Lets give this another shot

<p>OK, rising junior here. I am an international student from India who is not seeking financial aid, and am looking for safety/low match schools.</p>

<p>My stats are competitive (32 on the ACT, taking the SAT next weekend; top 5-10% of my class; got 93% in my ICSE exams [rule of thumb over here says that anything 90+ is excellent]; nice EC's in which I am deeply involved)</p>

<p>A bit about what I'd like:</p>

<ul>
<li>a large-ish LAC or a small university<a href="the%20size%20of%20Brown%20or%20Tufts%20would%20be%20ideal">/b</a></li>
<li>
easy distribution requirements, or no core** at all (absolutely no Columbia-esque cores for me)</li>
<li>well-rounded across the board<a href="as%20of%20now%20I%20want%20to%20study%20biology,%20but%20it's%20liable%20to%20change">/b</a></li>
<li>
not too much emphasis on Greek life*</li>
<li>it's OK if people around me drink, but I **don't want to feel any pressure to drink<a href="or%20do%20other%20substances">/b</a></li>
<li>I classify myself as a **moderate partier<a href="a%20maximum%20of%20one%20party%20a%20week%20would%20be%20fine%20:">/b</a>), so the **presence of tons of other (sober?) ways of fun is essential
</li>
<li>extremely **laid-back student body
, no cut-throat competition for me</li>
<li>
Intramural tennis!!!</li>
<li>
TA's hardly teach undergrad courses</li>
<li>good **research opportunities
*</li>
</ul>

<p>Brown is my dream school, so it would be nice if you could suggest some safeties in that mould. Thanks! :)</p>

<p>tetrisfan, post your question on the parents forum -- you'll get more (and better informed) suggestions there. By the way, congratulations on your good stats.</p>

<p>hmmm, I have almost no expertise in this area, and don't know about the strength of its sciences, but you might consider looking into American. They take drinking more seriously than a lot of other univerisities from what I've heard. Distribution requirements are there, but I've heard they're good with accepting AP's, does your international school offer them? Might at least be worth checking into.</p>