Need help with list of colleges to apply to!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>and tips for applying/sprucing up my resume. :)</p>

<p>Basically, I don’t know what I want to study. I like certain things about certain schools, but I’m not completely in love with just one. I wish I could take the best of all of them and make my own dream school but that’s not going to happen.</p>

<p>Please help.</p>

<li><p>I’m planning on going to medical school after undergrad, so of course I’m looking into dual BA/MD programs* and the like. However this has no bearing on my major; as far as I understand, pre-med students can study anything they want just as long as med school reqs are fulfilled.</p></li>
<li><p>So I can choose anything I want… but I don’t know what I want. I know that I do not want to study English or history because I never enjoyed them in high school (although East Asian studies has become more appealing even though it’s…history…literature…) . Majoring in biology, even though I like it, seems like it would be a waste of the resources at a college since I’ll repeat the material in med school anyway.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>*I don’t know if I should be putting so much weight (or wasting application fees) on these, because I haven’t done lab work or independent research like I expect most of other applicants will have on their resume.</p>

<p>So about me…
Asian (now I really wish I weren’t) female
Huge public school (5A) from Houston, TX
GPA: 4.0 unweighted
Rank: 1/800ish, tied with ~40 others… my school has crazy grade inflation for advanced/AP classes
SAT: 760cr 780m 740w
SAT IIs: Biology-M 780, Math IIC 800, USH 780
PSAT was well above last year’s semi cutoff, so I should be good</p>

<p>Coursework
9th -
Pre-AP Biology
Pre-AP English I
Pre-AP Algebra II
AA/GT World Geography (AA=“advanced academics” b/c there’s no AP for geo)
Spanish I (advanced class unavailable)
Architectural Graphics (advanced class unavailable)
Painting II (advanced class unavailable)</p>

<p>10th -
Pre-AP Chemistry
Pre-AP Physics
Pre-AP English II
Pre-AP Precalculus
AP World History (4)
Pre-AP Spanish II
AP 2-D Design Portfolio (4)</p>

<p>11th -
AP Biology (5)
AP English Language (5)
AP Calculus AB (5)
AP US History (5)
AP Statistics (5)
Pre-AP Spanish III
Digital Graphics (required tech credit)</p>

<p>12th -
AP Physics C
AP English Literature
AP Macroeconomics/AP US Govt in spring
AP Drawing Portfolio
AP Music Theory*
Independent Study Mentorship: Ophthalmology/probably something culinary in spring
Release
*scheduling conflicts prevented me from taking AP Cal BC. should I specifically state this somewhere in my applications?</p>

<p>Art
Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE) - 4 out of possible 4 at district ; 9,10,11
Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo - 3rd place ; 10
Varsity letter ; 10
featured in the Lagoon, school’s Literary/Art Magazine ; 10</p>

<p>Other
National Honor Society ; 11,12
National Spanish Honor Society ; 11,12
Peer Helpers (tutor elem. kids after school) ; 11-12
Mu Alpha Theta ; 9-12 / Vice President ; 12
Academic Quiz Bowl ; 9-12 / Historian ; 12
Art Club ; 9-11 / Treasurer ; 10
Chinese Cultural Club ; 9-12 / Historian ; 11
Service With A Smile ; 9-11 / Historian ; 10
Ping Pong Club ; 11,12 / Historian ; 11,12</p>

<p>I know it’s weird that I held a Historian position for everything, but either I ran for fun (and people associate historian with “artsy” for which I have a good reputation) or was appointed the office (ie Chinese Cultual Club). Would it seem like I’m loading my resume with a bunch of crap if I listed all of these? But we’re supposed to tell them everything…
Also, I’d planned to attend the Texas Academy of Math & Science (both high school and college credit) for my junior and senior years, but I changed my mind during the summer. So when all the clubs were holding officer elections at the end of the school year, I didn’t bother to run for anything.</p>

<p>Dragon Boat Racing - team captain this year
Tae kwon do - 2 years
Piano - 8 years
Web/graphic design - 5ish years experience. not sure if this counts as something relevant.
I also spend a lot of my time cooking food, but I’m not sure how to put this on an application/resume. or if I even should.
Worked as cashier at restaurant. this summer - present.
Volunteer work: it’s very random and not much, probably about ~50 hours… =
nominated for NYLC, attended a YLC at Rice U the summer after 9th.
National Spanish Exam - 5th place (10) and 1st (11)</p>

<p>–</p>

<p>I like art but I’m too intimidated by the brilliance of my classmates to pursue it (as far as major goes) in college.</p>

<p>Since I’m so indecisive, I need to find a school that’s strong in every, or most, subject areas.
I’m looking for:
not cut-throat academics (read: not JHU) but still challenging,
small classes & taught by accessible professors,
actual campus that’s not in the middle of nowhere & preferably near a coastline,
ease switching majors,
relatively small student population,
good study abroad program,
and good housing/dining.</p>

<p>I’m looking at:

  • Stanford (I just got a really good feeling when I visited, thinking about SCEA unless I find something that would benefit me better)
  • Columbia (BAD: the core… everything else I like, although I’ve heard the dorms suck)
  • Princeton (GOOD: undergrad focus, eating clubs / BAD: senior thesis! but as I research more, I see programs that require theses, so it’s not too bad)
  • Brown (dual program and yay open curriculum)
  • Rice
  • Duke
  • Tufts (Boston! actually I need to look into more Boston schools)
  • Cornell (BAD: cold weather; I’m from the south)
  • Claremont colleges? Pomona/HM (although the campus didn’t impress me at all. is it always drab there?)
  • UC’s: San Diego, maybe Berkeley
    UT-Austin is my safety school; I’m auto-accepted because of the top-10% bill in TX, but I’ll still have to compete for honors programs.</p>

<p>By no means is this list set in stone. I just looked a little into the few colleges I knew the names of. I have to research way more but I really don’t know where to start. Being so indecisive about what I want to study is NOT helping! I’m open to any suggestions really. Testimonials, warnings, what have you…</p>

<p>The counselors at school know nothing (surprise, surprise), and my parents will be out of the country for the next 3 weeks, although I’ve already tried talking to them about college. They think I’m pretty much good enough to go anywhere I want. It’s great that they support me, but it’s not reality at all.</p>

<p>What would you suggest? Which college(s) do you think would be a great match for me?</p>

2

<p>pomona, san diego, cornell are matchy the rest are various degrees of reach</p>

3

<p>MIT would be a reach and WPI or RPI would be great matches</p>

4

<p>Colleges you should focus on from your list:</p>

<p>Cornell
Rice
Brown
Princeton
UCB (but only if given generous aid)
Stanford</p>

<p>That said, none of these would be considered really matches.</p>

5

<p>RockyRoad, do you have suggestions for any colleges not on that list? Like I mentioned earlier, I really have no idea where to look. I'm aware that the schools I'm interested in right now aren't the most realistic options, but I'm at a loss when it comes to finding middle ground between competitive and lax.</p>

<p>Oh yeah and by "match" in my original post I didn't mean chances-wise, so I apologize if it came out that way, as it appears it did judging from the replies. I'm just really looking for someone to help point me in the right direction.</p>

6

<p>Matches and especially safeties are mostly personal decisions. Most safeties/matches are regional (in your state or region of the country) and it is important that you could definitely see yourself going there should circumstances arise. While it can be irritating that they are harder to find then a list of reaches, finding good matches and reaches is, IMO, the most important part of the process. </p>

<p>For safeties look at schools in or near your state. People can be happy at their safeties if they research carefully (with the added bonus of very generous finanical aid). Matches might be looking at second-tier (not to be confused with subpar) general schools, since that seems your interest. Really depends on where you live and what you intend to study. Best of luck.</p>

7

<p>I'd say in Boston, I would look into Boston College, Wellesley (strikes me as right for you), Tufts....</p>

<p>On the note of Wellesley, it really seems that you would fit right at any of the elite liberal arts colleges. In particular, Wellesley, Amherst, Haverford, & Wesleyan fit most if not all of your requirements.</p>

8

<p>Thanks, Cre8tive. I've been meaning to look into some LAC's, but there are just so many. I will check out the ones you suggested.</p>

<p>Does anyone else have something to say?</p>

9

<p>Think about Penn. It's Columbia minus the core, plus everything you've evr dreamed of =)</p>

10

<p>Duke is a great choice with its top notch med school on campus. For LAC choices might want to look at Holy Cross-1 hour from Boston-which is a top 30 LAC with great pre-med program. HC offers a small college atmosphere with very good alumni network. Davidson College is another great LAC.</p>

11

<p>hey this is what i learned about washu. take it for whatever.
it's competitive but not cut-throat
classes are medium size, i guess
nice campus but you might consider st. louis in the middle of nowhere
really easy to switch majors and schools (business, artsci, architecture, art & design, engineering)
medium student population
good study abroad program
great housing and great dining</p>

<p>oh one note on the study abroad. if you're planning on doing med school, study abroad may be hard to accomplish unless it's over the summer. some people do it for a semester but it kind of restricts the time in which you can get all your pre-reqs for med school. </p>

<p>yeah so don't take this as an ad for washu because i really don't think that it's the most amazing college in the world, but i do think that it's definitely something that you should consider. also awesome med school (top 4)</p>

12

<p>Just curious, are you in clements high school?</p>

13

<p>youknowme: nope</p>

<p>Michael stop stalking me!! haha</p>

14

<p>I second Wash U. They have a program (albeit a very selective one) where top undergraduates are reserved a seat in Wash U's medical school (which is one of the best in the country, on par with Penn's and JHU's). It's called University Scholars. I'm a rising senior, I'm applying there, and I like it because it has many of the things you want (challenging but chill, good housing, pretty small and engaged classes, St. Louis is a major city, not the middle of nowhere, easy to change majors/double or triple major). Wash U might not be a <em>match</em>, per se, but I think you'd have a very good shot there. While you're at it, you might want to take a look at Northwestern's HPME program... though that's really tough to get into.</p>