<p>Hi All,
So I am trying to narrow down my college list, and am having trouble narrowing down my reaches. I would prefer to only have 4-5 MAX, but I currently have: Pomona, MIT, CalTech, Brown, Cambridge, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke (ED, I'm keeping that one). I am also open to taking suggestions on other reaches, but I have already cut Harvard and Stanford, though I have not yet looked at Yale or Princeton, and there is no way I am going to Cornell or Penn. Any ideas? I plan on majoring in Neuroscience, and while I would prefer a 6000~ college I don't care much about size. I do care about diversity, and how small the classes are, etc. but I am willing to make exceptions (which I guess is part of my problem- all of these schools sound good!)
I guess that what I am asking for is "what makes these schools special".</p>
<p>The best approach will be to find colleges that meet your “fit” criteria instead of some external ranking. Rather than looking for reaches, identify the best schools for you.</p>
<p>that’s good advice, OP. another way to put it is to actually learn something about your reaches and whether or not they are good for you. Do your research. Go visit. Talk to alumni. Get to know any reach as well as you can instead of taking someone else’s word on what is best for you.</p>
<p>One criterion you haven’t considered in your post is how you will pay for any college and how you figured that out. If you haven’t asked your parents what they can contribute, and you haven’t found out what the school will likely cost your parents, you really don’t have a list, certainly not a list you should apply to. </p>
<p>Pomona doesn’t seem like a good fit from a research perspective. It’s a great school though. I was seriously considering attending!</p>
<p>I would also dispense with Dartmouth if I were you. </p>
<p>I would take out Cambridge unless you have the funds to travel as an international student and go through the separate process of applying. I do believe that you should do some more research on these schools especially since you are trying to narrow them down. It seems to me that these schools were selected based off a reading of a rankings list, and is not balanced or other factors like fit considered.</p>
<p>If you live in the US, I’d take Cambridge off the list. First, applying to British schools is an entirely different ball game than applying to US schools. They don’t care about ECs or SAT or ACT scores; they don’t care if you took humanities classes in high school if you want to major in neuroscience. They want to see focus on that particular subject. Cambridge asks for 5 AP tests with a 5 on each related to your intended major in order to be considered competitive, or 700s or above on 3 SAT IIs. Second, it will be crazy expensive. I think Cambridge is around $40,000 (US) for international students with virtually no financial aid available, since it subsidies so much of British students’ education. There is absolutely no need-based aid at Cambridge for international students, only a few very competitive merit scholarships. Third, it’ll probably be one of the hardest schools to get into. As I said, British schools don’t look for liberal arts criteria; they don’t look for a “well-rounded” applicant that US colleges idolize. Because of this, admissions officers are especially skeptical of American students, as they are weary of them being able to focus on one very specific topic for three years coming directly from a US, liberal arts based HS. Cambridge’ admission rate for US students was around 7% last year (Class of 2017). I think last year, only 5 American kids actually enrolled at Cambridge. If you’re already spending time trying to get into highly selective US schools, don’t spread yourself thin trying to meet an entirely different standard for another highly selective school. </p>
<p>What are your stats? If some of these are simply not possible for you, that would pare down your list.</p>
<p>I am guessing your stats are tippy top, but it would be helpful to know some specifics about those. Do you have any hooks? Are you sure your parents can pay the full tuition, room and board, plus fees, transportation costs, etc? Please clarify this with them before you get too much further. I know you want help narrowing down these reaches, and given your interest in Neuroscience, I think Brown is a great choice for a reach. I agree with removing Cambridge, unless you are very set on going to Europe. Most of your other choices would be ok with you doing a semester abroad, but unless you have a lot of experience of life abroad, I am not sure that is a great choice for undergrad. If you are a tippy top student, consider doing semester abroad and then go for a Fulbright or similar AFTER graduation. </p>
<p>I have examined in detail the opportunities to do research at Pomona in neuroscience, and they are amazing. The equipment they have in those labs, the grants the profs are pulling in, the outreach they do to institutions all over the U.S. is amazing for a small LAC. My D didn’t end up going there, but I was very impressed by my contact with the professors in that field and their research. One of my concerns at any of the LACs D was interested in was just this question of research opps, and I was flabbergasted by what Pomona and URichmond, for instance, had to offer. The time the director of the URichmond program gave to this prospective applicant was a testament to his dedication to this small but vibrant program. Do your own investigation at the smaller schools and see what’s going on in terms of hands-on lab work by the u/gs. But do so for any school. One of the reasons my D is going to Pitt is b/c of the opportunities to do research at a research university with an attached hospital and a long history of neuro research and opportunities. Pitt announced this fall that they will build a new brain institute. </p>
<p>Hi- Thanks for all the replies.
My qualifications are fine (36 ACT, 800s on SAT IIs, 4.0 GPA… good APs, lots of extracurriculars, etc). I am certain that my family can pay all costs. My only hooks (legacy wise) are Duke, Penn, and Harvard (harvard is graduate school). Other than that, and the fact that I am a female wanting to go into hard science… not really. The reasons I am planning on applying to Cambridge is that I have dual British/American citizenship and that my grandparents went there and that my grandmother’s brother is a dean. Thus… family pressure. I have done all the prelim research on these, and have so far found that I liked everything. That is where my problem comes in. They all have Neuroscience, undergrad research, and are a community (as far as I know) I feel comfortable with. My problems come with differentiating past stats (class sizes, teacher student ratios, whether they have a major or specialty that I want, research opportunities) and finding out what’s “special” or attractive about them.</p>
<p>I have also done research in a lab, if that matters. </p>
<p>The reason that I am applying to these schools is not based off of a “list” but because they are good schools where I know people who have gone. I have done a lot of research on them. I have backups and targets, and have already whittled those down. So no, not list based. </p>
<p>Snarlatron and Jkeil really hit it- you have to know what these schools are really about, in order to present your match, from their perspective, in your app and supps. Whether you’ve done “preliminary” or “a lot” of research, in the end it falls on you to understand the different selling points, what those colleges seek and foster- and how you will sell yourself to them in ways that matter to them. I suspect that’s a frustrating answer, but it’s important. You have to come to that clarity, for yourself. Otherwise it can’t come through on the apps- or comes through dry.</p>
<p>On your list, each of those schools has a different environment, context and opportunities. Adcoms will want to see you have considered more than that they have the major, any facilities and opps for undergrad research, and lots of smart, interesting kids and great profs. </p>
<p>We also don’t know what your ECs are, which can be telling, to an adcom. </p>
<p>If you want to know class sizes, see if the schools’ online class schedules list them. Be aware that introductory biology, chemistry, and psychology courses are often relatively large in comparison to other courses at the same school.</p>
<p>Being a female going into a biology / psychology based major (as opposed to physics, engineering, computer science, and the like) is not likely to help you at schools looking for gender balance in various majors, as biology and psychology majors are majority female these days.</p>
<p>
H does not count parent going to Grad School as legacy.</p>