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College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm going to be visiting a few colleges this summer and would like some suggestions.</p>

<p>I'm looking for a school that has excellent programs in nearly every subject. I'm fairly certain I want to focus on humanities/social sciences in college, specifically international relations, political science, Middle Eastern Studies, European Studies, or Jewish Studies. (I'm not Jewish) I'm also thinking of law school after college.</p>

<p>Weather is important to me, which is why I have so many California schools on this list. </p>

<p>I also really like small class sizes because I feel that I learn better in that type of environment. </p>

<p>Schools I'm considering are: (pasted from the collegeboard site)</p>

<ul>
<li>American U</li>
<li>Brandeis U</li>
<li>Brown U</li>
<li>Columbia U</li>
<li>Dartmouth C</li>
<li>Emory U</li>
<li>George Washington U</li>
<li>Georgetown U (SFS)</li>
<li>Harvard C</li>
<li>McGill U</li>
<li>Middlebury C</li>
<li>New York U</li>
<li>Northwestern U IL</li>
<li>Pomona C</li>
<li>Princeton U</li>
<li>Stanford U</li>
<li>Tufts U</li>
<li>U Calif Berkeley (OOS)</li>
<li>U Calif Los Angeles (OOS)</li>
<li>U Michigan (IS)</li>
<li>U Pennsylvania</li>
<li>Yale U</li>
</ul>

<p>Thanks a lot. Please post your thoughts and suggestions on these schools and other schools that you feel would be a good fit for me.</p>

2

<p>duke, uva, liberal arts colleges, williams</p>

3

<p>If you want small classes, rethink UC schools, and the University of Michigan.</p>

4

<p>thanks</p>

<p>anyone else?</p>

5

<p>Columbia, University of Chicago, Yale</p>

6

<p>Could you post a little bit more about your stats? that will help with matches.</p>

7

<p>bumppp .</p>

8

<p>Somebody just said to post your stats if you want more help...</p>

9

<p>Projected:
Verbal - 740
Math - 680</p>

<p>My school doesn't rank but they give colleges a graph of grade distribution. I should have around a 3.7 UW by senior year.</p>

10

<p>where did you get projected scores?</p>

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<p>highest end of the projected scores on the score report of the SSAT.</p>

12

<p>tufts is the best for international relations, also they have a fairly large jewish population, a little bit preppy though</p>

13

<ul>
<li><p>Emory U - I visited Emory in March. The school is great--it seems like a Northern school in the South. Very nice campus and Atlanta is an awesome city. The one thing I didn't like about it was that students seemed like they just focused on school work and didn't enjoy themselves... also, no sports which is a disappointment.</p></li>
<li><p>Harvard C - I never considered this school because it's out of my league lol but the campus is one of the nicest ones I've seen. My brother turned down Harvard for Yale because he said it seemed more exclusive... like you had to know a group of people already before coming to have a social life.</p></li>
<li><p>Yale U - I'm not looking at Yale, but as I said, my brother goes there and he loves it. The campus is nice and there's a nice downtown with places to eat, shop, etc... The people seem more laid-back than they do at Harvard too.</p></li>
</ul>

14

<p>Duke is number one.</p>

15

<p>btw those scores are useless!!
like i knew al ot of kids who were predicted to get 1500total
and on the psat (in junior year) got like 180
so yeah</p>

16

<p>yea i agree but that's the closest thing i have to actual SAT scores.</p>

17

<p>Jonathan, most of the schools you are considering have, on average, large classes (relatively speaking of course). I am not sure why dchow singled out the UCs and Michigan. All of the below schools that were on your list will have large classes. At the intro level, classes will fluctuate between 150 and 400 students and will have TAs leading discussion sections. Intermediate classes will typically have 40-80 students. Advanced classes will have 10-30 students. </p>

<ul>
<li>Columbia U</li>
<li>George Washington U</li>
<li>Harvard C</li>
<li>McGill U</li>
<li>New York U</li>
<li>Northwestern U </li>
<li>Stanford U</li>
<li>U Calif Berkeley (OOS)</li>
<li>U Calif Los Angeles (OOS)</li>
<li>U Michigan </li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania</li>
</ul>

<p>If you really like small classes, you should check out LACs like Claremont McKenna College or Macalester College. </p>

<p>Of course, since you are from Michigan, you should definitely apply to Ann Arbor. the school is among the top 3 in Political Science and has excellent Law school placement rates.</p>

18

<p>Vanderbilt has Jewish Studies and small classes.</p>

19

<p>Michigan
McGill
Pomona
Tufts
Columbia
Georgetown SFS
Yale
Brandeis
Princeton
Vanderbilt
Dartmouth
Stanford</p>

<p>Sound ok??</p>

20

<p>Jonathan -- are you specifically going to visit colleges this summer, or just looking to check out some colleges while you are in the area? It is a little early to start actually visiting colleges (some won't even let you do an official visit yet) when you have just completed your freshman year.</p>

<p>I would suggest that this summer -- and next year -- that you visit colleges in areas where you and your family are already vacationing. Another possibility is visiting colleges in cities where you are already attending a program. I would not make plans to make an actual college visit until junior year (or summer before junior year at the earliest).</p>

<p>It is a good idea to visit some different types of schools (even if they don't offer the programs you are looking for) to get an idea of whether you prefer urban/suburban/rural schools; large schools or small; etc.</p>

<p>Check out Colorado College -- small classes (none more than 25) and kids who work hard can really shine. I know several kids personally who were admitted into Yale and Harvard for graduate work.</p>