Please suggest Reach/Match/Safety schools for me!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Important Criteria: I cannot apply to more than 2 Liberal Arts Colleges and schools should not be in the West Coast and preferably within a 6 hour drive. I live in NJ. </p>

<p>Rising Senior, F, South Asian with prominent interest in physical sciences</p>

<p>UW GPA 3.58
Weighted GPA 3.99
(Grades, I believe, are my real weakness with some Bs and B+s-- including in some science and math courses-- sorry)
750 M, 760 W, 690 CR (SAT)
750 Chem SAT II
740 Math II SAT II
5 AP Chem, 5 AP Eng Lang, 3 AP French (entering AP Calc BC, AP Physics, AP Art History)</p>

<p>Significant Activities:</p>

<p>Founded a Science Club, interviewed Neil DeGrasse Tyson for in club journal, hosted demos and activities, initiated tutoring centers for help in sciences
Science Olympiad Member of 3 years-- multiple medals and elected on exec board for following year
Amnesty International Member of 3 years-- elected as Vice President
School Newspaper Member of 3 years -- interviewed famous people, took photographs, articles have been cover issues, appointed as Photography Editor
Volunteer service at the library-- the librarians know me on first name basis, initiated some own programs there
Completed 2 months of research at Rutgers University Chemistry Department. Getting published in a paper eventually.
Selected to participate in Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS) competition</p>

<p>Thank you so much.</p>

2

<p>U of Pittsburgh
Lycoming College
Elizabethtown College</p>

<p>Hiram College a bit further from nj</p>

3

<p>What can your family afford?</p>

4

<p>Yes, your price limit is important.</p>

<p>Rutgers (in-state) and Stony Brook may be worthwhile schools to look at that may not be as expensive as many others.</p>

5

<p>Ideally not more than 30K/year?</p>

6

<p>My tentative list is:

  1. UChicago
  2. Johns Hopkins
  3. Carnegie Mellon
  4. Rutgers
  5. University of Rochester
  6. Haverford
  7. Boston University</p>

<p>I’m confident about getting into Rutgers (>100 kids from school get in there anyway). </p>

<p>I’m not sure if I’ll do physics. I might be interested in cognitive science or something else. I’m hoping I’ll figure it out. Perhaps I need some appropriate match and safety suggestions instead of reach suggestions? Which aren’t too far from home (NJ)?</p>

7

<p>Definitely keep U Rochester on your list. My son is there now and loving it. If you get merit aid from them they’ll fit your budget. You’re also likely to get merit aid from Pitt if you prefer the larger sports scene.</p>

<p>For LAC, Lafayette will give you merit aid. Franklin & Marshall is known for sciences, but they don’t give merit aid. (I don’t know what your need based aid is if any.)</p>