Community Forums => General Chat => Topic started by: jrlibrarian on September 25, 2011, 07:07:40 PM
Title: College Applications
Post by: jrlibrarian on September 25, 2011, 07:07:40 PM
Hey all,
So I'm currently in the process of applying to 17 colleges. (Yes, I know I'm completely crazy. Friends have already informed me of this.) Is there anyone else here who is also applying for college this year, and if so, what schools are you looking at?
Title: Re: College Applications
Post by: ThePerm on September 25, 2011, 09:34:55 PM
No you're not crazy, you're just smart. Get a good scholarship, that way you don't have to pay for anything. This is important. Grants suck, you can pay them back, but the economy is in a hole right now, so no job guarantees.
Title: Re: College Applications
Post by: Morari on September 25, 2011, 09:40:15 PM
Um... You don't pay grants back, you pay loans back. Definitely try to stay away from loans if possible. Any extra income you wind up making due to your educational qualifications will just go to pay off painful debt. There is no quicker way to become a wage slave than living under debt, be it student loans, new cars, over indulgent houses, etc.
Just keep in mind that college isn't really necessary for most jobs. Furthermore, it's unlikely that you'll actually learn a lot that you don't already know in your preferred field. That's just the nature of the system though. College is big business anymore, and profits come at the expense of real education. It never hurts to have that little diploma, but it's not the instant passport to success that many make it out to be. Hard work, charisma, and experience is still needed and trumps assumed education every time.
Title: Re: College Applications
Post by: ThePerm on September 25, 2011, 10:09:12 PM
err yeah you know what i mean, brain fart. I mean loans, yes Grants good, loans bad.
Title: Re: College Applications
Post by: nickmitch on September 25, 2011, 10:56:40 PM
Scholarships/Grants are definitely the way to go. I'm on my second degree now, and I'm seeing a lot of differences between friends who had loans and friends who didn't. You'd be surprised at how one bill waiting for you at graduation affects a person's lifestyle.
Title: Re: College Applications
Post by: Ceric on September 26, 2011, 07:44:13 AM
When I went to college the only thing that seemed to matter for Scholarship and Grants where:
1) Are you a Minority? 2) Are you Female? 3) Are you Low Income?
I went at a particular bad time in the system. I hope things are better now because scholarships and grants are great. If you do a loan forgiveness program make sure your employer has you as full time. My mom got messed over because even though she was working 40+ hours as a Nurse the Hospital had found a way to not label her Full time and she didn't get her forgiveness.
Title: Re: College Applications
Post by: ThePerm on September 26, 2011, 07:05:54 PM
also how good are your grades? Great grades can get people scholarships too.
Title: Re: College Applications
Post by: NWR_insanolord on September 26, 2011, 10:51:19 PM
Yeah, I'm getting $10,000 a year because of my grades. That and the 80% off tuition I get because my mom works at the college means I'm not paying anything out of pocket for my degree.
Title: Re: College Applications
Post by: jrlibrarian on September 27, 2011, 12:45:44 AM
I'm doing pretty well in regards to grades. At the end of my junior year (where I fucked up in Calculus first semester), I had a 3.7. With my 4 AP classes and Physics senior year, I'm somehow holding a 4.0 a month into the school year. Go figure.
And the list of colleges to apply to continues to grow as I get emails offering me absolutely free applications to schools like Whitworth and Hofstra. Thank you very much, I will indeed apply to your school and be in contention for your awesome scholarships. Whitworth, for example, is offering to pay $19,000 a year if I'm accepted automatically just because of my GPA/SAT/ACT scores (2020 and 32 atm). I shall be taking the SAT for a 4th time this Saturday.
Title: Re: College Applications
Post by: jrlibrarian on September 27, 2011, 12:48:38 AM
Here is a current list of those schools which I have completed my application to:
Dartmouth College Gonzaga University Boston College Western Washington University Whitworth University Hofstra University
Title: Re: College Applications
Post by: Ceric on September 27, 2011, 09:57:15 AM
That's great. Yeah, when my son gets to High School I'm going to try to Push him into AP because its a degrading waste of time to do the starting English and like in College. They don't work on what you really need most of the time (Grammar).
Title: Re: College Applications
Post by: Nick DiMola on September 30, 2011, 12:00:16 PM
Whitworth, for example, is offering to pay $19,000 a year if I'm accepted automatically just because of my GPA/SAT/ACT scores (2020 and 32 atm). I shall be taking the SAT for a 4th time this Saturday.
I read that and thought, "Holy ****, how did he get over a 1600?" Then I remembered that it's out of 2400 now. Still a good score regardless. Also, this makes me feel old.
Title: Re: College Applications
Post by: nintendo1945 on October 06, 2011, 11:41:19 PM
When I went to college the only thing that seemed to matter for Scholarship and Grants where:
1) Are you a Minority? 2) Are you Female? 3) Are you Low Income?
I went at a particular bad time in the system. I hope things are better now because scholarships and grants are great. If you do a loan forgiveness program make sure your employer has you as full time. My mom got messed over because even though she was working 40+ hours as a Nurse the Hospital had found a way to not label her Full time and she didn't get her forgiveness.
I applied for this school year (Penn State whoo!) and I can say that it is not better. It's worse.
Title: Re: College Applications
Post by: jrlibrarian on December 28, 2011, 01:55:26 PM
UPDATE:
Accepted to 9/15 schools, all with pretty good scholarships Whitworth Willamette Carroll Knox Hofstra Linfield TCU George Fox Gonzaga
Still waiting to hear back from Boston College (#1 choice atm), Whitman, UW, Western, Yale, and Dartmouth.
Title: Re: College Applications
Post by: Ceric on December 28, 2011, 02:00:16 PM
I know nothing about pretty much any of them but, Congrats!
