Any recommendations for colleges I should consider?

College Search & Selection
1

I’m a female junior in a CA public high school. My parents can well afford to pay the full cost of an education at any institution I might attend (my dad is a hospitalist).

I am completely undecided on major/career, but I know I want to have the opportunity to take interesting, discussion-based classes in English, writing, math (beyond HS Calculus), astronomy, physics, engineering, German, Spanish, environmental studies, and education. Yes, I will probably not end up taking all these classes, but I like choices.
I’m pretty sure I’m going to go for a graduate degree after college, though probably not immediately.

I would like to be somewhere that isn’t consistently above 80 degrees Fahrenheit and has an aerial silks club and some sort of intramural cross country, although these aren’t too important in the grand scheme of things. I would also like to go somewhere not (or at least not strongly) religiously affiliated and where social life is not dominated by greek life.

Where would you recommend for me, both reach, match, and safety, given the above and the following?

Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Classes I have taken (all A’s) :

Freshman:
Psychology (community college course), PE, Advanced Theater, Geometry, Algebra II/Trig, Spanish 3, English I Advanced, Chemistry

Sophomore:
AP World History, AP Environmental Science, Physics Honors, Spanish 4 Honors, English II Advanced, Beginning Band -> Concert Band, Precalculus Honors

Junior:
AP US History, AP Lang, AP Bio, AP Calc AB AP Calc BC, Symphonic Band, Current World Problems (community college), Intermediate Conversational Spanish: Film (community college)

And Senior year I plan to take:
AP Gov/Econ, AP Lit, AP Spanish, Symphonic Band, either Prob and Stat or a community college higher level calculus course, AP Chem, and WWII, as well as another community college course (astronomy, maybe?)

I’m the stupid kid who loves everything, so I haven’t done what seems to be highly recommended for college admissions and specialized in one thing… I view high school as a time to have fun and try new things!

I have participated in cross country, soccer, dragon boat, speech, debate, swimming, and aerial silks.
I am considering taking a gap year to do some kind of volunteer or work program in Europe, but my parents are less then enthused (I have type 1 diabetes and they’re kind of scared to let me be alone on another continent).
This summer, I am spending three weeks at a CIT type program at an amazing summer camp (there’s also a precamp component that involves learning about motivation, habits, electronic use, nonviolent communication, and more), as well as a two week back packing trip that includes ascending Mount Whitney with the Diabetic Youth Foundation.

So… there’s my life story… :).

2

Does your parents’ concern about your diabetes extend to not wanting you across the country for college?

Do you have any preference for size of school? If you haven’t yet, you might try visiting a state university and a liberal arts college nearby just to see how you feel about colleges of varying sizes. You won’t find engineering or education specific classes at most LACs, but otherwise you will find a lot of what you are looking for.

I don’t know what aerial silks even are (but it sounds interesting!). But as you probably already know, it may be hard to find, and a college that has it might not be the best fit in other ways. And just an FYI based on going through a couple of college searches, clubs or activities that are a little obscure sometimes have a club page website, but when you dig you find that the club has gone inactive (people driving it graduated or went abroad or something, and it can kind of fade away).

When I read your post, Carleton comes to mind. Or maybe Wellesley. If you don’t have a copy of the Fiske Guide to Colleges yet, you should get one and spend an afternoon with it and a package of post-it notes to mark the schools that look interesting.

3

You might also like some of the NESCACs, or Vassar.

4

Oh also I forgot to include test scores:
AP World: 5
APES: 5
PSAT: 1460
Math II: 740
Physics: 710
ACT Goal: 33-35 (If I study, I think this is realistic- I got a 33 on the practice test I took).

My parents are fine with me going across the country.
I think I’m generally more interested in LACs, but I’m going to apply to some UCs because backups and also I’m not sure I don’t want to go to a UC.

I’ve been looking at Swarthmore (actually, all three of the tri-co), and have been loving what I’ve been reading. Except Swarthmore is super selective, which is… :frowning: What colleges are similar to Swarthmore? What makes someone a good or bad fit for these colleges?

5

Amherst? Middlebury? Hamilton?

6

I thought of the Tri-Co schools for you reading your post, also Carleton, Grinnell, Whitman, Colorado College, Dickinson, to give a little range in selectivity.

Stuff like aerial silks, at most LACs it is easy to start your own club and even get funding if one doesn’t exist. I’ve never heard of intramural cross country being an option (but maybe it is) but I do know some schools will have running clubs and you’ll find many LACs where the Cross Country teams don’t make cuts.

7

Swarthmore might be said to be similar to other LACs that place a relative deemphasis on sports, such as Carleton (in comparison to, e.g., the sports-intensive NESCACs). Nonetheless, most from this greater group of top LACs offer among the strongest academics in the nation, and have that in common.

8

Colby came to mind because of its incredible observatory and great environmental science. And it is most definitely not over 80 degrees every day! Some, but not all, of your activities and interests could be pursued there. But as everyone has mentioned, all the NESCAC schools and the PA/OH schools might interest you. None will be everything you want, so most will allow you to pursue most.

Given that you are interested in many things, you might prefer schools that have some kind of distribution requirements as the sampling process is well supported. Schools with good study abroad options are common. You might also like schools that have an interim plan as they allow intensive dabbling and often additional travel options. Visit while they are in session if you can. Smaller schools often have a vibe, and while all different kinds of people may enjoy being there, certain places may immediately excite you or turn you off.

9

Aerial silks requires some special equipment, so may not be that easy to just start up as a club.

But sounds as if you should take a look at Grinnell, which matches the mood you’re describing, and also has an observatory. It may or may not still have the circus club described in their newspaper in 2011:

http://www.thesandb.com/arts/grinnell-circus-club-trains-fantastical-skills.html

10

I don’t think the equipment for aerial silks is that extensive and beyond the scope of funding, IMO.

11

Based on your diverse academic interests and proclivity for choice, you may especially like colleges with flexible curricula such as Amherst, Hamilton, Smith and Grinnell.

12

@doschicos - You’re probably right that aerial silks are within the scope of a reasonably well-appointed gym. Just more setup than, say, ultimate frisbee…

13

The problem with ultimate is usually carving out field space from the usage by varsity teams, in my experience. One of kids had a friend who did silks and it kind of became a club (since graduated) and it was an fairly easy set up using the indoor field house and mats from track & field.

14

What kinds of things do people who major in engineering do with there lives?

15

You sound like a U of Chicago kind of kid or maybe even Columbia. I know you can fnd aerial arts in NYC. I’m sure Chicago has that too. I know these aren’t LAC’s, but it sounds like you are open to bigger schools

16

Once I have a bunch of schools that I like (hypothetically, say 30 or 40 that I’m generally interested in … Oops :slight_smile: ), how do I narrow it down? Especially since a lot of the schools have a lot of similar characteristics and are on the east coast (while I live on the west coast, and I’m not sure how soon/ if I’ll be able to visit).

17

My kids started out with a larger list like that. Obviously, you need to have some reaches, matches and safeties, so first decide which schools are in which category. Visiting is best but if you can’t you can often find videos online as well as reviews and comments. I find the descriptions in the Fiske Guide are pretty accurate. I think an important thing to consider is how strong the schools are in your areas of academic interest. That should be a major factor in cutting down your list. Geographical preference, size, preference for greek life or not are other factors that can help you whittle down the list to a manageable size.

18

I’ve found that some colleges offer the opportunity to take more courses (ex. Northwestern 45+, 32 at Bryn Mawr and many other schools). Does depth get sacrificed when taking more courses? Is it a better idea to go to a school where one can take more courses if one is undecided about their course of study?

19

" 32 at Bryn Mawr"
Isn’t that the normal amount? 8 semesters of 4 courses each?

20

Maybe Wellesley?