Help me NOT apply to 37 colleges... (average student)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>[boring]</p>

<p>about me:</p>

<ul>
<li>very liberal</li>
<li>outdoorsy</li>
<li>intellectual </li>
</ul>

<p>i need lots of sunlight, and things to do outside (hiking, camping, skiing, mntn biking, surfing, dirt biking, etc.)</p>

<p>I have no idea what i will be majoring in, but i do know that i want to take some classes in philosophy, economics, politics, psychology, etc.</p>

<p>I cant afford more than 20k/ year but have no idea how the scholarships/FA will work out anywhere.</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<ul>
<li>40th percentile GPA (the bad 40, but in a good school with lots of grade competition and no weighting for tougher classes :( )</li>
<li>2030 SAT</li>
<li>Documented LD (will be explained in couselor rec)</li>
<li>good recs</li>
<li>great essays</li>
<li>AP euro - 3 </li>
<li>AP psych - 5 (self-taught)</li>
<li>AP Bio - 5 (from non-ap honors bio class)</li>
<li>will have 11 seasons of sports, 7 seasons varsity, 2 seasons captain</li>
<li>state wrestler (not good enough for recruitment though)</li>
</ul>

<p>[/boring]</p>

<p>extremely long list of colleges:</p>

<p>Bard
Beloit
Bennington
Clark
Colorado College
UC Boulder
Connecticut College
Earlham
Eckerd
Elon
Eugene Lang
Evergreen State
Hampshire
Hendrix
Kalamazoo
Lawrence
Lewis & Clark
Marlboro
New College of Florida
U New Hampshire
Occidental
Pitzer
Prescott
U Puget Sound
U Redlands (Johnston Center)
St. John's College
St. Mary's College of Maryland
Sarah Lawrence
Skidmore
U Vermont
Warren Wilson
Vassar
Wesleyan U
Whitman
Willamette
U Wisconsin - Madison
Wooster</p>

<p>the few i am certain will remain on my list:</p>

<p>Evergreen State
Hampshire
Marlboro
New College of Florida
Pitzer
Prescott
St. John's college
Whitman</p>

<p>that leaves 29 to fill just 1-3 more spots, lol.</p>

<p>any weird ones that seem misplaced on my list?</p>

<p>i suppose i could eliminate vassar, wesleyan, and colorado college now since my chances are <1%.</p>

<p>Any others that should be on my list?</p>

<p>thanks.</p>

2

<p>evergreen state seems like a really good match for you, and you would almost definitely be accepted. i have some friends that go there and they all love it. ups seems more preppy to me and its in tacoma, so not really out in the "wild" like evergreen is. you could still find outdoor stuff to do, but you might have to travel a bit because it isnt right in the midst of everything like evergreen is. </p>

<p>ps, the weather in washington really isnt as horrible as everyone thinks it is. of the washington schools on your list, whitman has the most sunshine by far, followed by evergreen state and ups.</p>

<p>to me, the outliers on your list are beloit, bard, wesleyan, vassar, and maybe clark and maybe uc boulder. lewis and clark would also be a good match for you.</p>

<p>good luck cutting down your list.</p>

3

<p>I think Marlboro would be good. Except Vermont can be a little cloudy in the winter.</p>

<p>But there's lots of snow! :) Though you didn't say you like snow....</p>

4

<p>lots of good schools on the list. lets look at some of your criteria.</p>

<p>Outdoorsy with lots of opportunities for activity. Take off:
Clark (in a not very nice city)
Bard (rural but not known for athletic student body)
Eugene Lang (NYC and not known for athletic student body)</p>

<p>You say your very liberal. Take off:
Elon (probably the most right leaning school on your list)</p>

<p>Being in the bottom 40% of your class will eliminate Wesleyan.</p>

5

<p>37 colleges = the application fee is worth half a year of tution at an instate school lol</p>

6

<p>More schools to zip, if you want to know particular reasons why, PM me:</p>

<p>Sarah Lawrence
Connecticut College
Beloit
Bennington
Kalamazoo
Lewis and Clark
Skidmore
Wesleyan
Vassar
UC Boulder
Occidental
UW Madison
St. Mary's
U Redlands</p>

<p>I think Colorado College is an ideal reach school for you (why your competitive school ranks is beyond me). Believe it or not, you have a good chance of getting into the colleges you listed.</p>

7

<p>I can't believe you forgot Reed.</p>

8

<p>i would suggest you add colorado college to the "definitely remaining" list.</p>

<p>it's a really awesome school, a really unique approach to classes, i have heard there is tons of discussion in class, a really close student body, and everyone there loves it.</p>

9

<p>thanks for the help so far everyone. </p>

<p>i do like snow redknight, and skiing. but i would not want several months out of the year of it at the sacrifice of other seasons :p</p>

<p>vassar and wes are certainly going off the list - too selective.
Clark is off due to geography
Elon is off due to political stance</p>

<p>lewis and clark is sounding more and more like a good fit, so im bumping it to the certain (for now) list.
colorado college is also going back on the certain list (but i really hate their essay topic and am still extremely pessimistic about my chances)</p>

<p>im stalling on beloit, bard, boulder, and ups until i get more info</p>

<p>huskem55 - i probably wont be doing any formal sports in college, but if bard and eugene lang students cant even get a frisbee club together or go out for some weekend adventure then they will be off the list as well. </p>

<p>unalove - you have been pm'ed.</p>

<p>Sheed - i did not forget Reed, but A. i cant get in, and B. i cant handle the workload.</p>

10

<p>have you thought about Oberlin or Kenyon?</p>

11

<p>well they are in ohio, i wasnt too happy about that. and both are too selective for me.</p>

12

<p>so much progress!!! :)</p>

<p>heres my updated list:</p>

<p>Maybes: (all battling for 1 or 2 spots)</p>

<p>Earlham
Eckerd
Hendrix
Lawrence
U New Hampshire
U Vermont
Warren Wilson
Willamette
Wooster</p>

<p>certain applications:</p>

<p>Colorado College
Evergreen State
Hampshire
Lewis & Clark
Marlboro
New College of Florida
Pitzer
Prescott
St. John's college
Whitman</p>

<p>banished (until further notice):</p>

<p>Vassar - too selective, not outdoorsy enough
Wesleyan U - too selective, some other crap too
Clark - boring town
Elon - too conservative
Sarah Lawrence - not outdoorsy enough, blah
Connecticut College - too traditional
UC Boulder - not intellectual
Occidental - too traditional
U Wisconsin/Madison - too traditional
St. Mary's College of Maryland - too traditional
U Redlands (Johnston Center) - weaksauce
Bard - not outdoorsy enough
Eugene Lang - not outdoorsy enough
Beloit - midwest, boring
Bennington - too artsy
Kalamazoo - not outdoorsy or something
Skidmore - lack of anything interesting
oberlin - ohio, too selective
kenyon - ohio, too selective
U Puget Sound - preppy, not much to do</p>

13

<p>K-zoo can be as outdoors-y as you want, and is one of the schools which has the best boost between entering and leaving prestige that I know.</p>

<p>I'd recommend that school a lot. I don't think UVM really fits in with a lot of these other schools, not intellecual.</p>

14

<p>You can try to gauge how intellectual a school is overall by two things, 1) seeing how many pre-professional programs the school offers, and 2) seeing if you can find the school's results for the Weighted Baccalaureate Origins Study, which is a measure of how many undergraduates go on to get PhD's. You don't get a PhD unless you really, really, really like school.</p>

<p>Anyway, I nixed UNH and UVM off the bat-- they are cute schools, but they're not going to have what you're looking for. I also think that Earlham, Eckerd, and Wooster cater more to pre-professionals than Hendrix, Lawrence, Willamette, and Warren Wilson. (I did this by looking at the list of offered majors-- obscure majors good, business, education, and communication bad). Warren Wilson also offers an Outdoor Leadership major. Don't know if that interests you.</p>

<p>I don't feel bad nixing all of these college because you have so many that you like already.</p>

<p>Hope this was helpful.</p>

15

<p>very helpful. :)</p>

<p>i will put warren wilson on my certain list, because its the cheapest one, and i dont feel i have enough safeties. </p>

<p>anyone have comments about the outdoorsyness, liberalness, or intellectuality of</p>

<p>Lawrence
Willamette
Hendrix?</p>

<p>thanks!</p>

16

<p>UVM might be out of your price range. Plus, while it is Vermont, Burlington is a city. It's not really outdoorsey in as much as there is a great park and Lake Champlain.</p>

17

<p>Take off Elon. Almost all preppy conservatives.</p>

18

<p>You might check out this article:
The Best Colleges For Outdoor Recreation | Outside Online
North America's forty best colleges where you can hit the books and the backcountry. Ranked on a combination of academics and adventurous opportunities...
outside.away.com/outside/features/200309/200309<em>college</em>towns_1.html</p>

19

<p>Sorry, Outside's link won't highlight. You will have to cut and paste.</p>

20

<p>You need to decide on a few specific regions to narrow down your list. For instance, I had been considering Pomona College, but then I decided that it wasn't going to be practical for me to be flying/driving back and forth between Claremont, CA and Ohio.</p>

<p>By the way, Ohio isn't THAT bad. Many of the colleges in the southern or eastern part of the state have many outdoor activities. I'm thinking of one that has part of a national forest devoted to the campus, but it's only a 2-year college. I won't be enthusiastic about applying to any colleges in my home state, but you may find you like it.</p>