Junior Looking for Some College Suggestions

College Search & Selection
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<p>I'm currently a Junior at a highly ranked private HS in New York State. I've got a 94ish GPA with the hardest possible course load (4 APs this year) and though our school doesn't rank, I'd like to think I'm in the top ten percent. I took the November SAT and got a 2280: my score breakdown is 780 Reading 740 Writing 760 Math. I'm signed up for the ACTs in February, haven't studied too much, but I took a practice test and got a 34, which would be great if I could get on the actual test. </p>

<p>I've got a lot of extracurriculars with leadership roles, including: VP of MUN club as a junior, secretary of political advocates club as a junior, Co-Editor of Literary magazine as a junior, active member of science Olympiad (though I hold no leadership role), and I have a good chance of being named a captain to the cross country/track teams as a senior. </p>

<p>Our family is fairly affluent and cost isn't really an issue.</p>

<p>So, what do I want in a college?
I really like politics,philosophy, reading/writing, and scientific processes, so I'll have a difficult time deciding a major, though I am pretty sure I'd like to do something in the social sciences, doing science on the side. I'd like to think I'm a pretty intellectual, well read student, so I don't want to be in an environment with a bunch of meat heads. </p>

<p>I want a school with a considerable amount of athletic and school spirit: where students regularly go to sports games and love their school and their team. But at the same time, I want to be in a place where I can hold an intellectual conversation with someone. Are these two environments compatible?</p>

<p>OK, here's the deal breaker for a lot of schools. Though I don't have much of a preference in location (my only limiting factor is that I want a legitimate campus, no NYUs or Boston University's), I don't want a stiflingly large student body. Though I think I'd prefer an atmosphere about the size of an LAC, I think I'd be willing to extend that to schools with an undergrad student body under 7000: I just want to be in an environment were I can interact with my professors regularly and am not stuck in crazy large lecture halls.</p>

<p>I'm the son of a Naval Academy grad, and though he hasn't pushed me one way or another, I feel like he has taught me the value of naval service. Though I've decided that the Academy isn't for me, it would be pretty cool if there was an NROTC program on campus, though this is not at all necessary. I have no idea if I'd like to go into the navy after college, but its definitely a possibility (though I don't think I'd make it a career). If I do decide to join the navy, I'd be able to enter as an officer, no matter what school I went to, via Officer Candidate School.</p>

<p>So far, I've thought about
Williams (really like this school, maybe ED?)
Duke (too big??)
Stanford(too big???)
Davidson
Bowdoin
Princeton
Bucknell (safety)</p>

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<p>At top schools you can certainly find intellectual conversations and sports enthusiasm. Definitely take a look at Middlebury. Dartmouth is more LAC-like than Stanford and would be worth a look. For schools slightly easier to get into than Midd/Dartmouth, you might want to look at Colgate. Places that seem to be mentioned for intellectual atmosphere but I don’t know about the sports are Rice and Carlton. Swarthmore is always mentioned for intellectual atmosphere but I don’t think sports would be very big there (could be wrong.)</p>

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<p>Vanderbilt is about the right size and has big time sports. Notre Dame is a little bigger. Duke is a good match.</p>

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<p>Might look at Holy Cross-very good combination of academics and school spirit. HC has NROTC and its program has produced several admirals. Duke is another good option.</p>

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<p>I agree that Vandy is a good recommendation? Maybe Notre Dame (about 8k students)? </p>

<p>How did you do on your PSAT? Will you be a NMSF? USC has about 16k undergrads…not too large…but you’d get a scholarship for being NMF. You probably would even get a scholarship even if you aren’t NMF.</p>

<p>*Our family is fairly affluent and cost isn’t really an issue.</p>

<p>*</p>

<p>Have your parents said that they will pay $55k per year for the school of your choice? Many families are affluent, but that doesn’t mean that they are willing to spend that much. Please ask your parents how much they will pay so that you won’t have any disappointments later…and so that you can plan accordingly.</p>

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<p>Seconding mom2collegekids…even for families making $200,000 a year, paying a private-school tuition ($50,000 for quite a few schools) is insane. Figure out what they intend to pay for and in what manner, because it could really affect their quality of life in the next few years.</p>

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<p>middlebury and bates would be worth looking into. hitch123 is right about swarthmore- great intellectual atmosphere but sports are basically nonexistent. also look into upenn.</p>

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<p>I would also add Rice, Boston College, and USC as possible considerations, even though BC and USC are bigger than you want at this moment. All 3 have amazing school spirit!</p>

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<p>How are UPenn sports more involved/better than Swat??</p>

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<p>thanks everyone for the replies. </p>

<p>With regards to family income, my family makes 400K plus–I recognize the blessing I have in this regard and am grateful my parents are willing to do this for me (i’m not some snobby rich kid though).</p>

<p>So I think I’ll apply to Holy Cross instead of Bucknell. They seem pretty comparable in terms of academic quality, but I’m not as interested in Bucknell’s top departments (business and engineering) and I feel like Holy Cross is stronger in more departments (and it has a strong NROTC program too!)</p>

<p>I actually did pretty horribly on my PSAT considering my SAT score. I got a 208 (don’t remember the breakdown) which doesn’t qualify me to be a NMSF.</p>

<p>USC, Rice, Notre Dame,Holy Cross, and Vanderbilt all have NROTC programs, which is definitely something to consider.</p>

<p>Does Rice actually have a lot of school spirit? It seems like a really good option (small size, NROTC program, uni resources) that I should definitely consider.</p>

<p>@ Middlebury, I actually was thinking about it too, but forgot to put it on my list.</p>

<p>USC doesn’t really fit what I’m looking for: it has school spirit, but is in a city, is pretty darn big, and not what I want socially.</p>

<p>What about drinking culture? Frats aren’t something I’m too worried about, but the culture surrounding them is: that crazy partying is something I worry about at schools like Vanderbilt and Notre Dame. </p>

<p>With additions, my list is:</p>

<p>Williams (Maybe ED?)
Princeton
Duke
Stanford
Middlebury
Bowdoin
Davidson
Holy Cross (safety)
SUNY Geneseo (super safety…necessary?)</p>

<p>MAYBEs
Dartmouth
(very similar to Bowdoin and Midd. I have to decide which of the 3 I should apply to, which is something I feel I’ll only be able to decide when I visit, considering how similar they are)
Rice (school spirit??)
Vanderbilt (drinking culture?)
Notre Dame (drinking culture?)</p>

<p>I don’t think I’m going to apply to Bates or BC, though both are good suggestions. BC because i feel its pretty comparable academically and socially to Vanderbilt and Notre Dame, but it doesn’t have NROTC on campus. Bates is another good choice, but I have a friend that applied (he attends colby) and said the town surrounding it is a mess. Comparable academically to HC and Davidson, but I like both more.</p>

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<p>Frankly, no small liberal arts school will have great athletics on a national scale. </p>

<p>You say you’d like NROTC - thats fantastic! Its a great program (but not army!)</p>

<p>Ohio State and Penn State have great NROTC program, offer outstanding athletics and school spirit and are fantastic educational institutions. Id have a look at those. </p>

<p>One question: Will you pursue active duty in the Navy?</p>

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<p>You sound like a Williams kid to me. Have you visited Williams? If not, do that before making an ED decision. </p>

<p>If you already know that you can get by without financial aid, then, yes do apply ED. I agree, however, with the other posters who say have a frank decision with your parents about finances. Able and willing are two different things.</p>

<p>Even if your family has the money to pay full tuition, you might be eligible for merit aid. Don’t eliminate this option until you’ve looked into it. Carleton for example.</p>

<p>If you’re interested in participating in varsity sports in college contact the coaches now.</p>

<p>I think your list is good. While Duke and Stanford don’t have the same ambience as LACs, they are not BIG in the sense of a big State school. Some of the other schools that my son (Williams 07) liked: Hamilton, Kenyon, Wesleyan. I’d definitely put Dartmouth on the list and add Amherst.</p>

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<p>Carleton is not a merit aid school. Only a small amount to NMS, and this student won’t be.</p>

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<p>gloworm, thanks for that clarification. (Good choice, otherwise, though.)</p>

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<p>That’s ok. My 2 were both accepted there (chose not to attend), and their overall aid was the best of need only schools. Way better than Wellesley, CMC, Haverford, others.</p>

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<p>The Holy Cross NROTC unit boasts 15 Navy and Marine Corps flag or general officers and one Secretary of the Navy.</p>

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<p>From what I’ve heard a non-D1 school typically doesn’t have a huge sports culture, especially small LAC’s that put sports behind education :P</p>

<p>Hmm the size thing is an issue though because most schools with good sports are big</p>

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<p>If you really intend to look into Naval ROTC why not look at the Naval Academy? Small classes, traditional Liberal Arts education, big sports support.</p>