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Originally Posted by yorkiesmiles Hi, I'm in the midst of helping my 16 yr old daughter narrow down her college search. We're going in a few weeks - for spring break - to visit colleges in the south. Problem is my daughter also has a midwest list and an east coast list!! Trying to get her to narrow it down - I'm a single mom and overwhelmed with all that lays ahead before she graduates.
She is extremely bright - waiting to get her latest ACT scores - she last took the ACT as a freshman and scored 29 - so we figure she'll be in the 30s this time around. She also last took the SAT as a frosh but I can't remember the scores - high, though. Last yr, she took the PSAT for practice as a soph and would have been named a National Merit Scholar if she'd been a jr. - while we have her PSAT scores for this yr, we won't know for some time whether she is a scholar or not.
So perhaps she could go to an Ivy league school - but don't know if I would even want her to. She thinks it might be fun - but she has so many other interests
Maybe somewhere would she could either twirl the baton, cheer or be on a dance team - all things she does now. Or maybe be a sorority girl like her mom.
Or maybe go to a Christian school - as she has done so since preschool . She also spends more than half-the day in an advanced placement high school program offered through the public system - so she is used to the real world,
She wants to study biology or some form of bio - ultimately be a researcher or doctor.
So many decisions and trying to figure out how much time it is going to take to drive from college to college in different states.
I've been reading books, websites and been to a couple of meetings - but still wondering .....
Anyone been thru this college hunt? Or have any experience with Ivy league or select colleges? |
Hey,
I'm 23 and just finished college. From what I can gather, your daughter and I are very similar. I had a 1500+ SAT score and am a National Merit Scholar. I was also president of our school's National Honor Society and a concert violinist (I don't really like to put my background out there that much, but in this case I think it's germane). My junior year of highschool I went and looked at many colleges, including Ivy Leagues as well as state schools. I'm doing molecular biology research right now (coming off of a BS degree in microbiology and cell science) and trying to get into med school. This is what I have found when I visited schools:
The state schools I visited (FL) are all very big, including Univ. of Florida, where I ended up attending. I think the "vibe" of most state schools is generally the same; big schools, many big classes, always a party going on somewhere, but you can study if you want to. The Ivy Leagues and that flavor of college were definitely a different feeling, with each having it's own sort of flavor.
I almost ended up going to Duke, but what ended up making my mind up about UF was all the scholarships and difference in money. At Duke, I would have had to pay upwards of 30 grand a year. UF offered free tuition because of in-state residency, plus a National Merit stipend every semester, plus $2000 to buy a laptop anytime in college.
Looking back, I feel that going to Duke or an Ivy League would have resulted in a better overall academic challenge and the power of the name behind my degree, but I would not have had as much fun (I had a blast in college. I have a few friends who went to Duke and some Ivy Leagues). If money were not an issue, I would have come to UF again anyway and just studied harder my first few years (I had an issue with thinking I was smarter than I was and not studying ever for a while). If she has a good work ethic, she can really go anywhere and be successful. I think what you will find is that every school you go to will leave on you a different general impression, and go with that. Any more questions, feel free to contact me. Good luck, and take care.
Dan