<p>There are so many good schools out there that is is becoming quite a problem to try and narrow down my list. I know that all of these schools are very different, but it is hard to know what these differences exactly are without visiting them all.</p>
<p>I have a 4.0 unweighted GPA
Class Rank first decile (actually 4th, but that won't be reported)
2310 SAT (CR 800, 760 M, 750 W)
Strong extracurriculars, etc.</p>
<p>I went through the college directory that my school hands out and highlighted all the schools that have average SAT scores in the 600's or 700's. Then, I went back and highlighted all the schools that have an undergraduate student body of 4,000-10,000 students (I definitely do not want to go to a very small LAC).
This is the list of schools that I got that met both requirements:</p>
<p>Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Yale University, New Haven, CT
American University, Washington, DC
Georgetown University, Washington, DC
George Washington University, Washington, DC
Northwestern University, Evanston, Il
University of Chicago, Chicago, Il
University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
Harvard College, Cambridge, MA
MIT, Cambridge, MA
Tufts University, Medford, MA
Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Columbia University, New York, NY
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Duke University, Durham, NC
Elon University, Elon, NC
Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Villanova University, Villanova, PA
Brown University, Providence, RI
The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA
Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA</p>
<p>I then proceeded to narrow down the schools based on location and other factors:</p>
<p>Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Yale University, New Haven, CT
Georgetown University, Washington, DC
George Washington University, Washington, DC
Northwestern University, Evanston, Il
University of Chicago, Chicago, Il
University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
Harvard College, Cambridge, MA
MIT, Cambridge, MA
Tufts University, Medford, MA
Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Columbia University, New York, NY
Duke University, Durham, NC
Elon University, Elon, NC
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Villanova University, Villanova, PA
The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA
Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA</p>
<p>I am lost as to how to proceed. I would prefer schools that are either in a city, or close to a city; however I am open to a school in a rural area as long as the campus is nice and has a lot of student activities.
Money will be a factor in my final decision, but not necessarily a deal-breaker.
I would like to go to a school where there are opportunities to party, but there is not pressure to party (or join a fraternity, do drugs, drink, etc.)
Catholic affiliation is not a problem (I am Catholic; I go to a Catholic high school)</p>
<p>Schools I have visited-
Brown- disliked (obnoxious tour guide, kids smoking everywhere)
Amherst College- way too small
UMass Amherst- way too big
Providence College- too much like my high school (a lot of kids from my high school go there, no 1 on Princeton Review for "hard liquor drinking")
Harvard- loved everything about it
Tufts- loved it also (however, some of the students seemed very quirky) </p>
<p>I am looking to study biology or political science (so schools that are strong in both of these departments would be high on my list). Also, I would appreciate any suggestions of schools that would be more "matches" or "safeties" as the ones listed above all seem to be "reach for everyone" schools.
Thanks for any help! I really appreciate it!</p>