Help! Strong student looking for match/safeties, beyond HYP

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>I've been thinking about my college list for quite a while now, but all I have so far are a list of reach schools, as follows:</p>

<p>Princeton, Stanford</p>

<p>I realize, like most people do on this board, that such schools are reaches for just about everyone. I need more schools that I would have a better shot at getting into. Below, I've listed some information about me and what I am looking for in a school. </p>

<p>STATS
GPA: UW 3.9, W 4.5 (Top 10%, school doesn't rank)
SAT I: 800 M 760 V 710 W (2270 total)
SAT IIs: 800 Math 2C, 800 World History, 800 Physics
APs: World History (5), find out Comp Sci AB, American History, and Spanish Lang in July</p>

<p>I go to an excellent suburban high school outside of Boston. And I'm Asian.</p>

<p>The thing is, it is hard for me to pinpoint schools that I am interested in attending because I don't really have a prospective major. I love history, but I'm also thinking about doing comp-sci or one of the sciences (bio chem physics). For this reason, I do not want to attend an exclusively technical school like Rochester, Rensselar (sp?), etc. In short, I'm looking for a school that is strong in all academic areas, so that if I switch majors, I will still have excellent professors in a respected program.</p>

<p>As of now, size and location aren't too important, but the students HAVE to be happy. LACs and Universities are fine, as long as they have strong science departments. I have a list of schools below that are slightly less selective (though still excellent), what else should I add?</p>

<p>Rice, Georgetown, John Hopkins</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>What are your extracurriculars and other activities? Job? Leadership? Sports? Arts? Honors?</p>

<p>Your scores are wonderful and would "qualify" you for virtually any college. However, what will get you into the top colleges will be things like ECs. Your race and living in the Boston area will hurt with Northeastern schools. Those things may be a plus, however, at southern and midwestern schools. Check out Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Davidson, Emory, Washington U., Grinnell, Macalester, Oberlin, Carleton.</p>

3

<p>Hi NSM,</p>

<p>I didn't post my ECs because I'm not really looking for chances, but just additional schools that fit my criteria. Thanks for the excellent suggestions! I will definitely look into those schools, although I'm not sure if I want to go down South. </p>

<p>My ECs:</p>

<p>Sports
Varsity Football 11, 12 (JV 9, 10)
Varsity Lacrosse 10, 11, 12 (JV 9)
Music
Chorus 9, 10
Concert Choir (audition-only) 11, 12
All-male a capella group (student run) 12
Classical piano - take weekly lessons at New England Conservatory, first place state competition (MMTA) this year, 3rd last year
Started my own piano trio, 11 12
Starting a new club with my piano trio members this year, called the Young Musicians Club - gets together musicians to play for fun and at nursing homes, 12</p>

<p>Academic Teams
Math Team 9, 10, 11, 12 no leadership though
Comp Sci Team 11, 12 Captain</p>

<p>Other
Class Officer (Treasurer) 10, 11, 12
Hospital volunteer 9, 10
Write for the town weekly newspaper, covering lacrosse games</p>

<p>There is more but I think that gives a pretty good snapshot of what I do.</p>

<p>Any more college suggestions?</p>

4

<p>I agree with Northstarmom - Your stats are excellent, but your location will hurt you when applying to schools like Harvard, Tufts, Brown, Bowdoin, etc. Look more towards the mid-Atlantic, especially South, and the Midwest.</p>

5

<p>You might wanna check out some public schools too, like the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the University of Virginia</p>

6

<p>Rice, Oberlin, and Hopkins sound like fits. Have you considered University of Chicago, Northwestern, Columbia, Notre Dame, and Cornell? Vanderbilt sounds like a good choice for you.</p>

7

<p>Duke for more Southern/Midatlantic, JHU also not as Northern, Columbia for a city, Rice for Deep South</p>

8

<p>Safeties? Try McGill, or other top canadian universities. Applications are quick and painless (no essays, no ECs required).</p>

9

<p>If you're looking for a school w/ a strong science department, I suggest Carnegie Mellon, although their history department might not be as strong, though I'm really not sure.</p>

10

<p>Students at JHU are not known for being happy and UChicago is renowned as the place where fun goes to die. I would think Dartmouth, Williams, Colgate, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Bucknell would fit your criteria.</p>

11

<p>Northwestern!!!</p>

12

<p>Looking at both History and Computer Science too? High five!</p>

<p>I'd say Cornell is a good place to be, if you like larger places. Same with Berkeley.</p>

13

<p>hate to break it to you but Rice, Georgetown and JHU arent exactly locks for you there.</p>

<p>Consider: Carnegie Mellon, Brown, Lehigh, USC, Cornell, NYU, Michigan and Rochester, Penn, Columbia.</p>

14

<p>You should <em>definitely</em> look into McGill... The academics are great across the board and there is a lot of flexibility within programs. You can take history AND computer sci., phyics, etc... Plus, not only does McGill has an excellent rep worldwide, but Montreal is an amazing city.</p>