Help the world's pickiest girl correct her misconceptions and build a college list!

College Search & Selection
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Hey guys!
I’m incredibly indecisive, incredibly picky, and have an incredibly low opinion of myself. I’m not feeling hopeful for admissions, but like… I need a list of schools!

I’m not gonna turn this into chance me, but I’m a girl from Michigan with good grades/scores, rigorous classes in the context of my school, mainly school/local ecs with a few leadership positions (no president tho), and one state level award. I’m just kind of your averagely strong student… nothing outstanding.

I’m interested in business, Econ, and maybe political science. The field I go into honestly depends on where I end up going to school/the programs I’m admitted to! I’m not super particular yet, but I like numbers, planning, and some creativity!

Here are some things I value in a school.

  1. no lacs, women’s colleges, or religious schools.

  2. Not crazy Greek life. Some is fine, but not the point where the entire school is dominated by it! Think Michigan, not Dartmouth… but no Greek life at all is chill too.

  3. No stress culture. UChicago lowkey sounds like a nightmare, and I really don’t want to deal with classes that are IMPOSSIBLE for the sake of being impossible.

4 strong at business, Econ, and/or poli sci in general. I’m still undecided, so I’d like to keep my options open!! I’d love a school that offers plenty of opportunities for internships (but not northeastern since the co-op schedule isn’t my thing)

  1. nothing super urban or super rural. I want a campus with a surrounding town!

Other considerations:

weather: I hate snow after living with it for 17 years, but like… I’ll tolerate it.

this is vague, but not an overwhelmingly social activist guilt-tripping vibe? I’m super liberal, but I don’t like the performative stuff I often see on social media.

National merit money: I was considering UF, but I know benacquisto’s getting defunded (screw u Florida legislature). I’m still trying to look for money since I’m pretty positive that I’ll qualify for NMSF.

Price is a consideration for sure (complex situation), but I’m willing to take out some loans if needed. I’ll probably get decent fin aid though .

Here’s my huge list of why I’m NOT applying to some colleges:

Reasons why I’m not applying to some colleges:

Princeton: preppy… also idk how I’d write that difficult conversation prompt

Columbia and nyu : nyc isn’t my favorite.

Stanford: I don’t like the startup culture, and I feel like there’s no way I’d get in (not spikey or whatever)

MIT, caltech: I hate physics and would fail immediately. I know I don’t have to major in stem, but there’s physics requirements.

(Also I didn’t take any physics in high school).

Northwestern: greek life, stressful quarter system

John Hopkins: pre-meds are insufferable (no offense)

Duke, Dartmouth, Vandy, : fratty mc fratsters

Brown: too activist + I dislike the smell of weed. Also open curriculum is a little too stressful for me since I like structure!
WashU: autorejected for not being rich

UCs: way too expensive out of state

USC: I’m not hot enough or rich enough

Out of state “public ivys”: waaaaay too expensive to justify attending.

Tufts: activists

Georgia tech: absolute garbage fin aid, stress culture

Tulane: too party-ish. Also I’m not from New York hahahaha

Boston University: I haaaaaate the campus

Case western: I don’t really like Cleveland :frowning:

U Miami: I’m not pretty enough?

Anything below this on us news: I’d rather attend Michigan state or UCF or another affordable safety

Can someone help me out by changing my mind or suggesting other schools?

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SMU. Excellent business, not a lac, no snow, suburban location. 30% Greek life, means 70% don’t participate.

Fordham? Drexel? Boston University? Emory?

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Just want to say that this was one of the most entertaining posts I’ve read in a long time. I hope you can channel some of this creativity and humor into your essay. “fratty mc fratster”. HA! ; )

So, here’s my $.02 - Start with talking to your parents about your budget and run NPCs for schools you are considering. As a NMF and with a strong GPA, you should be able to find affordable schools without taking on debt. (IMO, that should be priority #1). The good news is you have excellent instate options that are going to be hard to beat financially.

Other schools to consider where you could see high merit $ that would fall in line with your criteria -Indiana (Kelley), AL, ASU, Pitt (although if you don’t like Cleveland you may not like Pittsburgh either).

There is no rule that says you have to apply to a ton of schools either. One of my D’s friends applied to one school - a rolling admission safety. Was accepted at the end of September with honors and a full ride. She had the least stressful application cycle of anyone we knew.

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I think it is completely fine to be as picky as you are being. You can only attend one school, you don’t need to be able to find lots and lots; no one should ever feel like they need to apply to more than a couple/few colleges if only a few meet their needs.

Sounds like you already have Michigan State and UCF as two schools you’d be willing to attend that meet your criteria, if you can afford to attend either, look at this as search over - you have two schools to choose from that seem to be low matches with your stats/ecs/etc.

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The University of Texas at Austin should be considered in addition to the University of Michigan.

Brown University in Rhode Island.

College of William & Mary in Virginia / St. Andrew’s University in Scotland dual degree program.

University of Colorado at Boulder.

University of Vermont Honors College. You may learn to love snow here.

If merit scholarship money is a priority, then Arizona State University (ASU) Honors College, University of Alabama Honors College, & the University of South Carolina Honors College should be considered. (All 3 schools are large enough to enable you to find your crowd & all 3 have no snow guarantees.)

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Look at Rice University in Houston. No Greek life, residential colleges instead. Great academics. Liberal student body. You don’t have to commit to a major until end of sophomore year. Good financial aid. Gets high marks for happiest students. Not cut throat. Not preppy.

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Are you in-state for FL?
What is your actual budget? You know that you can only take loans up to ~$27k (total over the 4 years), yes?

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OP lives in Michigan according to her first post.

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Love your post and your honesty. And you have gotten some good suggestions.

I get the feeling you are trying to find the perfect school, and there just may not be one. Have you flipped around the exercise, and ask yourself the reasons TO attend the different schools, rather than the reasons NOT to attend? You are right - you won’t have any schools on your list if it just takes one thing to knock a school out of consideration.

Do you have a wish list of what you want in a school? Maybe if you come up with a list, and rank schools 1-10 on them, you will come up with schools that, while not perfect, are clearly better and giving you what matters to you.

From your post, it sounds like your priorities are: business, internship opportunities, and a social scene that isn’t dominated by partying or politics. You want a medium to large-ish school that isn’t isolated, but not in a city. Good financial aid.

Seems to me that is pretty normal and realistic, and not picky at all. There are lots of schools out there that fit that description, even if not perfect.

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I’ll ask the obvious question: is the University of Michigan on your list?

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While I enjoyed your post (“performative” activism, great term) I think you are oversimplifying and stereotyping and missing a lot of great schools. You yourself put “misconceptions” in the title :slight_smile:

I would not keep this list of no’s and try to understand that every school has all kinds of people in it. Also the open curriculum at a place like Brown has a lot more structure than you seem to think, with intense advising.

By all means go by price, location, size, academics and EC’s available. “Vibe” is certainly important but should not be determined by hearsay or even FB. Try to find ways to actually visit, even if virtually, ask questions and talk to current students.

Why no LAC’s? I always like to suggest “little Ivies” (google it) and Colleges that Change Lives (website, book, fairs).

Overall you are really limiting yourself with incomplete or even erroneous information I think. Where do you get your impressions and info, just curious…

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Cost limitations? Have you run net price calculators on various colleges?

For most students, affordability is the first thing (along with suitable academic programs, but business, economics, and political science are common) that needs to be considered in college choice.

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Go to one of your state schools - University of Michigan is a good choice if you can get in or Michigan State.

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I’d say UMich, Yale, CMU
maybe rice
ameherst, williams

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So the top ranked econ/business programs are UMich, CMU and Yale
If political sciences than rice and williams and harvard

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It’s very culturally religious, right?

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Those honors colleges sound good!! I was actually looking at SC. And William and Mary is a case of “good school, too expensive, too little aid offered.” :frowning:

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100% yes! Applying to Ross and LSA (will try for Econ or poli sci if I’m accepted to LSA only).

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I was definitely checking rice out!! Love the social aspects of it. I’ve heard that they have a brand new business program. I’m not sure how that’ll end up being.

Do they have a good Econ and poli sci program?

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The internet and reddit… lol. I know that I probably seem close minded, but I’ve done a lot of research on school websites and other forums to get a sense of the student body and opportunities offered.

LACs aren’t really my thing because I’ve always wanted a medium-large school with many club opportunities and people. Also, I’m probably leaning towards a more pre-professional vibe

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