<p>I need help narrowing my list of schools down.</p>
<p>Here are my stats:
Bi-racial female
National Merit recognized
3.79 GPA (4.09 unweighted)
Nationally ranked magnet school (offers few APs and Honors - took all excpet AP Spanish)
SAT 2190 (750/750/690)
ACT 34 (34/34/32/36 - writing score not out yet)
Finalist at California State History Day (1st Place at History Day LA) for group documentary
Did research at top children's hospital
Interning at CCSS - Marketing/Design/Web Design
Volunteer at world renowned aquarium 2 years 300+ hours
7 years playing trumpet and French horn - City Band Unanimous Superior
Multicultural Day Presenter 3 years
IDP Leader 4 years
Mock Election Coordinator 2 years
Ethics Bowl Finalist
Key Club member 4 years
Kick-ass letters of rec from history & biotechnology teachers and the Dr. from the lab I did research in.</p>
<p>I want to major in Geology/Earth Sciences/Environmental Science and want an opportunity to do research. All these schools meet my criteria but my parents and counselors don't want me applying to that many schools.</p>
<p>Amherst College
Bates College<br>
Bowdoin College
Brown University<br>
Bucknell University
Carleton College<br>
Colby College<br>
Colgate University<br>
Columbia University
Georgetown University
Pepperdine University (Can't remove - It's my father's alma mater and he really wants me to apply)
Pomona College<br>
Reed College<br>
Skidmore College<br>
Stanford University
Swarthmore College<br>
University of Southern California (Already Applied)
Washington University in St. Louis<br>
Wesleyan University
Williams College</p>
<p>Apply to only the ones that you can truly see yourself going to. Don’t just look at the name. Evaluate their environmental science programs, look at the rankings for those programs, and look at geographical location.</p>
<p>Hard to find a pattern here – both open (Brown, Amherst, and to a certain extent, Wesleyan) plus strict core curriculum (Columbia), plus intense academics (Swarthmore, Reed), plus preppie reputation (Colgate, Colby, Amherst, Williams) and not (Skidmore, Brown, Wes). </p>
<p>Apart from high rankings, what are your priorities for campus location (city – Wash U, arguably Swat, Pomona, G’town, Columbia, Brown) or small city (Colby, Bates, Wesleyan) or small town/more remote (Williams, Colgate). </p>
<p>What are your safeties? Skidmore? </p>
<p>Personally, I don’t think a student who would be happy at Brown and Wesleyan would be happy at Columbia and Colgate. Try to identify categories of schools and eliminate the categories which really don’t work for you. As a parent, I would agree that this sis simply too many to apply to. The list needs winnowing. </p>
<p>As everyone has said, you’re all over the map! LAC or University? Size of school? Rural, city, suburban? Strict required core classes, loose required core classes, no required core classes? East Coast, West Coast, in-between? Semester system, quarter system, trimester system? Do you want to have the opportunity to continue with your instrument? What are your options for minoring, double majoring, or, should you change your major (it can happen), other areas you are interested in? </p>
<p>There are so many non-ranked questions that you need to answer in order to narrow down your list. Look beyond rankings and strict academics. </p>
<p>I agree you should think about your criteria for schools and apply them, but they may not be the obvious ones. </p>
<p>My DS was interested in both Columbia (core curriculum) and Brown (open curriculum) because he thought the students would be interested in discussing ideas.</p>
<p>Both of my kids wanted a school in a city or college town without a big fraternity scene.</p>
<p>Everyone has her or his own wants. So do some self-reflection, make a list of your criteria, and go from there.</p>
<p>On a less idealistic and more practical level, also see how many and what sorts of supplements are required and whether you can recycle some.</p>
<p>Add a state public university from your home state as a safety school; there are probably several in your state that have good earth science/geology programs, and you don’t necessarily need to go to a powerhouse university for your undergraduate degree if you are planning on going to graduate school.</p>
<p>The OP is not all over the map (well, geographically yes). On the contrary, this list seems remarkably well considered focusing on school strength in a less than overwhelmingly popular field (geology/earth sciences). </p>
<p>Obviously, beyond academic strength, you really do need to decide whether city/country/suburban and small/large works better for you. The bulk of your choices are small/country-rural, something I’d personally favor. </p>
<p>Among LACs, Carleton’s the obvious standout producing more PhDs in Geology than any college OR university in the nation. Its adjoining 800 acre arboretum is a great living lab for majors. Among universities, Stanford and Columbia are standouts. </p>
<p>If you have to thin the herd, while every school on your list has something great to offer, for your area of interest I’d consider Swat, Reed and Skidmore weaker choices among LACs, Wash U and Georgetown weaker choices among unis. </p>
<p>I did geology at Pomona (enrolled at Claremont McKenna) and loved it Not sure what the department is like nowadays. I was a graduate student at Dartmouth and I think their undergraduate Earth science program is pretty great. But the social culture of Dartmouth is not the best for women and minorities (although my bi-racial female cousin went there too and also got her masters there). What kind of college vibe are you looking for? What kind of social atmosphere do you think is the best for you? What about location? How important is it that you be able to get to an airport to fly home? I would take the Ivy schools and Stanford off the list if you were my child. My personal bias is that Ivies are great for graduate school but aren’t that great for undergraduate and I’m not a fan of schools with a Greek culture, but I admit that’s my bias.</p>
<p>OP–Swarthmore has an environmental sciences major where students can take Geology courses through the Tri-Co at Bryn Mawr. BMC does have a Geology Department. You might consider dropping Swat and adding Bryn Mawr or Haverford. Basically, geology students at Swat or Haverford will take courses at Bryn Mawr.</p>
<p>OP is from California, so UCs and almost all CSUs are no longer accepting applications for fall 2015 (deadline was 11/30).</p>
<p>Very important: what are the cost constraints? If the father is heavily pushing Pepperdine, would the parental contribution be lower at non-Pepperdine schools?</p>
<p>In terms of geology, what about the three “mines” schools in CO, NM, and SD, if they are affordable?</p>
Not sure what the department is like nowadays. I was a graduate student at Dartmouth and I think their undergraduate Earth science program is pretty great. But the social culture of Dartmouth is not the best for women and minorities (although my bi-racial female cousin went there too and also got her masters there). What kind of college vibe are you looking for? What kind of social atmosphere do you think is the best for you? What about location? How important is it that you be able to get to an airport to fly home? I would take the Ivy schools and Stanford off the list if you were my child. My personal bias is that Ivies are great for graduate school but aren’t that great for undergraduate and I’m not a fan of schools with a Greek culture, but I admit that’s my bias.</p>