<p>Hi everyone, I'm apply ED to a reach school and if I am going to be realistic, I most likely will not be receiving an acceptance letter in the coming months. I'm trying to find some schools (reaches, safeties, but mostly matches) that will be a good fit for me socially and academically to apply to RD. I've listed some of my "criteria" below. Let me know if you know of any schools that seem to fit. </p>
<p>Very briefly, my "stats":
Rank- 6/210, GPA- UW 3.83/4, I've taken a very rigorous course load
ACT- 31 (expecting to raise this to a 32 this Saturday)</p>
<p>My IDEAL school would be/have:
-between 3500 and 7000 students
-in the northeast
-a somewhat quirky student body diversity in the way people dress/talk/act is very important to me but Im not looking for a super artsy or hippy school either I just want a school with down to earth, friendly, normal students, where not everyone is crazy into the party scene
-not much in the way of greek life, or a very non-stereotypical greek life
-School spirit is nice but I'm not necessarily into the whole sports fanatic type of school
-a fairly good reputation academically
-of course, it would be great if it was known for providing a good "freshman experience"... maybe all freshman dorms or freshman seminars or something</p>
<p>Can you think of any schools that fit some of most of my "criteria" and also are feasible options based on my testing/grades etc.?</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions! I’m not positive that I’ll apply ED, (I know! I only have a few days to figure it out), but I think I’ll be applying ED to Penn. </p>
<p>Obviously I haven’t finalized a list of anything but some of the schools I am thinking about are Tufts, Brandeis, Cornell, American, Boston College, CMU, VU, and Hopkins. It’s hard because a ton of the schools that seem to fit my criteria are reaches. I am able to find safety schools that fit my location and size criteria, but I tend to find that sometimes the diversity of thought and the quirkiness is missing, (I could be wrong here). I’d love to find some good fits or some safeties that fit what I’m looking for. I’m worried that I’ll get myself all excited about a certain type of college atmosphere that will only be available at my reach schools, but that I’ll end up at one of my safeties. For this reason, I really want to find some safeties and good fits that I love… I’m not sure if I’m setting my sights too high or not. I haven’t been able to find any schools that I think I have a good shot of getting into that I think really fit what I’m looking for… but at the same time, there are SO many schools out there, I feel like there has to be something that fits what I’m looking for. I know that even if I end up a school that fits none of my criteria, even if I’m at a really tiny or really huge school dominated by parties and greek life, I’ll still find a way to be happy and make friends and have a great time–but I’d really prefer to be at a place that can offer me the type of environment and people that I described earlier.</p>
<p>Do you think I’m setting my standards too high? Does anyone else have any suggestions/schools that I might want to look into? Thanks so much!</p>
<p>I’ll check it out. I’m still unsure as to what I want to major in… but I am fairly certain in will be within the social sciences/humanities realm.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. I guess I kind of agree that Hopkins, BC, and American aren’t all that quirky, (especially BC)… but I think I might have used the wrong wording. Quirky is good, but its totally important. I guess I just want to rule out any stereotypically preppy ,materialistic, party, or greek schools. I don’t want to go to a cliquey school or a school where people develop reputations (which is kind of why I ruled out smaller schools). I wouldn’t describe myself as very quirky though–though I enjoy quirky people. I’m pretty normal. I just don’t want to be somewhere where I feel like I need to dress up or constantly be partying or join a sorority to fit in. I want a more laid back student body.</p>
<p>I could be wrong, but when I visited I felt like Hopkins was a place where I could really fit in. I got a really great feeling from the campus and the kids I met that I didn’t get at many other schools. At American, even though I didn’t feel as though the school fit all of my criteria, everyone seemed really friendly and really happy and that got me excited about the school. I’m not so sure I would fit in quite as well at BC. The students all seemed friendly but its definitely a big sports school and everyone seems kind of similar in the way they dress and act (again, could be wrong)… everyone seemed very clean-cut–which I kind of am, but I don’t want everyone necessarily to be like me. You know what I mean?</p>
<p>huskem55- Really? I agree that Brown fits a lot of what I am looking for–but I just got this feeling when I visited Penn. Even though it is known for having a strong greek presence, I felt like it wasn’t the stereotypical greek presence and I didn’t feel like I’d feel pressured to join. There’s also just this buzz at Penn that I like–there’s so much energy and everybody is constantly doing things. I felt like I encountered a good mix of people at Penn, too, which is very important to me. I really liked Brown when I visited though, I feel like its such a reach school though, and I already have so many reaches that I am tempted not to apply.</p>
<p>Check out SUNY New Paltz…very down to earth and quirky student body. Nice artsy college town in the mountains but only a 1 1/2 hour drive to NYC. 6,000 undergrads. Getting very competitive and on a huge upswing.</p>