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My counselor wants me to start thinking about where I want to go to college so I will be able to meet my goals...but I really don't know what a good match would be for me.

I am homeschooled and all my courses are CP (there are no honors) but I also take courses at a local community college and have done really well on all of them so far.

My GPA is a 3.8 and I have a lot of extracuriculars: dance (ballet, tap and jazz) for 10 years, member of the local performing arts company (which means i perform at various events in the area)pilates student (3yrs) founder/pres. of pre med club (3yrs), chaplain of my youth and government group as well as other positions such as editor in chief of paper(3yrs), I volunteer my free time at a senior center (3-4 years), exchange student for half a semester, two part time jobs, intern/writer for local newspaper (3yrs)...before i was homeschooled i was involved in a few things at school but nothing more than a year so i dont think they should be included.

I have a 1350 on the SAT's and am going to retake it to see if i can get any higher...my counselor also told me that being hispanic and first generation is an advantage. I am totally confused on this whole application process since I don't know where I want to go. I know i want to major in psychology...please help out!!

By amd on Saturday, January 12, 2002 - 11:10 pm: Edit

Maria,

There are multiple approaches in psychology - generally the practioners of the different approaches don't get along with each other. As far as I am concerned, only one approach is worth pursuing. For this, I will mention a few schools:

West Virginia, Western Michigan, Florida

Look at The Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior and see what all colleges the authors are at.

You need to first convince yourself that this approach is worth pursuing. This will put you in a minority even within the field, though. The general situation in psychology is not good.

amd

By Dadster on Monday, January 14, 2002 - 09:05 am: Edit

Hi, Maria, you should be able to get into some great schools. My advice would be to read up on schools in books or on the web, and try to find a learning environment that appeals to you. Look for a school that you would like for more reasons other than just a good psych department, as more than half of undergrad students change majors. Your ethnicity and background could give you a boost at many schools.

If you haven't done so, visit one or two of your choices (or even a nearby good college if your choices are very distant) as soon as possible to get familiar with the visit process and what colleges have to offer.

Keep working with your guidance counselor, but feel free to come back here for some outside input as you go through the process. The college process is a good time to test your critical thinking skills, too - don't believe what people tell you without independent confirmation or without evaluating that person's knowledge of the subject. There's a lot of misinformation floating around, and even GCs can err if they are outside their "comfort zone."

Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress.

By Dave Berry on Monday, January 14, 2002 - 09:33 am: Edit

Maria, I agree with Dadster regarding his comment about your overall profile being an admissions advantage. Are you in your junior year? What part of the country are you from? I'm assuming that you live in the U.S. Have you decided what some of your general college preferences are (size of school, university or smaller college, distance from home, etc.)? Let us know and maybe we can come up with some candidates for your to check out.

By MariaPulido on Wednesday, January 16, 2002 - 06:51 pm: Edit

Hi!
Thanks for all of your responses. Yes, I am a High School Junior living in California. I will definently keep talking about the possibilities with my counselor. I would prefer to go to a medium-smaller sized university but I have no idea where to start looking. Location is not a concern yet. I have done some research on a few of the UC's but they have so many undergrads that I would feel lost. I would prefer to stay on the East or West coast since I have family around both areas. My counselor is reluctant to pick out colleges I could look at and is pretty much leaving it up to me. I have worked my butt off these past four years and I want to find a good place to continue my education. Thank you again for responding to my post.

By Dave Berry on Wednesday, January 16, 2002 - 09:57 pm: Edit

Maria, here are a few possible eastern candidate schools for you to consider:

Bucknell University, Wesleyan University, Colgate University, Vassar College, Union College, Williams College, Middlebury College, Franklin and Marshall College, Dickinson College, and Bryn Mawr College.

These have between 1,800 (Bryn Mawr) and 3,500 (Bucknell) students and offer good psychology majors. These are just my suggestions as places to start looking. You may want to check out their Web sites.

If you applied to eastern colleges, you would have both geo-diversity and ethnic diversity going for you. Your great overall profile would make you a very attractive candidate and might scare up some nice financial incentives for you.

By mariapulido on Wednesday, January 23, 2002 - 07:49 pm: Edit

Dave Berry-
Wow Thank You for your response...Now I know where to start! I will update you when I finally make a decision!

By Dave Berry on Wednesday, January 23, 2002 - 08:59 pm: Edit

Excellent, Maria. We'll look forward to hearing about your progress. Don't be afraid to ask questions here. We've got a lot of savvy folks ready to offer advice.