I don't know where to apply!

College Search & Selection
1

Hi all!

So I’m coming into my Senior year and I’m having some college anguish. I’ve put together what I think is a decent list but I don’t really have a certain desire to go to any particular college at this point. More than anything else, I’m just looking for some advice on potential colleges.

For background, I am a CT resident and money is not exactly an issue, but I will consider it. I have special interest in west coast colleges, and I’m looking to go into some sort of chemistry major, leaving open the possibility of medicine school. If all else fails, I’m also quite interested in astrophysics.

As far as my sort of “stats” go, I have a
3.95 UW gpa
2290 SAT (old)
34 ACT
800 SAT Math II
790 SAT US History
740 SAT Chem

I am in marching band, 1st trumpet in a 3rd-place (Berklee Jazz Festival) jazz band, wind ensemble, varsity tennis, xc and indoor track, volunteer in music lessons, tutoring, World language honors society, some awards…

I’ve managed to make what I think is a pretty decent list of colleges so far, and I was wondering if anyone would be willing to give me their opinions on whether or not any college would be a good fit, or if there are any I should truly consider. In terms of size, I would prefer to go to a school with lots of spirit and activities, like sports and such, but I also want to go somewhere where I feel like I can connect with teachers and students. And I do NOT want to be stranded out somewhere in the middle of nowhere! I understand that it is pretty much impossible to do things like this over the internet, but any response or opinion would be greatly appreciated!

Stanford
MIT
Harvard
UC Berkeley
Harvey Mudd
Pomona
Rice
Tufts
UCSD
UNC

2

I don’t see any safety schools, which are schools that you know you can get in for sure.

3

UC Berkeley/UCSD are very expensive OOS (I think about $56K) and they don’t give any FA, just a heads up.

4

All of these schools are reaches. You need some safety and match schools. I will throw a few out there, but there are lots more - UConn, Ohio State, Tulane ( you need to show interest in Tulane), U of Pittsburgh.

5

UNC Chapel Hill? Another hard one for OOS. You don’t even have a true match school as far as I can tell, except for maybe Rice. You need to find at least one safety and ideally a couple of matches.

6

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money is not exactly an issue, but I will consider it.


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That is an odd statement. What are your parents saying about how much they’ll pay each year?

7

If you are planning on medical school, I’d take off Harvey Mudd. It’s a GPA killer.

8

Thanks for the responses!

Yes, one of the biggest issues I have is that I’m not sure I have any match or safety schools, and I would appreciate some more recommendations: I’ve thought about Virginia Tech, Northeastern…

Sorry for the confusing money statement; the thing is my parents have assured me that they can afford pretty much any school I choose to go to. However, I personally don’t feel comfortable relying on my parents to put me through college on such a high budget. So, while pretty much any tuition would be within our grasp, I would be more comfortable with a cheaper option. The real issue here is that I value my education above that cost, and so I would say that the quality of education of a certain school would trump the issue of cost.