Need help finding colleges to apply to!

College Search & Selection
1

Hi, I a junior/rising senior struggling to find colleges to apply to this fall!
About me:
I go to public school in CA.
1570 SAT (770/800), 19 essay but a 5 in AP Lang which hopefully makes up for that
Subject tests: 760 World History, 750 Math II
UC GPA: 4.0 unweighted GPA, 4.51 weighted, 4.23 weighted and capped
Lots of honors classes and will have 10 APs by end of senior year.
ECs:

  • Paid tutor at city library - 11th grade
  • ITS + Drama Club 9th-11th, Treasurer for 10th-11th
  • NAHS Secretary 11th grade
  • School play 9th and 10th
  • Summer job before 10th grade
  • TA at local Chinese school once a week for about 6 months in 10th grade
  • Volunteer aide at local art school summer before 11th grade
  • Academic summer program at a college summer before 11th grade
  • a couple other clubs without leadership
  • other volunteering off and on
  • I’ve also been taking art lessons for a couple years but I’m not sure if that something I should include
  • plan to get another job this summer
  • plan to be in summer cs program at a local university
    Basically, as far as extracurriculars go, I don’t stand out. I don’t have much leadership and I’m not up for any president positions senior year. No awards either

My parents make a combined $250k+/yr and their max contribution is $30k/year. My parents are divorced so for public colleges, I can apply for FAFSA under only mom, who makes under $70k a year, bc I live with her more.
I want to major in Economics but I would like to have some flexibility or room for exploration. I also like math so Math/Econ major would be cool. I’m hoping to go to graduate school eventually as well.
I’m looking for colleges in California/West coast and the east coast. Midwest is alright but definitely not the South. I would like to be in an urban or suburban area.
I would prefer a small liberal arts college but that’s difficult because of my price constraints, so any size school is fine. I’m not interested in women’s colleges. A diverse student body is also important to me.

So far, my college list is pretty short: just the UC’s.
The counselor at school suggested Fordham and Amherst but those two are pretty different so I’m still really confused.

What are some other schools I should apply to? I especially need help finding safeties besides CSUs.

Also - would it be worth retaking Math II SAT in the fall if testing opens back up?

Thank you! :slight_smile:

2

Look into Lehigh, you have great stats and desirable geographic location plus ethnicity so you may get financial aid. Do the NPC under your mom’s income to see the results.

3

With respect to top econ programs at liberal arts colleges, consider highly ranked schools from this analysis: https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html. Note that included colleges such as Williams, Hamilton, Amherst, Pomona and Bowdoin also appear in a Princeton Review sampling, “Great Schools for Mathematics Majors.” Note that LACs tend to be set in rural areas, however. This resource can be helpful for estimating costs: https://myintuition.org/.