New Yorker seeking Northeastern schools on my level?

<p>Here's my current list of schools: </p>

<p>SUNY Albany (safety), SUNY Buffalo (safety), SUNY Binghamton (my favorite), SUNY Geneseo (my other favorite), Union College (where my dad went, but I like it enough), NYU (a friend's suggestion, but I have little interest), Cornell (parents' suggestion, but I hate it).</p>

<p>As you can probably tell, I live in New York. My real question is whether you guys have any suggestions of out of state schools (or in state schools that I missed and you think is worthwhile to look at) for me, preferably on my level (which I will get to in a moment) and in the general Northeast area? </p>

<p>I'm interested in smaller schools, but I'm open to pretty much anything, including majors. I like Math; I like English; I like Psychology. Maybe the medical field. I haven't decided on anything in particular because I want to experience differnt courses and aspects in college. I don't like big costs of schools, which is probably why I prefer the SUNY schools as of now and why I strongly dislike NYU. But even if the school is a private school (and expensive), don't leave it out if you think it would be good for me to look at.</p>

<p>Here's some of my stats so you guys can get an idea of schools similar to my level:
GPA: 94 unweighted, 102 weighted (this hasn't been updated to include my junior year grades though)
SAT: 1220 (600 CR, 620 Math) 1860 (640 W)
SAT II: 630 Chem, 670 US History, 680 Math I
Act: 28
APs: World History 3, US History 5, Lit 3
I took all honors and one AP sophmore year. I got above a 90 in all of my honors classes and an 80 in my AP class. I took one honors class, two college classes, and two AP classes junior year. I got above a 90 in the honors and college classes and an 88 in both AP classes. I'm happy to say I rocked my junior year!</p>

<p>This was longer than I thought it would be, but I appreciate any suggestions you may have. Thanks a million.</p>

<p>I’d suggest looking at more liberal arts colleges. Colgate and Hamilton would be reaches, but you might be better off applying there instead of Cornell. There are a ton of LACs in the northeast-- I’d suggest looking in to some of their programs, because they all offer a different college experience, and some are much more selective than others. </p>

<p>And here’s my pitch for my own school: Your scores are spot on to Fordham’s student profile. I’d suggest applying, and figure out if you want a traditional campus (Rose Hill) or a campus more like NYU (Lincoln Center).</p>

<p>Providence College, Quinnipiac, and Northeastern could all be good matches.
I agree with sunshowers23, I think Colgate and Hamilton would be reaches, and Cornell would be a superreach.
BU is a bigger school, but its around your target zone. Bates in maine is test optional, and its small with a good liberal arts curriculum</p>

<p>i agree with sunshowers. your SAT and ACT are low and your course load isn’t rigorous enough for cornell and probably colgate and hamilton, but those you have a better shot at. you can try skidmore and fordham as well.</p>

<p>You really need a couple of safety schools. If you don’t raise your SAT’s to at least over 1300 Colgate, Hamilton, & Cornell are not realistic. Even Geneseo is not a sure thing (their average SAT for last years incoming freshman was 1342) but I think your grades should give you a good chance there. Binghamton looks like a good match. Some safties to look at are: SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Fredonia, Nazareth College, Hobart & William Smith, & LeMoyne.</p>

<p>As for Cornell, I don’t even want to apply there. I probably won’t even because I have zero interest anyway. But thanks for the suggestions. I’ll look into them.</p>

<p>Although your numbers are in range, I would not call Albany or Binghamton safeties for you especially ITE (there were students from my school with your numbers last year who kid not get admitted). Now more than ever, I would suggest that you have your application finished and ready to up load on august 1 so that perhaps you can be in the first bunch of applications read this season.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.suny.edu/student/downloads/Pdf/2010_Admissions_qf_stateop.pdf[/url]”>http://www.suny.edu/student/downloads/Pdf/2010_Admissions_qf_stateop.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Cornell, Hamilton and Colgate are definitely reaches.</p>

<p>I might look at some of the New England state schools. I’m sure you’d get into UMaine, UNH, UVM, URI, and UMass, although you would be out of state as far as cost is concerned</p>

<p>I think your idea of the SUNY schools is a great one. Those are some fine schools and the price is reasonable. Franklin and Marshall (in PA) has a great, nurturing atmosphere. Do you like the idea of SUNY New Paltz? Smaller and creative. By the way, although maybe your stats aren’t the strongest for a school like Cornell, which you don’t want to go to anyway, they are certainly very solid and you should be very proud of yourself. The College of New Jersey might be a reach but it is small and is an excellent, reasonably priced college. Drew could be a safety school. I’ve heard nice things about Manhattanville, too.</p>

<p>I would agree with sybbie719, very hard to count on SUNY’s as safeties anymore. The applicant pool has grown tremendously and it’s become very competitive. What sort of environment are you looking for? My son is a student at SUNY New Paltz and loves it. It’s a lot closer to NYC than most of the SUNY’s and has a creative and down to earth population. He could have chosen Bing or Geneseo but liked the proximity to NYC and the less rural location. He’s met so many interesting people, has had some amazing professors and loves the small class size and personal atmosphere.</p>

<p>So I’ve seen what you guys have said and have considered some of the schools, such as Drew, The College of New Jersey, and University of Vermont, which I think is a beautiful place to live. </p>

<p>Others I’ve come across after doing Matchmaker on College Board and talking some people include: Boston University, Boston College (reach), Bentley University, Emerson College, Middlebury College (reach), Villanova College (reach), and Rutgers. </p>

<p>Any information on them? Anything intersting about them? I don’t think the cost is great, but I’m trying keep an open mind by not automatically eliminating a bunch of great schools just because they may be expensive. So…ideas?</p>

<p>Can your family afford those schools? There is a SUNY for pretty much any type of interest. You should definitely keep some of those on your list.</p>

<p>Look into schools in Ohio. The state has a lot of good colleges and a declining population of college-age people. Many of the private colleges in Ohio offer nice merit aid, such as Denison, Ohio Wesleyan, Case Western Reserve, Wooster, Kenyon, and Oberlin (not sure about merit aid there).</p>

<p>Also, Miami U (Ohio) and Ohio University are nice medium-sized state schools.</p>

<p>Since you say you’d like a smaller college, you should look at some of the SUNY University Colleges in addition to the SUNY University Centers. Of the SUNYs you mentioned, only Geneseo is a University College. You might want to look at SUNY New Palz, Potsdam, and Fredonia as possible “safety” alternatives to Geneseo, which may be a high match or a reach for you.</p>

<p>I’m definately keeping SUNY schools on my list. I just want some out of state perspective though. I don’t want to miss a great school just because it’s not in New York. </p>

<p>As for “affording” these schools, yes and no. My family makes enough, and that’s all I’m going to say on that matter. Plus, I will be applying for academic scholarships as well. I have a twin sister looking into the college thing too, so I think I probably will jump at the chance to attend a SUNY if I am accepted because I can’t justify going to an expensive school when I have excellent SUNY schools at the tips of my fingers.</p>

<p>As I said in my original post, I’m looking for Northeastern schools. I’m sure the schools in Ohio are great, but I don’t want a drive that’s over 5 or 6 hours. No plane rides either.</p>

<p>I am also thinking about applying to SUNY New Paltz over SUNY Albany as a safety school. I visited both schools. I wasn’t thrilled with Albany, especially since it was filled with concrete. Yuck! I went to New Paltz on a rainy day, but it was still pretty. I’m not as excited about it as much as I am over Geneseo, but I still am interested in New Paltz more than Albany.</p>