<p>I'm in a bit of a dilemma. I love my current school but I'm an out-of-state student. I have no idea what I want to major in. My interests range in everything from Afrikaans & Dutch history all the way to the mating patterns of zebras. Perhaps that is a bit of an exaggeration but I am truly intellectually curious. At my current university, I get frustrated by not being to enroll in the courses I want, having the pressures of getting out of the school ASAP and secure a degree while contemplating professional and graduate school options afterwards. As appealing as a career/lifestyle of a scholar/academic is - financially or the long, arduous process with an extended period of uncertainty compared to its professional school counterparts - remains dismal. </p>
<p>Here are my stats:
Top 25 University / Public
3.44 Cumulative GPA; Second-Year Student
My first two quarters, I received 3C's and 1 Withdrawn class. The rest of my grades onwards are straight A's with my last term being 4 classes and perfect A's. So, it's something like this: </p>
<p>A-, A-, C
C, C, A-
W, A-, A-
A-, A-, A-
A, A, A, A </p>
<p>The C's were in biology, chemistry, and psychology. The w in an upper-division history course. The rest of the A's are in classes ranging from calculus to Russian literature to linguistics. I'm fairly well-rounded; I just had a miserable winter quarter and terrible time adjusting freshman year. Otherwise, I have a fantastic upward trend and good relationships with professors and TAs. I've shined last quarter and will have fantastic rec's from professors (albeit they knew me for just a quarter). </p>
<p>What schools should I aim for? I don't want to downgrade to a lower-ranked university. LACs sound ideal except for those in isolated cities or all-women's colleges. I'm fond of medium-sized research universities with its combination of the LAC environment but with the research or resource opportunities of a major university. I would love to go to a LAC on the East Coast. Financial aid is not too much of an issue as long as its not 15K-20K in loans annually.</p>
<p>I need some time to collect what I want to do and the idea of a core curriculum to offset it would be lovely. I like the University of Chicago a whole lot but I don't know how realistic it is to get in with it's 20-25% something admit rate. The other top private schools have even worse stats. I know of Reed but I'm not sure I would want to go. </p>
<p>Thanks for any possible help!</p>