<p>I'm a current Junior and have made several lists of where I want to apply (and visit) but then I keep finding out about many other schools that also interest me. I don't know what schools exactly fit the criteria I"m looking for. Suggest schools for me please!</p>
<p>Criteria:
-Has to have a large Jewish population
-Has to be a top 20 school (4.0 GPA 2200 SAT etc)
-School spirit-a lot if it
-Not a HUGE student body
-Has to have a city within a half hour radius or be in a good college town
-Weather doesn't really matter, neither does price
-Have a study abroad program
-I'm not sure what I'm interested in as far as majors go but it's definitely not math/science related. It would be something relating to law, political science, communications, marketing. </p>
<p>I already have down Duke, Vanderbilt and UPenn. Any other ideas?</p>
<p>Hey! Great that you have a well-defined list of criteria for your potential schools.
Ok, for me, I applied to several top schools, was also accepted into several, but visited only two. This means I can’t give a very wide list of suggestions. However, I’m at Washington University in St. Louis now and notice the school fits several of your criteria:</p>
<ul>
<li>Has to have a large Jewish population - definitely Washington University in St. Louis/ “WashU”</li>
</ul>
<p>-Has to be a top 20 school (4.0 GPA 2200 SAT etc) - Washington University in St. Louis, ranked #12</p>
<p>-School spirit-a lot if it - USC …eh WashU’s not as big on school spirit, though it has lots of very happy students
-Not a HUGE student body - WashU, has a medium sized student body</p>
<p>-Has to have a city within a half hour radius or be in a good college town- you should visit different schools to scout the city around them since they will have different vibes. WashU is only partly in St. Louis, and a safe, upscale part of St. Louis at that. It is also in Clayton where a bunch of affluent people live. There is a dining/shopping avenue flush with the school and lots of free city attractions around. Also check out USC since I hear the area around it is quite bustling.<br>
-Weather doesn’t really matter, neither does price </p>
<p>-Have a study abroad program - WashU, but I think most colleges probably have study abroad programs
-I’m not sure what I’m interested in as far as majors go but it’s definitely not math/science related. It would be something relating to law, political science, communications, marketing. - Generally all of the departments at WashU for your interested fields are strong, though not the strongest. It has an undergrad business school ranked #13 by Business Week. So it’s a pretty well-rounded school- check it out. You shuld also check out USC since I hear they are quite strong for business as well. </p>
<ul>
<li>Work Hard, Play hard - WashU and USC</li>
</ul>
<p>Work Hard, Play hard–That is literally vanderbilt’s motto. I know you have vandy down already, just saying it definitely fits all of your criteria extremely well :)</p>
<p>Well, you’ve narrowed your targets to just 20 schools, so how hard can it be?
(Or are you including top 20 LACs as well as universities, to make it 40?)</p>
<p>At most of the top 20 universities, Jewish students are an over-represented minority (compared to their share of the general population.) None are HUGE, if by that you mean >20K. Just about every school has study abroad these days. </p>
<p>So the discriminators are likely to be location/setting and school spirit. What do you mean by that? Arena-filling sports fans? That would rule out a few schools (many of the top 20 if you mean big time D1 football and basketball.) If that’s what you mean, your best choices among top 20 national universities probably are Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt. Is Notre Dame (#20) out because it’s Catholic? Georgetown is Catholic too, and is just outside the top 20, but it has many Jewish students, a great location, and a big sports scene.</p>
<p>The best Ivy League sports colleges probably are Cornell and Dartmouth (but they may not satisfy your location criteria).</p>