Help! Starting My College Search and Need Some School Suggestions

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I need some suggestions of colleges to apply to this fall/winter! Please help me!</p>

<p>I want:
-Great academic reputation
-Located in a fairly large city (100k+ people)
-Decent weather
-Not in the midwest, preferably
-No small schools
-Balance between fun & studies. I don't want to be surrounded obsessive nerds, but I don't want to be surrounded by drunk idiots.
-Awesome overall experience
-To go into the "law" field, probably become a lawyer (this school doesn't necessarily need to be concentrated on preparing me for law school, I want a well-balanced education)</p>

<p>I have/am:
-White, rural, Iowan, not rich
-Attend a tiny non-competitive public school (28 in my class)
-30-31 on ACTs
-Taking SATs in June
-3.93 (unweighted) GPA
-Valedictorian (Presumptive)
-I have taken the most rigorous schedule possible (many PSEOs & AP classes), have pushed for improvements in T&G education
-I'll have 45-50 college credits by HS graduation, not including AP (all taken at CC though)
ECs: 2 sports (V captain on one), speech (high honors), mock trial, student council (3 committees), editor-in-chief of HS newspaper & website, Republican junior delegate
AP: Macroeconomics (4), US Gov't (3), US History (?), will pass senior year: English Lang. & maybe Spanish</p>

<p>I already have my safety school picked, University of Iowa, but I want to "shoot for the stars"!</p>

<p>How high of caliber of school am I looking at? Are ivies a possibility? What schools should I look into?</p>

<p>Thank you very much!!!</p>

2

<p>Georgetown man, my brother's good friend went there and got one hell of an educational experience. I think you would have a great shot there, considering your personal wants and accomplishments.</p>

3

<p>beardy, thanks for the suggestion! I'm reading up on the college and it says that it's a Roman Catholic school. I am technically Roman Catholic (getting confirmed soon), however, I consider myself agnostic, and don't want to go to a school where religion is a major component. Could you explain a bit about the prevalence of religion at Georgetown U?</p>

4

<p>UNC? Though OOS is kinda tough.</p>

5

<p>Interesting, I wasn't even aware of that. Well considering the fact that my brother's good friend was agnostic as well, the school's main religion did not play a factor into his attitude about the university.</p>

6

<p>I agree that Georgetown is a good choice. However, your ACT score is on the lower end for Georgetown, and you haven't taken any SAT IIs yet. I would suggest you take these tests before determining where you will apply. Since there isn't much time before the june date, maybe you can take them in October. Most top schools will prepare you well for law school, so don't pick a school based on its law school rankings. Also look into the University of Michigan, NYU, and Cornell University. Coming from Iowa may also help you in admissions, as schools try to build a diverse class.</p>

7

<p>Pianista - thanks, I'll look into that school</p>

<p>Beardy - Thanks for clarifying, and a definite thanks a lot for suggesting Georgetown! It looks like a school that would interest me a lot. After all, I do love politics :) I've heard of the school before, but never really looked into it. I'm glad you pointed it out!</p>

<p>Hawk - Do I really <em>need</em> to take SAT IIs? I thought they were used more for class placement than anything else. I am not even sure where they are offered in relation to me..... I have to travel nearly 2 hours to take my SAT. SATs aren't very big here in Iowa.</p>

8

<p>You'll need to take SAT IIs for certain schools (though many will take the ACT in lieu of those due to the subject matter testing).</p>

9

<p>Among USNWR Top 50 national universities, from east to south to west, consider:</p>

<p>Georgetown
U Virginia
William & Mary
U North Carolina
Duke
Wake Forest
Emory
Georgia Tech
Vanderbilt
Tulane
Rice
U Texas
UCLA
UCSD
USC
UC Berkeley
Stanford</p>

<p>Many (probably most) of these will be reaches for you, but if your scores improve, you will at least be in the conversation.</p>

10

<p>Try to find out how much U of Iowa would cost you so you can decide how low you need to shoot also. For instance, if U of Iowa's really cheap you only need to apply to the schools that would be worth the extra money.</p>

11

<p>lgellar, you bring up a very good point. I was actually thinking about the exact same thing. Also, I have about 40 college credits through dual enrollment (from a community college) that would transfer to U of Iowa, but probably nowhere else. I'd have my first year, and part of my second done if I went to Iowa.</p>

<p>However, I still want to look into OOS schools.</p>

12

<p>What ACT score would I <em>need</em> to give me a great chance for admission at an Ivy?</p>

13

<p>Here are the average ACT scores at the Ivies and many others as well. </p>

<p>Score College</p>

<p>33.0 , Harvard
32.5 , MIT
32.5 , Notre Dame
32.0 , Yale
32.0 , Princeton
32.0 , Northwestern
31.5 , Duke
31.5 , Pomona
31.5 , Dartmouth
31.5 , Amherst
31.5 , Rice
31.5 , Vanderbilt
31.5 , Wash U StL
31.0 , Stanford
31.0 , Williams
31.0 , U Penn
31.0 , Carleton
31.0 , Middlebury
31.0 , Emory
31.0 , Carnegie Mellon
31.0 , Bowdoin
31.0 , Georgetown
31.0 , Grinnell
30.5 , Brown
30.5 , Tufts
30.5 , Columbia
30.5 , Wellesley
30.5 , Vassar
30.5 , U Chicago
30.5 , Colgate
30.0 , Swarthmore
30.0 , J Hopkins
30.0 , USC
30.0 , Boston College
30.0 , Cornell
30.0 , Brandeis
30.0 , Davidson
29.5 , Wesleyan
29.5 , W & M
29.5 , NYU
29.5 , W&L
29.0 , U Michigan
29.0 , Georgia Tech
29.0 , Tulane
29.0 , U Rochester
29.0 , Oberlin
28.5 , Case Western
28.5 , U Illinois UC
28.0 , U Wisconsin
27.5 , U North Carolina
27.5 , Smith
27.0 , Rensselaer
27.0 , UCLA
27.0 , U Florida
26.5 , Syracuse
26.0 , UCSD
26.0 , U Texas
26.0 , U Washington
26.0 , UC S Barbara</p>

<pre><code> DATA NOT AVAILABLE
</code></pre>

<p>na , Cal Tech
na , CMC
na , Hamilton
na , Harvey Mudd
na , Haverford
na , Lehigh
na , Penn State
na , U Virginia
na , UC Berkeley
na , UC Davis
na , UC Irvine
na , Wake Forest</p>

14

<p>Vanderbilt fills all of your needs. Good weather, good reputation, vibrant social scene, in the south, 6,000+ undergrads. They also meet 100% of demonstrated need. Check them out.</p>

15

<p>ACT scores for eastern schools are very skewed, since many applicants only submit SATs. You should try to raise your ACT to a 33 plus, but there are no guarantees even with that score.</p>

<p>So many of the schools mentioned are reaches for nearly everyone these days. You can look at the individual stats for many applicants here on CC, either under stats profiles or under the individual colleges acceptance/rejection threads. This past year was truly humbling. Keep the reach schools in mind, but also in perspective; you could strike out on all of them. </p>

<p>Look for match schools where you are 50-50 to get accepted. If you need financial aid, start by working the numbers through an aid calculator with your parents. This may turn out to be the highest priority in making your selections.</p>

16

<p>Seconding some suggestions from hawkette's list:</p>

<p>Georgetown
Duke
Emory
Tulane
Rice
UT-Austin
UCLA
USC</p>

<p>also maybe think about these as more match-y type places</p>

<p>U of Miami
U of Arizona
The Claremont Colleges (small individually, but not as much since they're all right next to each other)</p>

<p>Good luck! :)</p>

17

<p>
[quote]
Vanderbilt fills all of your needs. Good weather, good reputation, vibrant social scene, in the south, 6,000+ undergrads. They also meet 100% of demonstrated need. Check them out.

[/quote]
Yeah, Vanderbilt's financial aid is really good actually.</p>

18

<p>and don't worry about Georgetown's Jesuit tradition. Yes it is a Catholic school, but they like to say that they are little c catholic as in universal. It is one of the few schools that as well as having campus ministers have a cmapus imam (a sunni muslim religious leader). I wouldn't have that hold you back from loving a great university (I'm baised, class of 2012 :) )
As far as SAT IIs you for sure need them for top schools. I only know of one or two that lets you use you ACT score in place of them. Most school require 2 Georgetown asks for 3.
Good luck!</p>

19

<p>The knock on Georgetown, based on the OP's desires, is the weather... Not exactly great weather.</p>

20

<p>Top schools don't necessarily mandate SAT IIs. It depends on the school. Make your list first, then, if you need SAT IIs, take them in the fall. It's unfortunate that you have to drive so far to take them, but don't let that fact prevent you from applying to certain top schools.</p>