I’ve compiled a list of 8 schools I’m looking at applying to next year and was wondering if I could get some feedback on whether or not it has an adequate mix of Reach, Match, and Safety schools, as well as any general feedback on the schools themselves and apparent fit.
I’m a junior in a high school in Michigan. My unweighted GPA is a 4.0 and my ACT score is a 34. I qualify as a first-generation college student. I want to major in Political Science & Government. The advanced courses I’ve taken are U.S. History, American Government & Politics, World History, and Calculus BC. I plan on taking Psychology, Literature, and Statistics next year (unfortunately, European History will not be offered at my school next year).
I’m ideally looking for a more urban environment, but a large suburb works, too. Anything rural is a no-go. I’d prefer a smaller school with under 10k undergraduates and smaller class sizes. Student life & organizations is an important consideration for me. I’d like someplace with a rather eccentric student body and I am planning on joining the chess club at whichever school that I attend. I don’t want to go to any strongly religious schools, but Jesuit universities seem acceptable.
As for affordability, my family’s “expected contribution” is somewhere in the realm of $3k per year.
Finally, my list in order of how I would currently rank my preferences:
I see little risk in that list. However, all but Kalamazoo have mainstream Type A, high achieving student bodies, not eccentric students. You may want to look at a school like Oberlin College. Most urban schools are large as well. Haverford might be an idea. It is outside Philadelphia and is part of a consortium of colorful yet very high achieving schools.
The OP is sufficiently over-qualified for GW that it might end up affordable with a combination of merit and need based aid. You’d have to look at it closer to be sure.
I concur with Brown as a good reach that meets the requirements.
About Duke, I attended the Exploring College Options seminar, in which Duke was one of the 5 schools. This may sound rather intangible, but it just gave off a vibe that I didn’t like. The very hot weather and the importance of sports on campus are also things that detract from its attractiveness to me.
I have heard the GW is an expensive school, but I would hope that what NickFlynn said is correct and that I could receive a lot of aid. Their claim to be 90% grant aid appealed to me, as tens of thousands of dollars of student loans is something I’m trying to avoid, with full tuition at Wayne State or U of M - Dearborn available if necessary.
About Haverford: I’ve been to Philadelphia and honestly just don’t like the city. This may seem a bit shallow but I really want to put myself in a place where I can enjoy myself.
I have not yet looked into Brown or Boston College. I will say that I don’t think I would enjoy living in the South, so Richmond is out for me.
As to what BatesPArent2019 said, from what I’ve researched and heard, U Chicago seems to be full of a somewhat odd and what I would deem eccentric student body. Their weird application essays, giant scavenger hunt, and outside-the-box student activities all draw my attention. Northwestern also seems to have a lot of fun with its student organizations. And the city of Chicago is awesome. These schools seem to contrast a place like Penn, which sounded to me like a lot of stodge from their seminar. Georgetown and GW are both in the city I’ve enjoyed being in most and which has the greatest political opportunities, DC. Brandeis’s brochure they mailed me seemed witty and it looks like they have the most interesting chess club of all the schools I’m looking at, even supposedly featuring chessboxing. U of M is honestly just my state university that everyone I know will be going to and it’s not a bad school by any means, so I figured I would apply. I really do need to look into WashU more, but the counselors at my school highly recommended it.
I want a school with great academics that can also cater towards my individual interests. As far as Liberal Arts colleges go, K-Zoo seems like my best choice given it’s one of the “40 colleges that change lives,” it’s down the street from Western Michigan so there are still lots of people, and there are great study abroad opportunities.
“As far as liberal arts colleges go, K-zoo seems like my best choice, given it’s one of the 40 ‘colleges that change lives’”
Kalamazoo seems like an interesting college with some nice attributes, but I’m wondering what the appeal of CTCL is to you? As far as I can tell, this is a member organization with a name that is somewhat deceptive.
While a somewhat deceptive name, I think the idea of the list is interesting, schools that pay more individualized opportunities and push students to better themselves. It does sound like some dramatic romanticism, but it is a credential that I think is somewhat indicative. It’s definitely not huge to me, but the sentiment behind it is neat, from what I can tell.
@DetroitLeper: Then it seems you have a balanced perspective on the organization and have aligned it with your values. My main concern with this group is that the organization and the commercial guidebook have the same name.
@HS5331 That’s a good question. My parents say we can’t make the trip out to St. Louis unless I get accepted there and only then, so I won’t know for sure; however, if you’re speaking from a danger/shadiness perspective, you can’t really trump Detroit (unless you were talking about U of M - Flint lol). St. Louis is home to a great chess club and the US Chess Championship, so it’s got that going for it.
Do you have any insight about the city you could share?
@merc81 I’m glad to hear some confirmation that I’m making sense haha. Yes, that name conflict rivals that of Macedonia
With respect to your list as a whole, I’m not sure you are hitting your target regarding eccentric schools. The D.C. schools in particular do not seem eccentric to me. They are excellent schools that may still be good for you, they are just not eccentric.
I would agree with that assessment of the DC schools. They do have other characteristics that I like, though. Certainly less eccentricity, but more politics. Plus, I like a lot of underground DC rappers so it could be fun to go to their small venue shows.
Kalamazoo is the only school on my list with an acceptance rate over 40%. That gives me a bit of alarm as to an inadequate amount of safety schools, as the “Highly Selective College Seminar” offered at my school indicated that any school under 30% should be considered a reach school. Is it presumptuous to think that that figure may not apply to me?
Digging into some of the recommendations on here, Pomona College just seems too far away for me. I’m cool with leaving the state or even the midwest, but the West Coast is a bit much.
The 30% figure has some applicability to you, in that schools that admit below this rate do deny some fully qualified applicants, and that could hypothetically be you. In your case, because of your academic accomplishments, the figure that approximately defines your match schools could be closer to 25%, but no lower.
Btw, the St. Louis comment must have had something to do with the riots.
The part of St. Louis wash u is located in is not bad. I lived in St. Louis for three years and attended meetings at wash u. D was admitted to GW this spring with $100k merit. She’s not going there but their honors college sounded very interesting. Reed fits what you are looking for, intense academics, urban, eccentric student body
I agree with the thoughts about Reed, except for that it is not “urban” in the traditional sense. The college is on the edge of SE Portland, and while there are certainly things to do close by campus (5 mins), I would not call or identify it being urban in the sense of UofC or Columbia or MIT…etc. Further, as I tell all prospective students, Reed is thoroughly counterculture and alternative in many ways, and is not a “rah-rah” college. Perfect for some, difficult for many others…