Hey!! Maybe you guys could suggest some schools that hit my criteria below. Thanks for taking a look at this!!!
Background on me:
-Currently a high school junior in Southern California
-4.0 UW, 4.13 W
-will be taking 4 AP classes next year (calc AB, gov, physics 1, lit) which will boost the W GPA a bit
-Currently my only AP classes are AP Bio and AP Lang.
-Class rank: 39/592 = top 6.7%
-As of now, I plan to be a bio major.
-ACT (taken once): 32
-decent EC’s
-money is not an issue at all (very thankful)
Things I am looking for in a school:
-“Work hard, play hard” atmosphere.
-Greek system
-A concentrated campus that is not like dispersed / spread out.
-Close proximity to a city or just a good college town.
-7,000+ students (no max)
-An involved student body with lots of clubs and extracurricular opportunities
-A school with a lot of school spirit when it comes to athletics
-No ultra-conservative schools. Preferably more of a liberal atmosphere.
-Location: Anywhere in the US except the deep south.
-High freshman retention rate.
-Good job placement program
-Not huge class sizes (sometimes tough with bigger schools…)
-Study abroad opportunities
-Preferably no strong religious affiliation, I’m atheist.
-Non-commuter school
I know this is a lot of criteria, sorry I am picky! Anyways, thank you for taking a look at this !!!
William and Mary seems like a good choice, except a little small (6300 undergrads) and sports are pretty good but not big-time in an ACC/SEC way. The basketball team is good now, and just got some very good recruits. Great academics, smaller classes, Bio is outstanding and housed in a new, impressive Integrated Science Center (ISC). Small town but places for students to go immediately adjacent to campus. Greek life is big enough for those who want it but not a dominant part of campus social life. Great weather.
Michigan and Wisconsin and IU (Indiana) would be good big choices. All are in great college towns and meet all of your other criteria, except class sizes would be on the larger side. And weather would be very cold. Maybe a bit of a sleeper would be University of Kansas–also a great college town, Final Four basketball. You’d probably be competitive for any type of honors program at the school (I don’t know anything about that at KU).
You could also look at NC State and Virginia Tech–STEM publics. Both ACC. I know students and alums LOVE VT. Very distinctive, impressive campus. Collegiate area just off campus. Great science and engineering programs. Both in great cities/towns for college students. Neither place is “Deep South.” Raleigh is part of high-tech area with lots of transplants, and VT attracts a lot of Northern Virginia students (another high-tech center). Good luck!
Big state schools: Univ. of Wisconsin, Indiana, Purdue
American (nice suburban campus feel on edge of DC)
Boston College (reach?)
Tulane (I know it’s deep south, but New Orleans is a city-state of sorts all on its own!)
Wake Forest (might be on preppy and a little more conservative side)
University of Miami (again, not really deep south from culture standpoint)
Look at Kansas State too. They do have a good freshman retention rate, fun Greek system, lots of school spirit, not overly religious, fun college town, professors that really care about their students, not a spread out campus, everything in walking distance - no busses needed, and my S and his gf both very good academically in hs have been challenged but did well and have loved their freshman year. S did intramural basketball and other things with the frat and his gf did volleyball. Lots of clubs and a fun place to learn.
BC was also one of my first thoughts, and it’s a Catholic school, so I didn’t include it as a recommendation. I’m not Catholic, and I’d think I would be very happy to go there. But not sure for someone looking for schools without a religious affiliation. Wake Forest also immediately came to mind, but it’s smaller (<5000 undergrads) and is definitely more on the country club conservative side, if that’s a positive or negative. I also thought of Villanova but also Catholic.
I agree Ohio State and Purdue are great suggestions, as are Tulane and Miami. The latter two are very much national universities with national student bodies. American is terrific, but I would question whether it would be a great fit in terms of sports and school spirit.
USC (too close to home for you?)
Duke (South but not deep south)
Wash U (meets most but not all of your points… undergrad is a little smaller and the sports are Div 3, although people are enthusiastic, especially about basketball. Or at least, used to be when I was there, which was a while ago).
