Still overwhelmed

<p>I am so overwhelmed with the college process. I thought I had it all figured out-- that i wanted to go to Duke, so I was going to apply ED. But now i've been rethinking it and I think I want a school where I can get more personal attention from professors. So now I'm starting to think about LAC- Williams especially. However, I hate isolated places, and I worry that I may not be happy at Williams during the winter months. Grr its so annoying bc I want the opportunities, choices, variety, and locations of most of the larger schools (duke, uva, georgetown, northwestern, wash u) but I want the personal attention, small classes of most of the smaller schools (williams, colgate, bucknell, hamilton, bowdoin, amherst).</p>

<p>Some schools in the middle of those would be BC, Dartmouth.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any suggestions? Or did anyone else go through this tough decision and what did you choose?</p>

<p>I don't necessarily know what I want to major in.. but I'm leaning towards something in the health field- not necessarily pre-med tho. However, I am really not sure so I could totally change my mind.</p>

<p>Visit schools and take your time making a decision. hth</p>

<p>I have visited.. a bunch, but I feel like they all say the same thing.</p>

<p>take your time and think about what you want. there's no rush and you'll eventually make up your mind.</p>

<p>I vote either Brown or Dartmouth.</p>

<p>bump........</p>

<p>Look into first-rate small liberal arts schools in urban or suburban environments - Swarthmore, Haverford, Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Macalester, Barnard, Occidental, Trinity, Reed, etc</p>

<p>Actually my academic experience at Brown was very intimate, close to that of a LAC. I'd say about 65% of my classes were <25 students, and only about 20% were >50. </p>

<p>This may be somewhat major-dependant. At least in English, in the honors thesis track, you wind up with lots of seminars... which are usually <20 students. </p>

<p>I would assume Dartmouth is similar.</p>

<p>For the "health field", Dartmouth and Brown would be better choices than a small LAC. If you need a less selective choice, consider Brandeis.</p>

<p>dartmouth is a nice place. it IS in the middle of nowhere, though, but it's a different middle of nowhere. i mean, it's far away from everywhere, but the town that dartmouth is in has LOTS to do. plus u got skiing and stuff.</p>

<p>im not a big fan but I would consider it if I were you.</p>

<p>If you're a girl, seriously look into Barnard. It's a liberal arts college with all of that good stuff, in New York City, and connected to a big research university with all the course offerings therein.</p>

<p>This was exactly how I was thinking.</p>

<p>did you want to stay in the east?
maybe look into the University of Chicago. It calls itself a liberal arts college but is in the midst of a lot of grad schools and in a city.</p>

<p>I think Pomona would be perfect for me but don't know if I want to travel so far away. I know my parents would prefer me to stay on the east coast. So far Duke seems to fit except for the fact that classes might be too big? Does anyone know about profs/tas/class size at Duke?</p>

<p>Thanks for everyones help.</p>

<p>One thing to look into is specialized programs within a big health-sciences major... for example, my dad went to UCLA (a big school) and studied kinesthesiology as an undergrad (I don't think you can do that anymore, but other specializations have sprung up to take its place). It was a small department so he got that level of attention, but he still got all of the resources of a bigger school.</p>

<p>My mom, on the other hand, went to a small school, loved it, and regretted it. She says that the opportunities within the school were so limited that she didn't get to explore as many facets of biology as she would have at a big school; when she got to grad school, she ended up discovering that she wanted to research in an area that the school didn't offer and dropping out of her PhD program.</p>

<p>Hope that helps some :)</p>

<p>Out of like Dartmouth, Brown, Gtown, and Duke (colleges you mentioned) I found that Dartmouth probably has the most individual attention. Of course, you can't really beat Williams or Amherst when it comes to that.</p>

<p>Of course at all these universities since the students are academically top notch it takes some degree of initiative to get extra attention...like talking to prof's after class</p>

<p>You should think about ED'ing to a top lac or Dartmouth I think.
(Or just apply everwhere regular decision and see what you like)</p>

<p>The poster "hates" isolated places, so keep those Dartmouth and Williams recommendations coming. . .</p>

<p>Vassar? Small, attractive campus, convenient for 1 day or weekends in NYC. A bit preppy and liberal, but you would not need to learn to speak and act southern.</p>

<p>I'd take a close look at Boston College, since it seems to offer the combination of what you're looking for:</p>

<ul>
<li>Spacious, wooded campus with beautiful gothic architecture and many new buildings/labs/facilities</li>
<li>Access into downtown Boston/Logan airport with an on-campus T-station (the "T" is Boston's subway system)</li>
<li>Broad choice of academic departments, programs and research opportunities </li>
<li>Small classes (stats in the back of the BC bulletin: average size 23, only 5% over 50) and personal relationships with professors (research opportunities/dinners at home/evening lectures/etc)</li>
</ul>

<p>On the other hand, winter can be very harsh and I don't think BC offers much in the "health fields" besides pre-med and nursing (both very strong, but not what you're looking for).</p>

<p>I agree with Vassar, its an awesome LAC.</p>

<p>You may find that you can get quite a bit of professorial contact at the universities you mention. With the exception of UVA, they're private schools with moderately sized student bodies. It's not like you're talking about Ohio State or Texas A&M or someplace where there are 40,000+ undergrads, giant lectures may not meet in discussion sections, it takes luck to get the classes you want, etc. If you're at Duke, a lot of your classes in four years are going to be seminars or small lab groups, especially if you make that a priority when you're picking classes.</p>

<p>Of course, if you want ALL your classes to be small, or as many as humanly possible, choose an LAC, but give some serious thought about whether having some big intro lectures is so untenable that it's worth sacrificing those choices and opportunities that you also care about. Are you someone who will be shy about going to office hours and asking for help if you need it?</p>