Reaches, Matches, Safeties! Help!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi guys, I was wondering if you could help me select some colleges that would suit my interests and qualifications. First, I'm looking to major in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. I want to be a pre-law student and go to a law school after my undergraduate college. In terms of college type and location, I'm open to anything...LAC, large university, city, rural, isolated, anything really except not in the South. Oh, and a strong symphony would be nice, but it's not a requirement.</p>

<p>Just to give you some numbers to see where I stand....
SAT: 740 Math, 800 Verbal, 800 Writing
SAT II: 800 Literature, 780 Math IIC, 760 US History
GPA: 4.0 UW, 4.5 W</p>

<p>I won't include any extracurriculars...those numbers were just to give you a general idea of where I fall in terms of academic qualifications.</p>

2

<p>University of Iowa has an awesome creative writing department. I don't know anything about their symphony, however.</p>

3

<p>Pretty much the top colleges in the nation have the best english departments.</p>

<p>So the Ivies, Stanford, Duke, Chicago are definitely the best.</p>

<p>NYU, Michigan, Rochester, UCB and UCLA also have great programs.
NYU, Rochester and Michigan are probably safe matches/safeties for you.</p>

<p>Wisconsin (S), USC (S), UNC-CH (M), Northwestern (M), BU (S), Tufts (M) also have stellar programs</p>

4

<p>Click this link for U.S. News & World Report's Creative Writing rankings</p>

<p><a href="http://www.english.ucsb.edu/undergrad/aftermajor/mfa.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.english.ucsb.edu/undergrad/aftermajor/mfa.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Note: US News only ranks the graduate programs, so this may not be reflective of the undergrad programs. However, this should give you an idea of who puts a lot of emphasis on creative writing.</p>

5

<p>Hey, Your scores and GPA looks great...think LAC and IVYs....
I'd lean towards HYPS and Columbia. What are your ECs?</p>

<p>A strong symphony? As in you want to play in it? - What instrument do you play? All the above schools have some kind of student orchestra and plenty of chamber music performance opps. They're usually very good.</p>

<p>Good Luck</p>

6

<p>UCI has a good CW program and would be a safety for you. Johns Hopkins (yes, johns hopkins) would be an excellent match for you. Top-notch creative writing program, arguably the best in the country!</p>

7

<p>Hi guys, thanks for all the suggestions! Keep 'em coming :).
WindCloudUltra: I play the bassoon.</p>

<p>For Ivies, I'm thinking Columbia, Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth and Yale, but I'll be doing more research to see which ones would fit me the best. </p>

<p>I don't know too much about the LAC's...I'm leaning towards Amherst and Williams, but I don't know too much other liberal arts colleges.</p>

<p>Northwestern and NYU along with the UC's seem to be great universities also. I don't know if the UC system would be the best for me, considering I'm out of state. Would a UC education still be worth the out of state cost? </p>

<p>Drew00: wow, Johns Hopkins for creative writing? I'll have to look into it!</p>

<p>Are there any schools in particular that would have a strong focus towards pre-law or law? I know it's an odd question...</p>

8

<p>Amherst is strong in writing and I'm pretty sure Swarthmore is good too....and I think UCs are still great schools, but if you're paying out-of-state.....it all depends on what you're willing to pay and size/location/etc.</p>

9

<p>The Peabody Institute is affiliated with Johns Hopkins, so if you want to play bassoon at a high level, you can take lessons and play for musical organizations there. There's also the Baltimore Symphony close by.</p>

10

<p>rapport:</p>

<p>Assuming you are a California resident,
UCB/UCLA: Safe Match</p>

11

<p>Haha, flopsy, sorry but I'm not :(. Also, has anyone heard of Oberlin? I think it is supposed to have a great music program. I'm not sure about English and Creative Writing...I'd much rather concentrate on the pre-law aspect rather than music. Any info you guys can tell me would be much appreciated!</p>

12

<p>rapport:</p>

<p>UCB/UCLA: Match (out of state)</p>

13

<p>Consider Hamilton College in New York. Excellent LAC with strong creative writing program.</p>

14

<p>rapport - Oberlin has an excellent music program. They are also good at Creative Writing.</p>

15

<p>Anyone know anything about good law school placement for college?</p>

16

<p>If I were you, I would look at some of these colleges which you are interested in, and research their law school placement.</p>

17

<p>Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Anyone have any general links on that? I'm trying to search, but can't really find anything...</p>

18

<p>I've been searching for about 5 minutes, and can't come up with anything. What I would do is just go to the individual school's Pre-Law advising website, then contact an advisor and ask them questions. If they do not have a place to contact an advisor, contact an admissions counselor (actually, this may be a better plan in the first place as it shows interest). The best question to ask is "What is your placement percentage?"</p>

19

<p>Thanks nathan for all your help. It seems some of the colleges like Cornell and Columbia do not offer a pre-law concentration...I'll have to search more on if anything pre-lawish exists at each college.</p>

20

<p>Columbia: <a href="http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/preprofessional/law/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/preprofessional/law/&lt;/a>
Cornell: <a href="http://www.arts.cornell.edu/stu-adv/pre-law.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.arts.cornell.edu/stu-adv/pre-law.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>If you have any more questions, fell free to ask!</p>