Based on what you wrote above, it looks like your criteria for a college/university are:
- competitive to get in but also easier to get into. Those are 2 opposite things, by the way.
- some place "fun." What do you consider fun?
- some place that offers business or law majors. Law isn't a major as an undergrad. Technically, you could major in anything in order to apply to law school. Law school entails an incredible amount of writing. Pages and pages of writing. And a mountain of reading. 3 years of super hard work. My sister is a lawyer. She worked her butt off in law school.
- a big school with 'a diversity of students.' What's your definition of a 'big school'? ASU has something like 70-80,000 students. I think Notre Dame is something like 15,000 or so (but look at their website for the actual totals). Huge difference.
- some place that has sororities and fraternities. Most schools have this. But some have a much bigger % of students participating in Greek life than at other schools.
Right now, your criteria are too broad and not defined enough. But it’s a decent start. You said that you didn’t want advice, but I’m going to give you some anyway because most of the time, the average high school counselor gives out lousy advice on applying to college, thus leaving many students in the lurch when they don’t get into their dream school.
Step 1: Reach, target, safety schools
This is where the CDS (Common Data Set) information available on each of those schools’ websites is useful. A ‘reach’ school would be a university where your GPA & test score stats have you in the lower end of the range of current freshmen accepted/admitted into the school. A reach school could also be a target in terms of your GPA & test scores, but is a Reach financially (i.e., you can’t attend unless you get additional financial aid).
By the way, a “Safety” school is NOT just a college where you absolutely know that you’ll get in. Here on CC, “safety school” usually = you know that you’ll get in (based on where your stats are in that school’s Common Data Set), you know that you can afford it, and you will be happy/satisfied to go there. If the school only satisfies 2 of those 3 criteria, then it’s not really a safety.
Step 2: Does it offer a major that you’re interested in?
There’s a lot of variety in this. Some majors are common just about everywhere. But some of the schools your looking at might be better at that major than others. Or maybe there’s something unique about the curriculum for those majors that intrigues you more than those same majors at the other schools. This will require you to go yourself into those colleges’ websites and look up the information on each of the majors you’re interested in.
Step 3: “Fun”
Since it sounds like this is a big thing for you, you need to define what “fun” means. Does it mean big football and basketball games? Does it mean something like 40% of the student body is in a sorority or fraternity? Does it mean the college offers specific clubs or special interest groups that you’re interested in? Does it mean that it has certain club sports that you want to participate in?
Step 4: Finances
Exactly how much can you and your parents afford? You need specifics. Something like “my parents are loaded and they can afford anything” isn’t specific. You know what’s specific? “My parents have budgeted up to $70,000/year for 4-5 years of college.”