<p>The facts:
I am a Jr. in the NW, ranked in the top few at my HS (about 350 in class) with an unweighted GPA at 4.0, I have always taken the hardest schedule possible, this year all of my classes are AP or honors. I am strong in math and science and will have taken all that my school has to offer by the end of this year. SAT scores 2300+. This year I will get my 3rd varsity letter in swimming, am a member of a few clubs and have done some volunteer work. Over all not a strong EC resume.</p>
<p>The Desires:
I am pretty sure that I want to major in a math/science area (chemistry, engineering?) with an environmental direction. I also have a strong love the humanities, history and languages. I am looking at MIT and Cal Tech. But dont want to get caught in a pure tech school where I will miss all of the non-science stuff that I like. I have started looking more at the LAC with a strong math/science program, but am open to whatever will work best for me. I also love learning and want to be challenged. </p>
<p>Harvey Mudd is probably the LAC where there's the best mix of liberal arts and hard science. Haverford and Swarthmore are no slouches either. Bucknell would be a lock for you, and it would be solid too. Reed would be freakin' superb, as well.</p>
<p>There's no engineering at the University of Chicago, but the chemistry program is very good, and it's the type of environment you're looking for.</p>
<p>Rice has a small student body, giving it more of an LAC-type feel. It's very strong in the sciences and engineering, but has good programs in many different areas.</p>
<p>A nice safety for you might be Whitman. They are a small LAC in the Washington, and they have have combined Environmental Studies-Chemistry and Environmental Studies-Physics majors that might interest you. It's kind of small town, but from what I hear everyone is pretty happy there, so you might give it a look. </p>
<p>Good luck! I'm sure you'll get in somewhere good.</p>
<p>Stanford, since it hasn't been mentioned. I wouldn't discount MIT as a pure tech school any more, as they seem to be diversifying into a lot of different areas (ie, business, hum stuff, philosophy), and offer cross-registering at places like Harvard and such. However, Caltech is probably too tech-y.</p>
<p>When I applied to WashU, their ChemE department seemed to have a very strong environmental focus to it.</p>
<p>Also, there's Northwestern, which is quite well rounded in the humanities and sciences and stuff, and has a really good chem dept and pretty decent engineering (esp. materials). I don't know anything about it's environmental science stuff, sorry.</p>
<p>I third the recommendation for Harvey Mudd. It's really a great school, and although the tech influence is there to an extent, the humanities are really strong too (I know that one of the more prominent members on college_help went to Harvey Mudd for undergrad and ended up studying Classics at grad school). </p>