<p>I'm a high school junior, and I'm starting to seriously develop a list of schools that I'm interested in. I'll almost definitely do some sort of science major, most likely biology, but I'm also interested in international relations and all sorts of things. I'd also prefer to be in an urban area, or at least suburban with easy access to a fair-sized city.</p>
<p>So far, this is what I'm seriously considering:
Johns Hopkins
Tufts
Brown
Yale
George Washington (honors program)
Carnegie Mellon
Washington University
University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana (in-state)
University of Wisconsin Madison
University of Indiana Bloomington (with legacy)</p>
<p>Any suggestions? I especially need ideas for more safeties because most of those are in the low-reach area, I'd guess.</p>
<p>At this point, I’m not exactly sure what’s going on with financial aid. I’ll request it, but it’s not like I’ll need a full ride or I won’t be able to go to college.</p>
<p>And I’m Jewish, so I’m not so into the noticeably religious schools, but thanks for the suggestion, par72!</p>
<p>Vanderbilt Univ., one and half miles from downtown Nashville. Large pre-med program, full slate of liberal arts (don’t know specifically about IR). Probably somewhere in the middle of the group in your original post in terms of getting in (although I don’t know a thing about your record). About 6100 undergraduates, but campus includes grad school and professional schools.</p>
<p>Check out the Hillel.com search (<a href=“http://www.hillel.org/HillelApps/JLOC/Search.aspx[/url]”>http://www.hillel.org/HillelApps/JLOC/Search.aspx</a>) for number of Jewish students at a given school. I checked out a bunch of Jesuit schools there –<em>Fordham, BC, Georgetown– and there’s a sizable Jewish population at all of them. I’ve got the same issue – I want to be in a school with other Jews, but you shouldn’t worry –</em>most good schools have plenty of people of every religious background.</p>
<p>Check out University of Pittsburgh and University of Denver as good safeties–both are good schools with nice campuses in great cities and both schools have sizeable Jewish populations.</p>
<p>As for my stats, I really couldn’t give a whole ton at this point. I’ve gotten 34 when practicing the ACT and I’m expecting somewhere around 2200 for the SAT based on PSAT stuff. Without going into detail, about everything, I’ve got what I would call satisfactory ECs with solid grades… my unweighted GPA as of now is 3.89/4, though that includes fine arts classes and such. I’m in my first AP classes this year - economics and English language - and I plan on taking 5 next year. (I’ve been in honors classes since freshman year, though.)</p>
<p>If that helps anyone at all, I’d love more responses!</p>
<p>Best safety I can think of would be American University.</p>
<p>Right in Washington D.C., amazing for international relations. Amazing for a safety school in terms of connections and job opportunities after, too.</p>