Good choices for German/Economics double major?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Junior year is almost over and I still haven't significantly narrowed down my list of college options. My first choice is Swarthmore at the present time, but I'm concerned that it's too much of a reach, given my grades, scores, and ECs.</p>

<p>My stats:
I haven't taken the SAT officially yet, and I haven't gotten my ACT scores yet, but based on practice tests and the PSAT, here are my estimates for scores:
ACT: 33
SAT: 2240
GPA: ~3.8 UW/4.5 W
Rank: Approximately top 5%, but my school is going to stop ranking this next year
School type: Large/competitive suburban public
Class size: 690
Course load: Hardest possible - will have taken 9 AP exams by the end of senior year
AP Scores: only AP Euro at the moment (5)
ECs: nothing special, a few school clubs (secretary of Martial Arts Club, general member of others), NHS, Model UN, Girl Scouts
Awards: minor school/local awards, Girl Scouts Silver Award, AATG study trip winner (3-week trip to Germany; 44 winners in the nation), AATG National German Exam Gold (levels II and III)</p>

<p>I don't really have any hooks (unless you count being passionate about the German language, since that's not a common major to desire). I'm a Caucasian female from a decidedly middle class family.</p>

<p>What are some realistic options for me? I live in Illinois, and I'll most likely apply to UIUC, but I don't want to restrict myself to schools in Illinois or public universities.</p>

<p>Schools I'm fond of: Swarthmore, UChicago, Georgetown, Tufts, McGill, UC Berkeley, Rice
Schools I'm interested in but are beyond insane reaches: Brown, Princeton, Cornell</p>

<p>Does anyone have any other suggestions?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>Berkeley is probably a reach or out of reach financially unless you can afford list price or close to it – otherwise, you may get some financial aid, but not against the non-resident tuition. Check the net price calculators at each school to get an idea of financial aid.</p>

3

<p>Take a look at Grinnell.</p>

4

<p>@ucbalumnus
My dad’s workplace, which is a government-owned lab based in California, offers a grant/deal of some sort that allows the children of workers a chance at getting in-state at UC (but not CalState) schools. Hence the particular interest in UCB.</p>

<p>@spdf
I’ve looked at some information about Grinnelll. It seems pretty nice, and I might apply. I’m just not crazy about its location and the steep tuition. Is financial aid any good?</p>

5

<p>Grinnell’s financial aid is excellent and they offer generous merit aid (which your SAT and grades would put you in range for.) S is a grad and loved it - but you have to like a small college town.</p>

<p>Others like Swarthmore: Look at Carleton, Bowdoin and Pomona. (They often recruit together since they appeal to the same students). Somewhat less selective but still highly regarded: Macalester, Reed, Oberlin, Vassar</p>

<p>You’ll have lots of good options</p>

6

<p>For a safety, consider Beloit. I don;t know anything about their economics department (don’t take that as a negative, I simply don’t know), but their foreign language programs are very well regarded. They are also generous with financial aid.</p>

7

<p>An old post that might help:

</p>

<p>I’m particularly fond of Davidson, which offers merit scholarships and was the second college in the country to go loan-free for all students. I am familiar with the German program at Davidson and can vouch that it’s excellent. Davidson has small classes even for a LAC and has a wonderful quality of life (nice weather, nice location, nice mix of academics/social life/DI athletics).</p>

<p>Among universities, you may want to consider Brandeis, Wake Forest, Rochester, U Miami, and Tulane as matches. I don’t know how good econ or German is at all of these, but they’re small-ish privates with reasonably good financial/merit aid. </p>

<p>You need a good safety you can afford. UIUC is an obvious choice, but I recommend having at least one or two others. These links are a place to start looking.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52133-schools-known-good-merit-aid.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

8

<p>Duke has an excellent Economics department and an even better German department so that’s another school worth checking out. Columbia, NYU, and Michigan are worth a look as well for Economics and German.</p>

<p>Look at the newly released NRC rankings:
[NRC</a> Rankings Overview: Economics - Faculty - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“NRC Rankings Overview: Economics”>NRC Rankings Overview: Economics)
[NRC</a> Rankings Overview: German Language and Literature - Faculty - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“NRC Rankings Overview: German Language and Literature”>NRC Rankings Overview: German Language and Literature)</p>

9

<p>Something else to consider: if you are considering going to graduate school in economics, look for decent math and statistics departments as well as a good economics department.</p>

<p>[Preparation</a> | Department of Economics](<a href=“http://econ.berkeley.edu/grad/admissions/preparation]Preparation”>Preparation | Department of Economics)</p>

10

<p>Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! :)</p>

<p>@annasdad: I know my school usually sends a couple to Beloit each year. I’m acquainted with one boy from my school that’s a freshman there, and he’s minoring in German (I think he’s majoring in international relations). From what he’s said about it, it sounds like a nice option for an econ/German combo.</p>

<p>@warblersrule: Thanks for the list! I’ve been considering some of the schools you suggested as well - like Tulane, for example. I didn’t know that Davidson was loan-free, but that’s a good sign! I looked at the lists you linked to, and I read that I have a good chance at a full ride from Fordham if I’m a National Merit Finalist (I got that letter saying I was in the top 50,000 and based on previous qualification scores from Illinois, it’s likely), and I think Fordham might be a good safety.</p>

<p>@goldenboy8784: I have a cousin at Duke right now (although she’s at law school), and she seems to like it a lot. I’m not sure how good my chances of getting in are, but it certainly seems like a nice place.</p>

<p>I read the list of rankings for economics and German departments, and one that was surprisingly high in both areas was Minnesota Twin Cities. That has a relatively low OOS tuition. Does anyone know anything about Minnesota?</p>

<p>@ucbalumnus: I know that math and statistics departments are at least larger/more extensive at the bigger universities. Would it help my chances at getting into a decent grad school if I go to a large university versus a liberal arts school (assuming the two are about equal in general prestige/selectivity)?</p>

11

<p>Academic graduate programs may to be more interested in what they perceive as the quality of your undergraduate school’s departments of your major and supporting subjects (i.e. economics, math, and statistics). They may be influenced by how successful previous students from your undergraduate school have done in their graduate programs, so typical prestige rankings (even by major) may not necessarily be accurate for an individual graduate program.</p>

12

<p>Wisconsin has excellent depts in both. Generally Top 10</p>

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<p>

I’m not sure how to interpret this response. Does that mean LACs are generally perceived as being better than large Us based on this data? [REED</a> COLLEGE PHD PRODUCTIVITY](<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/ir/phd.html]REED”>Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College)</p>

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<p>No. It just means that Reed has a relatively large percentage of students who seek graduate study and complete PhDs, compared to most other schools (LAC or otherwise), which may have more pre-professionally oriented students.</p>

15

<p>@ucbalumnus: So it’s based more on individual schools and students from those schools rather than, say, certain “tiers” of schools? For example, if I’m applying to graduate school for economics, I might be better off with a school with less general prestige and a well-known economics department than, say, an Ivy not especially renowned for its econ. department (although maybe that’s not the best example because all the Ivies seem at least somewhat well-respected for econ.)?</p>

<p>I just got back my ACT scores, and I ended up getting a 35. Does that increase my chances for merit aid from schools like the LACs on the list in this thread at all from the 33 I had expected?</p>