Certain Student Type Lost in College Search..help?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm suuuuper lost where I'd be applying the fall. I've been trying to search but I am getting very overwhelmed and need some sort of direction. </p>

<p>Location: anywhere with GOOD weather
Personality: Liberal-leaning, pretty challenging, sort of artsy, "weird" (?)
Major: I'm interested in science (biology), but really not sure, so a school where you don't have to know right away.
Cost: definitely be an issue, so especially if they have good financial aid offerings. </p>

<p>Please list all safeties, targets, AND reaches!</p>

<p>M Y S T A T S</p>

<p>Location: Massachusetts
Gender: Female
Race: White
School: Public, ranked 2nd best in state
Class Rank: n/a</p>

<p>*GPA (unweighted):</p>

<p>*All honors freshman year-3.32
*All honors, one AP soph-3.52
*All honors, 2 APS junior-3.66
*Senior year (next year)-4 APs, all honors</p>

<p>7 AP classes in total, or 8 if you count Economics as 2. </p>

<p>SCORES:</p>

<p>*ACT-32. without studying, going to take in sept
*SAT-1980-bad, going to take in oct
CR: 630
math: 660
Writing: 690</p>

<p>SAT II: Biology M-750
SAT II: US History-730
SAT II: Literature-620 (won't be sending that)</p>

<p>AP US-5
AP Bio-5
AP Macro-5
AP Micro Exam-5</p>

<p>EXTRA ACTIVITIES:
*Class Vice President, junior and senior year
*Serve on Belmont Committee, where 5 students from the school are chosen to work on a board with parents, teachers, and administrators about school issues across the board
*Student Leadership Committee member, bringing together students on issues around the school
*National Honor Society member, inducted first year
*Junior Year: Treasurer of Working the Help the Homeless--promoted next year to...
*Senior Year: President of Working to Help the Homeless (WTHH) club at my school, active, helping homeless people in and around Boston.
*Bronze Presidential Award for 100+ hrs of community service
*Founder AND President of Democratic Party Club at school
*volunteered at a hospital for one full summer
*active volunteer at a conservation land in my town
*Ran Cross Country for 3 years.
*Part-time Job during the school year.</p>

<p>THANK you so much.</p>

2

<p>~~~Bump. Please, I’m lost in my search!</p>

3

<p>You’re asking the impossible–if you can’t narrow down your search by the usual criteria–size (2000? 5,000, 20,000?); part of the country and distance from home; urban, suburban or rural; public or private; intellectual or party atmosphere or in-between; heavy sports emphasis or not; availability of Greek life; etc., how can anyone else do it for you? You need to start reading college guides and websites and thinking things through; then start visiting “sample” campuses (e.g., one big state school, one small rural LAC, one urban school) to see what resonates with you. When you have a sense of the kind of school you’d like to attend, come back and you’ll get some good suggestions.</p>

4

<p>Check out Pitzer College, Occidental, Colorado College, New College of Florida.</p>

5

<p>@MommaJ:
Sorry, I should’ve been clearer. I’m looking for schools with…
*2,000-5,000 size
*suburban, with access to a good city
*in-between party/intellectual atmosphere
*Greek life but by NO means it dominates/easy to get in
*most parts of country with GOOD weather (not Deep South)–I’m from Boston but the distance doesn’t matter that much
*liberal minded atmosphere
*non-religiously affiliated
*unified campus (high student happiness i guess)
*good reputation as a school
*good science programs; i’m considering Biology major
*good study abroad programs/opportunities would be a plus</p>

<p>@tk21769
Thanks, I’ll take a look at those also!</p>

6

<p>you must check out hendrix college! it is the greatest hidden gem (they have no greek system)
they do have a artsy,quriky ,liberal and happy student body! awesome science and tolerant place!
also beautiful campus to boot</p>

7

<p>religous affilation also is not always what it seems!(we are no longer in 1870) many schools have former connections or super duper loose connections!
another school is muhlenberg college in allentown pa, that is an amazing school and pretty much is 100% in line with what you are looking for. I know hendrix is in the “south” but, look a little past the stereo types of the south from the movies!</p>

8

<p>Cool! it just looked it up. I’m definitely in the higher percentile but that may bring down the cost for me.</p>

9

<p>which school hendrix or muhlenberg?
a word of advice, try not to get hung up on rankings! the bottom line is that when you graduate you want to have gotten a great education and grown as a person!</p>

10

<p>Southwestern University. Greek life, close to Austin, strong academics, a teeny bit hot in the summer in Texas.</p>