I've got a problem...

College Search & Selection
1

<p>and that problem is this:</p>

<p>I'm a rising Junior. The brochures are coming in the mail, I've been researching online, and every college looks appealing to me. I know you don't necessarily have to have a college that you've always intended to go to, or is your "dream school," but I seriously can't settle on a favorite for more than a week--and my list is very, very long. </p>

<p>So, I've provided my stats and my list of colleges. Another of my problems is that I won't be able to visit colleges for a while, and a lot of my choices are hundreds of miles away from me. If you could tell me what colleges are good fits based on my interests/stats and help me whittle down my list a little bit, that would be so helpful. Even if you have a system that you may have used yourself to choose without an actual visit to help me get my list to a more feasible size, that would be so helpful. Also, if you could tell me what's realistic and what isn't, that's helpful; I know my stats are okay, and my program is rigorous (IB diploma) but it's hard to know.</p>

<p>Thanks so much!</p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>3.8 unweighted, 4.2ish weighted</p>

<p>Freshmen year Schedule:
Advanced Algebra, Honors Physics, Honors Chem, Honors American History, Orchestra, French 2, Student Senate, Seminar in lieu of English. For the first two years of high school, I was in a special, dual-enrolled program that you had to test into through the ACT. I finished my high school english credit at the end of my sophomore year; I will, however, be taking IB english in order to receive an IB diploma. </p>

<p>Sophomore year Schedule:
FST (Functions, Statistics, and Trig), Honors Earth Science, Honors Bio, Seminar in lieu of english, Orchestra, French 3, Latin 1, AP Gov, Honors Econ. My english through my special program was AP english--I took two ap tests. </p>

<p>My AP scores:
Lang. and Comp--Five
Lit. and Comp--Three
Gov--3</p>

<p>Junior year schedule:
IB French, Latin two, IB physics, IB English, IB History, PDM (Pre-Discrete Mathetmatics, basically another kind of pre-calc/review of FST; i.e., my school has a stupid curriculum), Chem 2 and Bio 2. </p>

<p>Senior Year Schedule:
IB french, IB Latin, IB Physics, IB History, Calc, IB english, Theory of Knowledge. </p>

<p>I'm dual-enrolling in English with my AP scores for college credit at the local top 100 university. </p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Swim team (will have three year varsity letter upon graduation, four year member)
Bible Club
Fellowship of Christian Athletes
French Club
Latin Club
Forensics Team
Youth Group
Cello lessons--Taken cello since I was eight
Also to keep in mind is that my special english class was after school hours. </p>

<p>Colleges I'm looking at (either speech path. or law)</p>

<p>Vanderbilt
UNC-Chapel Hill
UCLA
Washington and Lee
Loyola
Columbia
Northwestern
Western Michigan University
Purdue University
University of Virginia
Emerson
Boston college
Penn State
Swarthmore
Williams
Colgate
Duke
Princeton
Yale
Stanford
Harvey Mudd
Hope college
Kalamazoo College</p>

2

<p>Well, I can’t tell you what would be a good fit yet, but let me help you this way. What is important for you in a college? I assume good general academics/prestige, but in addition to this, what else? Cost? Location? Urban vs. rural? Size?</p>

3

<p>Whoa, I suggest you take two aspirin and call me in a year. But really, you’re doing all you can and you have another ten months before you have to start taking your “list” seriously. Enjoy your Junior year, do well, and continue your research into colleges. You’ll feel a lot better in a year … trust me.</p>

4

<p>saejinbilly: good general academics is definitely on the list, prestige–not necessarily.
I’d prefer bigger over smaller and definitely not rural. </p>

<p>Newhope33: As soon as I was done with sophomore year and began the summer, whenever I’d meet someone or talk to someone who I had talked with in a while, their first question was: “Oh, you’re a junior? Where are you going to college?” And I had no idea, so I began looking and kind of opened a minefield. But you think I should wait? Everyone–including colleges that have sent me brochures, my school, and people I’ve talked to-- has been telling me to start now and figure out what i want rather than wait, especially in regards to EA/ED and scholarships.</p>

5

<p>If you want bigger rather than smaller then you can cross Williams, Emerson and Swarthmore off of your list. If you don’t want rural then you can also cross Colgate off of your list.</p>

<p>When you go to visit colleges that will really help you zero in on where you want to go. The schools feel very different from one another and you’ll develop strong preferences based on your visits.</p>

<p>You need to learn to not listen to what Joe Pedestrian has to say about you and colleges. My daughter applied to private schools and I could not believe how controversial it was. People got mad that she didn’t want to go to the big State University, I’m not kidding. It was like we were making a statement against the University, and that wasn’t it, she just didn’t want to go there.</p>

6

<p>^^ Yes, it’s a minefield at this point. You don’t know your SAT scores or whether you’ll make NMS finalist. You don’t know your post-Junior year GPA or class rank. You don’t know what kind of college/university you’re looking for, and may not know how much your parents are willing to spend. You don’t know how the economy or demographics is going to effect college admissions two years hence. Basically there are a lot of missing pieces. I do know that your final list won’t contain both Emerson and Swarthmore. Williams and Western Michigan? Penn State and Princeton? Kalamazoo and Northwestern? Besides, trying to live up to others’ expectations is a waste of your talent. JMHO of course.</p>

7

<p>I agree with NewHope. It’s much too early to be trying to create a serious list yet.</p>

<p>My suggestion at this stage would be to visit a few local colleges. Although you may not be very interested in them, visits can help you identify characteristics that you like and thus narrow down what you’re looking for in a college.</p>

8

<p>My first thought is you’ve got plenty of time. Second thought is you should also apply to Penn as they have fantastic psych and linguistics (which I presume would relate to speech pathology), and great pre-law success rates as well with the Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE) major and International Relations (IR) major.</p>

9

<p>Thanks, guys. It’s reassuring to hear that I should be waiting–everyone has just been putting on undue pressure it seems like. Phew! Haha. </p>

<p>However, newhope33, i’m a little confused by your second comment. You said: “Emerson and Swarthmore. Williams and Western Michigan? Penn State and Princeton? Kalamazoo and Northwestern?” I guess I don’t get the point you’re trying to make, here–are you commenting about the range of the colleges listed? I know the range that I’m looking for will be easier to know once I’ve done ACT/SAT, finished junior year, etc., but isn’t every list supposed to comprised from safeties and reaches? Also, some made the list because of their financial feasibility for my family.</p>