Hi everyone, I’m an incoming senior who’s really flip-flopped around a lot when approaching the college search. Part of the issue is that I’m not sure what I want to major in. I’ve attended a very STEM-focused top public school (each year we generally have a couple Intel semi/finalists, kids in SIMR/RSI, AIME/olympiad qualifiers, etc), and while I’ve generally been towards the top of STEM courses and my math/science standardized testing is solid, I’ve always felt that, in STEM fields, I have to work considerably harder than the wunderkinds around me in order to perform well. In English/Humanities-oriented subjects, I haven’t had to work particularly hard, and I’ve done well in English and Social Science projects on a regional/natl. level, but I’ve rarely faced the level of competition in the humanities that I face in STEM fields on a pretty much daily basis in school.
Ultimately, this situation has led me to a lot of indecision regarding what I want to focus on academically in college–I enjoy STEM, but know I’m not at the same level as the very top kids, and I enjoy the humanities, but don’t really know how well I stack up against the top humanities kids–so I’m really hoping to be able to attend a school that will give me flexibility in my pursuits. I’m also hoping to go somewhere with a really intense academic environment; I’m fine with partying, but would enjoy a school that has a lot of serious, intellectual kids as well.
Stats are ok: GPA is a bit low, (~3.7ish) but with a massive upward trend in both grades and course rigor (UW 3.1 frosh / 3.8 soph / 4.0 jr.), and a very valid justification for the poor freshman year; ACT 34/11W; PSAT probably commended (I’m a California resident; I might make NMSF but highly doubt it), sports and club leadership and awards; some basic biochem lab work, mostly on protein purification; a fair amount of Model UN stuff.
The only schools I’m sure I’ll apply to right now are Swarthmore, UChicago and Georgetown.
I’ll probably also end up applying to a few UCs as my UC GPA is ~4.2ish capped and instate tuition is a plus, but I don’t know how great a cultural fit I’d be at most of them.
Family is, thankfully, able to pay full, but I (and, no doubt, my parents!) would be happy to receive suggestions for schools that might offer merit aid.
I would enjoy having fairly easy access to major cities, and would like to avoid super conservative areas, but other than that don’t really have any major qualms with location. I’d like to avoid super isolated small colleges, but otherwise am fine with most sizes of schools.
tl;dr I’m a decently solid stats kid, very much unsure of what I want to do with my academic career, and looking for schools that can provide a really engaging learning experience. I would highly welcome any and all suggestions for schools that I should take a look at.
Thanks!