Desperately looking for "match" colleges...

College Search & Selection
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<p>So here it is, I already have a solid college list, except for the fact that I have almost no match colleges. Either they are reaches (By that I mean, Princeton/MIT standard reach) or safety. It would help me so much if you guys could brainstorm with me a list of colleges where getting an acceptance for me would not be a surprise, meaning that I would have around 60-80% chance of getting in. Not sure, but some examples would be Case Western, Carnegie Mellon, etc... Also, I will be either premed biochem, or engineering.</p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>2260 SAT, 800 SATII Bio, will take SAT chem/physics/math in the fall (I at least expect 800 for the math one, don't know for the others). AMC 100.5, AIME 5 (those are national math stuff)</p>

<p>4.0 UW GPA, prob 4.4 W GPA (if ALL my AP classes become weighted, then it will be around 4.6 W GPA), rank around top 15-20%</p>

<p>All 5's AP's: Bio, stats, APUSH, English language, French lit and french language. had a bunch of district/regional math/science awards, and school awards. Did some research over the summer, and planning to submit to Intel. I'm definitely science oriented. NHS, science team captain etc...</p>

<p>So can you think of "match" colleges for me? I'm really stuck, cos my EC's lack on the community service and leadership. Oh, and i'm a recent immigrant and I'm trilingual if that helps any (vietnamese, french and english). I'm also asian (definitely doesn't help, lol)</p>

<p>BTW, I authored another thread slightly similar to this one, but I find this title more accurate, so I apologize to any CC purists out there ahead.</p>

<p>Thanks so much for reading! :) </p>

<p>-Watson&Crick.</p>

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<p>UPDATE:
just received my SAT II's: 800's in chem, physics and math II :)</p>

<p>Does that liberate up some match colleges for me?</p>

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<p>Helppp!!!!</p>

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<p>We need more information about what you are looking for if we are going to help: There are hundreds of schools that would be matches for you if your only criteria are ballpark test scores and decent sciences.</p>

<p>1) Are you looking for an engineering/science school (MIT, CalTech, Harvey Mudd, etc...?)
2) Do you have geographic/climate preferences/urban or rural, etc...
3) Do you need merit money?
4) Do you want a LAC-experience, a big state school or a mid-sized private university?<br>
5) Are Frats a plus or a minus or neither? Religious-affiliation?
6) Does name recognition matter a lot to you or your parents?
7) What do you like to do for fun? Does a big music scene matter, for example? Access to ski slopes...You'll be there for four years, so find a place with the activities you enjoy-and the people who you can share them with.</p>

<p>Schools have personalities: The rule of thumb is that the smaller the school is, the more important it is that you 'fit' the personality of the school, because you don't want to be swimming against a strong current all the time.</p>

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<p>Oops! Here is my infos:</p>

<p>I LOVE learning and academic pursuit. I plan to do intramural sports, maybe soccer or track. I love having academic discussions with my peers, exploring beyond classes. There are two types of universities I'm looking for, but both have to have the following criterias:
- mid-size private or Big state
- don't care about frats/party scene as long as the campus is safe
- friendly students
- good advising
- good name recognition
- easy to participate in intramural sports, activities</p>

<p>Pet peeve: I hate grade-grubbers. I can't stand those who ask "Is this going to be on the test" or stuff like that.</p>

<p>1st type of U.:</p>

<p>I would like to go to a good engineering school, with strong advising, strong research for undergrads, good employment opportunities after graduation, good graduation rate among students, not too much partying/alcohol (but I don't really care about the party scene/frats/sorority anyways). If the name recognition is not really good, then I would preferably want a lot of merit money (i'm low income, in the $20K<). And obviously, a University that looks closely at test scores so that I would have a strong chance of getting in (not MIT for example...)</p>

<p>Type 2:
- Good University for premed. Strong research opportunities for undergrad, close to a hospital/volunteering opportunities, grade-inflated school, friendly peers (not competitive), good name recognition, large program in the biosciences, strong advising and peer support, and strong record of past applicants getting in med school (with no screening). And again, one that is a "match," or where you would be shockingly surprised if I got rejected.</p>

<p>If you find a university satisfying both types, then it's even better :) Thank you so much!</p>

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<p>I think the University of Rochester's your best bet for a match, as well as Case and CMU. I'll let Chedva talk up Rochester and RacinReaver CMU :-)</p>

<p>Go to the FA forum and look around for schools that give great need and merit-based aid, too.</p>

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<p>Thanks. I'm applying to the REMS at Rochester, which is ridiculously competitive. I also heard Rochester is grade deflated. And i wonder how good its engineering is.</p>

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<p>Check out Harvey Mudd in Claremont. It's small, but it's part of a 5 school consortium (including Pomona, Claremont McKenna and Scripps) that would bring the total student population up to mid-size. The five schools are on contiguous campuses, so it's really like one big school-you could walk (bike) easily between the schools and they share resources. Academically, it will be in your league, assuming you make an 800 in the Math SAT II: I believe everyone in the incoming class last year had an 800 on that particular test.</p>

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<p>hehe... Just got 3 800's SAT II's (math, chem, physics), so scores shouldn't be a problem.</p>

<p>The problem is that I don't really like the overly liberal art curriculum of Harvey Mudd. I also heard Harvey Mudd's degree is not any more marketable than a degree at Big name University. I'm more of a "techie," intense on things like electrodynamics, quantum chemistry, classical mechanics etc... (which also explains why I applied to MIT/Caltech). </p>

<p>Do you have other suggestions?</p>

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<p>UC berkeley, columbia (fu), idk... ju should research</p>

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<p>What state do you live in? Are any parts of the country off-limits?</p>

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<p>I'd give CalTech or MIT a shot, but they're unlikely. Here's a list of schools I'd recommend though, in descending order of difficulty to get into: </p>

<p>Harvey Mudd
Johns Hopkins
Carnegie Mellon
RPI
U Rochester
WPI
Rose Hulman
RIT
Drexel</p>

<p>Case Western is probably a safety for you. I have friends who go there and like it. </p>

<p>I currently go to WPI, and it has a very good electrical engineering program. Given your stats, you'd probably get very generous aid, so it might be worth looking into. I'm also going to throw out RIT, since I know that they have a solid engineering school.</p>

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<p>I'm in texas, but I don't care where I go to college as long as I get enough finaid and the school is good (wouldn't mind a little trip to boston every semester if it were for MIT for example...).</p>

<p>Thanks so much. Any other schools?</p>

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<p>Georgia Tech has the top engineering department and a nice biochemistry department. They have top research in the biomedical sciences and have two hospitals near by. The only problem you might have with it is it has a 50% acceptance rate to med schools, but those who get in get into some good schools.</p>

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<p>Are you a US citizen? At most schools, that will have a big impact on what financial aid might be available to you.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
The problem is that I don't really like the overly liberal art curriculum of Harvey Mudd. I also heard Harvey Mudd's degree is not any more marketable than a degree at Big name University. I'm more of a "techie," intense on things like electrodynamics, quantum chemistry, classical mechanics etc... (which also explains why I applied to MIT/Caltech).

[/quote]
.</p>

<p>While it is true that HMC requires more liberal arts / humanities courses than MIT or Caltech, I have to say: 1) That is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact it is a very good thing, and 2) It is not as though we do not have intense technical courses.</p>

<p>With regards to my first point, I think it is especially relevant as the economy is becoming more and more globalized, and the sciences are becoming more interdisciplinary. In that respect then I think it is very important for technically minded students to be able to function and communicate with others in the bigger outside world. All technical schools realize this, that is why even Caltech and MIT require some liberal arts courses of all their students. They just don't require as many as HMC does.</p>

<p>And you can definitely get technically intense courses in electrodynamics, quantum chemistry, classical mechanics, and so on and so forth. I REALLY don't think that you should be worried about not having a challenging math and science curriculum at Harvey Mudd.</p>

<p>And with regards to an HMC degree not being particularly marketable, well I'll just say we have a very respectable grad school and job placement record. I think we are consistently ranked top 2-3 for percentage of students who go on to get Ph.D's, for those whom that is a desired goal. And I also remember our average starting salary was comparable / competitive with Caltech, MIT, Berkeley, etc... So I also don't think you should worry about that.</p>

<p>With regards to some additional schools I'd recommend, I really suggest you not close your mind to small liberal arts colleges. They actually do disproportionately well in getting students to graduate school (or maybe that's just the student culture there ... either way, you wouldn't be unmarketable going to most of them). Some particular ones that I think are strong for math/science: Rose-Hulman (more of a techie school like HMC though), Olin and Cooper Union (if you are sure you want to be an engineer), Reed, Grinnell, Swarthmore, Williams, Pomona, Amherst, Carleton, etc...</p>

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<p>Thanks for your detailed response! I looked into Harvey Mudd's stats, and I don't think it's even close to a "match" for me: it's acceptance rate is ridiculously low!</p>

<p>For marketability, maybe a Harvey Mudd degree is marketable, but I doubt it will be more marketable than a Georgia Tech degree, or UT austin degree in engineering (both have much higher acceptance rate, and are probably more "matches" to me)</p>

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<p>Also, we really arent good for premed. "Techie" schools in general are bad for such things.</p>

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<p>Yeah, I was thinking U Texas or Rice if you don't mind staying close to home.</p>