choosing and getting into college

[BikeDutchess]

Yes, we love WUE, my son is benefitting from that program as well since going out-of-state was so important to him. It's 150% of in-state tuition. His school did have ACT/SAT test score criteria to be met to qualify.

[Irulan]

Yes, we love WUE, my son is benefitting from that program as well since going out-of-state was so important to him. It's 150% of in-state tuition. His school did have ACT/SAT test score criteria to be met to qualify.

Yes, certainly they don't hand WUE out. Son #2 picked the one school in CO that is NOT on the list, grr, but he got lots of scholarship money so if his college accoutn doesn't lose any more value, we should be ok.

[Madride]

I am a freshman at weber state university and I have loved my first semester so far. I think the most important things in picking a college is picking a place you want to live and picking a college with the right programs. I love WSU because it is a small university. my classes range in size from 8 to about 70 students so they are not very big at all. You just need to get an idea of what you might want to major in and pick a school that offers it. I am going to WSU for pre pharmacy. I want to go to graduate school in Oregon after i get my bachelors.

[Flur]

I graduated in 98. I definitely agree with those who have said to visit the schools he's considering. This made a huge difference to me. After visiting a number of schools I picked a school that wasn't my original pick and I'm positive I made the right decision. If I hadn't visited there's a good chance I would have been unhappy, or not as happy, somewhere else. I loved my school so much that I cried when I had to leave after graduation, and my college friends are still my best friends.

I absolutely do not come from money, but when I picked (with my parents) what school to attend we only ruled out schools that were not need-blind or that stated up front that they could not provide aid to all incoming students that needed it. The only school I looked at that fell into this group was the University of Notre Dame. I didn't know what I wanted to do so I applied to Liberal Arts colleges (even at the bigger Us that had multiple colleges). I applied to six schools in total up and down the eastern seaboard - four large schools and two small schools (one of which was really tiny), three were private and three were public, two were reach schools and two were safety schools, and I got in to four of the six.

In the end I chose to attend a school that was not as highly ranked as another school I applied to, and that was really tiny and less well-known than any of the other schools I applied to. I did it because when I visited I knew it was the right place. I got enough aid to go to any of the schools on my list and no, the student loan payback did not kill me. I should also mention that the school I chose did not give me as much aid as the others up front - my mom called and asked them why the didn't give me more aid and they rectified the situation. So don't rule out any schools because of $$, there are ways to make it work.

So why did I love my school so much? Well, I was po' so I couldn't afford a computer, but a computer was included in my tuition - a rather nice laptop loaded with software so I never needed to sit in a computer lab. It was a small school in a really expensive town so almost everyone lived on campus for all four years - it felt like a community, I'd even go so far to say that my college friends became my family. There was a grad school but it was really small, and it wasn't a research U, so the faculty were focused on my learning not their own projects. The class sizes were really small so a lot of stuff was taught as a seminar, opening the door for students to learn from each other, not just the professor. There were no frats so most parties were open, and again, at a really small school, everyone knew everyone else so you knew what you were getting into when you went out. And we partied like animals. Like. Animals. I don't think you can have that much fun if you don't feel like the people around you have your back. I don't think I would have had as much fun at a big school, or have gotten as good of an education, because of the individual attention. But... this is me. Every new frosh-to-be needs to find what is right for them, for how they learn, and for what they want out of the experience.

So my advice to you is, he should definitely do the "college tour" thing and see the schools he's considering. And no one should tell him he can't apply somewhere he wants to go, either because he doesn't know his major or because he doesn't have the $$. The straight-out-of-high-school college experience is just that - an experience. It needs to be what is right for him, not anyone else.

[greycoral]

I'm not sure if I agree with going to a community college first . . . my experience with cc's in my area was that they had moved mostly into the area of vocational/technical/re-training education and don't necessarily prepare you for transition to a four-year college, as is a common practice on the west coast. Some four-year colleges might not accept transfer credits from a community college . . . you have to carefully research the policy at the college that you are interested in.

I guess it does depend on what you do. I am planning very carefully. Like I mentioned, my community college and Oregon State have a dual enrollment option, meaning that both schools work together and are very clear which classes will and will not transfer. A really large portion of classes taught will transfer with no problem, and even have an AAOT (associates, oregon transfer) degree, that basically takes care of your baccalaureate core. When I transfer next fall, there is no worry that stuff won't transfer and my lower division classes will be completed. I've been to the OSU campus and talked to my advisor in the department, and he has talked to me about which courses to take at a cc level, he actually recommended I take basic chemistry and biology classes AT a cc, I'll get more attention that way.

I want to go to graduate school in Oregon after i get my bachelors.

Where abouts?

[AutumnBreez]

Your nephew may want to think about what career, and check out where the best college reputation is for that particular job and job offers. Be bold, call Corporate offices and places where he may find himself once he is finished with school. Ask corporate offices which school they commonly recruit from and how long they have, is it the only place they have recruited from? If it is the only, there may be a good reason for that. My husband is a gov't worker (job security) and graduated from ITT and that is where they found him. We have travelled the world because of his particular job, that was our choosing too of course. As I said- they found him!

Internships are another avenue to search. good luck to him!

[Ana]

Graduated undergrad in 2007

I went to a public high school and graduated 8th in my class of 280 people I was very academic in high school and was not prepared for the lifestyle change of college and thus applied to many academic-oriented schools.

I did most of my own research on schools to find something that I might like based on things I knew I wanted (e.g. most of staff having PhDs, relatively small school, strengths in scientific fields, etc). I applied to 5-8 colleges and universities and got into them all which didn't help me narrow down the choices

I visited the 3-4 schools in which I was most interested. After being on individually guided campus tours, I fell in love with a small private college in New York (I am from Michigan). Out-of-state tuition would have amounted to over $100,000 in loans once I graduated!

Oh yes, I also highly recommend sitting in on a class covering a topic in an area which the prospective students finds interesting.

Luckily, my parents talked me out of that school, if not for the financial details alone.

I ended up accepting my admittance to the school my parents forced me to apply to because it was in-state: the University of Michigan. I had a wonderful experience and never regretted it! I met so many great, funny, smart people like me! (Note: I did not relate to many of my high school chums, especially on an academic level). I also discovered many types of people which I did not care for (airheads, jerks, etc) but I could easily avoid them and seek out people whose company I greatly enjoyed. Plus, I was feeling smothered in high school, needing my independence and I didn't realize how nice it would be to attend school relatively close to home! --but my parents did

I consider myself very independent and pursue goals on my own very well so U of M was a great environment for me because I could obtain everything I wanted out of my academics because the university had so many resources to offer!

I have since realized that while I may have been happy at the small, private college, I would have regretted the loan amount (especially with the economy slowing down now!) and I'm sure many of the people attending would have been from much wealthier families (old money and such; having their futures ensured by inheritance). I felt privileged because I was obtaining the education of which some of my out-of-state peers were paying what I did not want to pay for the small private college in New York

I noted that I enjoyed very much socializing with my peers of the same approximate socio-economic status but with much diversity in religion, race, culture and perspectives I liked that we could talk about student loans freely, without embarrassment or judgment.

Now I'm considering graduate school but have no idea where to begin my search...