help with college list

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello everyone- i've been lurking on these boards for awhile, and decided its now time to post!</p>

<h2>I have some specifics that i'm looking for in a school, but i'm not sure where to start.</h2>

<p>Me: White female, very competitive public high school in CT (send tons of students each year to top LACS and unis), will be a senior this fall.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.75 (uw), 3.98 (w)- highest weighted gpa possible is 4.3
class size is 275. school doesnt rank. 3 AP classes, the majority of the rest are honors.
SAT I: 2100 (700 on each section)
SAT IIs: will be taking them in the fall.</p>

<p>ECs:
Concert Band- 9,10,11,12
Pep Band- 9,10,11,12</p>

<p>Field Hockey- 9,10,11,12
Ice Hockey- 10,11,12
Lacrosse- 9
Golf- 10,11,12</p>

<p>Yearbook staff- 9,11</p>

<p>Religious youth group- 9,10,11,12 (VP of community service)
one on one Hebrew school Tutor for 5th graders- 10
Hebrew tutor for special needs adults- 11,12
Weekly Jewish culture night classes- 9,10,11,12</p>

<p>Started my own summer camp in my backyard- 10 neighborhood children come over from 4-6pm on summer weekday afternoons so their parents can run errands/make dinner/chores/etc. each day has a special theme and a wide variety of activites going with that theme.
also TONS of babysitting</p>

<p>random community service projects (clothing drive, tag sale for charity, various walkathons, volunteer at synagogue carnival, band play-athons)- i know these dont really count though.</p>

<p>National Honor Society- 11,12
National Spanish Honor Society- 11,12
National Latin Honor Society- 11,12
National French Honor Society- (will be inducted next year)</p>

<h2>^^ i'm potentially the only one in the history of my high school to take 3 different languages- Spanish since 6th grade, Latin since 9th grade, and French since 10th grade, and to be in all 4 honor societies. i also skipped a level of french- went from 1, to 3Honors to 4 honors)</h2>

<p>Now, what i want in a college:
it MUST be within 6 hours of CT.
it MUST have a campus.
it MUST have under 10,000 students.
it MUST have a nice sense of community/friendly students
it MUST have a good balance of academics and social life</p>

<p>-it would be nice if it was a beautiful campus, but as long as its not a depressing campus, i dont care.
-i'm thinking about majoring in psychology or foreign languages. (definitely not the hard sciences!)
-i dont care what kind of city/town it is in.
-not too preppy (i dont want everyone popping their collars!)
-despite my obvious jewish background, i dont really care if it has religious affiliation (as long as there is some form of jewish community), but i wouldnt be comfortable going to a school with names like Holy Cross or Catholic U.
-approachable professors would be nice!</p>

<p>Here is where I'm thinking about so far:
Brown (huge reach)
Tufts (reach)
Connecticut College (match?)
UConn honors (GC assured me i would get in)</p>

<p>but after that, i'm stuck. i want to start with a list of 10 or so to visit over the summer. please help!</p>

2

<p>I'm in the same Jew boat as you. But it also seems that you like the same kind of schools that I do. If you ask me, a school that fits your criteria very well is Brandeis. </p>

<p>Its right outside of Boston, has about 3000+ undergrads, it has a very nice campus and seemed like a very friendly place to be (to me at least). It is known for having very good acedemics.
Oh yeah, and although its not a Jewish school, about 50% of the student body is Jewish.</p>

<p>I'm not an expert or anything, but I do know that I liked Brandeis when I visited a lot.</p>

3

<p>I'd say that the schools you put are good choices. Wesleyan, Columbia, Amherst & Williams would also be good choices for you. But the latter three would all be huge reaches, while Wesleyan would be a Match. You'd probably like Brandeis too, which would be a Match.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>thanks for the advice. im hesitant on brandeis- i think it might be not diverse enough for me, and i also heard that the campus is very blah and not big on partying (i dont want to party every night of the week, but weekends i will want to have fun!). i think i will stop by there when i go see tufts though, just to see.
thanks!</p>

5

<p>Ehhh, you might be right about the diversity thing. I was concerned it would be like just Jewish, but it really wasn't. The campus was very nice though, I liked it a lot.</p>

<p>The castle was kind of ugly, but how many colleges can say they have a castle?</p>

6

<p>you have a nice list to start. middlebury is known for their language program, but it might be too preppy for you. maybe bates, colby, vassar, colgate (alsoon the preppy side) for matches? skidmore for a safety. what are you thoughts on womens schools? barnard would be a nice match, welleselly would be a reasonable reach</p>

7

<p>Wow a Jew who plays hockey? jPoD is in <3 <3 <3 :)
You'd def. like some of the Mass schools, BU would be a nice match for you. You'd probably be fine at Tufts. UConn honors would be a nice safety for you. :)</p>

8

<p>I highly suggest Vassar College, there's no way you can not have it on your list. Its so much fun, diverse, liberal, has a good jewish life, and isn't that far away. Wesleyan would also be a very good option.</p>

9

<p>Colgate is ~ 25% Jewish and seems to fit the other criteria you have. People who like Brown & Vassar seem to like Wesleyan too, although that may be too close to home.</p>