Hello, please help me find a home :)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a high school debater who is drowning in the seemingly 5 million colleges out there that interest me in one way or another. I have a few criteria, but mostly I would like to find somewhere that fits. You know, somewhere that gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling inside when I think about it. Only not quite so cliche :P</p>

<p>I want to go to college to learn everything I can about everything that I am interested in. I want to pursue a major in International Relations, possibly doubling in Middle Eastern Studies or Women's Studies. I am also interested in Asian-American Studies. It's more important to me to learn and to develop what I know than to get perfect grades.</p>

<p>For the feel, I want to be surrounded by people who love to learn, and think. Small classes with direct attention from professors would be nice, with a tightknit student body who have informed political opinions. Also, it would be nice to not be too athletics based.</p>

<p>In terms of campus, I'm looking for something with a New England/prep school feel, with lots of brick, snow, and trees. I would love collegiate gothic architecture with bell/clock towers, and it needs to have cold winters!</p>

<p>Ideally there would be a parliamentary debate program, but I can deal with policy debate. Any sort of debate society is near essential for me.</p>

<p>Middlebury, Brown, Vassar, and Dartmouth all sort of fit, but they are all reaches for me. My stats are as follows:</p>

<p>3.6 weighted GPA
I may or may not be in 10% of class, at least 15% out of 360
790 verbal/720 math/720 writing = 2230, retaking
APs taken: English Language, Bio, English Lit, Latin Lit, Psych, Calc</p>

<p>National finalist in debate (top 10), ranked first in nation in my class with many national, district, and state awards, captainship of school team, middle school coach, President of state league, American team for the World Debate Championship, attended four summer institutes that are the most prestigious in the nation... this is my absolute passion.</p>

<p>President of Amnesty International, Districts and All-States rec in Viola, Concerto soloist, Red belt in Tae Kwon Do, math tutor, assistant teacher to autistic children, DNC volunteer, Young Democrats, voluntee, this is getting long. But I think you get the idea.</p>

<p>Where would I realistically fit in and have a chance? As corny as it sounds, I REALLY just want to learn everything that I can in college, and be surrounded by the same thirst for knowledge. Any advice would be much appreciated!</p>

2

<p>Maybe good debate programs at:
Bates, Dartmouth, Harvard, Northwestern, Princeton, Emory, Macalaster</p>

<p>check this link
<a href="http://www.wcdebate.com/7others/policy.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.wcdebate.com/7others/policy.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

3

<p>Thanks! I'm really hoping to do Parli though, but I'll take Policy as another option. The only problem is finding good programs that fit me both academically and otherwise.</p>

4

<p>Ok, if you don't mind a University in Canada the University of ALberta fits practically into all of those categories. The have a great poli sci program (not an international major, but a great concentration), you can get a certificate of globalization and governance to add on to your poli sci major. The U of A has both Middle Eastern Studies and Women's studies at the faculty of arts (poli sci is included in the faculty of arts). They also have Asian Studies (I just checked). You can get a Bachelor of Arts with majors and minors or a double major with all of the departments named above. </p>

<p>Depending on which classes can be quite small considering the regular university classes of like 400, they have some around 40 or less in some subjects. And most of the people that I know from there are very opinionated on politics (I don't know many because I don't attend it, but I will and I'm interested in practically the same things as you). </p>

<p>The feel is great and most of the buildings are made out of brick, so there ya go! And since it's Alberta there will be much snow. :p</p>

<p>They have quite a few debate clubs as far as I know, but I'm not 100% sure. They have tons of political clubs.</p>

<p>The Bears and Pandas are quite good throughout Canada. They have every sport known to men as far as I know.</p>

<p>They also have a couple of orchestras outside of class formed by students and a couple of choirs too.</p>

<p>I think it would be a perfect fir, they love international students and with the grades you have you'd make the cut for admission. You need at least an 85%, which you definatly have looking at your GPA.</p>

<p>I hope you consider it, it's a really great school, I'll be there in a year or two.</p>

<p>Check out the website at <a href="http://www.ualberta.ca%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.ualberta.ca&lt;/a> or <a href="http://www.arts.ualberta.ca%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.arts.ualberta.ca&lt;/a> for the programs that you are interested in. </p>

<p>I hope it'll help! If you want more info PM me.</p>

5

<p>Realistically, you do have a good chance at Middlebury and Vassar, so don't sell yourself short, I'd shot for atleast one of the Ivies if that's what you want, but I'm pretty sure Dartmouth doesn't have international relations.</p>

<p>What you describes sounds like many schools, Colgate is the best choice that springs from my mind, but also look into:</p>

<p>Hamilton
Haverford
Bucknell
Amherst
Smith
Colby
Dickinson
Mount Holyoke</p>

<p>All of those would be excellent matches for you, Amherst and Haverford are reaches though...all the above are listed by the APDA, if that helps.</p>

<p>For safeties, I know you'd love Clark & American, they fit all of your requirements (American's is outside of D.C., but I'd think that's a pro, not a con), their also the only one's I could think of with Parliamentary Debate.</p>

<p>I'm hear if you need any other suggestions, also, I have a hunch that you'd like Wellesley if you saw it.</p>

6

<p>Thank you so much for your suggestions, any more would be really great! I'm going to look into the University of Alberta and the schools that Cre8tive1 suggested... I just need to think of how to break them up. I definitely have some matches and a lot of reaches, but safeties and predictions would be nice. I think I'm going to apply to Brown, Dartmouth, or Middlebury ED... I think?</p>

7

<p>Your outline just screams Smith and Wellesly (for Women's Studies, you know). You've already got Middlebury, there's also Colgate and Williams for the close-knit prep atmosphere, but I have no idea what their WS programs are like.</p>

<p>Brown and Dartmouth are excellent choices, of course.</p>

8

<p>To break that up:
Reaches:
Brown
Dartmouth
Middlebury
Amherst
Haverford
Wellesley</p>

<p>Matches:
Colgate
Hamilton
Bucknell
Smith
Colby
Dickinson
Mount Holyoke
University of Alberta</p>

<p>Safeties:
American
Clark</p>

9

<p>Ivies with a 3.6 GPA are quite a reach, but if you want to try it go for it! Who knows what will happen. I don't mean to be a downer, I'm just giving you my honest opinion.</p>

10

<p>That's what I thought too, which is why I'm looking for something more realistic. On the other hand, everyone says that I have at least a chance, especially with debate... but I don't know. Maybe an Ivy ED I and something else ED II, or I could not give up the chance for ED and go Middlebury ED I and Colgate ED II.</p>

<p>I looked at the Colgate website, and I definitely got that warm and fuzzy feeling. It is absolutely PERFECT... now all I have to do is visit it. Thank you all so much! Any more suggestions or whatnot would be great :)</p>

11

<p>link to the final 2003-2004 college standings of the American Parliamentary Debate Association</p>

<p><a href="http://www.apdaweb.org/oty/2004/oty.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.apdaweb.org/oty/2004/oty.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

12

<p>If a short, mild winter and probably no more than a week or so of snow (but regular access to good skiiing) would do--and the west coast is not out of the question--look into Whitman. They have a very strong debate program for a LAC and excellent networking for some of your career area interests.</p>

13

<p>Kenyon would be a great match for you!</p>

14

<p>it's a reach, but Swarthmore is definitely what you're looking for.</p>

15

<p>Tufts! Tufts! Tufts!!!</p>

16

<p>allure
You may be surprised at how acceptances to Ivies work sometimes....that is...
Last year, a friend's child, who was in the 3rd decile at our HS, gpa-wise, was accepted to Princeton, and I believe this was due to the student's outstanding awards won in Original Oratory, and also State recognition in Acapella. Boy, was everyone shocked, cause the gpa was 3.6 also.
Good Luck!!</p>

17

<p>Swarthmore</p>

18

<p>For anyone who is interested, I visited Wellesley in October, and I'm going to Smith tomorrow. I absolutely fell in love with Wellesley, the professors I talked to, and the amazing women that I met. I'm crossing my fingers and trying not to be overwhelmed by stress!</p>

19

<p>allure: I visited Colgate and loved it. They don't have engineering, so that eliminated Colgate for me, but the feel was great.</p>

20

<p>You look like a Smithee to me. Not a lot of athletics at Colgate? Women's Studies at Bates?</p>