what school is right for you?

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by VAgirl18

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.

[alum]

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.

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

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

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by alum

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 APs taken at my D's school was 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.

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.

[VAgirl18]

Originally Posted by alum

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.

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.

[PeppyGPhiB]

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.

[piscesbabi09]

Originally Posted by DSTRen13

I'm from Georgia. So for Georgia schools ... Emory for medicine & SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design) for art. Both are expensive as hell private schools, tho'. (I loved my free public school to death - but I would't really recomment GT for an art or medicine program unless you're talking about something specialized like biomed engineering or computer animation. )

As for how to choose a school - just keep looking into things and visit campuses. Who you are and what you like is going to change so much between your sophomore year and your senior year when you make that decision - just stay informed. You'll know when you know, and you can't really know for sure yet.

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?

[VAgirl18]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

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.

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.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by alum

I do believe that William and Mary and UVa take too many out-of-staters as a percentage of the overall student body.

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.

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.

[alum]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

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.

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.

[LouisaMay]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

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.

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.

[Tom Earp]

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!

[WVU alpha phi]

[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?

[ADqtPiMel]

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.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by ADqtPiMel

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.