<p>Hi! I am going to be a senior next year and, as of right now, don't really know where I'd like to apply. I'm very liberal and gay, so I probably want to apply to a fairly left-leaning school. My grades are around 3.8 unweighted and I have an SAT score of 2120 (2nd try). I have a pretty solid amount of ECs and my (rough draft) essay is rad. Any suggestions would be really helpful! </p>
<p>PS I probably want to be on either the west or east coast (preferably in a larger city)
PPS I'm sorry if this post makes me seem really demanding!
PPPS Thinking back, I should probably have used one of those handy college search engines</p>
<p>UC- Berkely for sure, known for it’s liberals. And your SAT score would get you in if you have some EC’s to back it up.
What did you write your essay on? out of curiosity really
in order for us to help you out you might want to include some more credientials & what you are willing to pay etc </p>
<p>Definitely try some of the public Ivy’s like UC-Berkely, University of Michigan, UNC-Chapel Hill, or your home state public flagship school. I feel like if you went the in-state route, you would get many scholarships and pay close to nothing for college. You also may be able to pay in-state tuition for out-of-state schools. You’re in a really good position academically.</p>
<p>Is the dating scene important to you? If so, you may want to look into larger schools, smaller ones which have an unusually large LGBT population or are near a larger city (which it sounds like you’re doing already). Do you have any idea of how large you’d like the school to be? What’s your home state? How much can you afford (exact number or range)? Finally are you looking at major which might restrict college choices? For instance virtually every college offers an English major, while only a handful offer say, naval architecture.</p>
<p>Academically you will qualify for a ton of schools. Some quick ideas: NYU, GW, Vassar, Wesleyan, and if you are female then definitely look into the excellent women’s colleges (if you want to be in/near a city, then Barnard in NYC and Bryn Mawr near Philadelphia are particularly good choices). Get your hands on a good college guide book (I like Fiske and Princeton review but there are others as well) and start reading up on colleges.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the replies! I am a female and half-iranian (I actually have 3 years of extra language credits for Farsi + 4 for spanish). I live in Washington and, although UW is a pretty solid school, I want to spread my wings and fly a little farther away from home.
I wrote my college essay on “straddling the border” between Eastern and Western culture. To be honest, it doesn’t focus on any specific hardships or learning moments, but my peer editors all told me it was really well-written.
ECs: I am a sex ed teen educator with planned parenthood,a sex ed teen educator with a club in my school, and a member of an activist club at my school.
Leadership roles: I am club president of REACH/WAYS club (We help families with or affected by HIV/AIDS)
Sports: I play tennis (JV) and soccer (Rec)
OH also, I’m not really sure how to figure out my weighted GPA or I would totally include it.
Thanks again for the help and I am furiourly googling all the colleges suggested.
PS Yes I’m totally interested in the dating scene
PPS Although 'm sure a women’s college would be a wonderful place to pick up chicks (I regret phrasing it like that) I’m a little worried that there wouldn’t be a huge amount of diversity</p>
<p>What is your financial situation? What are your parents able and willing to pay? Do you have ideas of what you want to study?</p>
<p>You don’t need a FAR left leaning school necessarily. Most colleges are left leaning in general, gay friendly and have LGBT student associations.</p>
<p>Don’t be so quick to discount women’s colleges. Take some time to get to know the strengths of the schools. There are some impressive colleges with very special programs. They are generally (but still are selective) easier to gain admission compared to other schools of equivalent academic merit. You might find some that will award you merit scholarship money. There will be diverse type of students with diverse studies, and they are far from insular. Smith and Scripps are part of 5 college consortium. Wellesley students can take courses at MIT, Olin and Babson. Barnard women can study and do sports at Columbia and in some majors all the coursework will be at Columbia (the diploma will also be issued by Columbia). Just something to think about while you research.</p>
<p>Barnard sounds perfect. It is in NY (eastcoast), very prominent LGBT community, and although it is in fact an all girls’ school, it has columbia right next door where you not only have access to its resources, but also its diversity. :)</p>
<p>Tufts and NYU would also be good to keep in mind!</p>
<p>Actually women’s college are among the most diverse “elite” colleges no matter how you define diversity.</p>
<p>Chapel HIll, Michigan, etc, are only valid options if your parents can pay $50,000 out of pocket. If not, for public colleges, focus on WA schools, schools in the Western Exchange - unfortunately, most of them aren’t especially liberal or gay-friendly :s except for Humboldt or Evergreen. That’s not to say they’re gay “unfriendly” or conservative, just not more than your average college.
UCB in California is not part of WUE so it’s out also unless your parents have the money. You’d stand a better chance applying to the Midwest, South, and Northeast overall so it’s good you want to try and go farther away.</p>
<p>Carleton College has been named one of the most gay-friendly colleges in the country (although the dating scene would be small, it’s about 45mn away from the Twin Cities & University Minnesota Twin Cities is very gay friendly - in my opinion, MN is kind of the Washington of the Midwest politics-wise. Not weather-wise though, beware :p)</p>
<p>Check out Smith (obviously), Mount Holyoke, Barnard, Bryn Mawr etc. (even Hollins :p)</p>
<p>Bard, Oberlin, Grinnell, Vassar, Wesleyan - may all be reaches for you though.</p>
<p>I’m amazed by how much information I’m getting, thank you all so much. I think I’ll have to research women’s colleges more. To be honest, I’ve never even considered applying to one, but this thread is making them (mainly Barnard) seem perfect for me.
I plan on applying for financial aid, but to be honest cost isn’t really a huge concern and my parents have agreed to pay no matter the price.
I am thinking about going into law (SIDENOTE: I do speech and debate. I probably should have mentioned this earlier. Also I’m a barista.) and am probably interested in either an economics or poli-sci major. I’m somewhat fickle so this might change in the future. ha
I think I definitely want to apply to UC Berkeley and NYU, based on what you guys (or gals, or anything in between) have recommended. In your esteemed opinions, are those both feasible? Or should I count them as reaches.</p>
<p>"my parents have agreed to pay no matter the price. "
check with your parents that they know what college costs these days. Many parents have no idea and assume it’s something like $25,000; others assume they’ll get a loan on your behalf – which will eat into their retirement and may be unsustainable depending on their age and economic situation.
Of course, it’s very possible your family is making $250,000+, in which case indeed if they choose to they can spend their money on your college education. But make sure first. Some seniors made very disheartening discoveries too late. :s
If you’re thinking of going into law, you should 1° have as little debt as possible 2° aim for the most intense experience that will lead you to a top law school (since law school graduates are in trouble right now, the field is oversaturated)</p>
<p>Pavlovian: Thanks! Mount Holyoke has a really beautiful campus (based solely on the link ha)
Fogcity: I actually went and visited Reed earlier this year! I really disliked it, but that may have been because I was visiting on a gloomy day/ the students were on break.
MYOS1934: Thank you for the tips! My parents are aware of today’s costs and are able to afford to pay for my college (I hope I’m not coming across as spoiled/all around awful ha)</p>
<p>NO you’re not coming across as spoiled, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t one of the students whose parents didn’t realize the true cost of college :)</p>
<p>You will need to decide if you want the city scene, suburban scene or country scene location. I think that will help you narrow the field. Mount Holyoke has a stunning campus and is beautiful but not in a city (tiny town) - but it is part of the 5 college consortium with Amherst, Hampshire, UMASS and Smith so there are buses running between the schools all day. Smith is located a few blocks from Northampton downtown (very small city) and has a nice campus. Vassar is in a semi-suburban location at the edge of a small/medium sized city walking distance to several restaurants and shops and also has an absolutely gorgeous campus complete with lakes a farm and a golf course. Hopefully you can visit and see these schools for yourself. All are very different than a city campus like NYU.</p>
- not on the coast but probably a good pick for you.</p>