Can someone make some college recommendations?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am currently a junior in Highschool, and I have no idea where I want to go to college. Nor am I really sure what I want to do in my life. I am not being elitist, but I have been told as a whole my stats can help me get into some top schools, but this isn't the chances board. I am asking for some places which you think I should look at, based on all of this.</p>

<p>Here is some “about me” for colleges.
I prefer warmer weather to colder weather, but I am not against or new to cold and rain.
I love college-consortiums
I want a social scene, but at the same time I enjoy having a serene and tranquil place where I can sleep and work
I like going to the beach, not quite a huge fan of snow-sports though.
I don’t care how homogenous or diverse the student population is
I prefer people who don’t direct their political views onto others, so I’m fine with liberals and conservatives until they try to change my moderate views
I am an agnostic, but I respect religious people until they try to fault my beliefs
I love scenic beauty on a campus
I want a city where there is some stuff to do, but it doesn’t have to be like Boston or New York. Though, I wouldn’t mind having a nearby city of the sort, or at least a bigger more metropolitan area
I WILL be applying for financial aid
The total undergraduate class size doesn’t matter too much to me, but I do think I’d prefer small classes
I don’t like preppy/snobbish/elitist people regardless of what school they go to, but I can live with them
I like sports, but there doesn't have to be a huge spirit/diehard fan thing going. I do like intermural though, I won't be playing varsity or anything.</p>

<p>State: Washington
Income: $70-$80,000
sister going to college at a state school right now
WILL be applying for financial aid.</p>

<p>Career paths: I am interested in a path that could lead me down to the medical field, pre-med, biology, etc. Also, I’m equally interested in business.
Degree options: Sadly, I don't really know how this works, plus it depends on which path I take. Otherwise for undergrad, B.A., B.S., or MBA, but if I can I want to duel-major or duel-degree, not sure if I have to be selected or this or apply though.</p>

<p>Schools I am currently interested in
UW Seattle (honors college?)
Cornell (see WUSTL for same situation).
WUSTL (Do you apply to the undergrad schools seperatly, or is there one fee/application? I am interested in the duel degree/majors options they have)
U Penn (See above)
Brown
Rice
University of Miami
Pomona or CMC (one of these, not both)</p>

2

<p>bump bump bump</p>

3

<p>Definitely check out the Claremont Colleges…that was the first thing that came to mind</p>

4

<p>I’d also add Stanford to your list, it seems to meet alot of your criteria. Also, despite it pretty much not meeting your list in terms of weather or surrounding town at all, I’ll shamelessly plug my own school, Dartmouth (picked it over cornell and brown for pre-med when accepted to all for what its worth). </p>

<p>As far as Cornell you’ll apply to one college in the school as your ‘first choice’ (I chose CAS) and then pick a ‘second choice’ that will receive your application if your first choice rejects you (I didn’t chose to do this… mostly because I didn’t write to want an extra essay) But there is only one application (Common app) with a separate supplement essay for each college (so if you apply to a first and second choice you’ll end up having 3 essays for that app, but the rest will be the same) And there is just 1 flat fee of 75, regardless of if you do 2nd choice or not.</p>

5

<p>as i was reading, i was thinking u miami, and then i saw it on the list, seems like a good fit for you for a number of different reasons.</p>

6

<p>Haverford Go to: [Haverford</a> College Office of Admission: Admission Videos](<a href=“http://www.haverford.edu/admission/videos/]Haverford”>http://www.haverford.edu/admission/videos/)
Swarthmore Go to: [Swarthmore</a> College | Admissions](<a href=“http://www.swarthmore.edu/x504.xml]Swarthmore”>Admissions & Aid :: Swarthmore College)
Bryn Mawr (if you are female) Go to: [Bryn</a> Mawr College | Webisodes](<a href=“http://www.brynmawr.edu/admissions/webisodes/]Bryn”>http://www.brynmawr.edu/admissions/webisodes/)</p>

<p>Also, read about them in the Fiske Guide (the best college guide book).</p>

7

<p>I’m gonna shamelessly plug Duke, and Emory also seems to be a good option for you. Both have great premed and business programs (Fuqua for Duke, Goizueta for Emory), great weather, good locations (Emory gets the edge here–just off Atlanta, but surrounded by country club greens and neighborhoods), and a beautiful campus. I preferred the social atmosphere at Duke because of the school spirit, but Emory isn’t bad either. The only issue might be the location for Duke and the beach, which is a few hours’ drive for both–for what it’s worth, I live in Florida and I’m gladly giving up the beach for Duke, and you get mountains too in NC. There are gonna be preppies and opinionated people anywhere you go, but all the people I’ve met at Emory and Duke (and WUSTL, for that matter) were great. Finally, my family has a comparable income to yours, and I’m going to Duke on a cost comparable to that of U Florida.</p>

<p>I think WUSTL has one application fee, but I’m not sure how B-school works there. As far as social life goes, WUSTL was great too for the aspects you’re considering, but I was bothered by the forced “diversity” atmosphere there (I’m an Asian and I didn’t like how the college touted diversity…then let everyone divide into their own ethnic groups). It doesn’t have the best reputation for FA, but it is a great premed school.</p>

8

<p>Thanks everyone! haha, I don’t care about plugging in your own schools.</p>

<p>About Claremonts: I’ve looked at the four available to me (male) and Harvey Mudd I’ve heard has an ugly campus and is more suited to math and science. While Pitzer is moreso for some humanities. Pomona and CMC are the ones which interest me, though, I’m not really sure which would be the best for me. I’ve only heard that Pomona has some really good dorms/residence halls, and likewise CMC has good (but not better than Pomona) dorms with cleaning services, and it has good food, though, since you can dine at any of the Claremont dining-halls I guess it isn’t as much of a matter.</p>

<p>Stanford- I’ve looked at it a bit and everyone and their grandmother seems to want to go there. Yes it’s the ivy of the west, yes it’s in a legit location, yes it has tons of resources, yes it’s name will get you far, etc, but at the same time I’ve heard the campus feels very synthetic and you’re in the “Stanford bubble”. In addition, I’ve heard it’s students are RIDICULOUSLY more arrogant than any other students in any other college. And finally I’ve heard the college is ridiculous for grade inflation. I have to say, as a whole it doesn’t interest me too much, even though it is in the top 4 colleges in the US. But thank you for the information on Cornell, I am interested in about 4 different schools right now.</p>

<p>The “Quaker” consortium schools. I have started to look into Haverford, and to a lesser extent Swarthmore, because they are in the quaker consortium with U Penn. I’d definetly consider Upenn, or one of those two, and then if I wanted take classes at each school.</p>

<p>U Miami- Yes, I am quite interested in this school, specifically their miller-medicine early admission thing. </p>

<p>Duke/Emory. I have heard that Duke is smack dab in the middle of no where, and it’s a pretty bad college town. I don’t know too much about the weather in North Carolina. But yeah, I guess I haven’t looked too much at Duke.
Emory’s business program I am not a big fan of. Every other big-name college business school is 4 year, goizueta is a 2 year program. But ya, also, I don’t know too much about emory I guess, but I do not think I’d want to go there for business.</p>

<p>I REALLY like WUSTL except that it’s not a need blind school, and St. Louis all in all isn’t the best city in the world.</p>

9

<p>The weather in Miami’s great (all of Florida is–just gotta deal with the hurricanes), and the HPME program would give you guaranteed med school and an MD in 7 years if you’re really into it. I didn’t really look into U Miami when I applied to colleges though, I wanted to get out of state.</p>

<p>For Duke, I’ll admit Durham itself sucks. Even the students admitted it. Chapel Hill nearby is said to be a great college town though, and the campus itself is beautiful (and large too–surrounded and somewhat shielded from Durham by forests). It’s definitely not Columbia or U Chicago, but I wouldn’t call it “middle of nowhere”.</p>

<p>I applied to WUSTL and financial aid, and they won’t necessarily reject kids just because of FA. Be sure to show interest, and admissions shouldn’t be a problem. I did get the least FA out of WUSTL from all the schools I applied, though. I visited the school two times; it’s in the best part of St. Louis (though outside of St. Louis, you truly are in the middle of nowhere) and you can certainly get a great college experience. At the admitted students weekend, I made friends with people who were invited to a separate Olin weekend–they pay attention to their business students–obviously the premed’s great too. That said, I decided to attend Duke for FA and fit reasons.</p>

10

<p>Amherst is in a consortium in a really nice town and has a gorgeous campus but is very small and doesn’t have great weather</p>

11

<p>What does it mean to show interest in WUSTL? To make a campus visit? To get on their mailing list? To make it clear it’s your #1 choice in a personal statement or something? I am quite interested in it as a whole, though, I won’t rule out other places.</p>

<p>And I was looking at Amhearst before, but I’ve heard they give terrible financial aid. And the consortium thing isn’t a make or break deal, I just like it because you have a wider variety of classes to take, at schools which have stronger strengths, and more dining halls, haha.</p>

12

<p>Oh, and here is my order of importance</p>

<p>Financial aid
Student population (AKA, the snob factor, their political/religious acceptance, etc)
Social scene (as I listed)/how good the town is (and location compared to bigger cities)
size of classes (AKA, as a whole prefer smaller classes, but not every class needs to be small)
Weather
Good dorms/resident halls
Good food
Scenic/beautiful campus (year-round if possible, I know some places turn desolate during the winter. Also, having a lake or an ocean nearby is always a plus!)
in a consortium
sports</p>

13

<p>Bump. Also, I may have been incorrect, my family’s combined income may be 80-90K instead of 70-80. My mom doesn’t make much money though (it’s pretty much based on my dad’s), and we have no assets to speak of aside from our house, and three cars (which do have values, but one of them is quite old and a bit of a junker [my car, haha], my mom’s car is 2006-2007 model I think, and my dad’s car is a used 2002 model) [none of these cars are “nice” persay though). </p>

<p>If anyone cares my original list of colleges have changed. I’ve found more no-loan policy colleges.</p>

<p>UPenn (dual major/degree)
Brown (PLME specifically, if I want to go into medicine)
CMC (the 5 year program with the Claremont Graduate College)
Cornell (Human Ecology and Hotel Administration)
Washington and Lee University
UW Seattle
Stanford</p>

<p>Originally I was very, very anti Stanford. It’s students have a superiority complex far above every other school’s body (that I encountered), it’s not in a prime-location in California, it’s infamous for grade inflation I hear, and it’s like a bubble of isolation. However, I have heard you can take classes at the graduate institutions while an undergrad, and that greatly interests me.</p>

14

<p>Add Rice, Davidson, William & Mary to your list to investigate.</p>

15

<p>Boston College (program with Tufts)
Tufts University
Swarthmore College
Rice University
Johns Hopkins University
Amherst College
Williams College
Columbia University</p>

16

<p>I got into UPenn, Rice, and WUSTL, and Rice and WashU gave me the most financial aid. I did not apply for any dual degree programs, so I cant help you out there, but all three of those schools are amazing. You can PM me for more details about the environment, class sizes, my personal impressions, but WashU gave me so much financial aid that it would’ve been cheaper for me to go to WashU than to a public school (UC’s). Our family income is 140000, but my sister is also going to school next year (twin, going to Wellesley), and my brother is currently at UC Berkeley. I’m sure WashU will give you what you need -they’re incredibly generous. I’m going to WashU, btw.</p>

17

<p>Since when does Amherst have bad FA? They are a need-blind school with deep pockets. Their on-line FA calculator is also said to be among the better ones out there. You might want to run your family’s figures through it. </p>

<p>Regarding weather, since you are from a fairly cool climate, you might want to think about how “good” you would find a hot, humid climate such as Florida’s.</p>

<p>You’ve also mentioned grade inflation at Stanford several times. I have no idea of whether that is true, but if so it would only work in your favor if you apply to grad or professional school.</p>

18

<p>Any of the schools in the Quaker Consortium sound like good fits for you. Swarthmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr (if you’re a girl) are all very close to Philly, and obviously Penn is in Philly. Swat, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr all have really beautiful campuses. The Claremont consortium has an edge as far as nice weather though.</p>