Hey guys, I’m a high school junior looking for advice and potential match/safety schools. Thus far I’ve compiled a pretty lengthy list, which is below, and organized by reach/match/safety. I think a major problem (for me) in terms of the college search is that my (first gen) asian parents do not understand the college process above a basic level. As a result, I wasn’t given much advice besides the whole “apply early to harvard” thing. So, I was hoping you guys could help me out a bit?
Basic stats: 4.0UW/4.36W GPA, 800 Bio Mech/800 Math II, will be getting SAT scores in a week but my PSAT last year was 1510 (as a similar assessment).
First, I’m looking for a small to mid size college, and I want to major in either Econ or Poli Sci (some social science) and maybe minor in English or Philosophy. I’m also looking to cheerlead in college, so I would like the school to be focused on athletics (in addition to academics), with strong school spirit. I’m from the east coast, and ideally, I would like go to school here, in either MA or around the VA/DC/MD area. (I know many of the schools on this list don’t fit my criteria but… parents.)
Will your parents pay list price at each college, or will you need financial aid or scholarships? If the latter, you and they need to run the net price calculator on each college under consideration to see if it is likely to be affordable.
What state are you a resident of?
If you have a 4.0 unweighted GPA in hard classes and an SAT score similar to your PSAT score, Berkeley is probably a low reach / high match for admission, not a super reach. However, there is no out-of-state financial aid unless you get something like a Regents’ scholarship, which should be considered a high reach.
For economics, colleges do have varying levels of math intensity, which can generally be seen by looking at the math prerequisites for the intermediate microeconomics and econometrics courses. High math intensity means that math higher than single variable calculus (e.g. multivariable calculus) is required. Medium means that single variable calculus is required. Low means no calculus is required. If you want to go on to PhD study in economics, higher math intensity is better, with additional higher level math and statistics courses beyond that.
@ucbalumnus I probably should have mentioned this in my first post, but my parents will be able to pay the list price at each college, and I’m a resident of CT. However, I have personal reservations about applying to UConn (I don’t like the campus, atmosphere, etc), but I may end up doing so if I’m desperate for another safety.
For Berkeley, looking at the % of students from my school accepted, it seems like a high reach.
In terms of math/econ, I’ve gotten fives on both Macro and Micro, and am currently enrolled in BC Calc. I also probably will not end up pursuing a PhD in econ.
Do you have any suggestions for match/safety schools I could look into? I feel like my preliminary list is very unevenly distributed…
Besides Amherst and Williams, have you looked at any of the other NESCACs? They seem like they might be a good fit. Also, maybe BC, Lafayette, Bucknell, Lehigh, Holy Cross. Not sure about your majors at these schools, just thinking about fit based on your input.
With respect to sports and school spirit, smaller colleges tend to have a higher percentage of students participating in sports, but less of a spectator sports culture that is commonly associated with some larger colleges (particularly NCAA D1 FBS Power 5 conference colleges). You may want to investigate how that can affect cheerleading.
In terms of smaller, purely undergraduate-focused schools, the more highly placed colleges below would be academically appropriate for you based on their strength in economics:
Thank you for the advice so far; I’m trying to balance out my desire for a small-medium-ish school with my desire to actually cheerlead, not just dance.
@merc81 I’m definitely going to look at Colgate; thank you!
@taverngirl The main problem I have with the NESCAC in general is that they don’t place much of an emphasis on cheerleading (many of them only have “spirit squads”). I’m honestly just keeping Amherst and Williams because I like the atmosphere on their respective campuses–I may end up crossing them off. As for the other colleges you suggested, I’ll make sure to check them out!
OP, congratulations on preparing yourself well. That said, Georgetown is a reach as well with a 15% acceptance rate. You mentioned First-Gen, are you a First-Gen College student - your parents didn’t graduate from college?
@Chembiodad No, haha, I can see how that would be a misunderstanding. My parents are first-gen immigrants, so I’m the first to go to college in the United States. About Georgetown, I was labeling reaches/safeties based on applicants from my school, but I’ll check again and maybe move it to reach.
With respect to your thread title as it pertains to relatively safe admits, you might want to research The University of Richmond, which meets much of your stated criteria, @waterlily77.
Great Schools for Political Sciences/Government
American University
Amherst
Bard
Bates
Bowdoin
BYU
Bryn Mawr
Carleton
Claremont McKenna
Clark
Holy Cross
Columbia
Connecticut College
Davidson
Dickinson
Drew
Franklin & Marshall
Furman
George Mason
George Washington
Georgetown
Gettysburg
Gonzaga
Grinnell
Harvard
Kenyon
Macalester
McGill
Princeton
Scripps
Source Princeton Review
Great Schools for Psychology Majors
Barnard
Bates
Bucknell
Carnegie Mellon
City U of NY—Brooklyn,
City U of NY—City College,
City U of NY—Hunter College,
City U of NY—Queens College.
Clark
Holy Cross
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Gettysburg
Harvard
Mount Holyoke
NYU
Princeton
Quinnipiac
Smmons
Smith
Stanford
Stonehill
Temple
Union
U Conecticut
UMass Amherst
UPittsburgh
Vassar
Wesleyan
Yale
OP, got it. Regarding best choices for Econ or Poli Sci with a minor in English or Philosophy, there are no undergraduate rankings, so probably best to assume that the top ranked colleges will have great departments and then you can research the individual departments for depth of offerings, faculty size and outcomes.
So @Waterlilly17 let’s talk about the cheerleading component. Not one of your schools is a real cheer-centric school, although some are located near place where you could pursue IO5/IO6 teams and MIT did place 14th last year at NCA in Coed Div II.
Are you a base, flyer or back?
What are your highest tumble skills?
If you are a flyer Do you partner stunt? If you are a base can you one man or two man?
Are you looking to only sideline cheer? Or competition cheer? Both?
Are you more NCA or UCA focused in your cheering skills?
Do you want to do all star cheer, IO6? (Have you competed on a Worlds team?)
Are you interested in Co-Ed or All-Girl?
If none of that matters to you and you are at least a level 3 cheerleader, I suspect that you will make the cheer team for any of the schools you have listed.
My complete comment included in posting #11 and partially cited in posting #13 is “Regarding best choices for Econ or Poli Sci with a minor in English or Philosophy, there are no undergraduate rankings, so probably best to assume that the top ranked colleges will have great departments and then you can research the individual departments for depth of offerings, faculty size and outcomes”.
Wake Forest would be a solid match for you and meets virtually all of your criteria (NC just a bit south but close enough). Excellent liberal arts focus with big university type resources. For Poli Sci, in addition to a great set of professors, they just opened a program called Washington Wake this past semester where students spend a semester in class and with internships in DC. Wake bought a building right in the thick of things. It serves as residence and classroom for the students and professors.
Sports: very unusual and something my S loves- for a small student body of 5k undergrad, they compete in the mighty ACC and games are heavily attended (football, soccer, basketball, baseball). There is a ton of school spirit.
So you have the academic quality, small classes, intimate student / professor relationship coupled with big time D1 sports and enthusiasm. Aren’t that many schools like it. I’d sat BC is another solid choice although about twice the size. Also DUKE.
@labegg I know that none of my schools are very cheer-centric, mostly because those schools are usually pretty big/not near my desired location (eastern part of US; the farthest south I’m willing to go is Virginia). However, I am looking at Penn State, which for some reason I did not put up on my list (rip). As I mentioned earlier somewhere, there seemed to be a bit of a trade-off between my academic needs and my cheerleading needs.
As for your questions: I’m a flyer (haha, isn’t everyone?). In terms of tumbling/stunting/etc, I was actually recently moved up to my gym’s senior level 5 team, which should give you an understanding of my ability. To answer your specific question, I can also partner stunt. (I’ve actually heard it’s basically a requirement on a college level.) For sideline/competition cheer, I am looking to do both, but I prefer competition cheer. (Some of the smaller schools only have sideline cheer, so I probably will end up cutting those.) I also don’t particularly mind about NCA vs UCA, but looking at their respective competitions, I might be leaning a bit towards the NCA… I still have to do more research though. Finally, I have more experience on co-ed, but I’m fine with both.
(Wow that was long, but I hope that clears some things up!)