College recommendations for visit

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Well, I already posted about college recommendations a while ago, but I’m still stumbling in the dark like a one-eyed dog. I’m a sophomore at the moment, but next autumn my mom is taking me to visit Northeastern schools (for a week). And she wants me to make a list of schools. Now. (Bothersome.)</p>

<p>This is all very confusing! I have no idea where I want to go, and we can’t visit 30 schools, so I have to narrow it down. I’ve started looking, but the unfortunate thing is that (almost) every school appeals to me. I get excited when I find something I dislike. And it's hard to narrow down, because I can't be too precise about what I'm looking for.</p>

<p>I guess I should be looking at more of a social atmosphere then academics/competitiveness right now... shouldn’t I? (But my GPA is a 4.0 at the moment and I recently scored 2260 on the SATs. I need to be looking into more ‘good match’ and ‘safety’ schools, I guess, since I’m not a phenomenal cancer-researching type of person. And I know my 4.0 will not be maintained.)</p>

<p>I want to study history and linguistics. (Not a lot of schools have linguistics, so this narrows it down unless you look at linguistic anthropology courses which would do just fine.) I want to be able to do research. And learn a lot. </p>

<p>Near a city? Or not. It doesn’t matter too much to me, though, as long as it’s not in Desperate Housewives suburbia. And I totally dig snow (oh, clever me), but it’s not a must… though I am not very fond of hot weather. (Good for Northeast.)</p>

<p>Smaller colleges also appeal to me, but if a big school suited me, I wouldn’t care too much. I like the thought of professors teaching small, involved classes. </p>

<p>Diversity is cool. I’d also like to study abroad a couple times, if that’s possible. Oh, and a more liberal school is preferred. I don’t care either way about religion or sports. </p>

<p>Money is a problem. Oh well.</p>

<p>I like nerdiness, nice dorms (is it possible to get private bedrooms? I shudder at the thought of sleeping the same room as someone), and trees. I don’t think I’d like the Greek system. I don’t like bugs. I don’t like hordes of rich, pretentious people. I like the smell of books. I like non-patronising kids who like cool music. </p>

<p>Well, that's it. If you could recommend colleges/universities to me, specifically in the Northeast (but anywhere is welcome), that’d be super. </p>

<p>Cheers lots.</p>

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<p><a href="But%20my%20GPA%20is%20a%204.0%20at%20the%20moment%20and%20I%20recently%20scored%202260%20on%20the%20SATs.%20I%20need%20to%20be%20looking%20into%20more%20%C2%91good%20match%C2%92">quote</a>...

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I want to study history and linguistics.

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And learn a lot.

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Smaller colleges also appeal to me, but if a big school suited me, I wouldn’t care too much. I like the thought of professors teaching small, involved classes.

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I like nerdiness, nice dorms (is it possible to get private bedrooms? I shudder at the thought of sleeping the same room as someone), and trees. I don’t think I’d like the Greek system. I don’t like bugs. I don’t like hordes of rich, pretentious people. I like the smell of books. I like non-patronising kids who like cool music.

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<p>William & Mary.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wm.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.wm.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

3

<p>You sound like an interesting person and I wish you lots of success. Northeast schools that meet some or all of your criteria include the following:</p>

<p>Brown
Brandeis
Wellesley (if you're a girl)
Tufts (I don't think it has linguistics, but it meets your other requirements)
Middlebury (doesn't have linguistics, but strong language program)
Dartmouth
Williams (might be too small and isolated)
Cornell
University of Rochester
Syracuse (this is probably a safety)
Swarthmore
Haverford (you can take linguistics at Swarthmore)
Bryn Mawr (if you're a girl and once again, Swarthmore has linguistics)</p>

<p>I would also consider McGill if you're going up that way, as well as Georgetown if you can get down to D.C.</p>

<p>Finally, although not in the geographic region you're visiting, University of Chicago sounds like a great match for you (and it definitely has cold weather)</p>

4

<p>You sound like a perfect match for Swarthmore/Chicago/Brandeis.</p>

<p>Talk to your parents about what their expectations for you for this trip . You are way ahead of the game in describing yourself, and what subjects you are interested in, etc, for a soph. So far ahead in fact that it is very possible that you will change your mind about many things before you apply. </p>

<p>If you have not visited any colleges, I would suggest seeing a large, a small, and urban, a suburban (rural if possible), and a state university, a women's college if you are female.</p>

<p>One possible route would be head north across Connecticut, as far north as Dartmouth and back, with a number of short side trips you could cover these bases - you will go close to Yale, Conn College, ?Wesleyan and ?Trinity (my geography is failing me), the Pioneer Valley schools (Amherst of course, but also Smith, MHC and UMass, to cover more bases), side trip to Williams if interested, and Dartmouth.</p>

<p>Another route would be fly into Boston, do the Boston area, and down the Conn coast or up into Maine for more rural/small town schools, don't know if you can get a state school into this route.</p>

<p>Third route would be Philly based, perhaps with a side trip to the Lehigh area, or even up to NYC.</p>

<p>This is why your Mom wants a list, to plan these routes. You need to see a variety of types of schools and you need to avoid falling absolutely in love with aahhh, say Yale, and being unable to like other schools that aren't reaches for everyone. You sound as if you live far away from the NE. We only looked at reach schools in the NE, because us 'rents (and DD to some extent) felt it wasn't worth driving that huge distance to look at safeties, yes we were snobbish. This could well have been a mistake. If you feel strongly that you want to go far away, or if the NE is your home territory, be sure to add schools of varying selectivity.
It will be much easier to do internet based research if you have concrete ideas about size and locale, to go with your thoughts about interests.</p>

5

<p>Sounds like Middlebury would be an excellent match for you.</p>

6

<p>because you're just ending your sophomore year, I'd recommend more of a survey to find the TYPE of school you prefer rather than trying to identify specific colleges. In my opinion, while you've made a good start identifying some things that you want, you don't know enough yet to really start sorting thru colleges. But thats not a problem, because you can use your initial visits to help narrow down the type and location of the school that fits you.</p>

<p>I'd recommend visiting a large U, a mid-size school, and a smaller LAC. Pick urban, suburban, and rural locations. Its better to do more than just take the tour; you can find lots of info about what to do when you visit in books about college applications or on the web (see <a href="http://www.bc.edu/admission/undergrad/process/tips/s-campusvisit%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bc.edu/admission/undergrad/process/tips/s-campusvisit&lt;/a> for example) You should be talking to kids and finding out what they like/dislike about their school so you get a better idea which type is best for you. And to get a real feel for a school I'd recommend an overnite visit,which can be arranged with a volunteer host thru the admissions dept of most colleges.</p>

<p>Once you've narrowed down what you're looking for is the time to start putting together a list of matches and safeties,with a reach or two added for fun.</p>

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<p>Thanks very much, everyone! I love how people are so helpful here.</p>

8

<p>Check out Williams, Amherst, Middlebury they seem to suit your interests well</p>