Do fun AND academically rigorous colleges exist? If so, help me find one!!!

College Search & Selection
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<p>I have been visiting a lot of colleges lately and it seems that I am even more confused abotu which colleges I should consider. </p>

<p>I visited Whitman and Skidmore and enjoyed the academic atmosphere. Classes were small and all the students seemed very academically motivated. Especially at Whitman, I noticed an academic intensity and love for learnign that I had not seen at other schools. </p>

<p>I am VERY interested in creative writing. I write for my school newspaper and am also interested in journalism. In college I would like to try out college radio and possibly theatre. Another thing that I am VERY interested in is education. I would love to go to a school with a good teaching program but I would hate to have to base my decision on that alone. </p>

<p>So if that was all I wanted from a college, I would easily be able to find a good liberal arts school...but sadly I am looking for more. </p>

<p>I also want a school with a good social atmosphere. I know it is a bit of a taboo on CC but I do like to party. I also love schools with amazing school spirit. I would love to be able to cheer for a Division 1 football, basketball, etc. I am a big fan of the work hard, play hard mantra. I would like my college choice to have a good sense of community. I like to give back to my town, and I would like to be surrounded by students who feel the same. </p>

<p>If I had it my way, I would live in or near a big city at a school with a nice campus (green lawns, gothic architecture). I would prefer to live on either the east or west coast, but again, none of these are decided factors. </p>

<p>I know, I know, I know...a bit of a tall order eh? I don't really want to list too many stats because I can figure out reaches, matches, and safeties later, but to give everyone an idea...
GPA: Fr-3.3, So-3.8, Jun-3.4 .....CUM is around 3.5. BUT I will raise it senior year.
My course load is somewhat rigorous. With many honors and some APs.
SATs:1810 (Will take again)
No SAT2s yet.
ECs are decent. Includes Editor of newspaper, VP of club, Vars sport 4 years, part time job...being the major ones. </p>

<p>I know this was an extremely long and detailed post but I would really appreciate any feedback or suggestions. Thanks in advance for all the help :)</p>

2

<p>Stanford and Duke.</p>

3

<p>USC (ten char.)</p>

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<p>USC...The Row (the Greek street) is pretty well known for its parties. actually, i think in the 1980s USC used to be seen exclusively as a huge party school and sadly little else.</p>

<p>it's academics are currently very strong...many of the professional schools are top ranked, several in the top 10 and top 5 of some rankings. the Annenberg School at USC is one of the top schools in the US for Communication and Journalism. the Cinema Television school has a very strong creative writing program. the list goes on. i suppose the main weakness in USC academics is in the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences...things like Chemistry, Language, English, etc.</p>

<p>the people at USC are very diverse...only about 50% are actually from California, 40% from OOS, and 10% international (it enrolls among the most, if not the most, international students of US schools). considering the cost of the school, i hear that about a quarter of the students are from the lowest third of the population socioeconomically. and it's spitting distance to downtown LA. LA's one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse cities in the nation, a nice thing.</p>

<p>for me, choosing a well balanced school was important. i didnt want anything on the excessively social or the excessively studious. i was looking for something in the middle, or at least with an err to the studious side. USC really seemed to do it for me.</p>

5

<p>University of Pennsylvania fits a number of those things.</p>

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<p>" I would love to be able to cheer for a Division 1 football, basketball, etc. I am a big fan of the work hard, play hard mantra"</p>

<p>Uva........... you need to improve your stats tho.</p>

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<p>UNC, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, UCLA, USC, Cal, and of course the aformentioned Stanford and Duke (although its only there basketball program, no real football quality)</p>

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<p>Notre Dame is not on a coast, but it's worth consideration.</p>

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<p>You should look at Cornell!</p>

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<p>"I am VERY interested in creative writing. I write for my school newspaper and am also interested in journalism. In college I would like to try out college radio and possibly theatre. Another thing that I am VERY interested in is education. I would love to go to a school with a good teaching program but I would hate to have to base my decision on that alone."</p>

<p>"I would love to be able to cheer for a Division 1 football, basketball, etc. I am a big fan of the work hard, play hard mantra."</p>

<p>"If I had it my way, I would live in or near a big city at a school with a nice campus..."</p>

<p>Northwestern University!</p>

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<p>Northwestern Fosho :-P</p>

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<p>Duke, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Wake Forest, Lehigh, Boston College, Notre Dame, University of Southern California, Georgetown, UMiami, Colgate, Penn, Dartmouth</p>

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<p>Vandy....the biggest party school out of the top 20. Beautiful girls, wild parties, great Weather, and D-1 sports.</p>

<p><a href="http://theu.com/watch/index.php?region=South&schoolid=20182%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://theu.com/watch/index.php?region=South&schoolid=20182&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Try UW Madison.<br>
It has a good writing program and you can't beat the party scene (voice of experience). Athletics are good too. Plus you are located on a lakefront campus.
Only downside is winter when the wind blows in off the lake. The word cold doens't come close to describing it. I was once told that there were more down parkas sold per capita in Madisnon than in any other city in the US. Don't know if I believe that, but it sounds good.</p>

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<p>I second UVa. Work hard play hard? That's one of the mantras, or so I've heard. =)</p>

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<p>great suggestions, i'll second these (maybe add a couple):</p>

<p>Notre Dame
Duke
Lehigh
USC
Stanford
UNC
UVA
Wake Forest
Boston College</p>

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<p>Please, everyone of these schools that everyone is mentioning put academics first, then they have small parties. Stanford? Virginia? Duke? That's laughable. I even saw Study Forest and broke out in laughter. Those schools are academic institutions, not party schools. </p>

<p>Look at Wisconsin, Indiana, UC Santa Barbara, Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee, those are schools where you can party, and still get a good education.</p>

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<p>Dartmouth, Cornell, Colgate, Middlebury, Bucknell, Lehigh, Duke, UVA.</p>

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<p>A2Wolves, Duke is in academic rankings for top 10 for sure. It was also on the cover of Rolling Stones...for its parties haha. The education at Stanford and Duke is the main part, but there are still parties to ensure its fun. Same with Dartmouth and Lehigh. If OP wanted big schools with tons of parties I'd just list the good state schools like PSU.</p>

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<p>Aren't the OPS stats at 3.5 and 1810 low for most of these suggestions? I think more match and sure bets would be helpful. </p>

<p>Agree that Lehigh is worth considering and BC if you are OK with a Catholic school. "Party schools" like Penn State and Delaware have Honors Programs where you can interact with academics types while being part of a "regular" student body. Your stats may be low for the two mentioned since their stats are in the general range of some Ivys but perhaps looking at other Honors Programs is worth consideration.</p>