Hello! Junior college searcher here!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm currently a junior and starting to look at colleges. I thought I had a good list, but I'm not exactly sure they're for me. I know I still want to apply to MIT, UPenn, and CMU, but that's it. </p>

<p>I have a 3.8ish UW GPA, have done a lot of EC's, and looking into chemical engineering. These are the things I'm looking for in a college</p>

<ul>
<li>A place that either has a nice campus or near the city, not some place like Cornell. </li>
<li>No more northern than MA in the Northeast or anyplace bordering Canada. </li>
<li>A place near a body of water (not as important). </li>
<li>1000+ people.</li>
<li>Has a good transportation system</li>
<li>No religious affiliation</li>
<li>Lots of different extracurricular activities</li>
<li>At least some school spirit</li>
</ul>

<p>Thanks guys for all the help!</p>

2

<p>You DEFINITELY need to look at some match and safety schools. UPenn, MIT and CMU are reaches for most people, you included. MIT demands excellence in math and science, and a 3.8 is a tad low for them. What were your SAT scores? What are your ECs?</p>

3

<p>tmanneopen, why would you hate Cornell? It has all the desired qualities of education for your major of chemical engineering. The environment there is also supposed to be excellent according to people whom I know who actually went to that area. Ithaca is a nice city area with all the desired aspects similar to other cities like Boston, NYC, etc… and is, by no means, too far away from the rural, seemingly agrarian campus. </p>

<p>In your case, why not try WPI? Although it doesn’t share the same prestige as MIT, it is a very respectable college that many people have underrated for decades.</p>

4

<p>When are you taking the SAT and ACT? Without any scores, it’s hard to suggest.</p>

<p>BTW…will your parents pay $50k+ for the school of your choice?</p>

5

<p>uh. Quick run down of EC’s</p>

<p>FRC Team Robotics - 400 hours in 3 years or so. Usually places in top 3 teams every year. Head programmer of the team for this year and next.</p>

<p>Science Olympiad - Co-Founder/Captain. Got 21st/40 in state competition this year, highest rookie placement.</p>

<p>MOON - Math team. Treasurer. Highest in division for GBML competition (Greater Boston area)</p>

<p>Academic Decathlon - A starter, placed 6th at regionals and 6th at states.</p>

<p>Varsity Swim Team - MVP of the meet, possibly captain next year</p>

<p>Scores: 2180 (750 CR, 730 M, 700 W)
770 Chem SAT II</p>

<p>My family is borderline low income, so we won’t have to pay extravagant amounts (hopefully).</p>

6

<p>ALso</p>

<p>@stressed: Haha, I know those are all reaches. I just am not sure which matches or safetys I wouldn’t mind going to if I don’t get into my reaches.</p>

<p>@megaman: Ithaca is definitely not as big as Boston or NYC. I like the city/campus feel, not in the middle of upstate NY. Plus, the cities are always warmer, whereas Cornell is even colder than MA.</p>

7

<p>bump .</p>

8

<p>MIT still looks like a reach, even with your stats and ECs.</p>

9

<p>If you want more information, then you should look at the Official MIT RD '14</p>

10

<p>Maybe Purdue</p>

11

<p>Georgia Tech would fit your stats and criteria.</p>