...I'm supposed to start researching colleges..

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey,
I'm a junior and my counselor has told us that we NEED to start forming a list and my friend suggested I do this..haha..</p>

<p>It is very unlikely that my stats will change.</p>

<p>Stats:
International (Asian)
Female
Catholic</p>

<p>Private, competitive international school (sends many people to top schools excluding HYPSM)</p>

<p>Rank: Top 20% (there are only 70 people so it's super hard to get in the top 20%...)</p>

<p>UW GPA: 3.81 (w/o freshman: 3.85)
W GPA: 4.0 (no APs allowed in fresh/soph year, no weight for honors) (w/o freshman: 4.13)
Upward trend in GPA</p>

<p>SAT 1: 2320 (800 W w/ 12 essay, 750 CR, 770 M) first try, might retake for math
SAT 2: Math 2C 800, World History 790 (taking Chem might take Bio)
AP: taking Chem, Physics, Macro & Micro Econ this year, taking Calc BC and 2 other APs that I haven't decided yet next year</p>

<p>ECs (haha pathetic)
Mathletes (9, 10, 11, 12)
-- a.k.a. math honor society (must have at least 94 in math class to be a member)
Debate team (10, 11, 12)
-- Parliamentary, Lincoln Douglas debate
Red Cross International Orchestra (11, 12)
-- Played flute first chair
National Geriatric Hospital Volunteer (11, 12)
-- Cooking/serving food for free to elderly
Silver Flower member (11, 12)
-- Organization dedicated to helping impoverished elderly with no children; things we do include delivering coal/rice/clothes and other necessities to elderly people in remote areas</p>

<p>Other:
- I'll be doing an internship at Barclays during this winter vacation and summer vacation
- I've played flute for 8 years as a hobby but haven't participated in competitions (can I still write this?)
- No financial aid necessary (parents make seven digit salary)</p>

<p>Potential major: Finance, accounting, or economics
Interested in either working in banking or going to law school</p>

<p>I would prefer if the school...
- Large/mid-sized
- Large city or near one
- Liberal atmosphere
- Minimal greek life (less than 50%)
- California, Washington, Midwest, Mid-atlantic, DC, Northeast</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Your stats and resume are SOLID and you will have many options for being accepted into a top-notch school: </p>

<p>California- USC, UCLA, UCBerkeley, UCSanDiego, UCIrvine (one application for all UCs, just pay the additional app fee)</p>

<p>Washington- UWashington </p>

<p>Midwest- Northwestern, UMichigan</p>

<p>Northeast/Mid-Atlantic- NYU, Boston College, Boston U, Georgetown, George Washington </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

3

<p>“I’ve played flute for 8 years as a hobby but haven’t participated in competitions (can I still write this?)”</p>

<p>Absolutely - it’s a major activity so it counts.</p>

<p>Sounds like you could just take a list of the top 30 universities and look up which ones are near cities you are interested in and offer your majors. Most would qualify. </p>

<p>To add to jshain’s list: Wash U (St. Louis), University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), Columbia (New York City), University of Chicago (guess) and Cornell (Ithica). </p>

<p>Be cautious regarding the University of California schools - with major budget cuts, students are having difficulty finishing their degrees in 4 years, classes are huge, and there may be more cuts in resources to come. Much of their reputation derives from their outstanding graduate programs.</p>

4

<p>Good universities in major cities:
Northwestern / Univ of Chicago
UCBerkeley
Georgetown
Boston College / Northeastern University
USC, UCLA
NYU</p>

5

<p>I’ll add Reed and Pomona.</p>

6

<p>Georgetown, Boston C, U Chicago, Pomona, Stanford.</p>

<p>Do keep the music in your EC’s. You may even want to submit music supps(?). You have very solid stats -just keep doing what you are doing :).</p>

7

<p>I’ll agree that is one solid resume. I’d sort of scratch Reed off the list its not mid size in anyway. She should probably add Stanford.</p>

<p>But I can see you having lots of choices when you apply.</p>

8

<p>Thanks for the help! I’ll definitely look into those (googling as we speak…haha…)</p>

9

<p>The most accurate source of admissions advice is your own counselor. International schools like yours usually have years of records about college admissions. Your counselor can match your profile with those of previous graduates and tell you where you are most likely to be admitted.</p>

<p>Since money is no object, your overall admissions “chances” are roughly equivalent to those of a US applicant. This is a good thing. You can use any of the college-matching search engines to find places that meet your personal criteria. Here are three to start with. Run all of them because they will pull up different lists:
[College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics)
[College</a> Search - Find colleges and universities by major, location, type, more.](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)
[College</a> Search - College Confidential](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/]College”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/)</p>

<p>Since you are Catholic, you might find something interesting here:
[The</a> National Catholic College Admission Association](<a href=“http://www.catholiccollegesonline.org/index.html]The”>The National Catholic College Admission Association)</p>

<p>If you aren’t afraid of attending a single sex institution, try this list:
[The</a> Women’s College Coalition](<a href=“http://www.womenscolleges.org/]The”>http://www.womenscolleges.org/)
Your profile would be a good match for any of the top five (Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley).</p>

<p>If you are serious about practicing law, you need to have a clear notion about where you would like to do that. In the US, law is a post-graduate program and you would need to finish your undergraduate degree first. You might be better off to complete law school in your home country (or current country of residence) and then come to the US to do advanced studies in law. Read up on that by visiting the websites of the law schools that strike your fancy.</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>

10

<p>Excellent stats, you’ll have choices, just be advised that even with a stellar record like yours, you’re competing with a lot of similarly credentialed people for places at the most selective institutions.</p>

<p>If you’re really interested in finance, you should look at some of the top undergrad business schools:</p>

<p>Penn (Wharton) - can’t be beat for finance, in Philadelphia
MIT (Sloan) - in Cambridge/Boston
UC-Berkeley (Haas) - near San Francisco/Oakland
Michigan (Ross) - well, near Detroit, but Ann Arbor is a great college town
NYU (Stern) - in NYC, need I say more?</p>

<p>Top econ departments as rated by US News would include:</p>

<h1>1 (tie): Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Chicago</h1>

<h1>5 Stanford</h1>

<h1>6 (tie): Yale, UC-Berkeley</h1>

<h1>8 Northwestern</h1>

<h1>9 Penn</h1>

<h1>10 (tie): Columbia, Minnesota</h1>

<h1>12 (tie): NYU, Michigan</h1>

<p>I’d suggest that, as a starter, you apply to a mix of top business schools and universities with strong econ programs. Most of these schools are extremely difficult to get into, so you’ll need to add some “match” and “safety” schools, but I think you could be competitive all the way to the top, so why not start there?</p>

<p>Of the B-schools, definitely apply to Wharton and either Sloan (MIT) or Stern (NYU). I’m also partial to Michigan but it may not meet your “big city” criterion.</p>

<p>As for universities with good econ departments, Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Columbia, and NYU will give you the most big-city feel. Northwestern is quite suburban, but Chicago is easily accessible from there. Penn is definitely urban but I don’t think you can apply to both Wharton and Penn’s undergrad liberal arts college, and given your interests Wharton may be the better fit. Stanford to me doesn’t feel urban at all, but it’s fairly close to San Francisco; great school, though.</p>

<p>As for “match” and “safety” schools: of schools I’ve listed, Michigan (LS&A, for econ) and NYU (undergrad liberal arts, for econ) would be matches or possibly even safeties for you, though I wouldn’t put Michigan in the safety category because they sometimes reject people they think are just using them as a safety. The undergrad business schools at NYU and Michigan are much more selective, however. As between the two, I think Michigan gives a better undergrad education and a better college experience, but that’s a question of taste. A hedging strategy might be to apply to some super-selective B-schools and econ programs, while using Michigan LS&A as a likely-admit match (i.e., almost a safety), then if you end up at Michigan apply for admission to the Ross BBA program as a sophomore, and you’ll be at one of the top undergrad B-schools in the country. </p>

<p>Carnegie-Mellon (Pittsburgh), Emory (Atlanta), Minnesota (Minneapolis), Washington U (St. Louis), and Georgetown (DC) are some other good urban B-school options, easier to get into than the super-selective ones named earlier. Minnesota and Wash U are also good econ department options.</p>