College List Assistance

<p>I'm a senior from a low-income family in south Florida in the IB/AP coursework program. I'm on a variety of clubs/organizations as an officer and have done summer programs and dual enrollment courses between school years. </p>

<p>I'm looking for a school that is very flexible in their majors, allowing me to combine my love for Economics, Physics, and Russian. My ideal major is Economics though. I am also looking for a school that offers a community-based, intellectual student life, so LACs are predominant on my list.</p>

<p>Ignoring stats (which seems a bit hard), here is my list:</p>

<p>Brown University
Bowdoin College
Stanford University
Vassar College
New College of Florida</p>

<p>Does this seem like enough schools? I have 1 safety (NCF) and 1 target (Vassar), but the rest are reaches. However, I can't think of any other schools that offer what I am looking for. </p>

<p>I wouldn't mind going to the west coast, but the schools there (i.e. Pomona, Lewis & Clark) aren't exactly in urban settings, which is what I am looking for. I have made sacrifices for Bowdoin, Stanford, and Vassar, seeing as they, too, are rural, which is why I am looking for more urban areas to equal my list. </p>

<p>I also think Reed would be too demanding for me. I dunno, I thought about Reed as my number one choice for awhile, but I honestly think the beauty of the campus and the proximity to urban Portland wouldn't outweigh the demanding courseload.</p>

<p>Shameful bump.</p>

<p>Without your stats, it is hard to give advice. Your list appears to be reach heavy.</p>

<p>Middlebury has excellent language departments and a wonderful economics department. Actually sciences are great too. But there are distribution requirements. Since Amherst has an open curriculum, it might be a good choice. And you have access to courses at the other schools in the consortium. Oops I just remembered the urban criteria you mentioned. That eliminates a LOT of schools. You need more schools, I would say. Especially low reaches/high matches. When you say Vassar is a “target” I suppose that means your scores are above Vassar’s median —like in the 730 range> What about Emory? Tufts?</p>