junior starting college search..

<p>hello, i'm now starting to begin to look for colleges.. so help would be appreciated =)</p>

<p>stats , Asian male
GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.56 W
Class rank: 3/61 (small competitive private school)
SAT: 720 CR 780 M 800 W
Most rigorous courseload taken
SAT II: 800 korean (heh); planning on taking USH, Bio, Math IIC, expecting 750+ for all of them</p>

<p>ECs
AMC 2nd place
PSAT commended probably (219)
Math League (3 years so far)
Varsity Soccer 3 years so far
Published in school literary magazine
2 time school scholarship award recipient for character and academic excellence
Regularly write stuff on my own about philosophy, doctrinal stuff, church history etc if that helps
Community Service Club (3 years so far; on the board, organized all of this year's club activities; the newsletter editor)
Co-started this year's big service project, published in local newspapers, trying to raise $4000 (only $1500 to go!)
On the school's student life committee (1 of 2 students who represent our school)
Regularly tutor 2 kids in math, chemistry (3 hrs a week maybe?)
Student leader in church since freshman year (mentoring kids, tutoring kids; started the church newspaper and editor in chief.. this takes up a lot of time)
Band (4 years)</p>

<p>I will get excellent recommendations from both my teachers and my guidance counselor
I'm a good essay writer so I don't think I'll have problems with my essay
(they will invariably be focused on my passion for serving others coupled with my hobby of writing)</p>

<p>i live in NJ so I don't want to go to school too far from my house..
(Chicago, Michigan, Virginia is probably the limit)
Strong english and philosophy department would be very appealing. </p>

<p>My initial list looks somewhat like this:
Yale
Wesleyan
Emory
U chicago
Northwestern
Wheaton
Colby
Bates
Bowdoin
Amherst
UMass Amherst
BC
Tufts
Williams
Dartmouth
Cornell
Columbia
NYU
Vassar
UPenn
Swarthmore
Brown
Middlebury
UVA
Umich
U Toronto/ McGill</p>

<p>they're all over the place (geographically and schoolstyle-wise) so i'll definitely have to narrow them down.. if anyone could give me where i stand in terms of admissions to each school (general ballpark) that'd be great.
thanks</p>

<p>why not consider the University of Rochester?</p>

<p>bump.. sorry yes urochester was on my list as well</p>

<p>do you have any questions about URochester? I am a senior at URochester.</p>

<p>You have shots just about everywhere except Yale. I think someone with your ECs and varsity background would be a strong candidate at Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Middlebury, almost any of the NESCAC colleges, really. The philosophy and writing would go over well at Chicago. Cornell possibly. But, the rest of the Ivies would be high reaches, especially given the number of people who apply every year from the northeast.</p>

<p>sweet thanks. is there anything i can do to help my chances at the ivies?</p>

<p>I think you have a shot at any of them, and some on your list are at least on the low-match end. I would keep your dream schools on the list, you certainly could get in...but be sure you have some pretty safe ones too. Aside from that, I don't know how much help I can give in narrowing your list. But you have plenty of time to do so, and while your schools are somewhat all over the place, I think with a little more research, you'll come up with a good list soon enough. Good luck!</p>

<p>yeah I will be touring different types of colleges during spring break so hopefully that'll help me narrow down my list.. thanks for the advice.</p>

<p>any more opinions?</p>

<p>proud08er~ my daughter is graduating from UVA this year. your stats are good, great. it's beyond awesome as a school, community, experience! and harder than an ivy to get into if you're out-of-state...like she was. if you'd like any info , let me know. P.S. she was literally chased by her first job application committee, and she now has a job, all set to go, as of this past jan., before her may graduation.</p>

<p>you dont need umass on that list unless you really like it...</p>

<p>update: i've been looking at some other small colleges like vassar. how are my chances there?</p>

<p>last bump...</p>

<p>i'm just updating this thread to see my chances to primarily the top liberal arts colleges as i've visited a couple colleges recently. Soo to say the least I did not like yale/columbia at all.. the big college thing really isn't for me i guess. on the other hand i absolutely loved amherst and williams (although amherst a bit more) so anyone on my chances to the liberal arts colleges? (amherst williams bates bowdoin colby wesleyan etc)</p>

<p>Does NYU seem good?</p>

<p>nope sorry. i like the isolated campus feel.. and i definitely need a quad (it's just a queer liking haha) and NYU does not fit that criteria (plus too expensive to live in new york)</p>

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<p>a match at nearly all of them. amherst already takes a lot of asian/asian-american applicants, so that piece would not be the hook it might be at say, williams or someplace further north. But, yea. Those are all reasonable choices.</p>