Junior with very little direction... help?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>So I have [what I consider] moderately impressive stats, and I have ideas on what sort of college I want to go to, but I have two schools on my list: Georgetown and Yale. And I highly doubt I can get into Yale, and I'm not even sure about Georgetown, but we'll see. Probably my first choice right now is GU. I have a few schools in mind, but I just don't know. So maybe all you super-awesome CC can give a lost girl a hand. </p>

<p>First, here's an overview of my stats:</p>

<ul>
<li>94 GPA</li>
<li>Will graduate with 8 APs, I got a 5 on Euro and am expecting pretty good results on this year's 3 tests that I just took this week (English Language, Calculus AB, U.S. History). Next year am taking Spanish, English Literature, Economics, Psychology, and Calc BC. </li>
<li>10 Honors Classes</li>
<li>SAT: 740 M, 700 V, 690 W = 2130</li>
<li>SATII: 690 bio, 680 math II, TBA u.s. history</li>
<li>ECs: Treasurer of Class Planning Committee for past 2 years + most likely next year; Vice President of Book Club; Lots of peer education experience (including Drugs, AIDS, and general tutoring) and will most likely be on the board next year; Staff of school literary magazine; Columnist for school newspaper; Editor of Special Features Section of newspaper for next year; Three years of Varsity Fencing w/ 2 Years of Sabre Team Captain and twice awarded "Coach's Choice" honor; Twice awarded "Quality of Life" honor. </li>
<li>More fun stuff: Volunteered in a tiny village in Peru teaching English + improving conditions; Studied studio art in Florence, Italy for a month.</li>
</ul>

<p>Okay, and now my plans for college...
I am a very outgoing person, and I don't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with a school of 1,000. It's just not for me. I love meeting new people, but also having a good group of friends. And I won't have a car, so even if I'm in a suburb it's not looking good. However, I don't think I want a huge school either. I visited U Mich Ann Arbor and didn't like it. Mid-sized seems perfect for me, but if a bigger school is pretty, I could be happy there too. I love the excitement of a city, but I don't need something as huge as NYC. In fact, I'm sort of leaning towards going away from NY. I don't really party (code: get drunk/high) that much and sororities aren't a necessity for me at all. I live in NY, and I don't want to go too ridiculously far. A few years ago I wanted to go all the way to the west coast, but I'd rather stay East. Midwest is the farthest, pretty much.
I'm not positive of my specific major, but I'm most certainly more geared towards the humanities. Mainly English, but recently I've been thinking more about History. I would love to become a teacher, but I don't plan on majoring in Education in undergrad. People have suggested liberal arts colleges, but they all seem to be small and in rural areas.
What I loved about Georgetown and Yale were how pretty they were. I'm not really outdoorsy, but I appreciate aesthetics. Especially at Georgetown, I saw the campus and fell in love. I felt at home. And that's mostly what I'm looking for. Oh, and I don't need the religious affiliation. I happen to be Catholic, but I don't practice at all. </p>

<p>I know it seems like I'm picky, but I do really want to go where I feel most comfortable. I want both the academics and the atmosphere to be appropriate for what I need/want. And as I'm approaching the end of my junior year, the problem of me lacking a list of schools that I'm interested in is becoming more glaring. So if you could--if you've taken the time to read all this post! (thank you, by the way. You get a cookie.)--I would really appreciate it if you could suggest some schools that you think I might find interesting. I feel so lost, and although I am ambitious, I don't really have any true goals in terms of where I want to end up. I don't know where I can go, and I don't know where I will fit. Thank you!!!</p>

2

<p>I think Harvard, Princeton and Yale are definitely major reaches. You lose nothing by applying to them though. </p>

<p>Other than the size, is there something in particular you didn't like about Michigan? Reading your post, I think Michigan would be a great fit for you and Michigan's size is actually easy to manage once you get used to it...which takes about a semester. </p>

<p>At any rate, given the content of your post, I'd say there are many schools that fit your interests. Here are a few:</p>

<p>Brown University
Cornell University
Duke University
Emory University
Georgetown University
Johns Hopkins University
University of Chicago
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Pennsylvania
University of Virginia
Vanderbilt University</p>

<p>That's a pretty good start I think. You need to find a couple of safeties and the rest is in place. I think Rutgers University-New Brunswick would be a good safety for you. Yes, I know, it doesn't sound impressive, but it really is excellent in the Humanities.</p>

3

<p>LI Mom here. My d is now completing her soph year at Cornell/ILR. Similar stats to you and also applied to couple of the schools on Alexandre's list, which I think is a very good place to start-- Unfortunately she did not get into UVA-Georgetown or Brown. I think your stats are good enough that you have a shot at any of these schools - and you may likely get into Vanderbilt- Emory& U chicago-if your application and essays show a true interest. So you need to concentrate on finding "likely admit" schools that you would really like to go to- Are you planning to do fencing in college?? That may work as a "hook" and may help in the admission process. My d's friend at Cornell is on the fencing team and I believe she does have a scholarship. Some schools near Boston may work for you- Tufts-Brandeis- also check out U of Rochester and Carnegie Mellon--also WUSTL may work- but not easy to get into. Do a SUNY as an absolute safety and a good rolling admission school so you have an acceptance in hand early on. U Mich is great as an early admission. Good luck. You may want to look at William and Mary too. The school environment sounds like a good fit- but you would be in Williamsburg for 4 years. It's def. not like being in a city. My d also got accepted to Wm and Mary.</p>

<p>Rice may be Nice?? We never looked at it for my d but reading about it on these boards- it sound like the type of school you may want to consider.</p>

4

<p>After reading your post, the first school I thought of was Northwestern University. It's probably a match/reach, but I think you have a pretty good chance of getting in. It is in the suburbs, yes, but it's close to Chicago and has an excellent transportation system.</p>

5

<p>Alexandre's list is spot on.</p>

6

<p>Ur have good grades...and u seem like to have good ecs...you live in Great Neck? I Live in Sea CLiff and go to school in Port</p>

7

<p>Hi again- thatgirl--Just thinking. If you use your summer to check out the schools and really have a Love for one of them (georgetown or another), you may want to purse ED or EA and also talk to the fencing coach. There are no guarantees in college admission, but if you have a talent that you can bring to the college- you gotta pursue it. I would suggest you talk to your HS fencing coach- see if your abilities are competitive for a college team and recognize if you have the desire to continue with the sport in college- I think it could help you alot. </p>

<p>Recruited athletes is a whole other area of college admission- so if you decide to go that route- go to the Parents page and ask questions. I know there are several college athletes (or their parents) on these boards.</p>

8

<p>i had VERY SIMILAR STATS as u, and i know a bunch of students from Great Neck btw</p>

<p>i go to cornell</p>

<p>my SAT was a lil higher, and my writing was a bit higher</p>

<p>my results
Northwestern: accept
U of Chicago: accept
Cornell: accept
JHU: accept</p>

<p>now.....those ivies</p>

<p>REJECTED:
brown
penn
columbia</p>

9

<p>Thank you so much to everyone... you've all helped me so much! I'm so scared that I'm being too ambitious with a lot of the colleges listed for me... eek! scary... but I guess this whole process is pretty scary. </p>

<p>As safeties, Boston College, Boston University, and Trinity College have been recommended to me. Thoughts on those??</p>

10

<p>If you tire of the usual suspects, try Lafayette, Boston College, Holy Cross, U of Richmond.</p>

11

<p>"safeties" sound good- I'm sure you will find success with many of them. Just show interest- visit the schools, write great essays and you'll do fine.</p>

12

<p>counting on people from this forum to find the right schools for you is having more faith than most people have in fate and the gods these days :) You're a junior. You don't need an answer tomorrow. If you want it done right, do it yourself. If you want people to select for you from the same 75 or so schools that everyone is applying to (and that consequently accept 15% or less of their applicants) you've come to the right place.</p>

<p>Now those top 75 schools are good, there's a reason there in demand. But if you're up to the challenge, you can find without exorbitant effort a dozen or more schools you'd like that will provide you with a wonderful education, faculty contact, good friends, all the things you'd want in a college. You won't do it in a weekend or a week, but you can do it in a few weeks. Isn't your future worth investing a few weeks of your time instead of expecting strangers to do all the lifting for you?</p>

<p>If you think it is, then you'll get a few of the college guides such as Peterson's and spend some time reading thru it to find colleges that <em>might</em> be a match. And I say "might" quite deliberately, even though strangers who've never met you and have only read a few paragraphs you wrote are chafing at the bit to tell you the "right" colleges for you. I don't have that same confidence in any book, so, alas, I'm going to recommend even more work after reading the books. Once you've identified candidate schools let me be so bold as to suggest actually investigating them a bit; visit if you can, ask the admissions office to put you in contact with current students from your area home for the summer, etc. </p>

<p>I'm sorry, I can't offer you an instant solution to your problems. Then again, you've probably heard the motto that free advice is worth what you've paid for it. If you rely on free advice to pick your colleges, I think the motto is 100% correct.</p>

13

<p>mikemac, I get what you're saying, and you seem to assume that this is my first try at finding schools. I've spent countless hours pouring over college guidebooks, reading statistic after statistic. Sure, I could find the undergrad population, general location, student to prof ratio, and top majors of the school. But there were hundred of schools that matched what I was looking for. I even narrowed down my search to Newsweek's Top Colleges book, which included only the more competitive schools. Still there were an overwhelming number. And for none of them could I really grasp the personality of the school. I went to a bunch of the schools' websites, but they all seemed the same. They all featured the most beautiful parts of the campuses and listed similar appealing qualities. How could I find the right school this way? How could I even get very interested in any enough that I would want to visit it?</p>

<p>I never intended to blindly apply to every school that was listed here for me. I merely wanted some idea of where to start. And I do want people to list those 75 schools. I want to go to a good, reputable school. And it's not like the people who have so kindly responded to my plea have arbitrarily listed the top schools. There seems to be a consensus on a few schools, and that's exactly what my post was looking for. As I wrote in the original post, "I would really appreciate it if you could suggest some schools that you think I might find interesting." And that is exactly what I got--suggestions. I already know that a few of the schools suggested are not for me, but I appreciate it all the same. I haven't let "strangers do all the lifting" for me. I don't think that my innocent request deserves criticism regarding putting too much faith in strangers, and losing my own voice. I happen to trust strangers, especially those good enough to read my long, boring post. This isn't my final solution. This is a push in the right direction, and it's exactly what I need.</p>

14

<p>Try:
University of Chicago
Washington U
UNC-Chapel Hill
Duke University
Brown University
Johns Hopkins
Northwestern
Boston College
UPenn</p>

15

<p>Additional question... </p>

<p>I know I said originally I would like to get out of the area, but for some reason I'm a little curious about NYU... is that a reach or is it an appropriate school to aim for?</p>

16

<p>bump
up
my
post :)</p>

17

<p>i think yale would be an awesome reach school for you, and if you were to get in there, i think you'd be very satisfied (i got into yale, but turned it down ucsd med) you might want to raise your scores a bit though, especially in sat II. why yale? not only did i love it, it is known for having the happiest students and from what i can tell, i think everyone would like to be happy in college =D so work hard, you still have a year left, make it count and get in!</p>