Here is the list of schools I plan on applying to:
NYU, Rutgers, UIUC, UMich, UPenn, UChicago, Northwestern, Williams, UPitt
Are these good undergrad philosophy schools? Are there any better besides the Ivy Leagues?
For law-career preparation, colleges that emphasize practice in writing may be good choices. In addition to your current group, you may want to consider a few from the following:
Swarthmore
Hamilton
Carleton
Grinnell
Middlebury
Kenyon
The discussion based classes emphasized at these schools would be excellent for the study of philosophy.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/writing-programs
Thank you for the recommendations! I have been looking into Swarthmore-- they send me a lot of emails. 
You must test well, @stressedoutLOL.
Haha, I do okay. Do you think not interviewing for these schools will hurt my chances? I live in California and I’m not sure how off-campus interviews work with these schools on the East Coast.
If you want to consider a Catholic college many of them have strong philosophy departments – you might look into Gtown, BC, ND to name a few.
You can often arrange an alumni interview with someone who lives near you if you are far from campus - contact the admissions dept. of each school.
Interviewing tends to be part of the admission process for some schools and can be fun and interesting. This would be the main reason I’d recommend them. The Common Data Sets for the individual colleges will give you an indication of the weight actually assigned to them.
Regarding your search in general, I’d recommend you use any graduate department rankings you may have seen with significant discretion. They simply aren’t designed to evaluate the undergraduate level education you are currently seeking.
@happy1 Thanks for the help! I will definitely do that-- I didn’t realize some schools recommended interviews even if they don’t mention it on the Common App.
@merc81 I hope my interviews are more fun than terrifying! :-S I was not aware about the Common Data Sets, thanks for that great tip! And yes, I have been careful with specifying that I’m looking for undergrad programs 
Notre Dame and College of the Holy Cross have very strong philosophy departments.
In addition to all the schools listed above, I would add the following:
Amherst College
Claremont McKenna College
Duke University
Georgetown University
Illinois Wesleyan University
Indiana University-Bloomington
Lawrence University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Pomona College
Reed College
Rice University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Irvine
University of California-Los Angeles
University of California-San Diego
University of Notre Dame
University of Puget Sound
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Southern California
University of Texas-Austin
University of Vermont
University of Virginia
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Washington University-St Louis
Thank you both! I appreciate that you guys included less selective schools haha.
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I'm an Asian girl from a Title One school in California.
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ACT composite- 35 (Took it once, will take it again in a couple weeks to see if I can superscore a 36)
SAT- 2070 and 2090; superscore of 2160 (Taking the new SAT in November)
GPA is just under 4.0; weighted is around 4.4, but my school doesn’t weigh.
Unsure about class rank, but last time I checked half a year ago, I was #7 unweighted in a graduating class of about 350
My AP scores aren’t great LOL…
AP Chem- 1
APUSH- 3
AP Bio- 3
AP Euro- 4
AP Spanish- 4
APENG- 5
AP Calc AB- 5
AP Calc BC- 5
I have a decent amount of extracurriculars, including Varsity Tennis all four years, over 300 hours of volunteering, four tutoring jobs, and clubs like Glee, Quiz Bowl, and Korean Traditional.
I am applying as a philosophy major, and plan on going into law. Please chance me for these schools!
Safeties- UIUC, UPitt, Rutgers
Matches- UMich, NYU
Reaches- UChicago, UPenn, Williams, Northwestern
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You live in Calif and you have 3 OOS publics as your “safeties”.
Will your parents pay the $40k-50k per year to go to those schools? If not, then those are not your safeties because you can’t afford them. If your parents WILL pay ALL costs, then they could be safeties.
You go to a Title 1 school. Are you low income?
Judging from the list in the original post, I suspect you (the OP) have been looking at the Philosophical Gourmet rankings (or something derived from it). Regardless, you might want to heed the advice posted here:
http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/undergrad.asp
Some schools on your list (or suggested elsewhere) may very well offer both a highly-ranked department and a strong focus on undergraduates. However, if you are a California resident, then it may not make sense to pay a big price premium for an out-of-state public university like Pittsburgh or Rutgers. If your parents’ income is less than ~$150K/year (or maybe even more), then your net cost is likely to be lower at a so-called “full need” private school (such as UChicago, Northwestern, or Williiams … but not NYU, which is notoriously stingy with aid.) Whether you qualify for need-based aid or not, any school in the University of California system is likely to have a lower in-state net price than most equally good OOS public schools (unless merit aid comes into play). But if cost simply isn’t an issue, then an OOS public with a strong department (like Pittsburgh) might make a good safety/match.
Candidly, I think you’d benefit from substantial revisions to your list @stressedoutLOL. (However, I do think NYU might financially support your attendance. UMich might as well.)
What @tk21769 said, and I’d go further as to suggest that you don’t need to go to a school that is “known” for undergraduate philosophy, if there even is such a thing. Undergraduate studies are a time of breadth and not depth, not really. You only need a good solid foundation in philosophy, and most of the kinds of top schools you can get into with your grades and scores are going to offer you a good to great foundation in philosophy for law school. Penn, Chicago, Northwestern, and Williams are good choices because they will meet your full financial need, but it makes no sense to go to Rutgers when you could go to UCLA or UC-Berkeley or really, any UC, instead. They’re better universities and they will cost you less money.
The Philosophical Gourmet Report also says this:
. Many faculty at major departments did not do their undergraduate work at institutions with top-ranked PhD programs. The tenured faculty at Michigan, for example, includes folks who did undergraduate work at Wesleyan, Tulane, Oberlin, and John Carroll, among other places. The tenured faculty at Texas includes folks who did undergraduate work at Missouri, Michigan State, and UVA. There are eminent philosophers—who have held or now hold tenured posts at top ten departments—who did their undergraduate work at the University of New Mexico, Queens College (New York), and the University of Pittsburgh. It is possible to get good philosophical training in many undergraduate settings. High school students interested in philosophy would do best to identify schools that have strong reputations for undergraduate education first. Only then, should they look in to the quality of the philosophy department.
This is good advice for someone studying almost any major or field in college - focus on the overall undergraduate experience and quality of the undergraduate education first; only then worry about major, especially given that so many students change and that most of your classes will be outside of your department.
Oh yikes, thank you to everyone for all this info! Your tips about undergrad rep > major rep were not something I had thought about, @juillet and @tk21769. I will definitely be making revisions soon, @merc81. So if I want to go out of state, I should look more at privates? Are there any less selective OOS colleges that will meet my financial needs? In case I can’t get into schools like Chicago and Penn, haha.
I had not listed any UCs because I was not planning on staying in state. I would really prefer to go out of state. I am not completely unwilling to go to a UC though, and it would be a good idea since I qualify for that top 9% program, so I will consider it. My sister goes to UCSC and my brother is at UCSD, so at least the system will be familiar lol. Does anyone know which UCs have the best reputations for undergrad classes and good college life?
I am low income, @mom2collegekids. I qualify for free lunch and although I can’t remember exactly how much my parents make, it must be only around $30k/yr.
With the out-of-state public universities (and private schools with poor financial aid like NYU), you would be shooting for top-end merit scholarships, if they even offer ones that will be enough to let you afford to attend.
Many UCs and CSUs should have sufficient philosophy offerings for a philosophy major, and should be more affordable to you.
Check the net price calculator at each school’s web site to see what kind of financial aid and net price you are likely to see.
Some safety alternatives if you really want to go OOS. http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
Thank you both for the information! I think right now, I just need to pick UCs. I’ve heard bad things about campus life on some UCs, and was wondering if anyone could give their opinion on campus life on the UCs?
Never mind, I asked around. Here is my updated list. Let me know what you guys think!
NYU
Hamilton
Williams
Northwestern
UChicago
UPenn
UC Davis
UCSC
UCSD
UC Berkeley