Narrowing Down My List of Colleges

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, everyone! So I'm a junior who's looking at college prospects and was able to narrow down an initial list of 50-something universities to 14, but I want to cut it down even more because a) I don't have the resources to fork over $800 in fees, b) I have waaaaaay too many selective schools on my list and c) who in the right mind would want to write 14 different college apps? Anywho, I want some feedback on how to go about cutting the list down, which is hard since I really like all of these schools for different reasons. In order of preference, the colleges are:
1. Stanford
2. Yale
3. U Chicago
4. UC Berkeley
5. Georgetown
6. USC
7. U. Penn.
8. Dartmouth
9. Columbia
10. Cornell
11. Rice
12. U. Mass @Amherst
13. Mills College
14. CSU: San Francisco</p>

<p>Miscellaneous (not going to go into too much detail):</p>

<p>~Average GPA (UW/W): 3.89, 4.28 </p>

<p>~SATs: 2340 (760 Math, 780 Critical Reading, 800 Writing)</p>

<p>~Have only taken the SAT II in World History, 770 (planning to take Biology E, Literature, and Spanish with Listening)</p>

<p>~Planning to double major in theatre and either political science, economics, or international relations</p>

<p>~Extensive background in theatre (especially historical and reenactment theatre), debate (current treasurer of the Junior Statesmen of America), and piano (I teach children at my church for free and am gearing up for a performance with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir).</p>

<p>~Ethnicity: Colombian-American</p>

<p>~Lower Middle Class</p>

<p>~First generationeer</p>

<p>~California resident </p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>Do you have any preferences as to location/size/etc? Would you need financial aid?</p>

3

<p>Here are some things to consider initially:

  • size of school (student population as well as campus size)
  • strength of intended program/major
  • student body characteristics/are the students happy at their school?
  • opportunities that you could pursue at each school</p>

<p>For this particular weed-through, I would not worry about costs or financial aid. </p>

<p>Sent from my ADR6400L using CC App</p>

4

<p>~Location: I’m looking more toward East/West coast schools that are reasonably close to a big city. Other than that, I can adapt. </p>

<p>~Financial Aid: I will REALLY need financial aid. My mom makes under $40k a year and through the recent budget cuts (she works for a UC) I believe it may be lower. Now that I’m on the topic of UCs, do you know whether they offer any good financial aid packages for children of faculty/staff? I know other state schools offer free tuition for children of employees.</p>

<p>~Size: Dartmouth is about as small as I want to go.</p>

5

<p>But holy CRAP! That is an impressive resume, isn’t it? Congratulations on your upcoming performance with the Mormon Tabernacle!</p>

<p>My advice (which is, unfortunately, somewhat vague) would be to (of course) nail down a safety or two that you feel like you can probably get into without issue, and would also love to attend! A safety isn’t a safety without a desire to go there. Another thing to take into account with your safety (or safeties) is their ability and willingness to give you financial aid. You’re very well-qualified, obviously, and so much of your choice will stem from preference.</p>

<p>The one thing that sticks out to me about your list is the fact that your schools span the nation. The issue you’ll run into is making it to all these schools for visits (which you will of course want to do before you seriously consider attending there). Thus, I would say you should cluster your schools by region:</p>

<p>California:
UC Berkeley
CSU San Francisco
Mills College
Stanford
USC</p>

<p>Texas:
Rice</p>

<p>Midwest:
U Chicago</p>

<p>New England/Mid-Atlantic/East Coast:
Yale
Georgetown
Penn
Dartmouth
Columbia
Cornell
U. Mass–Amherst</p>

<p>Don’t bother cutting any California schools without at least a visit, because you can get to all of them via car. Rice and UChicago are both tough; driving there is going to be awful, but doable. I would recommend trying to visit at least one, if you can manage a total drive time of 50+ hours. You sound like a truly busy, involved person, so I wouldn’t count on making a long trip to the Northeast. If you’re not truly loving all those schools, I’d suggest making cuts there (if it were me, U. Mass – Amherst would go first; it doesn’t seem to bring anything unique to the table, IMHO). The rest are trickier; again, I wouldn’t recommend filling out ten college applications, but then, what should your criteria be for cutting your list? It’s not worth it to drive or fly that far, in terms of time or money, if you’re not really even sure you’ll have that school as an option. </p>

<p>I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful, but, unfortunately, nobody here is going to be able to tell you something that’s going to sway your decision. Best of luck, though, and congratulations on so many things! Being a first-generation college student, a talented pianist, or an excellent student alone is something to be proud of; to be all three is astounding!</p>

6

<p>Here’s my quick breakdown:</p>

<ol>
<li>Stanford - keep</li>
<li>Yale - keep</li>
<li>U Chicago - keep</li>
<li>UC Berkeley - keep (you are in)</li>
<li>Georgetown - keep</li>
<li>USC - keep (its a safety for you)</li>
<li>U. Penn. - keep</li>
<li>Dartmouth - keep</li>
<li>Columbia - keep</li>
<li>Cornell - keep this or Rice</li>
<li>Rice - keep this or Cornell</li>
<li>U. Mass @Amherst - eliminate (you’re in at Berkeley, not worth the price)</li>
<li>Mills College - too safe eliminate</li>
<li>CSU: San Francisco - too safe eliminate or maybe keep for full ride</li>
</ol>

<p>You should keep most of the top privates (Ivies, Chicago, Gtown, Rice) to hedge your financial aid offers. In the long run its going to be worth much more than $800. You’re almost surely in at Berkeley so definitely keep that in mind.</p>

7

<p>Have you looked at Questbridge? questbridge.org and there’s a subforum on it here, too.</p>

8

<p>Thanks everyone! Through your help and some soul-searching, I’ve narrowed down my list to:</p>

<ol>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Yale </li>
<li>U Chicago</li>
<li>UC Berkeley</li>
<li>Georgetown</li>
<li>USC</li>
<li>U. Penn</li>
<li>Dartmouth </li>
<li>Columbia</li>
<li>CSUSF (free tuition? Looks like I’m liking CSUSF more than I thought). </li>
</ol>

<p>I was kind of lukewarm about Mills and Cornell, and Rice has too much of a wet campus for a Mormon, so I eliminated those three. </p>

<p>@SDonCC: I’ve heard about Questbridge, actually! A friend of mine was able to get into Yale last year through it, and the prospect of free application fees and possibly free tuition is appealing. :slight_smile: I’ll look into it some more. </p>

<p>Anyways, thanks to everyone for their help!</p>

<p>~ThespianTeddy</p>

9

<p>Pace’s BA program might be a good fit - you’ll easily get their honors scholarship and it’s right in NYC.</p>

10

<p>You can do better than UCs in every way. Schools not in a budget crisis that have much better aid for starters. Your stats and being Colombian put you in the running for any school.</p>

<p>I’d knock off Mills and UMass as schools that don’t give good aid. For non reaches focus on LACs that meet need. Look at Barnard, Colby, Bowdoin, Scripps, Occidental, Bates, Carleton, Wellesley for a start.</p>

11

<p>I have to admit, I dislike the public schools for their deteriorating institutions and obvious lack of good financial aid packages. I guess I’ll still apply to Berkeley simply for emotional ties (yeah, a crappy reason, I know). Ugh, I hate the U.S. educational system. But in terms of safeties, does anyone know of any schools that offer good theatre and music programs (that aren’t ridiculously hard to get into like at USC and Yale)?</p>

12

<p>If you are from a family with income under $80,000, UC will top up grants and scholarships to at least as much as UC systemwide fees under the Blue and Gold Opportunity program.</p>

<p>Put “net price calculator” in the search box of every school’s web site to get an idea of what it is likely to offer you, instead of guessing about what schools give good financial aid or not.</p>

<p>If you are a member of the LDS church (since you mention the Mormon Tabernacle Choir), would BYU have the academic programs you are interested in? It is relatively inexpensive.</p>

<p>USC would not be a Yale-like reach with your stats. Indeed, they have a reputation of liking high test score applicants.</p>