College advice for a huge upward trend?

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hi! I'm a junior at a VERY competitive magnet high school (ranked in the top 50). I'm looking at colleges and I'm kind of stressing out about my GPA...</p>

<p>In freshman year I had a 2.8 (Yikes, I know). My parents were going through a divorce and I got one C and one D (which I retook for an A). In sophomore year I had a 3.5. Now I have a 3.83 (4.3 weighted) and will most likely keep it up all year. I'm probably finishing with a cumulative GPA of 3.4 UW/3.7 W. I have a UC GPA of around 4.05-4.1. My school doesn't rank; they just publish the average GPA for 11 and 12 grade, which is 3.2 (mine is 3.75). I've taken the PSAT and gotten a 210. Since then I've been prepping, and when I take the SAT (in Jan or March) I'm expecting at least a 2200.</p>

<p>I'm planning some college visits and I can't figure out what "tier" of schools I should be looking at. How much will my upward trend really help? I'm a white and hispanic (Puerto Rican) female from CA. I'll probably apply to UCs (who don't count freshman year), but I really want to go out of state. Money isn't too huge of an issue, although decent aid would be nice.</p>

<p>Things I'm looking for in a college:
-rigorous but not cut-throat, students who love learning. intellectual atmosphere
-secular, coed, liberal, LGBT friendly
-preferably in the northeast, but I'm open to anywhere (no hot weather). It would be nice to be in a city like San Francisco (but not San Francisco, because I live there already!), or have access to a cool city
-vegan food available
-maybe an option to create an individualized major. I've been thinking about somehow combining environmental science with something like sociology. I want to learn about human interactions with the environment.
-possibly a liberal arts school, but that's not important. I'd like the school to be on the small/medium side, though.</p>

<p>So far I like (and these are all reaches..):
-Reed
-maybe NYU Gallatin, because I love their philosophy and how they're a smaller school within a larger school, although I'd have to visit first..NYU (as a whole) kind of intimidates me. Also, I've heard about the price tag..
-UChicago (Yup, I'm aware I have about a 0.001% chance of getting in, but I'm in love with the school. Definitely not getting my hopes up.)</p>

<p>Any suggestions for what schools I should realistically be looking at (safeties, matches, and reaches)?</p>

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<p>the perfect school for you is hendrix college! if you go and visit you will want to stay. great academics, great campus, great students (nice, non cut throat,LGBQ super friendly… etc) look past the fact it is ARKANSAS so many people who would fall in love with the school from out of the area allow Hollywood(movie folks) stereotyping to mold what they think they will find. that is not true.</p>

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<p>Hmm, Hendrix is affiliated with the church, though. I’m not really considering paying money to a religious organization (not putting down anyone who does, but I just don’t support the church).</p>

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<p>Zobroward, I’m just going to put it out that Conway, AK is nothing like San Francisco.</p>

<p>But Emadera, just because a school is religiously affiliated, doesn’t mean it’s actually religious. I go to Emory, which is technically a Methodist school, but that’s only a historical designation. At least 40% of students are non religious. Any of the schools on my list are non religious, even if they might have a religious affiliation.</p>

<p>Lewis & Clark might give you merit aid, particularly because they like both high test scores and diversity. Very very very LGBT friendly, plus it’s 5 minutes away from Portland which is not only the coolest city in the West Coast IMO, but also very very accepting of LGBT.</p>

<p>Evergreen State may be a good option. I’m not sure how academically rigorous it is, but in terms of interdisciplinary studies, it’s among the best in the US thanks to the way its curriculum is set up. Very liberal, very LGBT friendly, and Olympia, WA is absolutely gorgeous. Plus you’d likely get about a $5,000 a year merit scholarship</p>

<p>Any of the better UCs will be LGBT friendly, and most will be relatively intellectual. Based on what gay friends who attend UCSB, UCLA, UCSD, UCB, and UCSC have told me the schools have a very active gay scene. UCSC and UCSD may be the more intellectual of the non flagship UCs, but they’re in very different environments, and their environmental science strengths lie in different areas. </p>

<p>If you’re looking for a larger LGBT scene within a college, you’d probably have to go to a larger school. </p>

<p>In the Northeast, your best bet might be Boston area schools if you want an intellectual atmosphere.
Brandeis, though it’s 50% Jewish is secular and quite intellectual. They do encourage interdisciplinary studies, and are LGBT friendly.
BU might give you a hefty merit scholarship, and it’s quite similar to NYU in terms of integration with the city.</p>

<p>Brown would be a good (but huge) reach. Because of its open curriculum, building an interdisciplinary major is encouraged. It’s very liberal, next to Providence, and extremely LGBT friendly.</p>

<p>Here are some other schools that fit most of your criteria, but not all. Some may be unaffordable though.
-Wesleyan University
-Pitzer College
-Colorado College
-GWU
-American University
-New College of Florida
-Tulane University
-Hampshire College
-Tufts
-Macalaster
-UNC Ashville
-College of Charleston (may not be academically rigorous enough)
-University of Puget Sound
-UToronto or UBC Vancouver (if you’re willing to look at Canadian schools)
-Emory
-University of Pittsburg
-University of Minnesota Twin Cities (Minneapolis is supposedly a great city)
-University of Miami</p>

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<p>Wow, thank you so much for the suggestions! I’ll definitely look over those. I like Wesleyan, from what I can tell, and Lewis and Clark, although I’m not sure how academically focused it is…? I thrive in a pretty intense environment, when everyone around me is also really, really passionate. I know I’m being pretty picky, though :slight_smile: I’m actually going to be in Portland over this winter, so I’ll be touring Lewis and Clark and Reed. </p>

<p>I think that I just wouldn’t really feel comfortable going to a college with a pretty religious student body, as close minded as that probably sounds…I’ve just got super contrasting views, and I’d rather be at a school without a significant percentage of the students that are religious. So it’s all me; I realize a religious school might be a really great option for someone else!</p>

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<p>whenhen, hendrix is in arkansas not alaska.
emadera, religious affiliation for many schools is so loose it may only be historical / symbolic.
this is 2012 not 1875.
other schools to take off your list then…harvard,princeton,yale,duke,emory,haverford,swathmore etc…
I am not into religion and would not attend a school with a religious connection , that was more than in name only.</p>

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<p>True, it does depend on the school. I wouldn’t feel too out of place at most of the ones you listed, I think. I wouldn’t want to go anywhere that still had an official (current) affiliation or anywhere that required religion/theology classes as part of the curriculum. I’d be fine with a large diversity of religions, if the school was still very liberal.</p>

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<p>Zorbroward, just a typo on my part, but the point still stands that Conway, AR is nothing like San Francisco.</p>

<p>Again, all of the schools on my list are basically non religious, with a very high percentage of agnostic/atheist students. I included Brandeis, because IMO, Jews have a very different outlook regarding religion due to their non belief in an afterlife, and it fits all of your other criteria. </p>

<p>Another place to look for the most intellectual colleges is in a list of phD productions. There’s good reason why schools like Reed, St. Johns, and Cal Tech dominate (although that list comes with serious flaws, since it inherently favors smaller schools) [The</a> Colleges Where PhD’s Get Their Start | The College Solution](<a href=“http://www.thecollegesolution.com/the-colleges-where-phds-get-their-start/]The”>The Colleges Where PhD's Get Their Start)</p>

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<p>That’s true; I’ll definitely check look into Brandeis and similar schools.</p>

<p>Wow, I never even thought about into looking into PhD production. I see a lot of the schools I’ve been considering on there!</p>

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<p>Depending on what you want to study, you might really like American U. It’s affiliated with the United Methodist Church, but you’d never know it unless you had one of the scholarships for children of Methodist clergy. It’s in DC, quite politically active, pretty progressive, very gay-friendly and pretty vegan-friendly, too. It’s a medium-size university, about 6500 undergraduates, and very interested in being green.</p>

<p>On the negative side, summers in DC are hot, and AU is expensive, but if you have high test scores and you can convince them your freshman year was an aberration, you might get merit aid.</p>

<p>Brandeis is also totally worth a look for you. (Personally, I think Waltham feels as if it’s more than just 9 miles from Boston, but you may feel differently about it.)</p>

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<p>I’ll definitely think about American University! I’ve heard it’s very vegan friendly, which is a huge plus in my book :slight_smile: What is DC like? I’ve heard kind of negative things about the city, but maybe people in SF are just kind of biased…not sure, haha.</p>

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<p>How much can your family afford?</p>

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<p>My family can afford something reasonable–not, for example, $50 or 60k a year with no aid whatsoever. From what I can tell I’d probably get pretty good aid because my parents are separated. My counselor told me my financial aid offers would be mainly based off of the income of the parent I lived with the most (is that correct?). My grandparents are planning to help me with a significant portion of my tuition and my parents are comfortable investing in a good education. So I guess I don’t want to limit where I look at based on financial concerns yet, but it would be nice to keep in mind :)</p>

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<p>FAFSA schools only look at your custodial parent’s income, but most FAFSA schools don’t offer much aid. You would get a Pell Grant of $5.5K if your family is VERY low income and a Stafford Loan of $5.5K. There may be some other grants depending on your state but FAFSA schools generally don’t offer much financial aid. Schools which offer good FA tend to use the CSS Profile. A subset of those schools looks at Non-Custodial Parent’s Income. You’ll need to check on that. <a href=“CSS Profile – CSS Profile | College Board”>CSS Profile – CSS Profile | College Board;

<p>Unless your family can come up with $60K/year NYU is not going to work. I’m a big proponent of starting with a safety school you are certain of getting into, can afford, and are happy to attend. Any other applications are gravy. Make sure you have some UCs and CSUs you like.</p>

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<p>I have to say, that surprises me. I think the two cities are similar in a lot of ways.</p>

<p>Of course, DC is more buttoned-down than SF is. But, be fair. The East Coast is more buttoned-down generally than the West Coast is, and what place isn’t more buttoned-down that San Francisco? </p>

<p>But the cities are comparable in both size and bustling-ness. Both are pretty sophisticated urban areas, with lots of highly educated residents, and neither is the economic engine of its region of the country. SF isn’t LA, just as DC isn’t New York. Driving in Washington is pretty unpleasant (worse, IMO, than driving in San Francisco, but I’ll admit I’ve never tried to cross the Bay Bridge during rush hour), but that wouldn’t be a concern of yours.</p>

<p>AU is in a pretty quiet, wealthy, residential corner of the District, near Embassy Row and near the wealthy Maryland suburbs. It’s a bit of a walk (10 or 12 minutes, I’d say) to the Red Line of the Metro, but you can walk it, and the university also runs a shuttle bus. By contrast, George Washington University is in downtown DC, on the Metro and very near a lot of government agencies (e.g., the State Department) and international organizations (e.g., the IMF). The area around GW is bustling–pretty much all the time. The area around AU is sleepier, but it’s not hard to get to the bustle when you want to. (GW is also certainly worth investigating for you, but I think if you’re committed to veganism, you’d have an easier time getting fed at AU.)</p>

<p>Because they’re in Washington, both GW and AU are pretty political campuses–AU especially, IMO.</p>

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<p>I might have missed this somewhere in the thread, but is there a reason that all-women’s colleges like Smith are not on your list?</p>

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<p>Erin’s Dad–Yeah, NYU would probably be out of reach financially. I know that they’re known for their horrible financial aid…are there any other schools that have particularly bad aid? I agree with the idea of starting off by applying to multiple CSUs and UCs, as I am in-state. I’m having a bit of trouble finding any that appeal to me, but I’m sure I will :slight_smile: I think I have a bit of a (completely irrational) negative bias towards them, because my school is a huge feeder school to them (especially Berkeley, San Diego, and Davis) and I want to get away from the atmosphere. I’ve visited UCSC (too laid back for me and not academic-feeling), UC Davis (couldn’t stand the area for more than a few minutes and didn’t like the vibe) and UC Berkeley (just because it was close) and all of them seemed so huge. I’ll have to figure out which state schools I would be happy attending.</p>

<p>Sikorsky–Thanks so much for the description of DC! It sounds like I might like it…I’ll have to make sure to visit schools around there :slight_smile: It’s true that hardly anywhere else is as open and liberal as San Francisco, so I have to be a bit less picky! I do like a political and passionate atmosphere. </p>

<p>siliconvalleymom–The reason I’m not considering any all-women’s colleges is that I don’t support gender separation in general…I could go on a rant about why I don’t believe in treating females and males any differently, but I’m just leaving them off. Plus, they make up a very small percentage of schools, so I don’t think I’m limiting my search a great deal by excluding them :)</p>

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<p>Huh. I totally disagree with you about the value of women’s colleges. </p>

<p>But of course you should get to choose your own colleges. Plus, I’ve already been to college. And I’m a man.</p>

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<p>Sikorsky–I can fully understand that most people don’t agree with me at all on this, but I view single sex colleges as sexist. I just have very strong beliefs about them, so I won’t be looking at all-women’s colleges. </p>

<p>(Just realized I turned this thread into an argument…that wasn’t my intent! But I’m definitely not looking at single sex schools)</p>

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<p>No, no. I don’t think you did, and I’m not looking to argue with you, either.</p>

<p>And even though I think girls’ schools and women’s colleges have tremendous value for a lot of girls and women, I do realize they’re not right for everybody.</p>