My chances on a preliminary list of colleges! Please help me choose where to apply :)

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Hi there!</p>

<p>Sorry, this is my first post, so I apologize in advance if I do/say something incorrect. </p>

<p>I am a rising senior in Southern California looking to begin the college application process. After doing quite a bit of research, I composed a preliminary list of colleges that seemed like a fit. I attempted to create a list that would reflect a balance of safety, match, and reach schools, but I'm afraid that I've picked too many reach schools and not enough safety/matches. Darn my ambitious dreams </p>

<p>Using the preliminary list below, I need to create a new list consisting of the 10 colleges (safety, match, and reach) to which I will apply. While I've talked to people, researched online, and attended multiple college presentations, I'm still not sure which 10 to pick and would, therefore, greatly appreciate all help. Comments, questions, suggestions, advice--pretty much anything as long as it's honest, respectful, and credible. </p>

<p>Personality: I am extremely active and truly enjoy a healthy lifestyle. I love to run, rock climb, swim, hike etc. Cooking/Baking is my hobby, and I am an avid foodie with vegetarian/vegan preferences, though I still eat meat occasionally. I also love traveling and am interested in learning different languages. I tend to thrive in smaller classes since I love to particpate and engage in discussions; I am outgoing and not afraid to ask questions. Interviews don't faze me at all, and I can admit that I tend to do well in them. </p>

<p>Schools (with my included comments):</p>

<p>Amherst (I like the idea of the 5-college consortium)</p>

<p>Boston College (no Greek Life is nice, and it has all 3 majors in question)</p>

<p>Bowdoin (It's the farthest possible distance from where I live now; my parents are skeptical of this and I suppose that this is a factor for me as well)</p>

<p>Brown (The idea of the open curriculum without general requirements sounds interesting)</p>

<p>College of William and Mary (i visisted, toured the campus, and interviewed)</p>

<p>Cornell (they have AEM instead of business?)</p>

<p>Georgetown (toured the campus; the college as a whole seems particularly strong for my interests)
University of Notre Dame </p>

<p>Stanford (good family friend is an alumni whose son attends the university; he gave us a tour, and i loved it)
Tufts </p>

<p>University of Chicago </p>

<p>University of Pennsylvania <a href="my%20mom%20is%20skeptical%20of%20West%20Philly%20for%20safety%20reasons%20but%20Penn,%20much%20like%20Georgetown,%20seems%20to%20be%20particularly%20strong%20for%20my%20interest.%20i%20know%20that%20this%20is%20probably%20a%20huge%20reach.">UPenn</a></p>

<p>Other possibilities:
Johns Hopkins?
Middlebury?
Northwestern?</p>

<p>A few other notes:
Academics – As with many, this is my foremost concern.
Location – I prefer the East Coast, but I have included a few Midwest schools as well. I’m not really interested in schools in the South, Pacific Northwest, or California (except Stanford).
School size: Small or small-medium (10,000ish or below). I definitely do NOT want a big school.
Greek Life: I wouldn’t mind if there was no Greek System. A little bit is fine, but I don’t want a college experience dominated by sororities/fraternities.
Atmosphere: I love the feel of college-y towns like Cambridge (Boston). Conversely, I recently visited George Washington and NYU and found them to be swallowed up by the city. In other words, I couldn’t distinguish where the college/city started and ended. I found myself much more enticed by a campus that had clearly defined grounds (i.e. Georgetown). </p>

<p>Major(s):</p>

<p>Business, International Relations, Economics, or some combination of these </p>

<p>Essentially, I’ve narrowed down the list of possible majors by ruling out areas of study about which I am not passionate. So…</p>

<p>Don’t like:
LOTS of math/science (i.e. engineering, physics, biomed, etc)</p>

<p>Then, I looked at the remaining options and focused on what appealed to me: </p>

<p>What was left: </p>

<p>Business
Economics
International Relations
Political Science
-(I’m not interested in becoming a politician or what not, but I find International Relations interesting, and it often falls under a Poli Sci Major. If anyone has opinions on this, feel free to chime in, as I’m still trying to sort out specifics in terms of my major )</p>

<p>Objective:
• SAT I (composite and breakdown): 2170 (690 CR, 720 M, 760 W)
SAT II: Us History (710), Biology M (650). I’m planning on taking both of these over, as I hadn’t learned some of the material at the time of the test.
• ACT: 29 Composite. (I’ve taken it twice and received a 29 both times, but I’m not sure of the superscore. I probably would send the SAT instead. I actually find the ACT easier than the SAT with the exception of the science portion, which I struggle with a great deal. I know that it’s “logic” rather than science, and I’ve heard that it’s more important to just read the question instead of the entire passage, but I still struggled. Again, if anyone has an idea with regard to the ACT, please feel free to reply!)
• SAT II: 730 World History, 610 Spanish.
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.85 (My only B’s during were in AP Calculus and AP Bio during Junior year )
• Weighted GPA: 4.33
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%. Not sure of exact rank.
• AP (place score in parentheses):
o English Lang. (5),
o European History (5).
o Calculus AB (3)
o Biology (3)
o US History (5)
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Env Sci, AP English Lit, AP Government, AP Statistics, Newspaper, Tennis</p>

<p>Subjective:
-Respectable high school
• Extracurriculars:
o Newspaper (3 years, which is the maximum possible)—Editor-in-Chief
o Track and Field (3 years, maybe 4)
o CSF (California Scholarship Federation) – Vice President
o NHS –Vice President
o Mock Trial – Lead Attorney/Team Captain
o S.A.V.E. Environmental Club
o Surfrider Club Member
o Best Buddies (helping Special Ed kids) – Associate Member Leadership
o Girls State 2010 (I was nominated this year and selected out of 5 girls nominated)
• Job/Work Experience:
o Started working when I was 14 (rarity in my community)
o Country Club Junior Activities Coordinator (2.5 summers)
o Worked at an upscale Mexican Restaurant (1.5 summers)… 40-50 hours per week during the summer
o Interning at 2 Law Firms (this summer)
• Volunteer/Community service:
o Dolphin Pride Award – Gold Recipient (top community service award given at my school). 4 years and ~100 hours total
o CSF – constant volunteering throughout the year..not sure of the # of hours
o NHS - constant volunteering throughout the year (especially tutoring elementary kids)...not sure of the # of hours
o Habitat for Humanity – building houses for the homeless
o Meals on Wheels during the Holidays – distributing toys and gifts
• Summer Activities:
o I have worked or interned ever summer since starting high school. This summer, I also attended Girls State.
• Essays:
o I am very passionate about writing (despite the shorthand that I’m using in this post ) and believe that I am capable of writing decent essays. Please do not mistake this for bragging, as I’m simply trying to give an honest summary of my qualifications). I know that I will be at the mercy of the admissions committee in regard to my essays!
• Teacher Recommendations:
o I will probably get one from my AP Lit Teacher (also newspaper advisor) and one from my History teacher
• Counselor Rec:
o She’s wonderful and has done everything possible to help me for college! She also nominated me for Girls State.
• Awards:
o California State Multimedia Festival Winner 2007
 History Category
o AP Lang Achievement Award
o Student of the Month
o National Finalist in Baking Competition
o Girls State Outstanding Citizen </p>

<p>Other:
• State (if domestic applicant): CA
• School Type: Competitive Public
• Ethnicity: White/Asian, but I have 1% of pretty much every ethnicity, including American Indian (just not enough to qualify for a scholarship haha). Unfortunately, I can't change the fact that I'm an overrepresented minority :(<br>
• Gender: Female
• Income Bracket: Top 2%. Please be respectful when considering this. I don’t normally disclose my family’s financial situation because of the judgments that normally ensue. I am very lucky and eternally grateful to my parents for everything they have done.
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Nope</p>

<p>Sorry for such a long post!</p>

<p>I would be grateful for any feedback, suggestions, or any other helpful hints/personal or professional experience. In particular, feel free to let suggest adding or removing colleges from my list and give the reason why.</p>

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<p>sweet2ames,
I think the most of the colleges you have selected seem like a good fit for you. Some of you AP scores are low and so are your SAT scores. Because of this, you might consider removing Stanford and University of Chicago from your list. You could always apply and see what happens. They may decide to overlook your scores because of you impressive EC’s. Have you considered Berkley? It is an excellent school with a well- defined campus. There are Fraternities and Sororities, but if you look past that, you may find it to be a great fit.</p>

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<p>Thanks for replying crimsonivy ! </p>

<p>Yes, I have been considering re-taking the SAT seeing as my scores are on the lower end. Any clue as to the minimum score I should be aiming for?</p>

<p>As a side note, I’m surprised (actually pleasantly so haha!) that you would remove Chicago before somewhere like Penn or Brown. Or maybe you did mean to remove them as well, I’m not sure :wink:
In regard to your suggestion of Berkeley, I visited the area, liked it, and considered the school in the past. However, I recently eliminated it for the following reasons…

  1. it was quite a bit larger than many schools I was looking at
  2. With the exception of Stanford, which I fell in love with, I am eager to leave California and get a taste of something new, ideally the East Coast. Don’t get me wrong–I love where I live and appreciate both Northern and Southern CA, but I’d really love to experience a different environment before trying more of the same. </p>

<p>That being said, I loved the slightly hippy-esque vibe and excellent academics at Berkeley, so your recommendation was certainly a good one :)</p>

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<p>Sweet2ames: Thank you so much for starting this thread. I am literally suffering from insomia right now because I am stressing over university but did not want to start a whole new thread.</p>

<p>I really just need an objective opinion about some stuff since rarely anyone around me is sufficently knowledgable about universties etc. So I am an international student looking to enter a university to pursue engineering.For years Johns Hopkins was my first choice with Duke University in a close second (due mainly to their biomedical engineering programs) But literally a week ago, I jumped ship and replaced my first choice with Columbia (mainly because I felt it would be better for me to be in New York where I actually know people). I am an above average student but am yet to do my SATs. Being perfectly honest, I would estimate my scores to be:</p>

<p>SAT 1: 2000- 2200
SAT 2: Chemistry: 750+, Math 1: 750+, Math2: 700+</p>

<p>but I would definitely need as much financial assistance as I could get (which is where my issues stem from). In order to aliviate the obvious fear that I would not get sufficent financial aid, someone suggested that I try to get into a school with need blind financial aid. The problem is none of my top schools offer that. Of the eight schools known to offer need blind assistance to international students, MIT is the only one I could actually picture myself attending but I really do not think I have a good shot at even getting in Regular Decision furthermore Early Decision. What I love is that they offer Early Action so I could apply early but not bind myself to the school.
Columbia on the other hand offers need sensitive financial aid for International Students which is good but what if I apply Early Decision (binding) and the financial aid package I end up with (provided I get in) is insufficent but cannot get out of the agreement. What I really need is some advice on where I should apply early decision: Columbia, JHU or MIT because right now I am torn.</p>

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<p>Musiclover, </p>

<p>First, please keep in mind that I’m not expert on any of this, hence why I myself posted the question :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Perhaps though, you should not apply early decision to any of those places. Have you visited any of them?</p>

<p>From what I can tell, you’re basing most of what you know through research, which is perfectly fine if you’re merely planning to apply Regular decision or Early Action to a school. However, being that you are from abroad, I would encourage you to apply to multiple places and not to one through Early Decision, unless you’re absolutely positive that the school is for you. </p>

<p>In terms of financial aid, again, I’m not very qualified to make a statement, but I do know that almost every school I’ve researched always says “we meet 100% of the students demonstrated need.” In the event that you apply Early Decision and they do not offer enough aid, I believe you are released from the binding.</p>

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<p>^ yes you can be reluctantly “released,” but beware that severing ED contract may essentially blacklist you from your other university choices, and only leave cheaper state schools (or cheaper schools in your own country).</p>

<p>If financial aid is truly a major issue for you, the common consensus is to not apply ED. Then, in RD you can compare and even bargain financial aid packages to truly meet your aid. Keep in mind “100% need” may include loans, which are a short-term solution that becomes an obstacle in the future.</p>

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<p>thanks guys :)</p>