Narrowing down my list.

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi everyone =)</p>

<p>I'm an incoming senior for the school year 2007 - 2008 at the International School Manila in the Philippines. I am enrolled in the full IB diploma program. I have created a list of colleges that I want to apply to, unfortunately I need to narrow my list from the 23 to about 12 or so and it has been an unbelievably difficult task. First off, let me state that I am not not a stellar student. In fact, under the standards of most of the college confidential members, I'd POSSIBLY be decent. I'd like your honest answers and opinions but I'd like for you to keep hurtful/disrespectful comments to yourself.</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT: 1220/1850 (Out of 1600 and 2400 respectively)
GPA: 3.583 (Unweighted) 3.808 (Weighted)
Class Rank/Percentile: Probably in the top 25% of my class
School Type: Private
Courses: Full IB Diploma (Junior Year - Senior Year)
IBH 1/2 Psychology
IBH 1/2 English A1
IBH 1/2 European History
IBS 1/2 Mathematics Studies
IBS 1/2 Biology
IBS 1/2 French B1
Theory of Knowledge
AP US History (Senior Year Only)</p>

<p>I'm a Korean citizen but I have lived most of my life outside of Korea, as a result I am not fluent in Korean. I won't be the first generation in my family to attend college. Also, I actually never had a GPA over 3.0 until the 1st semester of my junior year where I began to wake up to the realities of life (video gaming probably would not get me where I would want to be).</p>

<p>EC's:
Gawad Kalinga 777 (Grade 10)
Member of Samahang Bukas Palad (Grade 10)
Officer of Samahang Bukas Palad (Grade 11, gave up my officership in order for the underclassmen to take charge)
Forensics : OI - IASAS representative (Grade 11, comparable to regionals i suppose. It's where an association of international schools from the southeast asian area compete in various different sports and activities.)
Member of Peer Helpers (Grade 10)
Officer of Peer Helpers (Grade 12)
IASAS Peer Helpers (Grade 11)
Bamboo Telegraph Editor : Culture - School Editorial (Grade 12)</p>

<p>For some of the above, I haven't added IASAS for 12th grade because I'll have to try out for them this coming school year.</p>

<p>College List:
I compiled my list according to the strength of the school in different majors. The majors that I used were Psychology, Criminal Justice, Sociology and Nursing in no particular order. Strength in pre-professional programs (especially law) was taken into account as well. I have no personal preferences as to the area where the college is located but do take into account how the atmosphere is (i don't drink, I don't smoke) and how the weather is (I have not experienced temperatures below 15 degrees Celsius).
Most of the colleges are small to medium sized liberal arts colleges. I place an emphasis on a small student:faculty ratio and end up liking smaller colleges because I like being in a tightly knit community. </p>

<p>Here is the list!
Allegheny College - Meadville, PA
Beloit College - Beloit, WI
Clark University - Worcester, MA
Cornell College - Mount Vernon, IA
CUNY John Jay - New York, NY
Franklin & Marshall College - Lancaster, PA
George Mason University - Fairfax, VA
Guilford College - Greensboro, NC
Juniata College - Huntingdon, PA
Manhattanville College - Purchase, NY
New College of Florida - Sarasota, FL
Pace University - New York, NY
Pitzer College - Claremont, CA
Reed College - Portland, OR
Rochester, University of - Rochester, NY
St. Olaf College - Northfield, MN
SUNY Albany - Albany, NY
SUNY Binghamton - Binghamton, NY
Wabash College - Crawfordsville, IN
Washington, University of - Seattle, WA
Wheaton College - Wheaton, IL
Whitman College - Walla Walla, WA</p>

<p>I have taken the time to get to know most of these colleges on a personal level and have done extensive research about their undergraduate programs. What I need help with is removing schools from this list because I can only apply to so many schools (plus, application fees hurt sometimes). I am only able to pay around $36,000 for fees so I'm relying on either merit-based aid (i don't have great stats which makes it hard for me to qualify for it) or aid for international students. I also like an atmosphere in which I feel that I'm learning things for the sake of education rather than grades. I don't do very well in competitive environments though I don't mind intense work.</p>

2

<p>You have a lot of excellent schools on your list where I think you will stand a good shot of being admitted. I think that you have done some excellent research. I assume that you will not be able to visit any of these schools. You did say you took in to account the weather - that you have never experienced temperatures below 15 C. I don't know how much of a factor that will be for you, but many of the schools on your list are quite cold in the winter and a number of them get quite a lot of snow. It could be quite an experience for you to live in a snowy climate, so don't knock them out of the running just for that. However, in the end, you might want to knock some of the colder ones off your list if it is still too long.</p>

3

<p>You need to do more research. SUNY Albany, Binghamton and CUNY are not small to medium size colleges. A school like Univ. of Rochester is a reach for you and would not give you merit aid. You should also decide if you want to be in a large city(eg Pace) or a small city (eg. F&M). You may also want to be in area where there are other Asian people, and Northfield, MN is not one of them.</p>

<p>My sugestion is find a region in the country you want to go to. Find the type of city or town you want. Look at the school's SATs and class ranking. If you are in the top of75% SATs, you may get merit aid. Check whether the school is private or public, even for out of state students, there may be a large difference in tuition.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

4

<p>If you don't want to be around lots of drinking, take off the SUNY schools. </p>

<p>If you don't want big schools, take off UWash and George Mason.</p>

<p>And unless you're looking for an art-heavy education, you might want to take of Beloit. (I get the impression that it's extremely arts-oriented).</p>

<p>Also take off Rochester. It's an excellent school, but the students do tend to be very grades-oriented.</p>

5

<p>The competition for international aid at Reed is intense (no merit aid is given) and your numbers make Reed a reach; I think your chances improve if you can somehow not request aid. Portland usually gets at least a small amount of snow in the winter; last winter Reed was closed at least one day due to snow.</p>

6

<p>Reed and Wheaton are polar opposites. At Wheaton no one drinks or smokes as opposed to some students at Reed and I heard pot is pretty big at Reed too. Reed is very liberal and Wheaton is very conservative. Also, religion is very big at Wheaton and most students at Reed are nonreligious. And keep in mind that a pastor recommendation is required for applying to Wheaton, which is why I can't apply because I'm Catholic. Plus, I heard there is a ban on Roman Catholic speakers at the chapel and an assitant professor was fired for converting to Catholicism.</p>

7

<p>Pitzer is a high reach for you. Check the SAT scores for Whitman, Reed, and New College of Florida. I suspect they are also reaches.</p>

8

<h1>2 shennie</h1>

<p>Thank you very much. I've been referring to the ranks for weather that is given to these schools by college ******* and I've been trying to talk to various alumni to see how they're dealing with it (since they have gone through what I will go through). </p>

<h1>3 OldPerson</h1>

<p>I'm aware that neither of the SUNYs and the CUNY are small to medium sized colleges which is why I said that MOST of my choices were that. While each of these three schools have a larger student:faculty ratio than the other colleges on my list the strength of some of their programs as well as their cheaper comprehensive costs as compared to other schools (roughly $25,000 for each of the SUNYs). As for the University of Rochester, I am aware that it is a reach school but I have studied the acceptance statistics for recent IB diploma students and the rate it is quite high (90%+). Although it might be a reach and merit-based aid may not be granted, the tuition is almost within range and I may be able to qualify for scholarships outside the school. I also have researched about the colleges and the respective towns and cities they are in. I'm a very flexible and adaptable person and the ones with significantly unattractive locations were already removed from my list. I also have no problems with student body diversity, especially when it comes to the lack of Asians. I will look into that matter more closely though, thanks for the tip :)</p>

<h1>4 world changer</h1>

<p>Thanks for your input :) Especially the comment about student body population of GMU and UWash</p>

<h1>5 vossron</h1>

<p>I see, didn't know about the lack of merit aid (not that I would have gotten any anyways). I'll try to find ways I can not request aid, thank you.</p>

<h1>6 prankityclankity</h1>

<p>THANK YOU! This is the kind of thing that I need to take colleges off my list. I did know that Wheaton was a highly religious school but your examples illustrate the extent to which it stretches. My parents are of different faiths so I don't think I would have the background that would match Wheaton. (It was a reach school anyways.)</p>

<h1>7 ricegal</h1>

<p>Yes, I'm aware that all of those colleges are reaches for me. My guidance counselors strongly recommended that I have several reach schools. In fact, all of the colleges you named were recommended to me by my counselor (who knows me quite well might I add).</p>

9

<p>I don't think you'll like Mville or Pace. Though you may very well get good financial aid from them, use them as true backups. Their only outstanding attributes are that they are close to New York City. But not that close.</p>

<p>Look into Sarah Lawrence College.... small college, near NYC, strong programs, alternative feel, in dire need of geographic diversity and males.</p>

10

<p>I would say Juniata would be a good fit and a good choice for you. There is already one student from the Manilla at Juniata in fact. They give 30 credits for completion of the IB diploma regardless of grades (you just have to get the diploma any combo of scores) which allows you to skip a year of school theoretically and graduate in 3 years. They give merit based aid to students based on a sliding scale of GPA and SAT scores so if your SAT scores are higher you can still get 10-12 thousand a year. I would say with your scores you'd likely at least get the minimum. They also encourage very strongly international students and study abroad (about 100 study abroad and about 100 international students a year). There is not a lot of diversity and its a very rural town. There is a lot of stuff to do that is not drinking related and few students smoke. There are 2 entire floors of a dorm for just international students and 2 floors for no alcohol or drugs.</p>

11

<p>I will echo what Prankity said:
You need to do more research if you are putting schools like Reed and Whitman on the same list as Wheaton. </p>

<p>Wheaton is highly religious, very evangelical. Seriously. Plenty of people are happy there, but unless that is a scene you actively seek out, you might feel left out.</p>

<p>Whitman and Reed, on the other hand, are very academic and extremely liberal (Reed doesn't even have grades!) Expect nerdy rock climbers in Chaco sandals - Bibles are rare. Your grades won't get you into these schools, but your gender and race just might.</p>

<p>Oh, and all three of these schools get snow in winter. If 15 deg Celcius sounds cold, you should look south.</p>

12

<p>A minor correction: Reed has grades, and they're recorded on a traditional transcript, but students don't ever see their grades unless they ask.</p>

13

<p>Re: Pitzer -- None of the Claremont Colleges offer nursing or criminal justice as majors, although you'd be free to pursue both psych and soc. Also, smoking (of all kinds) on campus is pretty normal and accepted (there are certainly non-smokers and you never have to do it, but you'll definitely be around it).</p>

14

<h1>9 unalove</h1>

<p>Thanks for the suggestions, talked to my guidance counselor and removed pace from my list :) Also liked Sarah Lawrence</p>

<h1>10 mtnday</h1>

<p>Thank you for the additional information! It's really helpful and encouraging =)</p>

<h1>11 whitmanalum</h1>

<p>Looked closer at your suggestions and comments. Removed both Wheaton and Whitman from my list. Whitman, as you stated, is highly religious and I am certainly not the type to fit in there. Whitman was removed due to the number of reaches on my list and it being the least favorable one =)</p>

<h1>13 student615</h1>

<p>Thanks for the head up! </p>

<p>Overall, Pace, St. Olaf, University of Washington, Whitman and Wheaton have been removed from the list. Lafayette College has been added.</p>

15

<p>
[quote]
Whitman and Reed, on the other hand, are very academic and extremely liberal... Expect nerdy rock climbers in Chaco sandals - Bibles are rare.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Couldn't have said it better myself. ;)</p>