Making a long list short

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a high school senior and am currently bogged down in the college search trying to find the right schools for me. I'm willing to apply to a bunch of schools so I can have a variety to choose from when it comes time to apply but really since my list is so reach-heavy I'd be happy getting in to whatever school happens to want me.</p>

<p>As far as my competitiveness, I'm a white male from Texas (born in Kansas) and attend a public school that sends around 5-10 students from a class of 500 to top 10 schools yearly. My SATs are 740CR, 800M, 740W; Subject Tests are 740 Math IIC, 750 Chemistry, 790 US History; I also got a 34 on the ACT. I take the most rigorous course load available and have gotten 2 fours and 3 fives on AP tests (taking 6 AP classes next year). My school's GPA is a little weird but I have a 5.18/6.25W and I think about a 3.8UW giving a class rank of 30/492. In choir I have been section leader and treasurer and have also made the top all-state choir in the state. In debate I have served as captain and will be president next year and have been to the state tournament twice. I volunteer a couple of hours every other week at Teen Court and have just recently attained the rank of Eagle in the Boy Scouts.</p>

<p>I'm looking for a school that has a very smart, politically-minded student body, strong social science program, is reasonably prestigious, and will be a good preparation for law school. Suburban would be ideal but it isn't that big of a deal especially if other factors outweigh its importance. I'm considering majoring in political science, history, economics, or perhaps some variant thereof (such as PPE, IR, etc.)</p>

<p>So far my list includes:
Harvard
Stanford
Yale
Princeton
Williams
Amherst
Duke
Columbia
Rice
Dartmouth
Pomona
U of Chicago
Swarthmore
Bowdoin
Claremont McKenna
UT- Austin
Middlebury
Brown
Davidson
Wesleyan
Haverford
Northwestern
UPenn</p>

<p>If you have any suggestions about what schools I could take off or if there's possibly any I should add that would be great. It'd be nice to have around 10-15 schools total to apply to but any help is appreciated!</p>

2

<p>What major are you considering? You have quite a comprehensive list!</p>

3

<p>Edited to add GPA and majors.</p>

4

<p>UT Austin will save you a ton of money. If you’re considering law, I would go to UT and ace your classes, then apply to the law school of your dreams.</p>

5

<p>Check out the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. You can probably get a good merit scholarship with your GPA and scores.</p>

6

<p>You have automatic admission to UT Austin, correct? You should drop any school that is less attractive than that, obviously. It’s a great list, but I can see your point- some of these schools need to be eliminated. Is money an issue at all? If so, keep all of the schools that give merit aid. They are all good schools, so it seems that you would have to do the elimination based on location and financial factors (if relevant to your situation). Also, you have a few pairs there- of Pomona and Claremont McKenna, pick one (Claremont McKenna sounds better for you.) Of Williams and Amherst, pick one. Pick either Middlebury or Bowdoin.</p>

7

<p>I have a somewhat different persepective from OneMom: I’d say stick with pair as long as they reflect your true preferences. For example, if you want a small highly desirable northeastern LAC and don’t care if it is in a small town or a suburb, keep them all on your list because although you have very impressive credentials you may not get in to all of them. </p>

<p>On the other hand, it looks to me rather as though your list is simply culled from the top schools in both university and LAC categories without much regard for setting or campus ambience. I would say you might want to think more about whether you prefer an urban or rural or suburban environment, a large school or a small one. If you do not like big cities, then maybe you should take Columbia and Penn and Chicago off your list. If you don’t like somewhat isolated rural/small town/outdoorsy settings (you express a mild preference for suburban), take Middlebury and maybe Williams and Dartmouth off your list. These schools however offer gerat cultural opportunities, but they are essentially rural. Swarthmore and Haverford are more suburban, and even Bowdoin offers reasonable access to Portland, so they are slightly different in feel. Davidson is increasingly suburban. </p>

<p>Keep in mind too that there are different campus cultures and that Swarthmore and Williams, just to take one example, attract rather different kinds of students no matter how similar the numbers look on paper. Willliams and Dartmouth are closer in ambience. </p>

<p>Keep in mind too that your possible majors and interest in law school are not unique–very mainstream in fact–so any “good” school will prepare you very well and give you a fair chance to compete at the next level. You also may change your mind in the next few years so should not base your college choice on this, but instad on what schools among this strong group feel right. Obviously a large school will have more course offerings in each field, but in terms of reputation and ability to give you a strong background in history or poliitical science or whatever, I think there is not much difference among the schools on your list. They will all have top students and faculty with degrees from top schools and law schools will be familiar with all of them.</p>

8

<p>I would knock Brown and Wesleyan off-- unless you are looking for the free-spiritedness of those schools. There isn’t much political debate when everybody agrees with each other.</p>

9

<p>Actually, there’s <em>more</em> debate the closer people’s opinions are to each other. Remember what they say, about academic arguments. :)</p>

10

<p>i agree with mattmom- besides the fact that they are all top ranked schools, they are EXTREMELY different from one another. you need to take a step back and think about what you are looking for in a school- size? location? rural vs urban? big sports culture? heavy drinking? access to airport? etc etc etc</p>

11

<p>My gosh you are all over the place, geographically, size, private vs. public, etc. I was that way a few months back before I began to look more closely (with the help of CC and my Dad) at schools that mapped to my interests. Here’s my take (after consulting with my Dad) on a few interesting schools that play to your interests:</p>

<p>University of Texas Honor II Program – probably the best (and longest running) honors program in the country. Great bargain economically that will allow you to save for law school. It will also give you an excellent background for the study of law.</p>

<p>Universtity of Chicago – long-standing serious tradition in the social sciences (the Chicago School); rigorous well-grounded core curriculum, a small but excellent law school</p>

<p>Claremont McKenna – expressly focused on government, economics and leadership, part of the Claremont consortia, check out their program in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE). </p>

<p>Amherst – small liberal arts focus with excellent programs in political science and economics</p>

<p>Swarthmore – ditto Amherst</p>

<p>Columbia – in many ways like U Chicago </p>

<p>Princeton – Woodrow Wilson School and a strong tradition of graduates that have served in government</p>

<p>Tufts – especiallly strong in international relations</p>

<p>Franklin & Marshall – rigorous and highly respected programs in government and economics; sends an inordinate number of kids to Harvard and Yale for law school.</p>

<p>As for Harvard, Yale and Stanford, etc., save them for Law School. You can get a much better undergraduate education in the areas you are interested in elsewhere that will increase your ability to get into a top law school. </p>

<p>BTW, 15 schools is still way too many; eight-nine carefully chosen schools should do it for you. Better to spend your time tailoring your applications to the specific strengths of the schools. Take a more targeted, sniper-like approach, rather than a scatter-gunned approach.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

12

<p>Harvard
Stanford
Yale
Princeton
Williams
Amherst
Duke
Rice
Dartmouth
Pomona
Bowdoin
UT- Austin
Middlebury
Brown
Northwestern
UPenn</p>

<p>Add: Georgetown</p>

<p>Apply to this list exactly. Whatever you do keep Stanford, Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, and Amherst (lol my favorite schools).</p>

13

<p>You’ve got a lot of reaches. Have you considered Macalester - a good match with an excellent political science/IR program?</p>

14

<p>Balletgirl: I like the way you did your list as advice to the OP. Well thought out and included match and safety type schools, not just reaches and more reaches.</p>

15

<p>Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton - choose the one you like most, and that can be your reach.
Williams - sportier and more rural Amherst
Amherst - Quirkier Williams.
Middlebury, Bowdoin, Dartmouth - many similarities - along with Williams and Amherst
Duke
Columbia - It is downtown New York, drop it or all your rural schools.
Rice
Pomona
U of Chicago/Northwestern - kill one, they are very different.
Claremont McKenna
UT- Austin
Davidson
Wesleyan, Swat, Brown - Very quirky schools. Drop these, or drop Duke, Rice, NW, Davidson, Williams, and UPenn.<br>
Haverford
UPenn - unless you are looking at Wharton, I don’t think it measures up with a lot of your list.</p>

16

<p>The OP said, he was looking for a politically active school and you guys are telling him to drop all of his politically active choices! Drop Middlebury, UPenn, Williams, Davidson, Claremont McKenna and Duke and you almost have a manageable list. :p</p>

17

<p>As others have said, this list is really all over the place, in terms of campus culture. Duke and Wesleyan on the same list? While I’m sure a Duke type could find a nitch at Wes, and visa versa, there are very few people for whom both would be a good fit. </p>

<p>Some factors to consider: as others have said, you do indicate a preference for suburban. So perhaps you can cut the most rural (Middlebury, Dartmouth, Williams) and/or the ones in cities (Chicago, Columbia, UPenn, maybe even Yale). </p>

<p>Does the idea of a really intense academic experience appeal to you? If so, definitely keep UChicago, Swarthmore, maybe Columbia, (and add Reed!), and start to cut some of the more party heavy school. OTOH, if you prefer a more laid back atmosphere, Chicago and Swarthmore should probably go. </p>

<p>Do you like the idea of a core? Than keep Chicago and Columbia, and cut the schools with the most open curriculums (like Brown)—or visa versa, if you’d prefer something more open (or cut both Chicago/Columbia and Brown, if you prefer the idea of some guidelines, but not an intense core). </p>

<p>Think about size—there is a BIG difference between Haverford and UT- Austin. If nothing else, maybe you could cut some of the schools on the extreme ends of the size spectrum (though keep UT-Austin if it’s an auto-in).</p>

<p>And, of course, there is the question of campus culture. Do you like the free minded quirkiness of Brown, Wes, Swarthmore, Haverford, or the more “classic” college experience (big sports, big partying, preppier) of Duke, Williams, UT-Austin, etc? Or do you want something more in-between (in which case you might want to cut the schools from both extremes)? </p>

<p>PS. Do you know about the college of social studies at Wesleyan? It seems like it might be right up your ally: <a href=“http://www.wesleyan.edu/css/[/url]”>http://www.wesleyan.edu/css/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

18

<p>If you’re trying to apply to 10-15 schools, apply to all the ones you have listed (with the common app you should be fine with most except brown - you’ll just have to write a lot of supplemental essays). the biggest joke in college admissions is how people urge strong students to apply to 900 safety and “fit” schools…nonsense. apply to UT (which you might get in to automatically?) and maybe 1 or 2 LACs that would be safeties for you (F & M, colby, whatever you want). also U-Michigan and UNC-Chapel Hill are good if you’re concerned about $$$. Otherwise you should be fine with your list; add and subtract as necessary according to your impressions as you visit the campuses or become more knowledgeable about the issue. With the Common App, there’s nothing inherently wrong with applying to a bazillion schools, as long as you can foot the bill. The question is how good of a relationship do you have with your counselors, because they may have connections with certain top colleges, and it might be better to apply to places they’d suggest for you for that reason.</p>

19

<p>Harvard, Stanford, Yale: pick your favorite and apply. You’ll get a similar type of education at each one so it’s all about the feel. Like some others said, you should really wait for law schoool for these.</p>

<p>Princeton: Go for it, if only because of Woodrow Wilson.</p>

<p>Williams, Amherst: You’ll get the typical LAC college experience. Both great schools, but in the middle of nowhere.</p>

<p>Duke, UPenn: Probably a similar type of student. Less of an intellectual atmosphere than their peers. You’ll want to consider location with both because Durham is sketchy and you may not want a big city. Duke has some interesting majors regarding public policy, etc. and Penn has great economics and PPE.</p>

<p>Columbia, U of Chicago: Kind of like the more intellectual counterparts of Penn. In fact, super intellectual. Both urban. Columbia has great social studies in general and is very politically active. UChicago has great economics.</p>

<p>Rice: Leave Texas! No really, I don’t know.</p>

<p>Dartmouth, Middlebury: Eh?</p>

<p>Bowdoin: I don’t know really know what to say about this, except beautiful campus!</p>

<p>Claremont McKenna: I feel like this could be one of your best choices. Really strong in all of your interests, politically active, not quite suburban but close enough for some weekend trips to LA, and I think you have a solid chance.</p>

<p>Pomona: Similar to things said about Claremont McKenna, but I think this is a worse fit because the majors don’t fit as well with your interests.</p>

<p>UT- Austin: Duh, apply.</p>

<p>Davidson: Unless there’s a specific reason you want to go here, drop it from your list. It doesn’t really fit in. The location is dull, the academics are good, but you have better choices.</p>

<p>Haverford, Swarthmore, Wesleyan: Very liberal quirky LACs. People will probably be very politically opinionated but there will be little diversity of opinion. Haverford and Swarthmore both have nice suburban locations. </p>

<p>Brown: Ditto above, but bigger.</p>

<p>Northwestern: The only reason I could see for you to go here would be its suburban location. It seems out of place on your list.</p>

20

<p>Thanks everyone so much for the thoughtful responses and criticism. I have narrowed my list down a bit more, now providing justifications for each school on the list. If one was removed that you think should have stayed then let me know why it should go back on…</p>

<p>Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford: Cream of the crop top national universities all with amazing law school placement, prestige, great educational experience, etc.</p>

<p>Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Middlebury: Top (arguably) LACs in the nation with regard to selectivity as well as providing an amazing educational experience.</p>

<p>Columbia: Great social science department, politically active, considerable prestige, NYC.</p>

<p>UPenn: Strong PPE program, rising ‘it’ school, great placement.</p>

<p>Duke, Rice: Amazing all-around great academics, quality of life, weather, school spirit.</p>

<p>Dartmouth, Bowdoin: Small, northeastern schools with decent law placement and laid-back feel.</p>

<p>Pomona, Claremont McKenna: Beautiful campus and amazing atmosphere. Consortium works great; visit was very impressive (CMC very politically active and diverse).</p>

<p>Georgetown: Proximity to such a hotbed of political activity & interning, stupendous IR program.</p>

<p>UT-Austin: Guaranteed admittance, Plan II is one of the best honors programs in the country. Will likely get good scholarship package.</p>

<p>Removed: Brown, Wesleyan, Haverford, UChicago, Northwestern, and Davidson.</p>