Need Fresh Ideas

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a rising senior who has some general thoughts on where I might apply and/or attend (as do my parents), but I was hoping I might get some fresh advice from some users here.</p>

<p>Please recommend any colleges that you believe might be a good fit (or safety, or reach). For the sake of my own curiousity, I'm not going to list which colleges I have already considered.</p>

<p>General:</p>

<p>White male from rural Mississippi</p>

<p>High School:</p>

<p>Freshman year GPA: unknown, but all A's and A+'s
Sophomore year GPA: unknown -- I spent a full year abroad in Japan as part of a private exchange program between our two schools. According to the counselor for our program, I get credit for my classes, but I don't know what my GPA might be.
Junior year GPA: 3.9 unweighted, 4.2 weighted
I took Honors Precal, Honors Chem, AP USH, and AP Eng-Lit my junior year and am awaiting those AP scores; I'm currently scheduled to take AP Phy, AP Calc, AP Eng-Lang, AP Comp Gov, and AP Human Geo my senior year.
Estimated rank (my school doesn't rank, as far as I am aware): top 10-15%</p>

<p>Standardized Tests (I've only taken the SAT and ACT once so far):</p>

<p>SAT - 1390/2100 (680 CR, 710 M, 710 W (740 MC + 8 Essay))
ACT - 33 (35 W, 33 M, 33 E, 30 S)
PSAT - 203 (This is admittedly pretty low, but possible for some sort of recognition in Miss.)
SAT II
Japanese w/ Listening - 800
Math II - 800
Chemistry - 770
Literature - 680</p>

<p>Extracurriculars (my weak spot):</p>

<p>Judo black belt (earned in Japan during my year there)
Vocal performance -- both at school and at private sessions
Musical/theater
100+ hours community service (several week-long mission trips)
Hosted a Japanese exchange student my entire junior year (part of exchange program)</p>

<p>Other:</p>

<p>National Honor Society
President's Award at School
High Honor Roll every academic quarter</p>

<p>Additional Comments:</p>

<p>I took the SAT and ACT earlier this year, and I think that after seeing my SAT II scores from June, I can definitely improve those this fall. Also, hosting our exchange student this past year has been time consuming in itself, but I hope to further contribute to my extracurriculars through more community service.</p>

<p>In terms of what I am looking for in a college:</p>

<p>Moderate or slightly liberal political atmosphere
Medium-large sized school (probably prefer research university, but not necessarily)
Any distance from home
Possible majors: Asian Studies, International Relations, Health/Biology (I am currently considering medical school after college)</p>

<p>If there is any additional information I could provide, please let me know. Any comments or suggestions welcome.</p>

2

<p>Hmm… here are some suggestions that I think would be good for you:</p>

<p>Reaches: Harvard, Yale, Princeton [I know, but you are realllly qualified imo]
Matches: University of Michigan, University of Virginia, UNC Chapel Hill
Safety: University of Mississippi [if it exists]</p>

3

<p>A couple of other little things I thought I might mention:</p>

<p>Elected to honor council (senior year)
Biology and Precal book awards</p>

<p>Also, I’m eligible for a special Global Studies certificate from our school based upon my GPA, study abroad, language proficiency, and history electives. But, as far as I know, the certificate is limited only to my school.</p>

<p>BTW – Thanks for the post, team.</p>

4

<p>Brown, UMich, Middlebury’s small but great for language, and UNC all come to mind at first, but what are your preferences for city/rural and things like that</p>

5

<p>Thank you for your suggestion.</p>

<p>I don’t really have a preference for the location, so long as it doesn’t go to an extreme. I guess somewhere in between would be my preference.</p>

6

<p>wittywonka, check out this article on martial arts at the University of Chicago:
[The</a> University of Chicago Magazine: Chicago Journal](<a href=“http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0811/chicago_journal/course_work.shtml]The”>The University of Chicago Magazine: Chicago Journal)
And this link to Asian Studies at Chicago:
[The</a> Center for East Asian Studies](<a href=“http://ceas.uchicago.edu/]The”>http://ceas.uchicago.edu/)</p>

<p>And this link, for Foreign Policy Magazine’s ranking of top schools for students interested in IR*:
[url=<a href=“http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4685&page=1]Foreign”>http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4685&page=1]Foreign</a> Policy: Inside the Ivory Tower<a href=“*%20the%20%22top%20undergraduate%20programs%22%20table%20summarizes%20responses%20by%20surveyed%20IR%20professors%20to%20the%20question,%20%22What%20are%20the%205%20best%20colleges%20or%20universities%20%5Bin%20country%20X%5D%20for%20undergraduate%20students%20to%20study%20IR?%22.%20%20Note,%20this%20ranking%20has%20stirred%20some%20controversy%20on%20College%20Confidential,%20so%20take%20it%20with%20a%20grain%20of%20salt.”>/url</a></p>

<p>Among Foreign Policy’s top 10, HYPS are long shots for everyone, though your rural Mississippi location might give you a small edge. Of the others, Georgetown and Tufts have long been noted for their strong IR programs. Georgetown has the advantage of its Washington, DC location, and a reputation for good internship programs. Chicago is a little less selective than HYPS or Columbia. It is a much stronger research university overall than Georgetown, is stronger in the sciences, and I suspect you would find has richer offerings in Asian Studies beyond the elementary-intermediate language courses.</p>

<p>Suggested list:
Super Reach: Stanford (or Harvard/Yale/Princeton)
Reach: Columbia, Chicago, Georgetown, Hopkins, UPenn*
Low Reach: Tufts
Match: American University, George Washington, University of Washington**</p>

<ul>
<li>ilovebagels is a CollegeConfidential Senior Member who majored in IR and East Asian Studies at Penn
**seaissa is a CollegeConfidential Junior Member who is majoring in IR and East Asian Studies/Japan at the University of Washington</li>
</ul>

7

<p>Rice .</p>

8

<p>what exactly do you want to do?</p>

9

<p>Second Brown and add Swarthmore. What’s your financial situation like?</p>

10

<p>I’m a senior member? Awesome. I salute my own overabundance of free time and thank all the coworkers who shouldered the burdens of my job so I could waste more time on Collegeconfidential instead.</p>

<p>Anyway Yes I went to Penn for East Asian Studies and IR (well I went there for PPE, but wound up doing IR and East Asian Studies instead). Penn has phenomenal and very active undergrad programs in those departments, and most others (including health/bio stuff).</p>

11

<p>Thanks to everyone who has given me feedback and suggestions. Especially I’d like to thank tk for his thoughtful response.</p>

<p>I think I’m going to back out of my original decision and explain some of my own thoughts/research, too.</p>

<p>I’ve definitely been interested in Georgetown as a high match/low reach for a while now. I briefly visited late last year and really enjoyed both the campus and its proximity to D.C. (although it wasn’t as proximate as GWU, thankfully). And of course, the academics are strong, especially in terms of international studies. I’ve also been attracted to their International Public Health major, which I feel would be a decent combination of the fields I am interested in. Although, admittedly, I’m pretty sure that other universities of the same caliber (and those of higher caliber) offer the possibility to sculpt a similar study track through interdisciplinary studies.</p>

<p>In addition, I’ve been rather interested in Washington University in St. Louis. Not only does it have strong academics overall, in addition to a Japanese major and a strong bio/premed department, but it is also a member of a prestegious group of schools (Ivies + Chicago + UVA - which I have also looked into + others) that have a wonderful center for Japanese studies in Kyoto (Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies). I realize now that I didn’t mention this earlier, but I have given some serious thought to studying in Japan again during my college career, although I am not absolutely sure about that.</p>

<p>Anyway, thanks again to all those who posted. Any other comments welcome.</p>

12

<p>wittywonka, can you see a future for yourself in a program like Doctors Without Borders?
Something like that would be a fine ambition.</p>