Starting the College Search- HELP

College Search & Selection
1

Hi everyone! I’ve been reading from this website for some time now, and figured that now, as a rising senior, it was time I ask some questions. I really need help making an initial college list. I’ll post my stats and interests here also.

Who I am: a white girl from the northeast
Income bracket: probably around $200k?
APs: World (4), Seminar (5)- of note that I took AP Seminar a year early than most students in my school do), Psych (Expecting 4), USH (Expecting 4 or 5), Bio (Expecting 3 or 4), Lang (Expecting 4 or 5), Research (Expecting 4 or 5), Human Geo (I have no idea… 4?)
SAT: did horribly on the first one considering I had a 1370 PSAT. waiting on June score; March didn’t seem to reflect my performance on past tests- 1280
GPA: weighted 99 or 100; upward trend

  • of note that my English/history grades are very high so I definitely have concentrated interest. I am still on the honors/AP tracks for STEM.

My intended senior year classes include AP Micro, AP Macro, AP Gov, AP Calc AB, AP Lit, Physics (level TBD), Italian H, Orchestra.

Extracurriculars:

History Day Club- member (9, 10) president (11, 12)
Robotics- member (9, 10) leadership (11, 12)
Student Gov- member (10,12) officer (11)
English Honor Society- Member (10) VP (11, 12)
Science Club- member (10), historian (11, 12)
Envirothon- member (10), team leader (11)
Science research-
SS Honor Society- Member (11), running for an officer position for senior year
Member of random other honor societies (all offered except art)
Orchestra- member (10) chamber orchestra (9, 11, 12)
Some rotary involvement; small leadership
Soccer- three years varsity. not looking to play in college beyond club.
Participated in an online class through Stanford

Awards:

  • school level orchestra award, school level science research award, school level history award
  • state level group history day award (placed regionally twice, locally thrice)

Community Service:

  • a lot of different service through robotics, rotary, student government, and relay for life (captain three years)

Essays: should be good, I have basic drafts
Recs: should be strong, asked history teacher who I had in grades 9 and 10 (AP World) and serves as history day club advisor. I have her as an internship advisor for senior year.

Also asked tenth grade AP Seminar teacher, as my eleventh grade one was out for a lot of the year and my tenth grade AP Sem teacher liked me.

My interests for future career and major are kind of TBD- that’s why I need help.

Somewhere in the realm of global studies, journalism, law, education, and, if I admit it, creative writing. I don’t care how far from home I am- I’d go internationally.

2

@historypenguin - Would you provide a little more information on the type of school you might be interested in? City/Suburban/Urban, Greek life, Sports, Co-Ed/Single Sex, Big University/Medium/Small LAC?? You’d probably get more useful feedback!

3

@aug2019 Sure! I don’t want a campus that is really part of the city- I would minimum like to have the sort of separation that NYU has. I’m okay with suburban and rural as long as there is ample opportunity. Greek life I don’t have much to say on: I’m interested but don’t need it. Co-ed for sure. Definitely not a super large university, but medium or small are both fine.

4

Pending your June SAT results, you may want to research an array of test optional or text flexible colleges. Schools such as Connecticut College, Bates, Colby, Wesleyan, Middlebury and Hamilton might be good to consider, though these colleges would for the most part represent reaches. Kenyon, though not test optional, might be in range for you as well. The University of Richmond could also interest you. Wheaton (MA) would be an example of an easier admit for you.

5

@merc81 If I could get my SAT score up, would I have high options with my grades?

6

It would help if you stated your unweighted GPA and class rank (even if by decile) if available.

7

What’s your budget?

8

@merc81 I’ve got to be top 10%, I’m assuming top 5% in a class of around 450. My unweighted GPA is a 93.

@austinmshauri budget is, according to my parents, essentially state school or a school worth paying for or a school that gives me decent money. I live in NY so have SUNY system.

9

Are they willing to pay the cost of a SUNY ($25k/year)? You really need a firm commitment from them to conduct an effective search.

10

@austinmshauri yes, they would pay for a SUNY

11

As you would know, the schools in reply #3 do represent high options of course based on their largely sub-20% acceptance rates. Your grades, recommendations and essays might get you into a few of them nonetheless. With, say, a 1430 SAT, however, you could confidently submit your full standardized scoring to these colleges as well as others on this level for enhanced prospects of admission. You might also want to consider Trinity (CT), Skidmore, an appropriate Claremont, or a D.C. school such as American.

12

@historypenguin
There are numerous excellent test optional colleges.
To name a few: Wesleyan, Trinity, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Holy Cross, Skidmore, Union, Denison, Hobart and William Smith.

Colby may be of interest as their financial aid doesn’t include loans.

I would also recommend that you take the ACT. Some students do much better on one test or the other.
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/education/edlife/guidance.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/04/12/the-complete-list-of-test-optional-colleges-and-universities-as-of-now/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4b67b958793c

13

“If I could get my SAT score up, would I have high options with my grades?”

Given that you had 1370 PSAT, I will assume that your SAT re-take will at least get you over 1400. How much over 1400 might make a difference wrt which schools are more or less likely.

I am a big believer in first picking strong safeties that you are happy with, and then thinking about reaches. Matches sort of fall somewhere in between.

In terms of safeties, the SUNY’s seem like the obvious choice.

Given your grades, your comment about considering international schools, and the assumption that you will get your SAT over 1400, most if not all schools in Canada would be either safeties or at least very likely. The best known Canadian schools are however relatively large and in cities. There are a few good small ones which are not as well known. Some good ones are in small cities, such as Queens in Kingston Ontario.

In terms of reaches, for the really top schools I would be inclined to wait until you get your SAT scores back and see where you stand.

One issue is that there are so many good universities that you could reasonably consider. You probably should visit some schools to try to further focus in on what you want in a school. Also, you might want to run the NPC on some schools and see what the results look like and how you and your parents feel about the results.

14

My sister attended one of the SUNYs (quite awhile ago) and got a great education that has served her well. There are quite a few excellent schools in the system so you wouldn’t be selling yourself short to start looking there.

15

Dickinson might be a nice option to consider.

16

@historypenguin

Everyone have you some excellent starting points. I like the idea of safeties you would be happy going to.

You won’t know until you get your second round of SAT’s.

Seems like you might want to apply to SUNY’s some will be safeties, some will be matches.

Binghamton - match Some really bright students here - big research university.

Geneseo - match/safety medium size - excellent academics lovely campus (small master’s program, most of focus is on undergrads.

New Paltz - match/safety (it gets tons of applicants since it’s close to NYC and in a lovely town) medium size, teaching college (focus is on undergrads)

Oswego, Oneonta safety - mid size, most of focus on undergrads -

You probably would be very happy at any of those 5 schools.

You might want to apply to some top-tier liberal arts colleges, which might be reaches.

Some of these schools offer good merit, some don’t. They are getting-super competitive. You can find out more about them if you google “hidden ivies”. Look at their acceptance rates and it might give you a sense of where you stand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_Ivies

Amherst/Williams/Swarthmore - tippy top - insanely hard to get into.
Bowdoin - super hard to get into
Bates -very hard to get into
Hamilton - very hard to get into
Middlebury - very hard to get into
Oberlin - very hard to get into
Grinnell - very hard to get into
Connecticut College - hard to get into
Kenyon -hard to get into
Franklin and Marshall - hard to get into
Gettysburg - hard to get into

There is another category of Liberal Arts College that isn’t as competitive as the hidden ivies, but what characterizes them is that they are bit cheaper in price tag, they often offer great merit aid, they accept more than 50% of applicants, but they provide excellent educations, often with research, internships and study abroad opportunities A lot of them are featured in a book called “College that Change Lives” Get the book. There is also a website that features them.

https://ctcl.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleges_That_Change_Lives

Some excellent options is this list:

Allegheny College
Juniata College
Ursinus College
Bard College
College of Wooster
Knox College
Beloit College
Lawrence University

There are schools not on this list but that are pretty similar (great merit aid):

Muhlenberg College
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
St. Lawrence University
Ithaca College

Another school that’s excellent for global studies is Dickinson (somewhere between Colleges that change lives and hidden Ivies) in terms of difficulty.

17

I hate that answer. As a parent in the same income range I understand why they said it, but I still hate it.

18

Bowdoin, Pomona and some others belong in the “tippy top - insanely hard to get into” category. It’s not the sole province of the three institutions mentioned.

19

True…Bowdoin is insanely tough.

20

You should have stuck with your position, @Theoden. You had made a nuanced distinction between a college with a stratospheric 32-35 ACT middle-range ACT (Williams) and one with a somewhat less stratospheric range of 30-34 (Bowdoin). Separating these schools by a notch with respect to their academic criteria for admission doesn’t diminish the second school.