Looking for colleges. (CAUTION: HEAVY READING)

[V|P]

So it's that time for me and I've started my search. As the title states, I'm pretty much going to give you my life as it's been for the past few years so it's a long read. First off, my stats:

Freshman Year
Spanish I
Integrated 2 (Algebra 2 + Geometry)
Accounting
P.E/Health 9
English 9
US History 9
Biology Honors

GPA: ~3.5

Sophomore Year
Spanish II
Integrated 3 (Algebra 3 + Geometry)
Oracle Academy
P.E/Health 10
English Honors 10
US History Honors 10
Chemistry Honors

GPA: ~3.7

Junior Year
CHS Statistics (College in High School; Credited Pitt course)
English Honors 11
Physics Honors
Trig/Precalculus
AP European History
AP Biology + AP Biology Lab

GPA: ~3.85
AP European History Exam: 3
AP Biology Exam: 5

SAT (1st Time)
Critical Reading: 570
Writing: 620
Math: 640

SAT (2nd Time)
Critical Reading: 640
Writing: 690
Math: 710

ACT Composite (1st Time): 28
ACT Composite (2nd Time): 30

As you can see, I've never been the type of student that is ranked 1st in class, but I have reason why. I won't get into it but I used to be the best in all my classes from 1st grade to 6th grade. Then I started getting mixed in with the wrong crowds and my grades slipped down to the C's and D's range from A's. That was middle school. Going into Freshman year I realized I needed to straighten up so I started hanging out with better people. The problem was I just picked the group of students who put their all in studies and never did anything fun and I compared myself to them. Now this would be alright but because I'd done what I did in middle school, all my classes were below their level and I was still struggling to keep up. As if this wasn't enough, they never saw me as part of their little group and I didn't realize this as soon as I should have. I do have to thank them too since competing with them was my initial reason for improving. After a year of competing with them, I realized I couldn't catch up and I sort of gave up. So going into Sophomore year, I took more honors classes but I didn't really try as hard as I did Freshman year. At this point, I still hadn't found my true friends. I had actually found them, I just didn't realize who they were. So I still compared myself to the nerds (excuse me). For the sake of competition I tried a little bit in my classes but I knew I could've done better. Despite this, my GPA went up.

If I had to pick a single year of my life in which I've changed more than any other year, I'd choose my Junior year of high school. As you may know, I was pretty much living alone the whole school year. At first this was hard. It took a while for me to really understand that I needed to do everything myself and no one would be picking up after me. After a month or so, I got used to it and the new found freedom opened my eyes to a whole new world. I stopped associating myself with the nerds completely, found my real friends and got a life. Now instead of studying at home like the kids I compared myself too, I went out with friends and we had a good time. I can honestly say without reservation that I did not open a SINGLE book outside of school this whole year. I did all my homework in homeroom or between classes or I didn't do it. I didn't take any notes. I literally sat at my desk and watched the teacher walk around and zoned out. This must have been clear since my Physics teacher asked me to stay after class and asked me why he hadn't seen me take any notes all year. This is one teacher that tells it like it is. He clearly told me he didn't care what I did in his class it was up to me. I explained to him that I didn't like taking notes and I didn't learn well that way. I proved to him that I was one of his best students with my test grades. I always had less work then everybody and I rarely used his method of doing problems but I just got it. So I used this method in every other class. I stopped taking paper and pencils to my classes. I sat and watched all the teachers teach and paid attention when something CAUGHT my attention. Despite this, my GPA went up.

Some would say I stopped caring, but I don't know how to tell you that that's really not what happened. I did care. I just found the best way for me to learn was to not care.

So now that my life story is over, here's a few of the colleges I'm looking at in order of preference:
University of Michigan
Penn State Main
New York University
University of Pennsylvania

I realize that UPenn is a reach and NYU is an little bit of a reach. BTW, I'm planning on going into engineering, though I don't know what type. I also wanted to do an MBA after undergrad. So here are my questions for you guys:

What other colleges should I look at (Northeast preferred)?
What are my chance like for U of Michigan?
How do I go about explaining everything I explained above to colleges that give you essay topics?
What is my approximate cost for the first year?
Can I be considered a resident of a state if I get an apartment/house there?
Does Michigan have and ED or EA program (I googled it and got Early Response, not sure what that is)?
How far is the Michigan School of Education from the School of Engineering?

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read this, I really appreciate it. Any notes, suggestions, comments would help a lot.

[Crazy Joe]

I know from my own research into Engineering Schools Penn State is probably the best school on your list for Engineering. Of course I started college 11 years ago, but I doubt things have changed that much...

[V|P]

I know from my own research into Engineering Schools Penn State is probably the best school on your list for Engineering. Of course I started college 11 years ago, but I doubt things have changed that much...

Well that's what I thought, but US News says Ann Arbor is much better. Either way, if I can get into both, I'd much rather go to Michigan.

[JB]

Engineering at almost any Big 10 school is a good choice :)

[Nomad]

I go to the University of Michigan, I'm a junior there this coming year. It was not my first school, I went to Michigan State University my freshman year and transferred. Hopefully Lei Shi will get in on this conversation, he goes to U of M right now and is an engineering student.

Michigan's engineering program is good not just with teaching, but in terms of contacts. It's one of the benefits of school as a whole here in Ann Arbor. College isn't so much about what your degree is, but where you get it--to some extent--and who you know while you're there. This is one thing I've had a lot of experience with, and a leading reason I transferred.

You ACT score and GPA are admissible, maybe a tad on the lower end of who gets in. However, the University often rejects students with stellar grades and ACT/SAT scores if they have not shown commitment outside of the classroom to either 1) Extraneous living conditions and adversity or, 2) Extracurricular activity that isn't a sport. The engineering school is actually slightly easier to get into than the rest of the University since fewer people do engineering.

If you decide to apply, stress what you've done outside of school as well as your academic accomplishments.

In terms of proximity. School of Education is on Central Campus, while engineering is universally on North Campus. It's a ten minute bus ride between the two, and actually if you are an engineer you'll likely just be roomed on North Campus.

[Crazy Joe]

Well that's what I thought, but US News says Ann Arbor is much better. Either way, if I can get into both, I'd much rather go to Michigan.

Why? Just curious. That school up north is a pretty good engineering school as are many B10 schools, MSU, UM, Purdue, Penn State all have top notch Engineering schools.

[V|P]

Why? Just curious. That school up north is a pretty good engineering school as are many B10 schools, MSU, UM, Purdue, Penn State all have top notch Engineering schools.

Well I just don't really want to go to Penn State anymore. It's just too big and its going to have way to many people I know. There's really only one or two people I know going to Michigan.

[Thrax]

If your reason for bailing on Penn is "Too big," UM is the wrong school for you.

[Nomad]

Why? Just curious. That school up north is a pretty good engineering school as are many B10 schools, MSU, UM, Purdue, Penn State all have top notch Engineering schools.

MSU didn't really have an engineering program until a few yeas ago. It is still chiefly agriculture, veterinary science, and teaching certification.

Also, one more thing I should mention that will be true of most schools you attend, expect to get hammered your freshman year and I don't mean by drinking. Lots of kids who get into tier I schools floated through secondary education without much of a challenge. They took hard classes but it wasn't hard for them. College can be drastically different, especially given a lot of temptation at school and professor prerogative.

[Crazy Joe]

If your reason for bailing on Penn is "Too big," UM is the wrong school for you.

QFT.

[Qeldroma]

Ya know, in all that reading, I really didn't catch what you want to do. I'm getting what you might plan to do- not necessarily want. When you do use the term "want" it's more like "that'd be cool or nice" but not "this is what I desire or what I feel passionate" about.

Answer that question. Then maybe can talk about school better.

[Nomad]

If your reason for bailing on Penn is "Too big," UM is the wrong school for you.

For a large school, U of M is quite small with only 25,000 students. Other Big Ten schools have 37,000 - 45,000, Penn State being absolutely mammoth if I recall. University of Pennsylvania is small, I thought, maybe 8,000?

[airbornflght]

Also, one more thing I should mention that will be true of most schools you attend, expect to get hammered your freshman year and I don't mean by drinking. Lots of kids who get into tier I schools floated through secondary education without much of a challenge. They took hard classes but it wasn't hard for them. College can be drastically different, especially given a lot of temptation at school and professor prerogative.

This is so true. I got through highschool with a 3.9 without even trying. I took all the enriched classes and even did concurrent enrollment at a community college (NOC) my senior year and never had to try. I thought O-State would be like NOC and I'd just float through college too. I was wrong, dead wrong.

I enrolled last year into the college of engineering, architecture, and technology and declared ECEN as my major. Anyway, right away I realized that Mr. Big Dick Swinging wasn't so smart anymore. Because I just walked into a room of kids on the same and higher level than me. But I didn't really grasp that until midterms. Sure, I had been doing the homework, but come midterms my professors bent me over the table and gave it to me hard. I walked away with a limp.

I ended up dropping my Calc class and sticking out the rest of the semester in physics (my other hard class) The engineering classes had me so stressed out come finals I only slept a couple hours a day for a couple weeks. My computer got turned off and when I was awake I was studying for physics. I hated it.

Case in point, I probably could have gotten through the classes, but I was a ball of stress waiting to blow. Every waking moment of my life consisted of crunching numbers and contemplating homework problems. I'm sure this stuff is easier for some people, and others just enjoy it. I don't. I've switched to the business college where I'm doubling in MIS and Accounting, I'm much happier here because I take classes that I enjoy. The reasons I went to engineering in the first place is that I had the test scores and my grand dad was a Petroleum mechanical engineer from the same college. So I ended up going there by proxy.

So, don't do what you have the ability to do. Do what doesn't cause you to turn insomniatic. At least to me it isn't worth it. Don't be afraid to change your mind. I was so afraid to tell my parents (and grandad) that it took me a week to do it, but I'm happy with the decision I made. I'm 90% sure I'm in the right place now.

Sorry to ramble. Just thought I'd give you a little information as I'm the first person to go to college in my family since my grandparents so it was sink or swim with me. Nobody was giving me tips.

[Buddy J]

tl;dr

[tmh88]

Well if you plan on going for EE or CE, just letting you know that the intro logic classes are hard as hell. Circuit design intro's are fairly easy, but damn, that logic will catch you off guard.

[V|P]

I'm almost positive I want to go into something that involves Physics but then I really want to do business too. I've heard that an engineering degree is really valuable along with an MBA, though I don't really know what I can do with the combination. University of Michigan is good for both business and engineering so incase I change my mind after, say, a year, I wouldn't have to transfer or anything.

As far as telling my parents goes, they want me to go into medical really bad but they're not the type of people to force that upon me. They want me to think about what I want first and they're simply trying to tell me what they think would be best. I have a knack for biology but I really don't find it interesting. I got a 5 on the AP Bio exam and I literally slept in that class the whole year so obviously I know the stuff but I can't for a second pay attention to it. Physics on the other hand, whether I knew the lesson or not, I could always pay attention without falling asleep.

[tmh88]

Well, no matter what type of engineering you're looking at you'll have to take some a few physics classes, especially for civil and mechanical. I'm an ISE major which isn't very mechanics oriented, and I have to take 3 physics classes(basically skip all intro type classes).

[Nomad]

Michigan's business school is absurdly hard to get into, even for undergraduates just so you know.

[V|P]

Michigan's business school is absurdly hard to get into, even for undergraduates just so you know.

I was actually planning on doing engineering for undergrad and the MBA later on? Any info on that?

[Nomad]

I was actually planning on doing engineering for undergrad and the MBA later on? Any info on that?

Well, any grad school is hard to get into. You need to have a good LSAT score, but also I don't think they consider people below a 3.8 GPA after four years without extenuating circumstances.

In my opinion, you should focus on your undergrad because your interest will almost certainly change. Grad school is a long time away, and few people do grad school the same place they do their undergrad.