Hi everyone,
I am a High School senior and I just went on my college visit tour, and I am trying to decide which of my colleges that I want to apply ED to, or just have as my first choice. My top three choices currently are Boston College, Cornell, and Claremont McKenna. I know that they are all totally different, which is what makes this decision so much harder. I would really appreciate if anyone would give some insight or recommendations!
Boston College
This is one of the schools that I have been in love with since I first discovered it. I visited it and loved the gorgeous campus and community that is connected and also involved in community service. I also really like the retreats which my high school modeled after. I plan to major in Applied Psychology and Human Development with an emphasis on Organizational Studies in the Lynch School of Education, with a minor in Management and Leadership in Carol School of Management. The size of the school is perfect, along with the small community of Lynch, and I really like how it is in a suburb but also close to Boston for internships. However, the weather will take a bit getting used to because I live in California, I wish that the school had more of a college town, and I do like the more well known name of Cornell, especially for networking.
Cornell
Cornell is another gorgeous campus that really fits my desired major. I would plan to major in the ILR School with an emphasis on Organizational Studies, and minor in Leadership in the business school. This program really encompasses all of my academic interests. I also love the college town feel of Ithaca, although I am slightly hesitant about how secluded the location is, not because I want the feel of a city for social life, but rather for finding nearby internships and other things. The same as with BC, the weather would take getting used to, and I also have heard complaints about how spread out the campus is. After walking around a bit, the campus didnât feel as big, but it still did not have the same connected feel that the campuses of CMC and BC did. I also just donât know much about the feel of the students and community there. Another pro is the fact that it is an ivy so it has a great networking system, help for after graduation, and a recognized name.
Claremont McKenna
To start off, at CMC I would major in Psychology and also complete the Leadership studies sequence. I love the whole program centered on leadership at the school, and I also like how students develop such a close relationship with teachers that might not be available at bigger colleges. CMC is a college that I have known about for a while through connections, but when it came time to begin looking at colleges, I was hesitant to apply because of the small size. After looking more into it, I realized that combined with the other colleges in the consortium it is a really nice size, and I like how you can take classes across the different campuses, but I will really miss out on the D1 sports culture that both Cornell and BC have. I absolutely adore the college town of Claremont, and the weather would also be nice and not require an adjustment. Also, because of the small size, CMC really provides individualize support for internships and networking, but it is not as well known and not as big, so it doesnât have as extensive of an alumni network.
So, in summary, there are things that I love about all three. My perfect college would have Cornellâs recognition and alumni network as well as its school that includes a lot of my interests, Boston Collegeâs campus, community, and D1 spirit, and Claremont McKennaâs college town, weather, and leadership institution.
One more thing to add, I also definitely want to study abroad, and all three have great programs.
I would appreciate it anyone could give me some feedback!!
Hi! For BC vs Cornell, I would say that theyâre actually not too different in terms of networking. BC has slightly less name fanciness than Cornell, but if youâre super concerned about that, you might be able to do an internship or collaborate with another institution in Boston from which you can gain connections.
What is your budget? I only have personal experience with Cornellâs financial aid, but all three will be pretty different in terms of aid. Cornell is entirely need-based, CMC is mostly need with a few merit scholarships, and BC def has more merit than CMC. Run the Net Price Calculator on all three and discuss with your parents. Also, consider your competitiveness for each program. BC is a little easier to get intoâis that something you might take into consideration?
seems like itâs between Claremont and BC to me. you really didnât rave about Cornell except for the prestige (which I think is why a lot of people end up there). But with your other 2 schools not being slouches at all, I wouldnât sacrifice quality of life for the name.
knowing your stats and stuff might help us- if Cornell is too much of a reach then you might be wasting your ED chance on it. nothing wrong with locking in more of a sure thing with ED so you can be done with the whole process nice and earlyâŠ
ED is like a marriage. I would only do it if you are certain that one school is the best fit for you. If you are not certain I would not do it. EA is nice, if they have it, because it is non-binding.
If you have reservations about the weather in Boston, youâll hate the weather in Ithaca, which is starved for sunshine. And most of itâs sunny days occur when students arenât on campus. Boston has 30% more sunny days than Ithaca, and Ithaca has 25% more days with precipitation. But the good news in the Northast is that you wonât have to worry about drought, wild fires, mud slides, and other natural disasters. So much for the weather report.
As a practical matter, both CMC and Cornell have been in the 9-11% acceptance range for the past few years while BC has been 19-27%. So, of the 3, BC makes the most sense for consideration as a target school depending on your credentials. Schools with an acceptance rate around 10% are a reach for anyone regardless of credentials. Youâre basically playing the lottery with those schools.
Of the 3, I personally like CMC the best for a lot of the reasons you described, but I think BC is more realistic and you love it, so Iâd focus there. My niece graduated from BC in Psychology a couple of years ago and is now in a doctoral program. She had a great experience with their Psych Dept. She found their professors to be supportive and accessible. She was able to do research, and she presented a paper at a national conference. I would say that BC was a winner for her.
Iâll add that my cousinâs daughter went to Scripps, another of the Claremont Colleges, where a lot of her classes overlapped with CMC students. She too had a great experience and is also in a doctoral program for Psychology.
Networking / alumni networks are strong enough at all three colleges that imo it is not a meaningful decision metric.
Off-campus internships during term are not as big a thing as you may be thinking, and all three schools will have plenty of resources for finding summer internships.
As @CiaraFin pointed out, you need to consider $$: can you graduate from all of them without debt? Parsing your various proposed majors Iâm guessing a not-super high starting salary and grad school down the road. Any debt will make that path much harder
As @Mom270 said, only ED if you are 100% sure. There is no need to have a âfirst choiceâ - and I recommend against it. For a start, even assuming that you are a strong applicant for these schools (stats in the upper 25% of admitted students), their admission rates are low enough that you canât take admission for granted. Genuinely like multiple schools is more likely to have a happy outcome. Also, if you are in an academically competitive school, or if your friend group is also applying to highly selective colleges, pinning your colors to the mast can seriously aggravate the pressure that will be building over the next 9 months. But mostly, getting too fixed on âthe oneâ can limit your thinking. You are actively growing and changing, and leaving room for what you want from your college experience to also grow and change makes sense.
IOW, you want a college with 1) specific academics, 2) a particular sort of community, and 3) a location you like. If you can only get 2 out of the 3, which 2 matter most to you? I suggest you take another trawl through the college options and see if you canât find one that has more of what you want. Duke? Vandy? ND?
Thank you!
And my stats: Weighted GPA: 4.45 (because of freshman no AP or honor classes rule), Unweighted: 4.0, SAT: 1420 (took it once, going to take it again)