<p>For college guidance in school I had to come up with a list of schools and then cut it down to between 8 and 12 schools. As of now I have 26, so I need to cut out at least 14.</p>
<p>I want a school that's not huge, good academics but I can have fun and have a social life, and I prefer warm weather but cold isn't a dealbreaker, just not ideal (but i could deal if I like the school). Also, I don't want it to be too liberal. I don't want it to be too much in the city and it's ok if it's not near a city as long as there's stuff to do there. Help me please! What should I cut out?</p>
<p>Here's the list (in order of acceptance rate low to high)
Yale
Princeton
Brown
Dartmouth
Penn
Amherst
Williams
Cornell
Middlebury
Georgetown
Colgate
BC
Hamilton
Bucknell
Lehigh
Holy Cross
Trinity
Lafayette
Connecticut College
Gettysburg
Franklin & Marshall
SUNY Binghamton
Providence
Villanova
Dickinson
Loyola Maryland</p>
<p>Brown is very very liberal. It's the "hippie ivy" after all ;)
And Penn is in a city so you might want to take that out (then again unlike most city schools, Penn has a real campus)</p>
Georgetown is right in the city and doesn't have much of a campus. I have no personal experience, but have read the Trinity College is located in a less-than-savory area of Hartford.</p>
<p>If you want warmer weather, not too-liberal, not too huge and not too urban, why not add W&L and Davidson and forget about the ivies and LAC's in New England? </p>
<p>My daughter's list started out looking like yours and her criteria was almost identical to yours. After lots of research and visits, she ended up torn between W&L and Bucknell. She decided to apply to Bucknell ED because it's a bit bigger than W&L and closer to home. She LOVES Bucknell but I know she would have been happy at W&L, as well.</p>
<p>You had this list in a previous in a thread which I thought was good given the profile you shared with us:</p>
<p>REACH
Princeton
Penn
Williams</p>
<p>MATCH
Georgetown
Colgate
BC</p>
<p>SAFETY
Holy Cross
Villanova
Bucknell</p>
<p>If you like warmer weather, given your profile, you should consider:</p>
<p>Rice
Vanderbilt
Emory
Davidson (though near Charlotte, it's a bit remote)
W&L (though its very Southern and quite conservative)</p>
<p>So here's a revised list:</p>
<p>REACH
Princeton
Rice (smallish, in a city, but in a beautiful section; super academics)
Amherst (as opposed to Williams, it's less remote)
Davidson (excellent Amherst-like academics)</p>
<p>MATCH
Georgetown
Emory or Vanderbilt (not Colgate, cold and remote)
Washington & Lee (instead of BC; probably a bit better academically)</p>
<p>SAFETIES
University of Richmond (instead of HC, Worcester is a lousy city)
Wake Forest (instead of Villanova)
Connecticut or Trinity College (less remote than Bucknell)</p>
<p>Well i live in New York City and I want to be within driving distance of home when I'm at college. For the warm weather thing, I know that it's not going to get too warm if I stay in the Northeast, I just mean that if all else is equal, I would choose the place that's not as cold. The list I posted before was tentative and a few of those schools (like Colgate and Bucknell) I didn't know much about and was pretty much randomly putting them on there.</p>
<p>Girl, you've gotta figure out really quickly where you are going to apply. It's takes time to prepare a good application. You''ll need knowlege of each school and have reasons for why each one is right for you. You are a very strong candiate; don't fall down at this critical point. Get on with it.</p>
<p>Well I'm just a junior so it's not too urgent, I'm just supposed to have a list to see where I want to visit, research, etc.</p>
<p>Based on your suggestions and some research I cut some out, so now I have:
Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Penn, Amherst, Williams
Georgetown, BC, Hamilton, Bucknell, Lehigh, Holy Cross, Trinity
Lafayette, Gettysburg, Franklin & Marshall, Villanova, Dickinson, Loyola Maryland</p>
<p>I should probably cut 2-4 from each group...suggestions? And this can be based on just which ones you prefer</p>
<p>I think its hard to give you advice without knowing your stats. If you are a top student cutting out reaches/ matches is a mistake. You have WAYYY too many safeties. You really only need one or two. I hate the concept of a safety. No one wants to go to their safety. The real way to have a safety is to have a ton of reaches/ matches so you getinto at least one. Think about it.</p>
<p>I would add Middlebury and Colgate. Great schools, less selective than the Ivies (although Midd is very selective). If I were you my list would be (assuming you have great stats):</p>
<p>Reach: Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Penn, Amherst, Williiams
Slight Reach: Middlebury, Bowdoin, Georgetown
Match: BC, Hamiliton, Lehigh, Bucknell
Safety: Pick two, dump the rest. More than two safeties is a waste.</p>
<p>As a junior, you're in great shape!!! My advice would be to visit several different schools to get a better feel for what type of school you would like best in terms of size, location, and campus culture.</p>
<p>I have to admit, I have 3 k's in college, All are at elite schools (I think all are mentioned above). All 3 had almost identical hs career, i.e. all advance and honors classes. My 2 oldest k's had almost identical stats. S's sat in math was higher, but my D's CR was higher. Their total sore was the same. Both top 5% of class. Both great EC's, etc.</p>
<p>So the interesting thing is that they applied to at least 3 overlap school, all very selective and at least one an ivy.My S, 1-- was denied, 2-- was waitlisted, 3-- accepted. My daughter , applying to the same schools got the following results-- 1--accepted , 2--denied, 3-waitlisted.</p>
<p>Have any idea on what you want to major in? Because aside from weather, distance, social life, academics is the most important. Given a major, maybe you can find out how the schools rank in terms of that specific major. Because sometimes, the school ITSELF may have a reputation, but depending on which college you apply to within the school may change the school from a safety to a target or a target to a reach school. For instance, UIUC is prestigious for the engineering/business studies, but not very known for agriculture. The acceptance statistics (ACT, GPA, etc) are lower for students in agriculture than engineering/business.</p>
<p>Can you categorize your schools into reach, safety, and target schools? I think it'll be easier to knock them of that way. Ideally, you should have 1-2 reach schools, 3-4 target, and 1-2 safety.</p>
<p>hakuna_matata, unfortunately I have no idea what I want to major in so I can't really narrow it down that way. A few posts back I categorized the schools and cut out a few, I'll copy it here:</p>
<p>I'd get rid of Penn. It's mostly known for business and since you don't know what you want to major in... yeah. Plus, I've heard (from other majors) that they feel neglected sometimes due to all the attention Wharton students receive. Philadelphia can be a sketchy place... but I love it. It's not for everyone.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'd get rid of Penn. It's mostly known for business and since you don't know what you want to major in... yeah. Plus, I've heard (from other majors) that they feel neglected sometimes due to all the attention Wharton students receive. Philadelphia can be a sketchy place... but I love it. It's not for everyone.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I would disagree with all 3 of those points, having gone to Penn myself. Penn's being "known for business" is more a function of Wharton simply having no competition (it is the only undergraduate business school of a top-notch university, and so rather easy to make a name for yourself amongst the business-oriented and elitist students out there, whereas Penn's CAS has a competing school of Arts & Sciences from every Ivy and peer school out there). You could say Brown is "known for egyptology" since it is the only Ivy that has such a department.</p>
<p>Penn (and Brown, etc) have superb departments across the spectrum of Arts & Sciences, and both are a fine place to attend even if you don't know what you want to do.</p>
<p>I don't know how those majors manage to feel neglected. My own CAS department was superbly dedicated to supporting its majors, and I had plenty of close attention from professors in CAS as well as Wharton (they do not differentiate between the two students when you come into their office hours).</p>
<p>Philadelphia has plenty of sketch, but it's better than New Haven.</p>