<p>I go to a very competitve public school in Pennsylvania where three quarters of students attend four year colleges. I am ranked in the top ten in a class of nearly 600 and have a SAT score of 2060 (690 CR, 680 M, 690 WR). My extracurriculars are pretty good, not outstanding though. I enjoy the big school atmosphere of schools like Penn State, but I am looking for a more challenging academic school. What colleges would you suggest? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>What can your family afford? Do you know what major you’d study?</p>
<p>Check out LACs that need men: (assume you are a male) </p>
<p>Wheaton College (MA)
Connecticut College (CT)
Bennington College (VT)</p>
<p>Bucknell and Holy CROSS.</p>
<p>UPitt, Chapel Hill. Both larger schools with notably prestigious and challenging academics.</p>
<p>Erins dad: I am leaning toward business, but I am a well rounded student, so my options are open. Money shouldnt be a problem. My family is not extremely rich, but we are relatively well off. I will be willing to help pay for school through work if necessary.</p>
<p>Colgate might be interesting. Larger LAC with a sportsy atmosphere and excellent academics —maybe a slight reach. Bucknell or Lehigh is known for business but I forget which (Lehigh I think).</p>
<p>UMich sounds right for you and you have a pretty good chance as well.</p>
<p>You could try Schreyers @ Penn State, if you really like it there.
UMich is a very good option as well.</p>
<p>And just make sure to keep a close eye on your phrasing in essays. I’m honestly trying to be helpful when I say that you come across as moderately arrogant.</p>
<p>I think Penn State is a good suggestion. UMich would potentially be more rigorous but also more expensive (in my mind not worth the cost difference).</p>
<p>The OP likes big schools like Penn State and people on here are suggesting LACs? lol.</p>
<p>OP, you should probably take a look at the following:
Mich, ND, BC, USC, UMD, Villanova, Wake Forest, UConn, Purdue </p>
<p>These are all relatively larger schools with decent sports programs, good campuses, great schools spirit and good academics. Very similar to Penn State.</p>
<p>" I enjoy the big school atmosphere of schools like Penn State, but I am looking for a more challenging academic school. What colleges would you suggest?"</p>
<p>But yet the OP did not really specify what he was looking for whether it be large, medium small, public, private, a national university, an LAC, Division I sports with teams that appear on national television etc. </p>
<p>How does one interpret “more challenging academic school” ?
If the OP would be more specific that would certainly have helped us make suggestions!</p>
<p>Thanks again for all of your help, and I am sorry about any confusion that I may have caused with my vague wording. While I understand that state schools like Penn State offer a good education, I am looking for a school that is known for its great academics. From what I’ve heard, schools like Michigan and Villanova seem like good fits.</p>
<p>Michigan for OOS is about 50K a year, so I hope your family can afford it.</p>
<p>University of Miami, Boston College, and Fordham are mid-sized private universities (~15K students) that may have the mix of solid academics and “big school atmosphere” you’re after. NYU and USC are much larger but also offer solid academics. For a reach school, consider Northwestern.</p>
<p>If you want to stay near home then Villanova and Lehigh are your best bets. For out-of-state consider Santa Clara and USC. CMU has a great business school but isn’t in the same mold as Penn State.</p>
<p>UVA, William and Mary, and Holy Cross have some very rigorous academics.</p>