<p>I'm having a really hard time choosing which colleges I'll be applying to.
I live in france so I didnt get a chance to visit campuses, thats why I need your opinions :)
my list so far is wayy too long (22!) so I really need to reduce it, but im scared I wont get in anywhere</p>
<p>I went to an international school in france (graduated 2009, took a year off)
the grading system is different, but i'd say im a 3.2-3.5 (just guessing)
my sats arent very good at all 1750 (590m, 580r, 580w)
lots of extracurriculars, gymnastics (won the team nationals in france), dance, job..</p>
<p>I'm looking for a nice campus, with friendly ppl (no over-competitives or stuck ups if possible). My dream college is brown (which I'm applying to without a chance of getting in), open curriculum would be nice, laid back, but still good academicly...
thinking to major in international relations.</p>
<p>here's the list!
goucher
monmouth
american u
syracuse
rochester
UF (my mom lives in FL, but I'm not really into such a big party school)
george washington
northeastern
skidmore
lawrence
boston c</p>
<p>these are more reaches (some very high reaches):
bennington
mcgill (canada)
oberlin
wesleyan
emory
northwestern
vassar
johns hopkins
colgate
georgetown
brown (I know I know, but I wanna try anyway!)</p>
<p>If I could get your opinions on these schools, or new suggestions, it would really help.
I also wanna know what you dont like about them, so I can finally cut down the list to 15 max :)</p>
<p>Slightly off topic, but Son got 1620 on SATs and a 29 on ACT. You might consider seeing if you could get a better test score by simply switching tests. Granted he took a cram course and studied for the ACT, but it is a truly different test and you have nothing to lose.</p>
<p>I would suggest you keep at least 8 of your first list on your final list. Cut your reach schools to no more than 3-4. </p>
<p>Think about what you really want in a school - size, number of international students, small town or big city, extracurriculars etc. Then look at your list and think about how each school fit your interests. You have alot of different options in your current list. Colgate for example is in a small town. At McGill there will be alot of other students who speak French. Do you want to continue gymnastics? Perhaps when you think in those terms you will find it easier to take some schools off your list.</p>
<p>Skidmore and Boston College should be placed in your reach group.</p>
<p>You should definitely include some reach schools, but you have far too many that are out of your test scores/GPA range. Depending on how many schools you will apply to, your reach schools should be narrowed down to 2 to 4 schools. Working from the fact that you love Brown, I suggest narrowing to Vassar, Wesleyan, and Skidmore. If you are a woman, you might want to look at Smith, which also has an open curriculum; it’s also an SAT optional school (provided that you’re American – internationals must send SAT scores) which may increase your chances of acceptance. </p>
<p>I’m not as familiar with the physical campuses of your less selective schools, so I can’t say which would fit your ideals. I suspect, however, that American, Syracuse, Rochester, and Northeastern might be good choices. Isn’t Lawrence in the boonies? Your other choices tend to be in cities or large towns.</p>
<p>You’ll want to add two colleges that are likelies – places you’d be happy attending but which are less selective. You might want to look into University of Denver (if you don’t mind going out west), Roger Williams and/or University of RI, and Franklin Marshall.</p>