Need help with collge list!!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I don't want to make a completely unbalanced college list, and I'm really trying to narrow down my current list! My stats are here <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=342067%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=342067&lt;/a> .</p>

<p>I'm looking for a small-medium sized college with a strong community feel. I want to major in business or economics, and perhaps double major in english. I also want a college where profs love teaching their students, and where students love learning.</p>

<p>Can you suggest any colleges to my list or perhaps give any advice?</p>

<p>Here's my list so far:</p>

<p>UPenn Wharton (ED)
U Chicago (EA)
University of Notre Dame (EA)
Columbia
Princeton
Yale
Duke
Claremont McKenna
Stanford
Northwestern
UC Berkeley
ASU Barett's Honors-Safety</p>

<p>I might add as match/safeties Rice, Tufts, and Vassar. What do you guys think?</p>

<p>**Edit: Just after I posted this, I realized I mis-typed college in the heading, lol.</p>

2

<p>Dartmouth seems perfect for you. I would absolutely add it, given Dartmouth value proposition is based on its incredible community and access to top recruiters. Its one of the most tight-knit campuses in the nation. The teaching and undergrad resources are fantastic.</p>

<p>Columbia doesn't seem to fit at all, I transferred out of Columbia primarily because of the lack of community and because it felt large and impersonal.</p>

3

<p>I would look at more LAC's.</p>

4

<p>^^ Yeah, what about Amherst, Middlebury, Swartmore, Bates, Colby, Bowdoin...</p>

5

<p>Notre Dame sounds perfect. You might want to take a look at the University of Richmond.</p>

6

<p>Vassar's a fantastic school (of course I'm biased). If you're interested in LACs I'd recommend looking at Amherst, Swarthmore, Haverford, Dickinson, Bowdoin, Bates, Colgate, Middlebury, Bryn Mawr (all girls) as good places to start looking.</p>

7

<p>I'm not sure Wharton would be a good fit for you. It's a great school, but the students are more concerned with making it in the business world than they are with learning. I think LAC's fit you better.</p>

8

<p>Chicago does fit the criteria that you're looking for, (it also tends to be a blend of LAC and research uni) but it does have much more of an intellectual bent than the other schools, as well as its own application (I think as of right now we're keeping the uncommon app, if not we're definitely keeping the weird questions).</p>

<p>Chicago also has a Core Curriculum, which will structure your first two years and make it slightly harder to double major. If your academic interests span all over the place, though, the Core will help you build on them.</p>

<p>The great thing is, though, that because Chicago is EA, there's no harm in applying early and knowing whether or not you're in. If you have any more questions about the school, feel free to PM me.</p>

9

<p>I agree that Wharton isn't probably the best fit. You hardly have to attend wharton to be incredibly successful in business. Schools like Williams, Dartmouth, Duke, etc have tremendous success placing their grads into elite business jobs. I'd much rather go this direction; you get a far better educational experience un my opinion. And you'll end up with the same level of job choices as Wharton.</p>

<p>Also Berkeley seems far from what you're looking for. Its impersonal and large, and the focus is not on teaching or undergrad education.</p>

10

<p>Ok, to sum up the general consensus: wharton and berkeley are not good fits because they are too competitive and don't focus on learning... </p>

<p>I don't know too much about liberal arts colleges, but I'm worried that if I go to one, I might not receive a high caliber education in economics, and/or will not have enough academic flexibility. CMC looks good to me, and I'll look into Swarthmore, Amherst, Williams... thanks for the suggestions!! </p>

<p>So my college list should look more like:
U Chicago (EA)
University of Notre Dame (EA)
Dartmouth
Princeton
Yale
Duke
Claremont McKenna
Stanford
Northwestern
ASU Barett's Honors-Safety</p>

<p>Vassar/Tufts/Rice as safeties and maybe Amherst, Williams, and Swarthmore.</p>

<p>Can anyone tell me of the academic college feel of princeton and yale? From some, I've heard that it's amazing, and from others, I've heard that it's less than stellar. Do people at princeton/yale strive more for learning or for the grade?</p>

11

<p>Well, this is just one opinion of someone who prefers undergrad only colleges anyway, so I'm definitely a bit biased..... </p>

<p>When I visited Yale I got the sense that it's a better place to go for graduate school than for undergrad. The person running the admissions talk that I had, for example, discussed the manner in which Yale would do a lot for its grad school and then allow these improvements to trickle down and benefit the undergrads as well. Basically, it felt like the focus was on grad school students.</p>

<p>Also, I talked to my Spanish teacher about it (he went to Yale as a graduate student and had his father and grandfather go to Yale undergrad) and he said that Yale did indeed cater to its graduate students rather than its undergrads. Or at least, that's what he found from his personal experience in attending and teaching at the school (which was, admittedly, ~15 years ago). He mentioned the amount of TAs and the concept that unless you were in a very small major, you wouldn't get very much contact with your professors until grad school. Basically, he recommended that if I was seriously interested in Yale, I should consider it for grad school instead.</p>

12

<p>I think Princeton and Yale offer tremendous academic experiences. Among the Liberal Arts colleges Amherst and Williams will set you up very well for a job in business and provide extrordinary educations. Swarthmore won't as much, students there tend to focus on academia after school and recruiting is much weaker. But its hard to go wrong with Amherst and Williams. </p>

<p>You might also like Brown. Brown does very well with finance and consulting recruiting and has the community elements you are looking for. </p>

<p>I love your list! You have some great schools...</p>

13

<p>Disagree with Slipper.</p>

<p>Brown is not good with finance. That is an absolutely absurd statement. Meanwhile, JP Morgan does not even consider Brown worthy enough to recruit there. It accepts resumes but does not interview on campus, according to their recruitment calendar. Lehman Brothers just added Brown as "a new recruit" school, which suggests it has not been a major hunting ground in the past. As for consulting, Brown is not a target core school for the big consulting firms. And btw, Mercer Management Consulting (one of the most prestigious firms just rebranded its company and is focusing its recruitment activities on a select few schools). Half these schools are not located on it.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.oliverwyman.com/ow/2039.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.oliverwyman.com/ow/2039.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

14

<p>general management recruitment</p>

<p>United States</p>

<p>Dartmouth ></p>

<p>Harvard ></p>

<p>Kellogg ></p>

<p>Northwestern ></p>

<p>Penn ></p>

<p>Princeton ></p>

<p>SMU - Cox School of Business ></p>

<p>Southern Methodist University ></p>

<p>Stanford ></p>

<p>Stanford GSB ></p>

<p>Tuck ></p>

<p>University of Michigan ></p>

<p>University of Texas ></p>

<p>UT - McCombs School of Business ></p>

<p>UVA ></p>

<p>Wharton ></p>

<p>Yale ></p>

15

<p>investment services</p>

<p>United States</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon ></p>

<p>Chicago ></p>

<p>Columbia ></p>

<p>Cornell ></p>

<p>Dartmouth ></p>

<p>Fletcher ></p>

<p>Georgetown ></p>

<p>Harvard ></p>

<p>Harvard Public Health ></p>

<p>MIT ></p>

<p>Penn ></p>

<p>Princeton ></p>

<p>Sloan School of Management ></p>

<p>Stanford ></p>

<p>UVA ></p>

<p>Vassar ></p>

<p>Yale ></p>

16

<p>Don't apply to Claremont. The school takes too many few kids that they reject hundreds of amazing kids. Your better off applying to a slightly bigger school.</p>

17

<p>
[quote]
I'm looking for a small-medium sized college with a strong community feel. I want to major in business or economics, and perhaps double major in english. I also want a college where profs love teaching their students, and where students love learning.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Blondie, there are many, many colleges that match your description. You have good statistics and a good overall profile. You just need to take a more systematic approach to formulating your list. If you leave this thread up long enough someone will suggest every college in America and you won't be much further along than you are now. :)</p>

<p>First, what's your financial situation? Do you need financial aid or will you be able to pay full tuition? If you need aid, will you qualify for need based aid or are you expecting merit aid? You must be very clear on this before you go one step further.</p>

<p>Second, what kind of physical environment appeals to you? Urban, Rural, Suburban? What type of "personality"? ARe you looking for sporty, sorority-ish, brain-y, political, active, artsy. Your list is all over the place; you should think about the atmosphere that bests suits you.</p>

<p>Third, everyone loves the super-selectives., but safeties are harder to identify. I don't know much about ASU, so this isn't a bash, but are you sure that's the right safety for you? Just because it's convenient doesn't mean it's right. </p>

<p>Fourth, a word about LACs:</p>

<p>
[quote]
I don't know too much about liberal arts colleges, but I'm worried that if I go to one, I might not receive a high caliber education in economics, and/or will not have enough academic flexibility

[/quote]
</p>

<p>There are many LACs that would provide as good an education as any of the universities on your list. I'm not sure what you mean by academic flexibility but since you only take 4, 5 maximum, courses each semester you won't run out of options. LACs are not for everyone but they do excel in exactly what you say you're looking for, i.e., strong community, professors who are there to teach, small classes, personalized education.</p>

<p>Like universities, LACs come in different levels of selectivity and academic rigor. They also have distinct personalities. Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore and Pomona are all excellent colleges with very strong economics and English departments, but they are quite different in ambience and environment.</p>

<p>Fifth, have you visited yet? Once you do you will get a better feeling for the differences from college to college. When you decide what your top choices are it's easier to extrapolate from there to include others in the "like" category in varying levels of selectivity.</p>

<p>Good luck and let us know how you do.</p>

18

<p>Thanks so much for all the help!!</p>

<p>Momrath, I'll try to answer your questions:</p>

<p>1) Yes, I'll need financial aid, but I'm looking at the schools that provide need-blind admissions and meet 100% of a student's need.</p>

<p>2) Urban or suburban appeals to me, and rural as long as there's a city not too far away that I can go to on weekends and such. In regards to the atmosphere, I'm mostly interested in intellectual/political, but the other atmospheres don't bother me. For example, I know Duke has a sportsy atmosphere, but that's fine! I might enjoy going to a sports game once in a while! I just don't want a huge frat scene, I guess.</p>

<p>3) I think ASU is the right safety, because a) it's in state, so there's very little tuition to pay, b) they offer amazing merit-based aid awards based on SAT/ACT scores, c) they have the barett's honor college, which is essentially a smaller college within the general ASU campus. </p>

<p>4) When I said academic flexibility, I was acknowledging the fact that most college students change their major many times over the course of their undergraduate years. Thus, it is probable that I go in thinking I'm going to major in English or Econ, but change my mind and decide on something like... psychology, or something more obscure like neuroscience... So, I was worried that if I do apply to a liberal arts college, I might be unhappy if they don't have as strong of a curriculum in that particular field. That's why I was originally looking at larger universities, but with a liberal arts like feel to them. Claremont McKenna is the exception, because it's a part of the Claremont colleges, and thus has greater academic flexibility.</p>

<p>5) I'll be visiting colleges this summer, and also over the fall break!</p>

19

<p>Blondie,
1) Finance
Have your parents tried one of those on-line financial aid estimators? Sometimes what the college thinks you need is quite different from what you actually do need. Unless you fall into the very low income bracket, proceed with caution here.</p>

<p>2) Atmosphere
You'll get a better idea of what appeals to you after you visit. You don't want to be thinking about escaping on weekends, though. You want a campus that you'll enjoy on weekends.</p>

<p>3) Safety
It depends what ends up being your first choice. If it's Chicago, for example, then a big university like ASU may not be a good safety. You want your safety to mirror your top choice in personality and learning style. I'd keep ASU in your back pocket for now and continue to research other less selectives as well.</p>

<p>PS Vassar/Tufts/Rice may be matches for you but they are NOT safeties.</p>

<p>4) Academics
Many college kids change their majors in the course of their college careers. It's also quite common to double major or develop your own concentration. I wouldn't worry about this asspect of the college selection right now. If you choose an academically rigorous school whether it's a big university or a small LAC, you'll be appropriately challenged and have more choices than you can possibly take advantage of in four years.</p>

<p>At LACs like Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, Pomona and the whole host of next tier names like Middlebury, Bowdoin, Vassar, Grinnell etc. etc -- the point is to get a balanced liberal arts education. It's quite common to see double majors in apparently disparate disciplines like philosophy and physics. Actually, I would be more concerned about flexibility at schools with core curricula like Chicago or Columbia.</p>

<p>The major difference between a small LAC and a medium or big university is, surprise!, size. The choice is small and personal versus big and diverse. I went to a mega university (Michigan) and my son is about to graduate from Williams, so I've had the opportunity to observe both close up. You can get an excellent education at either, but they are very different in environment and teaching style.</p>

<p>5) Visits
When you get ready to visit, post your choices and we'll help you with your eastcoast itinerary. Don't forget those less selectives. Stanford, Yale and Princeton are wonderful schools, but they are VERY selective. </p>

<p>Good luck and let us know how you do.</p>

20

<p>Yeah, you should consider Pomona. It's econ and english departments are pretty awesome. BTW, I'm most likely going to double major in english and econ as well. And the cross registration is always there. </p>

<p>With respect to flong, Claremonts reject a lot of talented ppl, therefore you shouldn't apply? I disagree. The Claremonts, especially Pomona, CMC and Mudd attract so many talented ppl to apply precisely because of their academic prowess. The same can be said of Stanford, Yale, Princeton. Does that mean you shouldn't apply? I do not think so. Your stats are pretty strong, and these ARE the sort of colleges/universities you should at least consider, along with Amherst, Swat, Brown, the BIG H, NU, Chicago etc etc etc. </p>

<p>Go for the academic environment first, and not pre-professional (e.g. Wharton). You seem more suited there for undergraduate.</p>