I need help with finding the right schools!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a rising senior looking to find good matches and reaches to apply to. I already have two safeties that I think fit me pretty well - UIUC (in-state, dad's alma mater) and University of Colorado-Boulder (I love this campus and I love Colorado! mom's alma mater). However, please let me know if you think I need better safeties.</p>

<p>What I'm looking for in a school (most important to least important):
-academic reputation
-D1 athletics with lots of school spirit
-highly ranked engineering or computer science programs
-attractiveness of the student body
-frat scene
-academic flexibility (easy to change majors, not a ton of required classes)
-good study abroad program
-good reputation in CO (where I'd like to live when I'm older)</p>

<p>Objective:
- ACT: 33 (35 E, 35 M, 34 R, 29 S)
- SAT II: taking Math II, USH, and Bio in October (I know, I really put it off - expecting 750-800's)
- Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): over a 4.0
- Rank: 5/200ish with upward trend
- AP: none yet - only 2 AP courses offered at my school. I was told the lack of opportunities at my school wouldn't hurt me. Thoughts?
- Senior Year Course Load: most rigorous throughout high school - AP Lit, AP Calc (BC isn't offered), Physics, Spanish IV, Micro/Macro Econ, American Government, Athletic PE (required for all athletes)
- Major Awards: All-State Soccer, All-Sectional Soccer, 2-time All-Conference Soccer, 2-time Academic All-Conference Soccer/Basketball, broke hs soccer record for most assists in career</p>

<p>Subjective:
- Extracurriculars: Student-Body President, Varsity Soccer Captain, 9 years of travel soccer, Varsity Basketball Captain, NHS, Spanish Club, 5 years of piano, Fellowship of Christian Athletes
- Job/Work Experience: Soccer referee for the area youth league, basketball referee for saturday youth league, daily yard work for my dad >:(
- Volunteer/Community service: ~100 hours through sanctioned activities for NHS, Special Olympics Basketball Referee, Organized our town's Christmas Parade, ~50 hours with my church
- Summer Activities: Usually consumed with soccer and basketball camps and soccer tournaments - I try to find time to do a bit of computer programming, reading, going to the pool, hanging out with friends, and learning new things through online classes at Stanford/MIT</p>

<p>Other:
- State:IL
- School Type:Public
- Ethnicity:Caucasian
- Gender:M
- Income Bracket:250-300k
- Hooks: This isn't a hook, but I'm being recruited by many schools for soccer (UChicago, WUSTL, and other small Midwest schools). I really love playing soccer and I want to play in college; I don't care if it's for a varsity team or club team. The schools I'm really interested in haven't had the chance to see me play, but I would be able to email the coaches of the schools I'm applying to to ask about the possibility of walking on. Would this help me at very competitive schools if a coach let admissions officers know that I would be a walk on if admitted?</p>

<p>Final Comments:
I realize that one of my biggest weaknesses is pursuing my academic interests outside of the classroom. Being kept so busy with sports has kept me from doing anything spectacular like a lot of the people on CC. I really am very interested in computers and engineering, but the only thing I've been able to do is teach myself programming languages and I have nothing to show for that. How will colleges look at my involvement with sports when trying to see if I have any academic interests outside of school?</p>

<p>Thank you for reading my thread! :)</p>

2

<p>davidson college
vanderbilt
unc chapel hill</p>

3

<p>@zobroward would those be reaches or matches for me?
Also, would any of the Ivies be a good fit for me?</p>

4

<p>I will not even pretend to know what flips the accept/reject switch for them! if you can take a couple of trips and see as many schools around the country as possible it will help you a lot ! vanderbilt has a great rep., lots of greek life, sports, and great freshman retition rate (very important indicator i.m.o.)unc chapel hll also is like vanderbilt in many ways. davidson is smaller which I like myself but,maybe a turn off to others!</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the info zobroward!
Bumppppppppp</p>

6

<p>I skipped the first paragraph and once I finished I immediately thought of UC Boulder, but it seems you’ve got that already. </p>

<p>I second Vanderbilt. Lots of school spirit, highly ranked overall with plenty of prestige to go around, pretty large frat scene, and I can’t imagine switching majors would be too difficult. It is a reach but not too large of one. You’d have a good shot.</p>

7

<p>Sounds like I should apply to vandy!lol</p>

<p>Any other schools?</p>

<p>Sent from my ADR6400L using CC</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>Chicago is “recruiting” students for soccer?
I’m not sure exactly what that means … but apparently times have changed.</p>

<p>Anyway, you sound like a Stanford or a Duke person.
Also check out USC, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Berkeley, Texas, Michigan, and Wisconsin.</p>

9

<p>@tk21769 yes, just about every school with a soccer program is actively recruiting potential athletes that could be a good fit for their school, including Chicago. Thanks for the suggestions though!</p>

<p>bummmmpppppp</p>

<p>I’ve noticed that nobody has mentioned any Ivies. Some of my friends are asking me if I’ll be applying to any Ivies, but I really haven’t done any research on them and I have no idea if I’d be a good fit. Would any of those schools be a good fit for me?</p>

10

<p>bummmmpppppp</p>

11

<p>Maybe Northwestern? Fits most of your criteria. :-)</p>

12

<p>Brown, Columbia, Cornell</p>

13

<p>@ECAdmStudent @barrk123 thanks both of you!</p>

14

<p>Go to U of I.</p>

<p>According to the school’s admissions website, the middle 50% of incoming freshman in engineering scored between a 30 and 34 on the ACT, so you would likely receive some merit aid (along with only having to pay in-state tution). Also, although your stats are excellent, the statistics I just quoted mean that around 25% of the people in engineering will have scored higher than you on the ACT, so I would be wary of viewing UIUC as a “safety school”. </p>

<p>I graduated from UIUC, and all of my friends who studied Biology, Chemistry, or Engineering there are doing well professionally. One of them went to Cal Tech and received his PhD in Chemistry. Another (a Bio major) is a researcher at Harvard. Another one was accepted to med school and is now a foot surgeon in the suburbs of Chicago. Finally, one other guy from my dorm floor received his PhD in Mech. Engineering from Cal-Berkeley and worked in Paris, France for awhile.</p>

<p>It sounds sexy to consider all of these other prestigious schools, but the reality is, a U of I education will adequately prepare you for a career in any field that you would like to pursue. I grew up near Lincoln (close to B-N), and I am so glad that I chose U of I. Not only did I receive a world-class education, but I was able to have a lot of fun in college. From watching the Illini basketball and football teams, to enjoying after-hours parties at my fraternity, there was never a dull moment in Champaign.</p>

15

<p>Columbia has a huge core curriculum, so very little academic flexibility in selecting courses. Most of the Ivies aren’t going to have a D1-like sports culture or large amounts of frats etc. They may be a sports league but all emphasis academics over sports.</p>

16

<p>@Bill73 I live in Lincoln! Small world. If UIUC shouldn’t be a safety, do you have any suggestions? I would probably be very happy there, but there are a few problems I have that is making me consider other schools. It may end up that I don’t have to pay full price at some of these “sexy” schools because of soccer scholarship aid - UIUC doesn’t even have a team. Also, I don’t particularly like the campus and I want to live farther away from home than ~40 minutes. Do you have any other suggestions besides UIUC?</p>

<p>@PAGRok thank you!</p>

<p>Sent from my ADR6400L using CC</p>

17

<p>The B1G schools.</p>

<p>Penn State
Illinois
Northwestern
Michigan
etc.</p>

18

<p>@ArKhAiK a B1G sounds fun
Can anyone else help me with some good safeties if UIUC isn’t a good one?</p>

<p>Sent from my ADR6400L using CC</p>

19

<p>Purdue would appear to be a good out of state choice top consider.</p>

20

<p>The Validity,</p>

<p>You will definitely get into UIUC. However, I just wanted to caution you that most of the people that study engineering there are very bright - all scored 30+ on the ACT and finished in the top 10% of their high school class. As a result, if you did end up matriculating there, I wouldn’t want you to go in thinking you could coast in class and get straight As. It doesn’t work that way. </p>

<p>Be very careful about soccer “scholarships”, especially if it’s not a D1 school. My friends played football at D3 schools, and one of them had his academic/athletic scholarships reduced every year he was on campus. My friend kind of felt like he was misled by his college regarding this scholarship money, and he actually ended up transferring to UIUC to finish college.</p>

<p>As far as safety schools are concerned, Purdue was the first school I applied to in high school. Since I was 99.9% sure I would get into UIUC, I tried to see if I could get a free ride at Purdue, but they didn’t offer me much merit aid. I heard back from Purdue very shortly after I applied (much sooner than I heard back from Illinois), so that would be a good safety school for you IMO.</p>