Looking for some College-Picking Advice

Parents Forum
1

<p>fully aware that there are other forums for this, i am coming here to ask and hope for a more mature and responsible response and insight into which schools i should be looking into.</p>

<p>i do have some schools in mind that interest me ( wharton, nyu stern, princeton) but a lot of such schools are either reaches or hard to gage chances at</p>

<p>so i would appreciate it if anyone could say what schools would seem like a good fit for me( and if you could mention shot at those three above) based on my stats, and preferences ( suburban or city env., large size school,money isnt a concern,looking into economics/finance) any type of ,match/safety/reach list would be GREATLY appreciated because i am having trouble finding more match schools that i would be happy at</p>

<p>so heres what im working with:</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT I: 750 math 700 critical reading 720 writing
SAT II: (re-taking them in october) right now: Math Ic 690 U.S 680
GPA, Class Rank/Size: 4.0 unweighted, more than 4.0 weighted, Will have taken 12 AP Classes by the end o High School( more than anyone else in my school), School doesnt rank but i think Top 10/430, School was ranked Top 200 school by that USNews article</p>

<p>Major awards/ECs:
President of Senior Class
President of National Honor Society
President of Wall Street Investors Club
President of Spanish Honor Society
Prospective Leadership Position in Business Honor Society
Committee Chair of METMUNC(Model United Nations)
Arts & Entertainment Editor of School Paper
Captain of Federal Challenge Team ( Economics Competition)<--(im told wharton really likes this)
Peer Leadership Member
Community Service Club Member</p>

<p>Varsity Football (12) Junior Varsity Football (9)
Varsity Spring Track (10-12), Town's Travel Soccer (4 years) 4 time Scholar Athlete Recipient</p>

<p>Recipient of John Hopkins University Mathematics and Verbal Talent Search State Award
School's Excellence in Business Award
METMUNC HONORARY AWARD
Assorted Awards at my school's level</p>

<p>Service</p>

<p>Tutoring through Spanish and National Honor Society
Community Service Time through various clubs
Working on a project to send money to aid poverty in Colombia</p>

<p>Personal</p>

<p>Location: NY Suburb
Background: White as far as colleges are concerned</p>

<p>Hook</p>

<p>Admitted into a gifted school that only allows only 15 kids per grade(up to 8th grade), im told its looked very highly upon</p>

<p>Started my own Record Label to promote my music and other local acts. I am a musical artist myself ( neo-soul/hip hop singer)
I am also writing a screenplay </p>

<p>so any advice would be appreciated</p>

<p>thanks in advance</p>

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<p>Beyond the great schools you already have on your list take a look at these schools:</p>

<p>Safeties: Boston U, U of Michigan, U of Maryland, U of Washington, Case Western Reserve, Rutgers, University of Southern California
Matches: Cornell, Emory, Brandeis, Tulane, Tufts, U of Rochester, U of Chicago, Northwestern, Claremont McKenna and Pomona (not large but excellent for economics), MIT
Realistic reaches: Columbia, Brown, Stanford, Georgetown</p>

<p>I'm sure other people will have additional suggestions.</p>

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<p>I don't think MIT is a match for anyone except RSI people.</p>

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<p>i appreciate both of your responses a lot thanks, ramsfan i agree i dont think mit is a match for me either haha and carolyn thanks for that list thats the type of thing i was hoping for</p>

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<p>Whoops, obviously put MIT in the wrong slot. Ramsfan is correct of course that MIT is not a match for anyone!</p>

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<p>hoping for more help</p>

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<p>oh come onnnn haha</p>

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<p>The Witzness, although your stats are a match for many selective schools, a match does not an admit make. Especially when you are looking at schools that are flooded with NYC suburb kids. I thing you should make a list of your favorite schools (which I notice are all within 2 hours of NYC) and make them pretty much your reaches unless the school is a true shoo-in and you are willing to court it as much as your other schools. I also think you need to cast your net a little bit wider, and include some schools that are not so populated with New Yorkers. CMU, though it has a lot of NYers tends to be kind to them. A safety or two should be picked too, though if you apply early to Michigan and get an accept that can be your safety. Wisconsin and Indiana are also rolling, Take a look at Vanderbilt and Tulane. Those, too, are "out of range" geographically.</p>

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<p>yeah for the most part i am looking for a eastern school with a couple of exceptions if i was to get in ( ie:stanford, berkely)</p>

<p>where is vanderbilt
and i am interested in CMU</p>

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<p>challah back</p>

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<p>Vanderbilt is in Nashville---culture shock for some!</p>

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<p>Boston College?</p>

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<p>My rising jr D has the 'usual' profile of most CCrs--top 10%, gifted w/AP-honors courses, PLAN projected 29-32 on ACT, good ECs, etc. As a child she wanted to be a physician but is now leaning toward clinical psychologist or attorney. Her passion is art(s): all visual arts (has won 2 contests and has commission to decorate a local hotel lobby!) and music (budding drummer w/non-school band, EM/Indie music devotee). She is tentatively (at this age isn't everything tentative?) planning to major in psychology or psych/soc and 2nd major/minor in art. </p>

<p>Personally, I wonder if majoring in such 'soft' and commonly picked subjects (mho) will adversely affect her acceptance chances--psych esp seems such a common major and defintiely requires grad work (one survey showed a Psych BA had the lowest entry level salary of the 20 most common majors)--at recent college visit, most females present preferred hard sciences like chemistry or biomedical engineering or 'premed' etc., which leads me to worry that psych/art may be too 'common' or unambitious, and such a combo is probably not an academic 'hook' for admin officers. Am I worrying too much?</p>

<p>And, more to the point in this thread, can anyone supply info on which LACs offer the strongest psych andn/or art depts? D's safety (?) is instate U of ILL which has a very good psych dept but also has about 22,000 more students than she wants in her college choice. She is much more interested in Grinnell, Ursinus, Oberlin, Earlham, Bryn Mawr and other WI/OH/PA LACs--with a liberal, non-preppy/non-Greek bent, which eliminates some good schools. At this point, she still thinks everything will just fall into place, and I am overwhelmed trying to put all the info together for her review.</p>

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<p>Sorry, Witzness. I liked your title/heading so much that instead of responding to your question I just poured out my own. Hoping that the moderator can move my note to a new/different thread. RE your question, When I attended Case Western, there were several NY students doing grad work in business/econ who had attended Carnegie Mellon ugrad. The school and students had a much more 'eastern ' than 'midwestern' feel to me and might feel more familiar to you. Being in Illinois, I am also prejudiced toward Northwestern and U Chicago. bookmom</p>

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<p>bookmom, I think you might get more response if you started your own thread, but here goes. </p>

<p>Psychology IS a fairly popular major these days. If you're concerned about its being too commonplace, your daughter should just indicate "undecided" on her application. This is normal and acceptable. She sounds like she has wide and varied academic interests – both verbal and scientific -- which is viewed as a good thing. Kids go in thinking one thing and end up at another. A combination of science/math and humanities/social studies is common and encouraged. </p>

<p>Your daughter’s art and music interests can be presented as ECs. She should put together an arts package with slides, a resume (including a list of classes/grades/scores, achievements and awards, a statement of her interests, art-related travel), a recommendation from an art teacher and a short essay. (Many colleges ask for an essay describing the EC that means the most to you.) Depending on her level of achievement she could do the same with music.</p>

<p>Some LACs with good studio art departments are: Williams, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Conn College, Skidmore and Kenyon. My son who ended up at Williams (which by the way has a strong psych department too plus world class museums and an emphasis on the performing arts) liked all of these. Others that I’ve not visited are Bard, Vassar, Smith, Barnard.</p>

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<p>Bookmom, I don't think listing pysch as a major will hurt - but it definitely won't help. "Undecided" is no help either. My daughter is also somewhat interested in psych, but fortunately she is leaning toward some more esoteric pursuits -- which she will definitely emphasize at the more selective colleges she applies to.</p>

<p>I mean, when it comes down to it, an a competitive pool, the question becomes, "what makes this applicant stand out". Psych major isn't going to do it .. so either there is something else in the application that stands out (great essay, unusual EC's, etc) ... or your daughter ends up on a waitlist. (ED will help tremendously if that's an option). </p>

<p>I do think that if she is seriously interested in studying pysch she will find it preferable to choose a smaller college. My impression of the situation at UC Berkeley is that it's very difficult to get accepted into the psych major -- grades have to be very high. It's probably hard to get necessary courses, too. Don't know about the situation in other states - but if my daughter is accepted at Berkeley, then choice of major may be a big factor in making the decision as to whether to attend. </p>

<p>Most colleges are fairly flexible about changes of majors, so your daughter probably would do o.k. applying as an art major and later switching to a dual major or to psych. Of course that depends on the college so you would have to research that point. If your daughter has an oustanding portfolio to present, her art work may also bring more attention to her app. That part really depends on her level of artistic talent -- which is a judgment call you and she will have to make. </p>

<p>I would suggest that you focus the college search on learning about the art departments -- both strength of department, and offerings for non-majors. Again, you will probably find small colleges and LAC's more flexible. The reason I suggest the "research art" approach is that it is easier to focus on the less-common major. Just about every school offers psych, and every large university or private college with strong academics probably has a reasonably good department. Since you can't do anything in terms of a career in clinical psychology without a graduate degree, it doesn't matter at the undergrad level which college is best -- in the end it will be the grad school that makes the difference. And sometimes the better path to a good graduate program is an undergraduate program that is smaller and affords more opportunities for a student to stand out. </p>

<p>Anyway, these are just my thoughts as someone who is making a similar journey. Others may disagree. But I've told my daughter NOT to list psych as a proposed major on any of her applications, and she agrees. Better to sell her strong points and emphasize the areas where she has excelled in high school.</p>

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<p>thanks to momrath and calmom--need to talk with D about options! bookmom</p>

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<p>any more advice for me?</p>

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<p>You are a good statistical match for many outstanding schools; however, the concept of "match" extends beyond numerical compatibility. You need to do your homework.</p>

<p>What are 2 or 3 majors you think that you might pursue? Which schools have the best programs in these areas? Which have the best record of placing students in career path internships in these areas?</p>

<p>What are your economic concerns? How much financial aid do you need? Where are you likely to get it? Do you have any outside scholarships "in the bag" ?</p>

<p>Urban? Rural? Small? Large?</p>

<p>Do you know anything about the personalities, the group dynamics of the institutions that you are considering? Where might you be a good fit?</p>

<p>Looking at your stats, I would say you look low on community service -- but that may be the language you used to describe it and the placement you gave it on the list. See if you can either add community service or honestly enhance your description of the community service that you have on the resume. Service can be a major factor in scholarships and admissions.</p>

<p>As a teacher of gifted students I will tell you what I tell my own nerdlets: There's a reason they call it gifted: you didn't do anything to get this way. Unwrap the gift and do something with it.</p>

<p>Above all, research this choice. Do not succumb to prestige temptation; truly work to find the school that is the best choice for you.</p>

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<p>Take a look at Tulane (New Orleans) and Rice (Houston)</p>