Any ideas on what colleges might be good for me?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello, I am a junior in a small selective public high school that focuses on engineering. However, I don't necessarily want to go into engineering, and my school doesn't offer an incredible amount of AP's, as it is a science school and thus only science/math. I'm taking AP calc, physics, and such next year, but other classes are not officially AP(though in effect they're the same).</p>

<p>In terms of statistics though:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9ish
SAT: 2190</p>

<p>-Member of Model UN team(Three years)
-Boy Scout for many years, life and almost Eagle scout, and have organized some independent events within(Probably strongest Extra curricular)
-Member of Order of the Arrow ceremonies team(Dress up in Native American regalia and give speeches)
-Member of small religious volunteering organization(mainly because it's run by a friend's aunt :), but we've done some good things.)
-Four gold medals on National Latin Exam
-NYLC on Defense/Diplomacy
-GYLC
-College classes in C++/Effective speaking, possibly more
-Six week acting course kind of thing?
-Eighteen weeks improvisation course kind of thing
-EF tour to Europe(don't know if its worth anything, but it can't hurt, no?)
(In short a ton of public speaking, and some volunteering)</p>

<p>I suppose finally, I'm a very peaceful, laid back, somewhat nerdy person, with no interest in sports, etc. </p>

<p>I was considering some of these schools, but I'm no good at the reach/match/safety thing:</p>

<p>-Carleton College (I haven't visited, but all the things I've read make it sound like a great atmosphere and equal academics.)
-The College of New Jersey-It's very good, but not my favorite
-Princeton- I live in NJ and I haven't cured cancer, so its like rolling a one thousand sided die, but it can't hurt I suppose
-University of Pennsylvania</p>

<p>I don't really know too much about others, but I've also looked at Oberlin, Pomona, New College of Florida, etc.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Carleton looks like a good match for you. Princeton and Penn are definitely reaches, but it won't hurt to try.</p>

<p>Are you native american? That's a huge plus.</p>

3

<p>You might also consider UChicago-- I can imagine a student who has considered Carleton and Oberlin alongside Penn and Princeton really enjoying the school, as it's sort of like a hermetic liberal arts school goes to the Ivy League.</p>

4

<p>To OP- from your post it was not clear to me whether you are still considering engineering or not- if so, you need to be careful about the LACs you choose, unless you want to consider a 3+2 -type program down the road. One good thing about TCNJ of course is that they are more of a comprehensive college that does offer engineering. OFfhand I don't know about Carleton, sounds like your kind of place except for maybe no engineering? Oberlin I'm pretty sure does not have it, he had to go 3+2 for engineering at, I think, Case Western. Union College (in upstate NY) has engineering as does Lafayette. With your resume I think all three (TCNJ, Union, Lafayette) would be low matches, maybe not quite absolute safeties.</p>

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<p>PS- in talking about Oberlin I was referring to a friend of mine who majored in Music/Acoustic Engineering</p>

6

<p><< I suppose finally, I'm a very peaceful, laid back, somewhat nerdy person, with no interest in sports, etc.>></p>

<p>Brandeis U. might be a good match/safety for you</p>

7

<p>The schools you named are all over the map (figuratively).
Do you prefer an LAC? Public or private? You don't have to go all the way to Minnesota to find a good LAC. Do you like the idea of an Ivy school?
There are lots of matches and reaches for you.
How about Rutgers as a safety?</p>

8

<p>There's like a lot of schools that you'd potentially qualify for. So many in fact that it would be good to refine your interests and desires. OR at least articulate them if you want some decent suggestions.</p>

<p>" peaceful, laid back, somewhat nerdy person, with no interest in sports, etc"
is something, but there's still a lot of unsettled questions that are relevant.</p>

<p>What do you think you might actually want to study in college?<br>
Do you want broad exposure to a lot of areas, including languages? Or do you want more freedom regarding your curriculum? Do you think you prefer a big school, small school, or something in between? There's a trade-off between big school vs. small school; often, having huge course selection senior year vs. having huge classes freshman year. Where do you stand on this? What do you want to be able to do outside of classes? do you mind, or affirmatively want, to live on campus all 4 years? What do you see yourself doing after college? Do you want to live in a big city? Near one? a big campus? Or you don't really care?</p>

<p>I'm not saying you need to have all these answers now, but the more you have the more finely tuned the suggestions can be. suggest reading the descriptions in the Fiske guide to colleges, with questions like this in mind, and think about the type of environment you'd prefer to be in. Because you will have many choices.</p>

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<p>If you're interested in Oberlin College, you should also look into Vassar College, Swarthmore College, and Reed College. Any of the top tier LACs sound like they'd be good for you to look into really... Amherst College, Haverford College, Davidson College, Grinnell College, Bowdoin College, Middlebury College, Washington & Lee University, Wesleyan University, Trinity College (CT), etc.</p>

<p>If you have some idea of what size of college you'd like, what prospective major(s) you're considering, where you'd like to be location wise, what type of school you'd like to attend (LAC, university, technical), how social a campus you'd like, what sort of atmosphere (artsy, sporty, intellectual, etc.) you'd prefer, and so on... I, and the other posters, can probably give you some more specific suggestions of places to look into.</p>

10

<p>Carleton sounds like an excellent fit. Physical sciences are absolutely top notch. Great intellectual student body that knows not to take itself too seriously - even a Newsweek "Most Fun" school (<a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3070172/)%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3070172/)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>Agree with, in particular, Haverford, Swarthmore, Grinnell as other LACs to investigate.</p>

<p>Agree with Amykins. You might find Penn a good deal less of a fit student body-wise than UChicago. </p>

<p>Would also strongly consider Rice, especially if you are still considering a BS in engineering. Should also consider Northwestern, Hopkins and WashU. All offer engineering - NU is broadly strong, Hopkins/WashU strong in bioeng.</p>

11

<p>Thank you very much, I investigated many of the colleges you all suggested, and it's been a great help. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

12

<p>also take a look at Colorado College -- not usually on most people's list because it isn't on the east or west coast, but it is a great little LAC. Fun, laid-back and a neat block-scheduling set-up.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.coloradocollege.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.coloradocollege.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>By the way -- love to see other scouts. My youngest is wrapping up his eagle project this summer and is on the OA dance team. Consider sending in a picture of you in ceremonial gear -- it can be hard to describe, but a picture is worth a thousand words.</p>

13

<p>instead of Penn (which is very pre-professional) I think you might prefer Brown.</p>

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<p>You should also check out Haverford, Rice and the University of Chicago.</p>

15

<p>Thank you again for the advice. I looked into Brown, and it looked great, as did many other suggestions.</p>

<p>I think I might like a larger school now, having ruminated a bit.</p>

<p>However, I'm also a little worried. I had two C's last year. They hardly affected my GPA, being one credit, fraction of a semester, courses. How will that affect me? Will my other work be enough to overshadow that?</p>

16

<p>I definitely think you're on the right track with Carleton. For the record, I think Minnesota is beautiful and Northfield is charming. I definitely thought Carleton had a nice atmosphere. It seems like you would have a good shot :] </p>

<p>I also agree that you should look at Grinnell. I visited Grinnell and loved it, but that's partially because I can handle a rural campus. If you NEED to be RIGHT next to a city, Grinnell isn't for you. However, it's not like you're in Timbuktu or anything. They still have a Wal Mart and a REALLY NICE Mexican restaurant.</p>

<p>Umm, a lot of it depends on your personal preferences. If you're liberal and want to be around liberal students, Sewanee might not be your best bet. If you want to be around a campus with equal numbers of either political party, with an especially politically active campus, Claremont McKenna might be right for you. If you're politically apathetic, Georgetown might not be perfect. Colorado College is (relatively) close to the Rockies. Grinnell is (not literally) in the corn fields.</p>

<p>So it really depends. What do you like? What are your personal preferences?</p>