<p>Hello! I am currently finalizing my college list and realizing that it is pretty imbalanced and that I am just not feeling a lot of the colleges that I originally just threw on the list to check out. I would really liked some help finding matches and a safety to apply to.</p>
<p>Stats:
NY State Resident
Dual Citizen (The Netherlands and USA)
33 ACT
2150 SAT (1400 M+CR)
720 SAT Math2
730 Bio
760 Literature
~3.7 GPA, but our school calculates strangely because A+ is still a 3.8/3.9 or something...
School does not offer AP or honors courses. I take courses at JHU Online b/c I ran out of classes at my HS</p>
<p>I am a competitive athlete who trains and travels 9+ months a year and is barely in school (I go to a special school). I am top 30 in the country in my sport and have won international competitions.</p>
<p>Preferences:
--Lots of contact with professors if I want it, but I don't want them to hold my hand
--Small to medium size. I'm fine with larger schools, but I don't want to feel lost in a crowd
--Strong science programs, esp. molecular biology, but also evolutionary biology
--Flexible majors so I could still get a english/history/classics minor or double major
--Equal distribution of the student population among humanities and sciences, and respect for both departments
--Collaborative/Not overly competitive atmosphere
--Good research opportunities because I plan to go to grad/med school
--Mild climate would be nice but I don't really care</p>
<p><strong>I don't qualify for aid and won't be applying for it; parents will pay all.</strong></p>
<p>My Current List:
Harvard
Princeton (prob SCEA)
Stanford
UC-Berekly (they have an amazing Dutch program)
Johns Hopkins
Swarthmore
Pomona
Barnard</p>
<p>Considering, but not sure/not feeling a spark:
Middlebury
Williams
Tufts</p>
<p>For safeties I was considering Grinnell, but I'm afraid it would be too small and a little too quirky for me. Suggestions welcome/encouraged! I need more safeties! However, I really don't like SUNYs or upstate NY...
I was considering UOregon as a safety because I love Oregon and track so I could be happy there if things really don't work out, but my parents don't like that idea haha.</p>
<p>You need more matches and safetys. I’d categorize pretty much most of your schools as reaches/high matches. I’m not exactly sure what type of school you are looking and I’m not sure if you want to continue with your sport and how that might impact your college choice. Are you a recruited athlete? </p>
<p>I’d suggest you get a couple of college guide books (I like Fiske and Princeton Review but there are a lot of them) and look for some other choices. Offhand (I am mostly familiar with east coast schools) a few ideas might be: Lehigh, Villanova, UMiami, Lafayette, Bucknell, USC</p>
<p>No I will not be a recruited athlete because most of the schools I will be applying to don’t have my sport. Some schools do have strong recruited programs, but unfortunately those schools do no interest me AT ALL. </p>
<p>I definitely like USC and I decided to definitely stick with Grinnell. I was also looking into Kenyon but again it is REALLY small. </p>
<p>In terms of preference I don’t like urban schools if that helps… It’s just hard for me to find match/safeties that I feel a spark with.</p>
<p>If this helps… I am a book worm/athlete who wants a studious environment and one where both humanities are sciences are seriously studied and respected. </p>
<p>I looked into Oberlin but it was just too quirky and too out there for me. Shame because it really is a good school. And then Lafayette and Whitman just had unintellectual vibes from the admissions woman and the guides and just rubbed me the wrong way.</p>
<p>I think my list is looking a bit more like:</p>
<p>I think you’d have a good chance at Wellesley. It is equal academically to many reaches but you have a little better admit rate.</p>
<p>For more match/safety what about UW-Madison. My daughter is in grad school there and it is an awesome college town/small city (she loves it). They are a heavy hitter with huge funding for research, and while I don’t know much about Bio, they advertise their access to undergraduate research and bio honors program:
[Undergraduate</a> Research | University of Wisconsin-Whitewater](<a href=“http://www.uww.edu/cls/biology/undergraduate-research]Undergraduate”>http://www.uww.edu/cls/biology/undergraduate-research)</p>
<p>I just have to plug Brown for you as a reach school since it has so many things on your wish list. Strong in premed, neuroscience, applied math, computer science (my daughter was a math/cs major) as well as english/history/classics. The open curriculum is really helpful when you want to explore different areas of study, you write your own program. Great access to professors and undergraduate research opportunities are abundant. My daughter had enough undergraduate research to be accepted to a PhD program directly. She has remarked on the collaborative nature and interdisciplinary focus as being integrated into the school culture. She didn’t always find that atmosphere in meeting with grad schools.</p>
<p>Thanks, the more I look at Brown the more I like it.</p>
<p>My only problem with UW Madison is the overwhelming feeling. Even looking on the website and seeing that there are 10+ schools to apply to (CALS vs Arts and Sciences) seems daunting. Also the research link you provided is more UW-Whitewater… I don’t know if that is different from UW-Madison?</p>
<p>As for Wellesley, I have looked at the school online, but never have felt any spark, but that tends to happen when I visit. I wish I could visit more schools but my athletics schedule keeps me from doing so. </p>
<p>Thanks so much for the advice–definitely got me looking at more schools.</p>
<p>You should visit Williams and see how you feel once you’re there. It seems to fulfill all of your requirements, except for climate. Quite a bit of overlap with Pomona in personality and academics (again, except for the weather!). Excellent sciences, easy to double major and they like athletes. Also Amherst, Hamilton, Bowdoin.</p>
<p>Haverford is very strong in molecular biology, and is in a consortium with Bryn Mawr & Swarthmore. I think it also has a pretty collaborative atmosphere. They aren’t strong in evoluntionary bio, but if you wanted to take a couple of classes in that you could probably go to Bryn Mawr or Swat. It would be a good match for you, I think.</p>