you have that gut feeling, just follow it because 10 times of of 10 your making the right choice. Oh, and everyone else's answers I agreed with too.:D Lots of good advice...

I got accepted to:

1.)Norfolk State University
2.)Elizabeth City State University
3.)Virginia Commonwealth

Apply to a school that has a broad range of majors and opportunities. At age 16, you may think now that you want to be a doctor or an artist, but that could change 5 or 10 or 20 times over the next 5 years! Leave yourself with plenty of options.

Some thoughts on schools you may want to consider in the areas you mentioned:

UGA
Mercer
Georgia Southern
Valdosta State
Emory
UT-K
U of Memphis

Among many others. Visit a variety of schools, stay overnight, talk to current students and alumni.

Know that it ok to come in as an undeclared major, and to change your major a few times. Take some diverse courses in high school and in your first few years of college that challenge your mind and stimulate new interests. Take on internships that show you what it would be like to work in the medical field, or as an artist/graphic designer/interior designer, event planner, teacher, etc. Experience is the best teacher!

Give yourself plenty of options and talk to a lot of students. You are doing a great job starting early. Best of luck!

I attended the U of Central Florida in Orlando, a state school that was far enough away from home, yet close enough to my family. It provided enough diverse course offerings, internship opportunities and student activities to keep me happy and I'm glad I chose to go there. When I started it was a smaller school, but has grown to become one of the largest schools in the country. Keep in mind that the school you start off attending may be very different 4 years later as a result of general growth and current events!

If you choose to stay within a few hours of your hometown, figure out how many miles away would make you comfortable and focus your efforts on 4 year schools with various programs that you would find interesting. Good luck!

thanx..i agree..i want to be far away where my parents cant just pop up on me when ever they feel like it..but close enough where i could drive home on some weekends..

And the warm winters were part of the reason that I picked East Carolina! :) That and the second I set foot on the campus I knew I was home! Other schools I considered were: Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, NCSU and Univ of Delaware (backup safety school.... but I never really wanted to go there). I decided Coastal and GSU just weren't big enough and if I was going to be that far from home I wanted plenty to do.

Yeah I'm definitely jealous when my cousin IMs me to tell me ECU cancelled classes for 2 inches of snow and I'm trekking to class through 4 or 5 inches of snow and ice.
My ex boyfriend went to Coastal Carolina, I visited him down there once - beautiful campus, but like you said, small if you were looking for something more like ECU's size. My sister actually went to University of Delaware for a year and a half too.

Again, I really recommend you avoid going home on the weekends once in college (unless it's an emergency or you're on break or something). Way too many kids who lived up to five hours away did this at my university, and in my opinion it's just not healthy. They didn't seem to develop as independent adults the way the rest of us did.

The main reason I didn't go to my back-up (U. Wash.) or any other school in my state was because they were too close. And, I didn't want to go to a school where I knew I'd be running into a lot of people that I had been going to school with for 12 years already. I applied to and was accepted to a random group of schools too (Pepperdine, U. Southern Calif., Boston U., UW, WWU, U. Puget Sound), but ultimately the decision came down to a bunch of different factors, with the visit and financial aid being the deciding factors.

I looked at Washington and Lee and ultimately decided against applying because I wanted to go to a bigger school. That ended up being the downfall of W&M and Butler too.

Also didn't hurt that Miami pulled through with a merit scholarship.

I realize I'm not the norm, but I only applied to one school. It was in-state, I knew I would be accepted and I wanted to go there - end of story. My HS guidance counselor tried to get me to apply to other schools but I was lazy and didn't really feel like filling out the application forms and writing essays.

I only applied to one school...Auburn (for me, it was out of state and 2hrs from home). I visited, fell completely in love with the campus, and never once regretted my decision. War Eagle :)

I never applied to a 'stretch' school & I think if I could go back and do it all again I'd be a little more adventerous in my applications. After 3 NY state schools, Wells & Cedar Crest all weren't the right fit, Moravian became the only one left standing. I think for a little after the application deadlines passed I felt sort of stuck. I got over it when I visited Moravian again ( and loved it) but perhaps having 2 to choose from would have been more sensible.

I didn't realize I would like a school of ECU's size but that university has done a great job of not really spreading the campus out. It feels a lot smaller than it really is. UNC is a lot like that too. NCSU is a big school and it felt like a big school. I got the same feeling from UD too. I haven't met too many people on this board that know of UD so it's pretty cool to have met someone who does! :)

Distance from home can be a big thing for a Frosh!:D

Great to get away from home, but nice to be within 2-3 hours.

My first school, NWMoSU was 2 hours and had a beautiful campus. After I left, they redid a lot and added many buildings and took the neatness away from it.

My second school PSU, Ks. I did not care for, but it really grew on me. There is "The Oval" which connects to all of the orignal buildings. Even though the campus has expanded greatly, it still has the close feeling as back then.

The ambiance of a school and the types of GLO hosing can be important at first look. Because of age of family members, I was told to go close to home. Not a person died until after I graduated from school!:)

I actually wanted to go to either Ks. SU or Co.U.

Still like the feeling of knowing the folks on campus. The closeness of being able to get around campus and having My Fraternity House very near for the members who can park and walk and come back easily.

Never was big on having to have a bicycle, rollar skates or riding a bus between classes.:D

Look at many things, remember, you may have an idea on a major, but, most will change or declare after Frosh year!

Check on all of your interests and then decide. A scholarship can help somethimes!