Junior looking for safeties/matches/reaches

Parents Forum
1

<p>I was told the people here would have some ideas for where I could apply to :)</p>

<p>I'm looking for what my possible reaches, matches, and safeties are for colleges in California and the East Coast.</p>

<p>I'd like the college to be either suburban/urban (not rural) and not too small. It should have a strong humanities dept - I really don't care about the sciences too much. And I also would probably feel uncomfortable at a really social, super-party college. Other than that I'm open to any suggestions you can give me.</p>

<p>White Female
California</p>

<p>GPA: 3.87UW/4.16W
Rank: School doesn't rank, but probably top 10%</p>

<p>PSAT:207
SAT I: 2200 (760CR,640M,800W - best sitting)
2260 (760CR, 700M, 800W - best composite)
SATII: Lit 760, Japanese 620 (retaking), taking chem & US history in May</p>

<p>By the end of high school, I'll have taken AP US, AP Chem, AP Lit, AP Physics, and AP Calc AB. Maybe AP Japanese (if it's offered)</p>

<p>Community College classes:
Intro to Linguistics (A)
Cultural Anthropology (A)
Probably Anthropological Linguistics in 12</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Badminton JV, 9-10
CSF, 10-12
Went to Japan for 2 weeks before 11, homestay
Student Ambassador to Japanese "Sister City" before 12 (4 ppl were selected and given a $1000 scholarship each)</p>

<p>Self-study Russian, 2 years
Writes (written a novel, but it's not published or anything)
Piano, 10 years</p>

<p>Second semester of junior year, I got a disease called Bell's Palsy, where one side of my face became paralyzed (it still hasn't gone away yet). My grades have dropped a little and I'm too tired to do much outside of school, so I'm hoping colleges will recognize that...</p>

<p>I'll probably end up majoring in something that has to do with foreign languages, ancient history, classics, or linguistics. It's important that the colleges I apply to are good in at least a few of these areas.</p>

<p>I'm also looking into applying to foreign colleges. What are some good English-speaking schools, particularly in Europe? They don't have to be in the UK, but the classes need to be taught in English.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>"What are some good English-speaking schools, particularly in Europe? They don't have to be in the UK, but the classes need to be taught in English"</p>

<p>Well you can apply to Oxbridge(England), University of Edinburgh(Scotland), University of York(England). All these unis are excellent in the courses that you mentioned.</p>

3

<p>You have a few similarities to my D, but your stats are higher. Emory in Atlanta has everything you want. Middlebury (VT) is also a great school for languages, but it might be too small for you. </p>

<p>Indiana University is not east coast, but has an outstanding humanities/languages program and would probably be a safety for you.</p>

4

<p>I second Binx on Indiana. Don't overlook the Midwest!</p>

5

<p>Delaware / Maryland / Rutgers / Penn State</p>

6

<p>safety/match: University of Richmond, George Washington, American U, Goucher outside Baltimore.
Although you said no rural, Smith, Amherst, Mt Holyoke, U Mass, Hampshire have a very nice college environment.
Have you looked at Lewis and Clark or Reed on the West Coast?</p>

<p>Do you have a good diagnosis for your Bell's Palsy? Sometimes that is a symptom of other diseases.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

7

<p>Though it's good for languages, Middlebury might be too rural and isolated for you. Vassar, Wellseley, Brandeis, Tufts and Barnard on the east coast come to mind. In the west, I agree that Reed or Lewis & Clark in Portland could be to your liking, or one of the Claremont colleges (Scripps or Pomona). I know that UCSB has a great Portuguese department, but don't know if it's strong in other languages, it or other UC's might be good safeties for you since you're in state.</p>

<p>Sorry, I don't know much about foreign colleges.</p>

<p>Another fact to consider, do you need merit aid or will you qualify for financial aid? Most of the schools I've listed are need only, however, Brandeis, Scripps and L&C do have some merit aid.</p>

8

<p>Yes, I've gone to the doctor and gotten MRI scans and all that stuff, so now I just have to sit back and wait for it to go away. Which really sucks, but there's nothing I can do about it, sooo....</p>

<p>Does anyone know if Brown University or UChicago might be good choices? I heard Chicago has a really strong core curriculum though, so I'm not sure I'd like that. I really want a chance to take random classes that fit all my interests :)</p>

<p>As for the aid part - I'll probably need merit aid.</p>

<p>Any other colleges?</p>

9

<p>Brown has an excellent cognitive & linguistic sciences program and of course an open cirriculum. No merit aid however, need based only.</p>

10

<p>By the way, I had another question - what does everyone know about Oxbridge (particularly Oxford) - is it worth it to get a degree from there? Would those in America consider it to be a degree matching a top US college?</p>

11

<p>I'm glad to hear you are on top of the health issues.
Merit aid can be hard to come by in these top schools.
University of Rochester offers some.
Sometimes top schools offer oddball scholarships that were funded very restrictively. It might be worth doing searches for scholarships on each school's website.</p>

12

<p>Oxford is very prestigious; also very difficult to get into. The likely valedictorian at S's school was rejected at Oxford this year. According to a friend with kids at school in England, the preparation is quite different in the UK: students are required to take rigorous exams in h.s. in an array of subjects and then specialize in one area and follow through with that major in college. It makes the core at U. Chicago look downright flexible. St. Andrew's in Scotland has many international students so that might be a realistic choice.</p>

13

<p>Mm, yeah, that's what I was worrying about - not being able to switch courses. Thanks for the info :)</p>