<p>Hye - it really is OK if you don't fall "in love" with one particular college. I think that students make the mistake of thinking the is "one perfect college" out there and secret is finding it. In actuality, there are lots of great schools out there. However, it is possible that there is no school that offers everything that you want. You might have to make a compromise or 2. The problem with falling in love is that if you get rejected or waitlisted or the FA doesn't work out, then it is very difficult to move on. You are better off creating a list of colleges that will meet many of your needs and going from there. Don't worry about falling in love.</p>
<p>shennie's advice is the same advice that I gave to my own son. It is good advice for every student applying to college.</p>
<p>If you are looking at Ivy and top tier schools, you may also want to investigate the honors programs of the state schools. I have read it makes a large U seem like a smaller college within the larger university setting.</p>
<p>Hi... I just thought I'd toss out a few more suggestions. I might repeat what other's have said or not meet all of your requirements... but what about...</p>
<p>Lafayette (PA)
Ursinus (PA)
Lehigh (PA) ... none are ridiculously far from Phili, methinks...
Fordham (NYC)
Sarah Lawerence (NY... half hour train to NYC...)
Emerson (Boston)
Boston College or Boston University
University of Richmond
College of William and Mary (VA)
University of Pittsburgh
Carnegie Mellon</p>
<p>I hope the list inspires some ideas, even if none of those colleges are for you!</p>
<p>Best wishes! :)</p>
<p>i like the idea of Pitt, Richmond, and BC. those seem to fit your criteria.</p>
<p>thank you all so much</p>
<p>stats-wise im about a B+ avg student (not sure what that translates to for my GPA) at a VERY competitive and rigorous private school in DC (Georgetown Day, just in case you were wondering). by the end of senior year i will have taken 1 honors course, and 3 APs. I willl have ran four years of varsity indoor track, and played 3 years of varsity lacrosse. I'm very involved with community service, especially with kids. Every monday nights i tutor kids from DC public schools, and last summer and this coming summer im volunteering at a charter school. Also im going to new orleans to help clean up the mess there.
Um....what else...I'm bi-racial (peruvian/filipino)....im a guy....yeah...
OH! SATs i got W620 M640 V660 not very good, i'll be taking those again in october, and SATIIs in June </p>
<p>Drew is one im definitely going to have to see again.
NEU im looking at when i go to Boston, same with BC.
Fordham im checking out too, though i hear they have some wierd visiting rules (like BU)
Rochester im checking out when i go there
Villanova im afraid is too religious for me, im cool with jesuit colleges that aren't oppressive about their catholic roots. Is BC overly religious?
Holy Cross might be a little too WASPy for me, or just straight homogenous
Union might be a little too Colgateish for me, which im not too excited about
Lafayette, Ursinus, and Lehigh ill have to check (how is the party scene at Lehigh, im not a party animal though i partake in such activites once in awhile
William and Mary i hear is very tough academically
Pittsburgh sounded kinda boring when i read about it, but i'll check it out.</p>
<p>also, i know this goes against me wanting to be on the east coast, but what about Macalester? my college counselor just nominated me for their multicultural visiting program. i fill out a form, write a short essay, and they pay for a weekend visit there. pretty sweet huh? what do you guys know about macalester?</p>
<p>i would also reccommend Drew, a couple of those other schools seem bigger than what you're looking for, but Drew is smaller and in a really nice area too.</p>
<p>No GW?? The dorms there are awesome. From your list I'd say Madison or Loyola. But if you go to Goucher you could get one of those bumper stickers that I see all the time: "my kid and my money go to goucher"...haha</p>
<p>Dayum, varsity Lax at a DC prep. Do you guys play teams like Dematha and Georgetown?</p>
<p>Macalester is awesome!
When I read over what you're want in a school, I couldn't believe how similar your tastes were to mine when I was looking at colleges.
Like you, my number one criteria was that I wanted to be in a city but needed a campus. Mac balances that really well. I think the school also fits your desire to have strong academics but a laid back atmosphere.
It's larger than Haverford, but is still relatively small. It was the smallest school I looked at, but I've ended up really liking being part of a community. I see familiar faces everyday, and the professors are amazing and like to spend time with students.
There's a two year language requirement, which (again, like you) I really feared. I hated language in high school. But it hasn't been bad at all. You can take accelerated courses and fill it in a year, or take all the levels pass/fail.
Despite coastal prejudices, the Midwest is actually pretty cool. Mac is only a 12 minute drive from the airport, so your travel time may be the same as if you were at a school on the East Coast.
Anyway, those are my two cents. Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions. I really recommend you visit campus (especially since it's free) and decide for yourself. Based on what you've said about yourself, I think it may a good fit for you.</p>
<p>Look at more of the PA schools. Someone recommended Lehigh and Lafayette. Add Bucknell, Dickinson. If you're willing to go as far west as Minnesota, also look at the Ohio schools...Denison, Miami of Ohio, Wooster. There are more...just can't think of them right now!</p>
<p>Urban, Suburban or Rural? Lots of Maine LAC's that you might look into, also.</p>
<p>By the way...Holy Cross may not be for you, but it won't be too WASP'y...it's a Catholic school!</p>
<p>ahh right...the whole P doesn't go well with the whole Catholic thing. </p>
<p>Yeah i was thinking about Oberlin, but i hear the town of Oberlin sucks. </p>
<p>Mac seems awesome from all this literature my counselors gave me. </p>
<p>Urban, Suburban, Rural? I dont mind cows, but i want a town that has stuff to do in it, Saratoga Springs is about as far away from Urban as im willing to get, althought harrisonburg is a little worse. I think i stated earlier that i'd ideally like a campus (with grass, not pavement), that is in a city or just outside a city (like Tufts).</p>
<p>uh..lacrosse....if by georgetown you mean georgetown prep we don't play them, nor DeMatha, their conference is much better than ours. We're playing Bullis on thursday though, they're big on lacrosse too.</p>
<p>bump, anything else guys?</p>