Good Schools for me? (Environmental Science, but uncertain minor)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, I'm a junior. I'm just trying to get into the college search so anything would really help!
Here's a rundown of my resumé so far:
GPA: 3.97 (UW), 4.69 (W)
PSAT: 230
SAT: 2320
AP Scores:
-AP Chinese - 5
-AP English Language - 5
-AP Environmental Science - 5</p>

<p>AP's that I will take this year: (hopefully all 5's too!)
-APUSH
-AP BIO
-AP Physics B
-AP Calc AB</p>

<p>Sophomore Schedule:
-Spanish 2 Honors
-AP Environmental Science
-AP English Language
-Journalism and Publications: Yearbook
-Honors Chem
-Pre Calc (regular, unweighted)
-PE: cross country and track</p>

<p>Junior Schedule:
-Spanish 3 Honors
-College course at local university: Introduction to Evolutionary Biology
-AP Bio
-Journalism and Publications: Yearbook
-English IBSL
-AP Calc AB
-APUSH</p>

<p>Senior Schedule:
-AP Spanish
-AP Physics B
-College course at local university: Principles of ecology and physiology
-Journalism and Publications: Yearbook
-AP English Lit
-AP Calc BC
-AP Gov/Econ</p>

<p>Extracurriculars, awards, etc:
-Science Olympiad: two years in division C (junior and senior year), as well as one year as an alternate for division C as a sophomore and one year as a full team member and co-captain for Division B in my freshman year. Numerous regional, state, invitational, and national medals.
-Summer program for academically gifted and talented in the sciences, with my personal special focus on marine biology and environmental science
-Yearbook: three years on staff, currently a chief copy-caption editor, will continue into a twoyear editorship next year. we have won Pacemaker once and most likely will in the next two years (Pacemaker is the highest national award the NSPA can give to a student publication)
-NHS - 2 yrs
-Track (2 yrs)
-Cross Country (2 yrs)
-ScienceDays community and service (tutoring local elementary school kids in science): three years (board position now, probably president next year)
-Environmental club: three years (board position now, probably president next year)
-Science Olympiad junior coach for multiple events for Division B, since my freshman year
-WriteGirl nonprofit organization, provides mentoring in writing for high schools girls, publishes a distinguished anthology annually. By the time I graduate I will have been published in a real book 5 times.
-Publications in other literary magazines across the nation</p>

<p>I plan on majoring in environmental something, not sure what yet. But I plan on doing extensive studies for marine-related environmental studies (so not really the whole tree-hugger hippie business, but actual scientific research, okay?) I also want to do something with my passion for writing as well, though. So maybe a scientific journalism career would be for me? I don't know yet. But I want to somehow be able to combine my love for environmental sciences and marine biology with my passion and talent for writing. </p>

<p>I don't know what schools I really want to go to, but they don't have to be Ivy League necessarily, although that would be nice.</p>

<p>This is what I've heard as good schools for environmental science:
-Purdue University
-Stanford University
-Cornell University
-Duke University
-UChicago
-UC Berkeley
-UC Davis
-Northwestern University
-Amherst College
-Harvard
-Princeton
-SUNY College</p>

<p>What do you think are my chances for college? Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>Your admission chances are good (although many of those are reaches for everyone). That does not necessarily mean you’ll be able to afford the cost of an expensive private or out of state public college. How much are your parents able and willing to spend? Have you run the online Net Price Calculators for any of these schools?</p>

<p>Some of the strongest marine biology programs are at state universities, for example some of the schools in the University of California system. However, the UCs (and many other state schools) don’t offer very generous need-based aid to out-of-state students. </p>

<p>Among the Ivies, Cornell seems to be especially strong for environmental science. You might want to consider other LACs in addition to Amherst for environmental/life sciences. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1392071-best-liberal-arts-school-environmental-science.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1392071-best-liberal-arts-school-environmental-science.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

3

<p>You’re going to have a lot of opportunities with your resume. It is important if you’re going to graduate with a degree in environmental something that you not come out with a lot of debt and you do come out with research experience and internships. So keeping the costs down and going somewhere where you cannot avoid research and summer internships should be big priorities. Please focus on the hard science aspect of the field and not just the policy, but schmooze the policy end with an internship before you finish. </p>