College Research/List

College Search & Selection
1

Hey guys,

I have been looking around the past few weeks, attempting to create a potential college list. But, I continue to stagnate and can’t come up with the list and hope that you guys can help me out

Desires within a college:

Location: Not Important, (Weather doesn’t matter)

Size: Either Small or Large

Major: Economics/Finance/Business with potential to double major in mathematics or some sort of STEM Field

Curriculum: Preferably there will not be too many core classes.

There should also be some sort of Greek life at the school.
Academic Stats:

3.82 UW (with a great upward trend, all A’s since 2nd trim. of 10th grade)

4.22 W

Very demanding course load. (I also go to an extremely elite private school in California which allows a maximum of 1 AP in 10th grade and none in 9th)

Have also taken 1 online coursera class in microeconomics and am taking a special topic with a teacher at school about microecon.

33 Composite (34 E, 32 M, 34 R, 30 Sc.) & (35 E, 36 M, 30 R, 29 Sc.)

34 Superscore (35 E, 36 M, 34 R, 30 Sc.)

760 on Chem. Subject Test

Expected 800 on Math 2 Subject Test

Extra Curriculurs:

African American Affinity Group (Member 11th, Leader 12th). This club meets once every two weeks and discusses any issues for African American students on campus and is a place where a minority on campus feels like a majority for once.

Admission Ambassador (Member 11th, Chair 12th; Chair is an incredibly selective process in which around 20 kids apply for 6 positions). This past year, I gave tours to prospective students about my school and helped at almost every single admissions event. The chairs meet once a week and coordinate with the admissions office to make the experience great for prospective students.

Students for Equality and Justice (Member 11th, Organizing Committee 12th). This club meets once a week to discuss any social issues ranging from gun control in the United States to Affirmative Action. The organizing committee meets once a trimester and plans out what the topics will be for each week in the trimester.

Business Club (Co-Founder 11th/12th). The Business Club attempts to inform students about the fundamentals of starting a business, how to be effective in creating a business plan, and helps fund young entrepreneurs in their pursuits after a Shark Tank-like trial.

Varsity Soccer (9th, 10th, 11th) (Captain 12th)

Mock Trial (9th, 11th, 12th) (Captain 12th). We didn’t have enough members in 10th grade to field a team.

Film Analysis Blog (10th, 11th, 12th). I write two-three editions every week, ranging from film reviews, previews, and analyses of classics. I do this out of pure enjoyment, but it is quite time-consuming.

Kumon Worker (11th, 12th). I work part-time at Kumon for around 2-3 hours every Saturday and help correct children’s work. I plan on gaining more hours and hopefully to around 8-10 hours per week at the beginning of my senior year.

Science for Kids (11th, 12th). Every Wednesday, for the last two trimesters, we welcome kids from neighboring schools and teach them about science in a fun and interactive way. This program is reserved to only 10th-12th.

Love for the Glove (11th, 12th). This AIDS prevention event happens every year at our school and attempts to raise awareness about STDs, while fundraising money. I was able to raise around $100, helped decorate the event, created bracelets for the first time in the event’s history, and also created the laptop stickers.

Film Appreciation Club (11th possibly, 12th). I’m currently attempting to restart a film appreciation club that would meet once a week for all film lovers to discuss films and would have a monthly screening with special speakers

90’s Hip-Hop Battle Radio Show (12th possibly). I’m thinking about possibly creating a radio show that will analyze the cultural divide in history in the 90’s battle, and where it stemmed from and how it affected the whole African-American population.

11th Grade Summer: Carnegie Mellon Pre-College Summer Program on a free ride.

Hooks:

African American

First-Gen

Low Socioeconomic Status.

I want to possibly get my masters and Ph.D. in economics and possibly do research one day or go into Wall Street and make some bank one day. I was wondering what I should do to improve my application and some schools that y’all would suggest.

Sorry for the Long Post.

2

Lots of options. Reachy ones include Rice, Vanderbilt, Hopkins, Brown, MIT. You could also consider U. of Rochester, Colgate, Tulane, plus Howard if you’re open to HBCUs. Stay away from Columbia and Chicago if you don’t want a big core requirement. There are many other excellent schools out there. Geographic and size constraints would help in pruning the list.

3

Home State?

4

California

5

Wash U in St Louis has a merit scholarship program called the Ervin Scholars for top African American kids. I don’t know how selective it has gotten stats-wise but I’d encourage at least checking into it.

6

Your stats are in that range where you’re fully qualified for the reachiest schools, but in the mid-to-lower range of fully qualified that would make admission a crapshoot. However, your really extensive EC’s combined with the “diversity bump” position you to have a really good chance of acceptance almost anywhere. (I mean, probably not MIT/Caltech but that’s not your goal anyway.)

One question to ask yourself is, where are you willing to fall on the continuum of getting a diversity-based admissions advantage because a school is not super-diverse (and then dealing with the burden of under-representation when you get there)… as opposed to aiming for that small cohort of top-tier schools that have already achieved a non-white majority (where the competition to get in may be steeper but you won’t have to be “part of the solution” to a diversity problem)?

As a case in point, I would say that WashU is a top tier school that has everything you say you are looking for - strong in business/economics as well as sciences, and a vibrant social scene with Greek life - and I would be very surprised if you didn’t get in, given how much they struggle to recruit a diverse class as compared to peer institutions. It could be a great fit if you don’t mind a school that is 6% black, and where 84% of students are from the top 20% income bracket and <1% are from the bottom 20%. (Median income $272K!) But could WashU propel you into a highly successful business/finance career? Absolutely! (And it sounds like you’re already well-acclimated to an economically-rarified and not-optimally-diverse peer group.)

So, let’s see… schools in the top tier that have a Greek-ish social scene, in addition to WashU: Duke, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Dartmouth, UPenn, Cornell, Northwestern, Claremont McKenna, USC… maybe CMU, as it’s a fit academically and does have Greek life, but it’s a bit of an outlier on vibe - you’ve spent time there so you probably have an impression already as to whether it’s a fit.

If you applied to a range of these, I wouldn’t necessarily expect you to get into every single one, but I’d be very surprised to see you shut out of this category.

Have you looked at Claremont McKenna in particular? Economics and Sciences are its particular strengths (and there’s a Science & Management degree that combines the two, if that appeals), and it’s by far the Greek-iest of the Claremont Colleges. CMC, at only around 4% black, doesn’t really do its bit to contribute to the overall black population of the consortium, but Pomona at >12% of a student body twice the size of CMC’s picks up a lot of slack. Overall it would be a very different experience from your other options, but if you liked the ways in which it’s different, it could be a great option. You’d be hard pressed to find a school with a stronger econ reputation, except maybe UChicago which is diametrically opposite to a Greek-ish vibe. (It isn’t no-loan for all students but I think it still is for some lower income students.) You could also consider Pomona which has better diversity and aid, but not the econ-specific reputation and the Greek life.

One small notch down in competitiveness, look at Bucknell, Lehigh (<-apply to the fully-funded diversity fly-in), Davidson, Tulane, Washington & Lee, Emory, Hamilton, Colgate… I’m sure there are plenty of good ones that I’m forgetting off the top of my head. (Most of these would be no-loan but make sure to look at that specifically - there’s no need for you to be coming out of undergrad with debt.)

(I’m also not specifically filtering for not having a heavy core, except where I’m specifically aware - you’d have to look and compare.)

Then there are automatic merit flagships like UA, UGA… it would depend on the details of your financial situation and your results with the most-competitive private U’s whether these would offer a better or worse financial deal than the most generous need-based-aid schools you could get into… but there are terrific honors programs at these schools that could absolutely get you where you want to go.

And of course UC’s… but in your situation you’re likely to end up with more debt, coming out of a UC, than at the various other options above, unless you get outside scholarships that would cover the financial gap.

Probably enough rambling for now; hope that helps!

7

For a combination of strong fraternity participation, good economics departments, and decent financial aid, consider:
Case Western
Cornell
Dartmouth
Emory
Northwestern
UPenn
USC
Vanderbilt
WashU St. Louis

Also consider Berkeley, UCLA, and other UCs.

Run the online net price calculators for any schools that interest you and discuss the resulting estimates with your family.

8

Would y’all recommend taking my ACT a third time and try to bump it up to a 35?

9

Have you tried the SAT? The ACT science section was your weakest, and the SAT doesn’t have that at all. It might be easier for you to knock the SAT out of the park with a little Khan Academy prep, rather than trying to squeeze out another point on the ACT, when a 34 superscore is already very good and won’t be a strike against you anywhere.

10

U Richmond and Trinity (TX) are worth a look for possible merit aid.

I strongly second many of @aquapt’s suggestions, particularly Wake Forest, Bucknell, and Davidson.

11

I also recommend the SAT. Just curious -if you are a current junior, your elite private school should have already given you some direction about your college search. Also, doesn’t your school get visits from reps from the well known universities? With your stats and your attendance at an elite private school, and your varied interests, you seem like a very promising candidate for the HYPS tier - but of course, nothing is a guarantee.

12

We haven’t had any reps come yet and I don’t think we will until the beginning of senior year. Our school doesn’t even begin talking about the college process until the last trimester of junior year, and the information that is provided is quite vague and general.

13

Duke, Penn, Dartmouth

14

You should have a lot of options – congrats on all your hard work in HS.

Duke and UNC are both good fits for you with generous need and merit aid (you should qualify for both). You should see if your HS has a nomination for the Morehead-Cain scholarship and at UNC a really awesome full ride with all the bells and whistles. And you could apply to the Robertson scholarship at both Duke and UNC.

Both Duke and UNC are pretty diverse, great schools, Greek life, great weather, etc. Both have very strong pipelines to Wall Street.

For UNC, you should also consider applying as a direct admit to Kenan-Flagler (the business school – one of the top undergrad business programs in the country) .

Northwestern also seems like a good fit and if I’d were you’d I’d drop an app into an Ivy or two. Do an EA to H, P or Y. Do some research and pick the one that appeals to you never know and it’s not binding. (I’d pick Princeton but that’s me! :))

15

You’re fortunate to be in CA. There are excellent in-state options which will provide good aid to you.

16

Yes, take ACT and SAT if you think you can improve. They are not expensive & even a small increase could pay off in thousands of dollars of aid from certain schools.

17

@Elki2401 You may want to set up an appointment with your gc to see how you can get a leg up over the summer re: college search. My friend with a kid in an elite private school told me that they work on college essays over the summer before senior year, and they already have a game plan. Do kids at your school hire their own private counselors?

You will definitely want to look at Questbridge.org . They help high stat , low income students with applications to top tier schools

@aquapt above has given a detailed post - read it carefully and make notes, and a plan . I too am thinking now that Wash U. may be a good opportunity. If you want to study a heavily quantitative major, you may need slightly higher stats to be competitive with HYPS in that major.

You will see CMU firsthand this summer. Is there any possibility to visit some schools while you are out east?

Also, investigate what the UC’s will offer in terms of aid to low-income students. Are you near USC or Stanford so that you can visit without too much effort? You will need affordable safeties. For lower income students, this is often a challenge. You can PM me if you wish if you do not want to disclose too much personal info.