I have decided to jump from Actuarial Science to Applied Statistics for my major (more schools/post-school employment opportunities). As a current Junior in high school, I need to start putting together a list of universities I would like to attend. Obviously, schools such as MIT, Yale, Harvard, RIT, Columbia, and Stanford are on the list (for the simple fact that they are prestigious and offer applied statistics majors). However, I'm not quite sure what to look for in order to decide where I want to go. Money isn't too important (should get plenty of merit scholarships, I hope ), and I don't mind student/faculty ratios so long as they aren't over 100:1. What else should I look for?

Right now I'm just going down a couple of "top universities in the country" lists (Forbes, US National something or other, etc.) and adding anything in the top 15 that offers Applied Statistics. I'm just not sure if there are other universities to add to the list or how to start narrowing my list down.

Go to whichever university you get the most aid from.

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This doesn't mean community college though.
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Beta7, I'd start thinking about things like:

1) Do you do better in larger or smaller schools?
2) Do you prefer cities or rural environments?
3) How realistic are each of the schools on your list?
4) Do they require the SAT and/or the ACT? Have you/will you take those soon? By Junior year I believe you should have taken them. How were your scores? Did you / do you need any of the Subject Tests?
5) Do they offer any undergraduate research opportunities? Do you care?

1) Not sure. I like slightly smaller class sizes, but I don't really mind if I have to be in a larger class.
2) I'd prefer a city environment (so ruling out RIT and such for now).
3) Realistic? No clue. Most of the schools on my list are between 9% and 24% acceptance rates, though I'm above the SAT and ACT 60th or 70th percentile in all of them.
4) I have taken both the SAT and ACT twice (35 on ACT and 640/800/680 SAT). For a couple of the schools I think I need the Subject Tests, but I'm planning on taking those a couple times over the summer/fall of senior year.
5) Wasn't totally sure how to take the "research" side of things. Is it good to be involved in a research program (in your field)?


@Ultimate and elfprince - I can get almost a full ride from my "state public university flagship" (University of Nebraska at Lincoln). Since I don't even know what my EFC and such is (yet), I'm looking to keep cost out of the equation until a step or two further down the road.

1) Apply to every school you can think of.
2) If a non-community college gives you a free ride, throw out every acceptance that doesn't.
3) In your stack of free schools, pick the one with the best female:male ratio on the pamphlet.

*Expert tip: The hotties are always education majors. Specifically El-ed or math(seriously)-ed. Pick a school known for these.

Haha. #s 1 and 2 seem like a good idea, but I'm not going to college for the "hotties". I'm going for a higher education. If I happen to get a girlfriend, sweet (as it will be my first one o.0), but if not, oh well.

#3 is a good idea because it increases your chances of finding a girlfriend. You could also buy your way into an all-girls school for the ultimate girl:guy ratio...

It doesn't matter where you go anyway. Just close your eyes and pick at random.

I disagree with pretty much all of these. If you apply to tons of schools, you have no opportunity to get to know any of the schools in depth or get a good idea of how good a fit they are for you. For example, my high school restricted us to three "stretch" schools, three reasonably-realistic schools, and two "safety" schools, which I think was excellent, because it made me think long and hard about where I would be happy even before I applied.

My high school doesn't restrict us like that, but I think I might impose them upon myself so that I have a better view of things.

However, I only have 1 safety school and everything else is "stretch" (Ivy league and such).

I applied to one university.

I beat you by one. I didn't apply to any.

http://www.uredwood.com/

Apparently some people really did fall for it, losing their application fees

Nikky applied to one university, but every other university in the country sent him a letter begging him to attend their institution of higher learning. Beta7, I don't think that's a horribly intelligent idea, personally, but to each his own.

I wasn't really considering doing what Nikky did, simply because I really just don't want to take the chances.

Make sure that whatever school you go to, you don't graduate with more than 1 yr salary in student loans. IOW, if average starting salary is $40k/year, make sure you don't graduate with more than $40k in student loans.

Dave

That's not even remotely possible given the cost of college, and the level of wages in this country. You could go to community college and still spend more than $40k, and make only 20 in your first year of work. Unless you have rich relatives that can pay the overwhelming majority of your tuition, or are exceptional enough to earn significant scholarships, you're not graduating without a huge mountain of student loan debt. The bright side is, they aren't hard to pay off any more, especially now that the middle man has been cut out(thanks Obama!).

I'm a big fan of this advice, although I don't know how realistic it is. I think that student loans are a pretty terrible thing to be burdened with. Also, Beta7, I meant that I didn't think applying to only one non-stretch school is a good idea.

Truth. Particularly #2 and #5.

Also, I highly highly highly recommend an overnight visit. Get a feel for the type of people on campus, and what living there is like.

Oh, and you should consider (my awesome alma mater) Carnegie Mellon U. I'm pretty sure we're in the top 10 for stats, and #1 or #2 for computer science. Admittedly, college rankings are a bit of BS, but you get the general idea.

*EDIT*

It's sort of ridiculous how much college costs these days.


Agreed. I had two safety schools, and 5 stretch-ish schools.