<p>I'm very indecisive. But i have narrowed my college list down to 12 schools plus three UCs (one app and instate). I want a school that is intellectual but not overly competitive. I really want friendly students who are socially aware and aren't very apathetic. So could anyone could help me narrow down my list and tell me if my list is vaguely balanced?
basic stats:
3.8 unweighted, 4.5 weighted
lots of difficult classes, slant towards humanites because i love english
sats: 700 m 700 w 800 cr
sat subject: 770 lit, 720 world, 620 bio
soccer 4 yrs.
env. club 2 yrs. president sr. year
volunteer at a preschool for underprivelidged children 2 yrs.
hamiltonians club (random history club)
usherettes (school community service/spirit-y club) secretary
humanitarian club
other volunteer-y stuff and work during summer and maybe senior year
ethnicity: mexican</p>
<p>So my schools are:
Vassar
Carleton
Pomona
Tufts
Occidental
Conn College
Kenyon
Colby
Oberlin
Macalester
Whitman
Clark
Kalamazoo
UCs:Berkeley, LA, and Santa Cruz</p>
<p>hey, i'm looking at many of the same schools. what kind of location do you prefer? urban, suburban, rural, etc? also, check out reed...and wesleyan...</p>
<p>I think the poster wants to slim it down, not stack it up yet, although I agree with both recommendations for the poster to look into.</p>
<p>As I go through my selection of schools to apply to, I think about every aspect of school BESIDES what my classes will be like. Honestly,after a list of good school with well ranked departments, world renown teaching, and basically a good chance at a job or a good chance at a good grad school is made, I worry next about me. When I first chose my prospective schools, I chose great schools and measured rankings and so on but then I decided...why not look at some pictures. Find out if I could stand looking at this place for four or more years. Find students on NON-school based forums and websites. Check out the cities and areas around the schools. What are the students (unfairly...sure) already destined to do with their weekends. Party? Smoke? Sit in and study? Go home??</p>
<p>I had a list similar to yours at one point but Colby then disappeared, Oberlin vanished, Carleton was slashed and so on and all of those schools are great but each one had something I couldn't see myself involved with. Beer schools, Frats, outside cities, opposing political stances, distance from home (positive or negitive), fun things to do, this is honestly how I narrowed down my list. </p>
<p>If I were you, I would choose one of either Clark, Kalamazoo, or Whitman-- all of them act as safeties for you and you have excellent chances at all of the schools you listed, and take out Tufts, Kenyon, and Occidental. For somebody who was looking for similar things in a school to you, I found those three schools to be too blah and too mainstream for me. Good schools, for sure, but people didn't want to sit and talk about things.</p>
<p>I know you're not looking to add to your list, but a reach could be Swarthmore or Haverford, and another match could be Brandeis. If you are female, Bryn Mawr is another excellent choice.</p>
<p>Based on the description of your preferred campus environment/type of students as well as your community service EC's, Kalamazoo would be a good fit. The Underwood Stryker Institute for Service-Learning is a very active program at K College: <a href="http://www.kzoo.edu/servicelearning/%5B/url%5D">http://www.kzoo.edu/servicelearning/</a> You also would qualify for excellent merit $ with your stats.</p>
<p>Connecticut College seems to me to be less of a match for you. Isn't it a little preppy rather than socially active? If you need financial aid, you should concentrate on the schools with the best aid, and drop some of the others. You are a really good candidate!</p>
<p>Okay. With stats like yours, you'll get into a handful of the schools you apply to, so I wouldn't say that you need three safeties. (I'm assuming Santa Cruz, Clark, and Kalamazoo are all back-ups?). If I were you, I'd cut at least one of them off the list.</p>
<p>Then, as far as I know, Carleton and Colby have a more conservative feel than the others on your list.</p>
<p>actually onemom, connecticut college is EXTREMELY socially active and filled with 'save the world' type kids. its one of the top LAC feeders to the peace corps and teach for america, and on the list of 'colleges with a conscience.' they have been raking in the awards for enviromental awareness and action.
the 'preppy' stereotype is quickly becoming a thing of the past.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great advice everybody! I really appreciate it! To answer notrojansno I prefer urban or suburban environments, but it's not the most important factor to me. I was thinking about reed, but I'm not sure if it's too intense for me, could you tell me anything about the social life?</p>
<p>I'd say get rid of Connecticut College... I visited it recently huskem55 and found it to be HIGHLY preppy. It reminded me of my former High school, which is a private school in lower Connecticut (ie: prep country). It didn't seem very "activist-y" to me. Also, Colby is another one I'd scratch for a similar reason. Furthermore, as world changer pointed out, Colby is less liberal and it seems like you're looking for a decidedly liberal school. That being so, Reed could be a fit for you along with Swarthmore... however, those two you should look into because there's definitely a certain profile of student that goes to those two places which you may or may not fit...</p>
<p>And I also agree with unalove's suggestion to pick between Whitman, Clark, and Kalamazoo... you don't need that many likelies/safeties. With your excellent scores and ethnicity you should have no trouble getting into several of your reaches.</p>
<p>So if I were you, the list would look like this...</p>
<p>Ok so after hearing everyone's opinions I have decided to eliminate Clark, Kenyon, and Colby. I didn't like Clark's surrounding area, and Colby and kenyon are a bit too remote for me...so basically here's what i've decided
For sure applying schools:
Vassar (my favorite...i visited it and loved it)
Occidental (i want to get into one lac in california just so I have the option of staying near home)
the UCs
Whitman (my favorite safety)
Macalester (seems like everything I want and its in a city)
Kalamazoo (I'm not so confident I can get into whitman b/c i hear it's really about individual fit and i like the study abroad and independent vibe it has)
Ok so now for the question-schools
-I love the activist spirit and internationalist culture at tufts and the location, but I don't generally like schools with frats. Is the frat prescence at Tufts enough to be a concern?
-Is Pomona really competitive? My counselor said it was, but that's not what i had originally heard.
-When I visited conn i really liked all the students I met b/c it seemed like they were more activist-y and liberal happy laid back people but some of the prospective students seemed more preppy and unfriendly. So I'm sort of unsure.
-Oberlin: How is the location? is it remote? (anything with coffeeshops, restaurants, bookstores and movie theaters is fine with me as long as its within an hour or so of a decently sized city)
Sorry that was really long. But I am so grateful for all of the great opinions I am getting!</p>
<p>I don't know the other schools well enough to answer your questions-- if I were you, I would go to the message boards for each college and ask there. First, do a search, though, to see if somebody's had similar questions.</p>
<p>You're not too much of a reach for Brown-- in fact, I was rather surprised that your list included no schools that I thought were higher than matches for you. (And that was before I even saw that you're an ethnic minority, which, considering how qualified you are, will help you in the admissions process, considering how many of the LAC's want to shake the image that they are all white).</p>
<p>Personally, I prefer Vassar to Brown, but Brown might be your thing. It's worth a try.</p>
<p>I think you are underselling yourself. You are absolutely in contention for places like Brown, Amherst, Dartmouth, Swarthmore, Pomona, etc. You should have many of these on your list and eliminate many of the safeties. You really could aim much higher.</p>
<p>It's clear you're most interested in LACs and small uni's. Before offering advice, and to give other posters more to work with, what led to your very positive reaction to Vassar? You said you'd prefer but are not committed to suburban/urban locations. Vassar's Poughkeepsie address and fair distance to NYC would seem a negative. What aspects of the school sold it for you?</p>
<p>wbwa
the campus was beautiful, and I liked that it was a train ride away from new york city, but still felt very peaceful. Everyone seemed really happy there, and I went to a class that I really enjoyed. It seems friendly and has the sort of quirky factor i like. I loved the library and all the trees. Everyone was really friendly and very nice.
slipper:
I visited amherst and for some reason I didn't really like it, i think it felt kind of competitive. I am looking at swarthmore, brown and pomona though and i really like them so far.</p>
<p>So my revised college list:
UC Berkeley, Santa Cruz and LA
Vassar
Swarthmore
Brown
Reed (really need info on social life there)
Occidental
Pomona
Macalester
Carleton
Oberlin
Tufts
Conn College
Kalamazoo
Whitman</p>
<p>So even though I've eliminated some, I've added more. I could really use some more input because it's been really helpful so far!</p>