Trying to build my college list at the moment, and any feeback is appreciated.
IB student (4 HL subjects, 2 SL) with predicted grades almost certain to range from 39-41 out of 42.
SAT: 2330 (800 CR, 800 M, 730 W)
Academic awards: some, but no Nobel prizes or Laskers.
Extracurriculars: heavily involved in several activities, but without one that stands out among a crowd of thousands (though with debate, MUN, and student government there is a clear theme).
Not an underrepresented minority, low-income applicant, or anything of the like. Dual US/Estonian citizen living abroad.
Given the above, and a few constraints which I’ll list below, can anyone suggest some good schools that would be low reaches and/or matches? I’ve already got a list of reaches/high reaches, so I’m looking for colleges where I’d have a decent chance of admission.
Things I’m looking for:
-Strong political science, economics, and public policy departments
-A nearby city
-Proximity to an airport
Would prefer to avoid
-Class sizes of less than 100
-Strongly religious colleges
Deal-breakers
-500 miles from the nearest city
-Public transportation and convenience mutually exclusive
-School willing to include creationism or intelligent design in science curriculum
Sounds like you’d like the University of Maryland, College Park. Excellent, highly-ranked Economics program, good Government & Politics program, one of the best Masters of Public Policy programs (you can do a dual BA/MPP in four years if you come in with enough credits), and has a Metro stop to DC on campus.
Here are some schools to look at: Emory, Haverford (smaller), American U, George Washington, Georgetown (if you are ok with the Catholic thing), Macalaster, Wash U St. Louis, Northwestern, Duke along with the more obvious Harvard, Columbia, Yale, and Princeton.
There are very few respectable schools in the US willing to entertain creationism or intelligent design outside of religious studies or history of science programs. I don’t think that should be a concern for you.
Would you be open to institutions in the EU as possible financial safeties? For instance Scotland’s University of Edinburgh meets many of your wants and would be much cheaper than most American schools. University College London or LSE might also work in addition to the other EU institutions which instruct in English, Estonian, or any other language you’re fluent in. For instance the London School of Economics charges EU citizens about 9000 euros a year for tuition fees, whereas comparable US universities might 3X as much for an upper middle class student.
Some US university suggestions:
-Occidental College in Los Angeles, California (small liberal arts college)
-Reed College in Portland, OR
-Swarthmore College (suburban Philadelphia and very selective)
-Brandeis University
-University of Richmond
-Tulane University
-University of Colorado Boulder Honors Program (I’m interning in Denver and take public transit most days. The RTD, metro Denver’s transit line, extends into Boulder with stops very close to campus. As a bonus, an unlimited student ridership pass costs about $80 a month, while individual ridership fares cost much less)
I recommend Claremont-McKenna. It is a small college, but part of a 5-college consortium with Pomona, Scripps, Pitzer, and Harvey Mudd. Although the town of Claremont is outside of LA, it has a direct rail link to LAX Airport and downtown LA. The college is heavily focused on leadership and public policy.
@whenhen -The EU is certainly an option. I’d rather attend school in an anglophone country, because my Estonian is a bit patchy for university courses, but LSE and UCL are both on the list right now along with a few other schools (e.g. Warwick).
What do you think my chances of financial aid would be like at some of the colleges you listed? My parents are in an income bracket that would be definitely considered upper middle class by US standards, but this is in the context of a region with a consumer price index of 145 (New York, itself no city for the indigent, provides the base value of 100). The upshot is that money will be fairly tight for our family.
@harvardandberkeley -Quite a few of those unis are on my list as long shots, while a few others (Northeastern and Rutgers) are reckoned to be safeties in the view of my school’s admissions counselor. NYU seems likely to end up on the final list. Any more suggestions that would be closer to low reaches and/or high matches in the Chicago and NY areas? (I’m not so egotistical as to call UChicago or Northwestern matches).
@woogzmama -Claremont-McKenna seems interesting. Any idea what the college is like for your typical freshman? Is it a “big-fish-in-small-pond” type of school, with a lot of time and resources spent on new arrivals, or more of a “sink-or-swim” environment?
Also, given the information in the above post, what would my chances of some aid be like?
US universities are required to have net price calculators which can give estimates on how much a student is expected to pay based on a number of factors. Google “Name of University net price calculator” to get an idea of how much your parents will be expected to contribute. Keep in mind that some NPCs are better than others since financial and merit aid practices differs by school.
Re: #9 - CMC is sufficiently selective and competitive that nobody needs to worry about being a “big fish in a small pond.” Add that to the fact that its neighbors at Pomona and Harvey Mudd are generally perceived as brainier, and you do not need to worry about the academic environment or resources. It has produced a disproportionate number of highly-successful alumni (primarily, since it was originally all-male), who have been exceedingly generous through the years. I don’t think that they offer a lot of merit aid, but they will meet demonstrated need. It is known as a school for driven, ambitious “leaders,” who plan careers in Business or Government. Mudd attracts the STEM students, while Pomona is more intellectual and scholarly. CMC is, therefore, known for being a pretty competitive place in general. They have very strong Model UN and Debating teams. My son participated in both activities from middle school through high school (he was co-President of both), and was told that nobody can do both and that the two squads are arch-rivals. He did not get into CMC. It was an academic reach, but his counselor thought his strong “leadership” resume made it a possibility. CMC has a somewhat conservative reputation, but that’s only within the context of Southern California colleges: you might encounter a Republican (or, likelier, a Libertarian) or two on campus, when you wouldn’t at other schools in the area. It is not the crew-cut, jacket-and-tie-to-class place that it was as Claremont Men’s College in the Nixon era. The Claremont Consortium is a very cool place, just because each of the five has a distinct flavor, but they share many resources and activities.
If you are looking for a less-selective liberal arts college that is quite generous with merit aid, consider Willamette, in Salem, OR. You would have easy train access to Portland, and the campus is across the street from the Oregon State Capitol, offering lots of legislative internships. They also have a “3+3” BA/JD law program. For other, “safer” choices, include University of Pittsburgh, American (very nice campus in residential area of DC), and possibly Lake Forest College (very close to Chicago).
@whenhen -I ran the UChicago calculator based on my best guess at some figures, but have no idea if I’m in the ballpark. The results, albeit without any sort of adjustment for local prices (I don’t know which universities take that factor into account) were far from promising: no grants, about $5,000 in “self-help” (loans/work) and an out-of-pocket cost of over $60,000. I’m going to have to hope that most unis use a very generous CPI for applicants from abroad.
In the UK, I’m thinking of LSE, UCL, Warwick, Cambridge (provided my IB predictions are high enough), and a fifth college to be decided later (there’s a limit of 5 UK colleges under the UCAS system). I’ve got level 4 fluency in French and Estonian, with level 2/3 proficiency in Spanish.
Definitely check out the CMC Symposium (?, I may have the name wrong). They have world-class speakers (think Clinton-level) almost every night and CMC students get first priority for tickets and to be able to have dinner with the speakers too. A pretty unique perk.
Regarding your interest in economics with respect to C-MC, the school does really well by a reasonably sound measure: “Top 25% Economics Departments at Liberal Arts Colleges, as of April 2015” (available online):
@woogzmama@BobcatPhoenix@merc81 -I’ll admit, C-MC sounds like a great school from what you’ve told me. I’ve long been inclined towards the sort of activities woogzmama is describing, and the C-MC symposium sounds great.
I’m sure I can handle the occasional republican-although my politics tend to tilt left of center, I’m wary of attending college at a liberal echo chamber (think Oberlin).
As for the economics program, although the public policy track would be my main focus, it’s certainly no bad thing to hear that the school excels in my expected secondary major as well.
You may also want to consider William & Mary. Whether it is a match for you or not may depend on what your stats are or whether you are in or out of state, but their programs in government, public policy, and international relations are very strong. They have many different opportunities for research, internships, and they even have their own student international relations think tank on campus which actually get presented to policy makers. It is incredibly solid and having many WM alumni in the DC area doesn’t hurt either when it comes for networking and job opportunities. Professors are really knowledgeable and I’d say the campus overall is balanced between conservative and liberal opinions, although it does lean liberal like most colleges. The Model UN team has been known to travel internationally and win several awards
It does give out limited amount of aid to out of state students, but with those scores you could very well qualify for the 1693 scholarship which is a selective full tuition scholarship given to the top of applicants
NYU is not your friend- one of the most expensive colleges and famously tight on aid.
Check out the dual degree programs- Sciences Po / Columbia in particular. Just be sure that the one you apply to puts you directly into the dual degree- in some variations you apply once you are in the university (I think that’s how the LSE / Columbia one works, but not sure if that is an accurate memory).
When you get your list a little further shaped, contact a couple of the financial aid offices and ask if they will factor in a higher CPI. My guess is that you may have to look more for merit aid than financial aid, in which case there are a bunch of threads on CC that list the colleges that give good merit aid…they may not be as fancy a name, but there are some very good options down that road.
@shawnspencer -The think tank sounds like it would be a really interesting opportunity. Right now, what I see in my ideal future is 4 years of college, possibly with postgraduate study to follow, and then some time spent working in state or national government on a legislative or executive staff, possibly with a job in urban planning to follow. Being able to start that work in earnest while still in college would be, in my view, phenomenal.
I think my stats will probably be what they are now, more or less. My worst-case scenario is a 39.5 out of 42 predicted in the IB (following a 62/63 last year, with the one point lost in PE). That SAT score is unlikely to change-I’m not likely to beat a 2330 single-sitting score, so that first attempt is going to be my only one. I took SAT subject tests last weekend, and should have results soon. I’m all but guaranteed an 800 in French, which I speak fluently albeit less well than a native speaker, and hope to get 750+ in Literature.
So my stats should look like this:
-39.5-41 IB points (out of 42)
-2330 SAT (730 in writing)
-SAT II: 7?? in literature, 800 in French.
I don’t want to turn this into a chances thread, but would that give me a reasonable shot? I’m not sure about the 1693 scholarship, however-that seems like it would require a profile above and beyond what I’ve got.
@collegemom3717 -If NYU is tight on aid and costly, I suppose that’s out.
I’m not sure that the Sciences Po program would be the best fit-I speak fluent french, but probably not well enough that I could keep pace with native speakers-especially the cream of the crop, which is what I’d be facing at Sciences Po.
The LSE/Columbia degree program does appear interesting.
As for merit aid, I’m not sure how good my chances are-as an American applying from abroad, my school’s admissions counselor believes I’ll face much tougher competition than domestic applicants (the international acceptance rates bear her argument out). It’ll be hard to get into many schools, with that in mind, to say nothing of obtaining merit scholarships.
