Help Choosing Colleges

College Search & Selection
1

From NY
GPA 3.6
SAT: 2200 R+M 1420
ACT 32
Average extracurricular
Interested in psychology, politics and philosophy.

I have too much schools, especially too many probably-not-gonna-get-in-schools, on my college list so I need help narrowing down the list. It would be great if you could tell me suggestions about what to remove and why.

Amherst College
Bates College
Bowdoin College
Carnegie Mellon University
Clark University
Connecticut College
Colby College
Cornell
Columbia
Gettysburg
NYU
Princeton
Skidmore
Stanford University
SUNY Stony Brook University
Binghamton
Swarthmore College
Trinity (CT)
University of Pennsylvania
Vassar College
Wesleyan College
Williams College
Wheaton
Yale University
Hobart & William Smith Colleges.
St. Lawrence
Ithaca
Franklin & Marshall

I know. Too many.

2

You can provide us with some more information about your budget, your home state, and what you look for in college so that posters here can help you with your list.

Without knowing your personal preference, I’d suggest this way of cutting down the list:

Amherst and Williams: choose 1
Bates and Colby: choose 1
Gettysburg and F&M: choose 1
Stony Brook and Binghamton: choose 1, or lose both of them. They seem like the black sheeps here.
Vassar and Swarthmore: choose 1
Trinity and Connecticut College: choose 1
UPenn and Columbia: choose 1
Clark and Wheaton and Ithaca: choose 1. You don’t need that many safeties.

3

Instead of Princeton and Yale, look into Emory down at Atlanta

4

What’s your budget? Where are you from?

5

Your GPA looks to be an issue. What is your rank? Are you within the top 10% of your class?

If you’re not within the top 10%, take off the Ivys, Williams, Amherst, and Stanford…and probably Swat

You may have 3 safeties listed, but none of those may be safeties if you can’t afford to go to any of them.

How much will your pay each year?

Which schools do you know FOR SURE that you can get into AND you know for sure that you have all costs covered??

6

A lot of these schools are very different from one another (I’ve heard Wesleyan and Trinity be described as polar opposites). If you could tell us more about what you’re looking for, or even just a little bit about yourself, it would be easier for us to help you narrow it down.

I would not take off both Stony Brook and Binghamton! Good to have public safeties.

7

I’m Asian American and want to go to a college that can balance both social and academic life. Not too much pressure to do drugs. And can you tell me more about Wesleyan and trinity? Why is it called opposite?

8

New York and my budget is pretty low not sure about exact numver

9

In the grander scheme of things, Wesleyan and Trinity are probably more alike than different. But, people often point to the fact that over the years, Trinity has graduated some well-known conservative journalists ( George Will and Tucker Carlson) while some of Wesleyan’s best known graduates have been crusading liberals (Ted Kennedy, Jr., John Hickenlooper, David Brancaccio, Sebastian Junger, among others.) I wouldn’t make too big a deal of it.

10

Can you tell us what put those schools on your list to begin with? Name a few that PARTICULARLY appealed? It’s a pretty wide range.

11

Saw them on Princeton college list for psychology. Then my counselor recommended a few. So far I’m definitely applying to Williams, Amherst, Yale, and Bowdoin

12

Those are all very selective, hence reaches for anyone - be sure to include matches/safeties.

13

You don’t really have the stats for any of those.

14

You need to have a financial discussion with your parents about paying for college. Run the Net Price Calculator for each college you are considering with your parents. Each college has the NPC on its website.

15

I’d definitely cut all three of Clark, Binghamton, and Ithaca. Especially the first two. Vassar and HWS puzzle me as well.

16

I know your from New York, but are you from the city or NYS?

What exactly is a “low budget”? Many of those schools are expensive, although some meet need. I don’t think your GPA is high enough for any of those, though. Find out your EFC.

17

@LBad96 , you rank Binghamton above Albany in your own poll. What’s a New York native supposed to use as a financial safety?

18

@circuitrider Buffalo, Stony Brook, Geneseo, New Paltz??

19

^^You’re the first person on this board who would put NP above Binghamton.

20

@circuitrider I’m not talking academics at all…