A College for Me...

<p>I am currently studying abroad, and need to start the dreaded college search. I have good grades-- I don't know my GPA, I know my average is about a 91. I have played varsity soccer since freshmen year, and varsity lacroose since sophmore. I am on student council, and a few other clubs. I don't really have too much going for me, but I don't reallly care to, I like to have fun. Any ideas for where I could go? My sister goes to Bates-- it's sounds good, maybe not for me.</p>

<p>We need more information about you to before anyone can make recommendations because there are 3,000 four year colleges in the U.S. and you could probably be happy at many of them. So--- can you tell us if you have any preferences or restrictions about the size of school, geographic location, urban-rural-suburban, special programs or things you hope your school has, things that would really be a turn off for you, etc.? What do you picture your ideal college to be like? What will you do on a typical weekend? Also, tell us a bit about who you are - are you preppy, artsy, nerdy, quirky, liberal, conservative, moderate, adventurous (must be if you're studying abroad in high school), etc.? </p>

<p>Finally, have you taken the PSAT or SAT yet? If you could give us some indication of what your test scores are, that would also help. And, will you need financial aid?</p>

<p>Wow, thanks for replying. Well I actually have taken the SAT and I did fairly well I got a t2000 (v790, m580, + w630). I think I'd like a LAC, probably in the NE (I'm from Maine). I would like a lot of diversity and a school that is enthusiastic about studying abroad-- man it's such a great experience. I also will need a little financial aid, I really like Bates College-- I know Bowdoin very well. Any ideas, not necessarily in the NE, anything?</p>

<p>NE LACs for study abroad:
Arcadia U (PA)
Dartmouth (NH) it is similar to an LAC in some ways
Dickinson (PA)
Middlebury (VT)</p>

<p>others:
Carleton
Duke
Earlham
Georgetown
Kalamazoo
Macalester
Mich St
NYU
Stanford
Syracuse
U Minn Twin Cities
U Notre Dame</p>

<p>Colleges I know of offhand that are big on study abroad: Pitzer College, Austin College, Middlebury College</p>

<p>Two good LACs outside of New England that you may want to check out are Denison and Ohio Wesleyan. Both offer abundant study abroad opportunities. In addition, both are generous with merit aid, which, given your grades and SAT scores, you may qualify for.</p>

<p>If you're willing to go all the way to St. Paul/Minneapolis, you should consider Macalester. It's 17% international, and it has a real global feel. I'm pretty sure studying abroad is very common there. Minneapolis is a very intellectual city with a lot of culture (this has a lot of weight because I'm from NYC).</p>