Hello all! I have a very very talented friend who has been having a lot of trouble finding colleges she likes! I think she could go almost anywhere she wanted to, but she doesn’t seem to like anywhere!
Stats:
State: PA
Ethnicity: White
SAT SuperScore: M: 800 CR: 750 W: 720
Has yet to take Subject Tests - (I’m not sure which ones)
Rank: 1/150ish
I don’t know her exact GPA but it’s a 4.0 unweighted and 4.7-4.8 weighted
She has taken AP Physics 2 (her class was unusual and didn’t have to take the test for some weird reason), AP Govt (5), and is taking AP Chemistry, AP Calc, AP Lit, and AP Physics 1
She attended one of the Governor’s schools for the sciences, which was apparently a really big deal! I was so proud lol 
She is REALLY artistic and has some amazing artwork and takes Art and ceramics classes and excels in them.
She also plays an instrument and made district band and gets a lot of solos!
ECs: Jazz band, marching band, woodwind ensemble, musical orchestra, chess club, NHS, Bowling Club, French Club (it’s sure there are others I’m forgetting)
So obviously she is academically gifted and she will have excellent essays and letters. She has looked at the following schools:
University of Richmond - She loved it but worried about the size and whether or not Richmond was an interesting enough city (personally I don’t think it had enough prestige for her, but she won’t admit to that lol)
- Lehigh - Liked it enough to apply, but thinks tpBethlehem is a bit boring and isn’t crazy about the frat culture.
- Cornell - Disliked, not sure why.
- Yale - Her sibling goes there and her parents really want her to apply ED, but she didn’t love it when she visited with her sibling.
- UPenn - She likes this one the best but she said not enough to apply early. Which is her best bet! It seems to check off all her wants so I don’t know where to recommend!
- Notre Dame - Didn’t like it, probably won’t apply
Haverford - only school she truly loved but after research she decided it is way too small and isolated for her.
Safeties: Drexel and Pitt
Details/Wants:
-My friend is interested in the science field, probably neuroscience or something in that vein.
- Also…she is more…irreligious which is probably a big reason she didn’t like ND. She seems a bit opposed to most religious schools, but especially Catholic.
- Not a big partier/Greek life-er
- She doesn’t follow politicos too much but I imagine she will be more liberal.
- Her family is dependent on financial aid for all or most of her education, but she is willing to take out loans if necessary (I know they wouldn’t cover everything - but she doesn’t necessarily need a full ride).
- Also! She wants to go to a bigger school (thinks Richmond is too small) and is really preoccupied with living in a city or place with “lots of things to do.”
- She won’t admit it but she needs prestige. I think it has to do with the fact that her sibling is at Yale, and everyone expects her to go to a “big deal” school. I know this is not a good mindset, but there isn’t anything i can do or say to change it.
- And she can go pretty far from Pa, but not west coast. Her parents were okay with her going to ND but I’d say that’s probably the limit.
I am really proud of my friend, and I truly believe, no matter what anyone else on here says, that she will get in anywhere she wants to go. But because of her financials and really specific wants, it’s really hard to recommend places for her! She is starting to feel hopeless about the entire process so I started this to get ANY suggestions!
I know she seems kind of difficult and unwilling to compromise but I think a lot of it has to do with expectations at our school and within her family. I think it’s hard for her to reconcile what she wants with what everyone else expects, and her financial restrictions. Also it doesn’t help that her parents keep pushing Yale.
I know this is pretty long and complicated so thanks for reading! And for any suggestions!!! :)))))) This is my best friend and I want her to be happy and she seems so lost about this whole process. So thanks for any help! (And I’m not looking for critiques of her or her wants. They may be unreasonable or unrealistic but I can’t change that).
Also, she isn’t looking into being a doctor! I assume she will get a Masters/Go to Grad school, but not medical school!
Based on her liking Haverford but wanting something bigger, have her take a look at: Brown, Emory, Washington University in St. Louis, Tufts.
BTW, Haverford might be small but it isn’t isolated. Very close and easy access to all Philly has to offer.
@doschicos thank you so much! I thought Brown might be a good fit for her! Hmm Emory and WUSTL are interesting! I can imagine her liking the more southern vibe! Thank you!
Yes that’s true about Haverford, I should have elaborated. She said when she visited it seemed a lot like the typical “LAC bubble,” and the (few) students she talked to said most people just stay on campus all week. I tried to tell her that can’t be the case for everyone, but it scared her off a little. Our highschool isn’t very big, nor is it in an interesting town so I think she is trying to get as far away from that as possible. And thanks again! :))
She should look at BU, specifically at the honors program and/or the Trustee Scholarship (she’d just need to be nominated by her principal). BU can be a real crapshoot when it comes to aid, but when they really want a candidate, they throw money at them. A lot of what you described about her I think would fit BU, in terms of personality. If she can pinpoint what she didn’t like about Yale but did like about UPenn, she could consider Harvard (I mean, why not apply), since they meet full need.
@proudterrier I hadn’t even thought of BU! That’s a great suggestion! RIGHT in the city! And it has great name-recognition! Ah I’m sure she’d get nominated, the principal loves all the press she brings lol. I’ll mention it to her tomorrow! And she could visit Tufts the same day/weekend.
Ah yes I should ask her more about Penn vs. Yale. I think it probably has to do with being in Philly…hmmm Harvard’s a good idea, I mean you never know! I’ll see what she thinks! Thanks!!!
" Her family is dependent on financial aid for all or most of her education, but she is willing to take out loans if necessary (I know they wouldn’t cover everything - but she doesn’t necessarily need a full ride)."
Given that she can only borrow the standard student loans on her own ($5,500 freshman year and then it goes up a bit), she needs to be focused on places that will meet her full need either through need-based aid, or through merit scholarships. This means that she should take a good hard look at those places that are indeed generous with each kind of aid. Yes Yale and its peers do offer excellent need-based aid, but the admissions rates at those places are miniscule. An honors program that comes with a merit scholarship for full-tuition plus part of living costs would be a good deal for her.
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
How about Pomona college in Claremont, California? They have great need based financial aid along with wonderful academic.
Agree with reply #7, and also she should run the net price calculator on schools where she would be looking to use need-based financial aid.
Lots of good suggestions so far. A few possibilities that haven’t been mentioned yet:
American
Brandeis (too small?)
Carnegie Mellon
Case Western
GWU
Johns Hopkins
Northeastern
Rice (too far?)
She might find a women’s college an interesting environment. Barnard, Bryn Mawr, and Wellesley might interest her. My D graduated from Wellesley and while it’s out in the burbs, she loved the proximity to Boston and the cross-registration at MIT. She would need to look at the aid/affordability. Bryn Mawr offers both need based and merit. Barnard and Wellesley aid is need based only. Not sure if Smith and Mt. Holyoke are in a big enough city for her.
Thanks @warblersrule and @college_query !
I told my friend about BU, WUSTL, Brown, and Emory and she is really excited about them! 
Especially cause WUSTL and BU don’t require supplements!
I think she would prefer GWU to American (probably cause of prestige tbh, but what can I do!) I don’t think they provide merit, does anyone know if they are generous with need-based?
Case Western seems like a good fit! From what I read the student body seems fairly intellectual! I’ll definitely mention it to her!
Rice might be a touch to far but their strength in the sciences and campus beauty might compel her! Plus they have a marching band
It’s weird…she visited JHU with her sibling and for whatever reason she got a really bad vibe, I’m not sure why…I think she said it seemed very cutthroat.
She loves Carnegie Mellon! But when she visited she said they don’t give/have very poor aid?
NEU might work too, I’ll do some more research on it! Thanks!!!
Hmmmm I hadn’t thought of a women’s college…I’ll see what she says! thanks!!!
How about Columbia or Barnard ? (certainly not isolated and very much in keeping with her stats and abilities but are reaches for everyone). Remind her that Haverford / Bryn Mawr / Swarthmore and U. Penn are all part of a consortium, so it may not be such a bubble after all.
University of Chicago might be a really, really good fit. And if CA is not entirely off the table, the Claremont Consortium (Pomona, Scripps, etc.) might fit the bill. Or Stanford for a reach. Lastly, a smallish LAC in a city (like Macalester) might work.
The greater the prestige, the bigger the endowment, and the better FA will be (esp. with the Ivys), and she should be looking for schools that meet 100% need or those that combine FA and merit. For merit aid, she may need to go down a tier in the rankings, but some of the ones I - and others - have mentioned do offer merit and are fine schools.
The big questions she needs to answer is does she want a large research institution or a smaller LAC (that isn’t too much of a “bubble”). Being part of a consortium or being in a big city might allow her to not feel isolated. For larger universities, UVA, UNC, Duke and Emory (if she doesn’t mind the south). I don’t think GW or American might be decent safeties, Georgetown would be a better fit for her academically if she doesn’t mind the Jesuit thing (I’m (non-religious) Jewish and didn’t find it to be a problem.)
@LoveTheBard thanks for the response! I can’t imagine her going for a women’s college unfortunately, probably because its just a little too far outside her comfort zone. Oh duh Columbia! I don’t know why I didn’t think of that! That’s a great suggestion!! Uchicago seems interesting, but I don’t know too much about it! I’ll do some research on niche and collegeboard and see what I can find. Is it well known in the sciences?
Also, I think she wants a larger university in a big city. The consortiums are tempting, but from everything she has told me, she seems to want a large, bustling environment with a lot of intelligent people. She visited Swarthmore and a few smaller LACS and while she likes the curriculum and focus of LACs, she prefers the environment of a larger university. I’m sorry this is a lot to follow!
So here is the current list:
WUSTL
BU
Brown
Emory
Case Western
Columbia
(Potentially) Uchicago
I think Rice is just too far, and I think BU has the feel for what she wants more than NEU (But if someone has more info in this please share).
Also CA is just too too far, and I think the horror stories of the cutthroat and competitive nature at Stanford scared her off!
Also I doubt she would go for Georgetown, she is really really really against going to a catholic school lol. Like its a major deslbreaker for some reason (maybe because we have been in parochial school all our lives).
I’ll have to ask her about GWU…I never pictured her in DC but it’s certainly a large university in a big city!
And seriously thanks EVERYONE
I think they’d probably be pretty strong in just about everything at U Chicago. Their neurosciences seem stop span a variety of disciplines (medicine/biology, psychology, computational neuroscience, etc.). They have the Grossman Institute of Neuroscience, Quantitative Biology and Human Behavior…To the best of my knowledge, all of the undergraduate courses are taught by professors - not grad students. It’s a pretty intellectual, nerdy place in a great city.
Reed is another great school - not unlike Chicago in terms of neediness but probably a bit hipper - in another great city – Portland, Oregon.
The Claremont consortium makes it like a larger university (7,000 students) but with each “college” - kind of like All Souls, Oriel, Pembroke, ChristChurch… at Oxford, each with their own space and personality, but all connected together (although the Claremont architecture is not the same AT ALL as Oxford’s). She should look into those. And as far as prestige goes, they’re each prestigious in their own right.
My first thought was Northeastern. Good urban environment, strong honors program, and potentially great merit money. If she’s national merit scholar, the awards are very attractive. Temple also has merit money above a certain GPA/SAT cutoff which I believe she makes.
Northeastern is very preprofessional. It means that if her main reason for going to college is finding a job and learning stuff that’ll apply to a job or will get her closer to a job, it’ll be perfect, if if she longs to be surrounded by students who’ll chat about what’s going on in the world, compare various international movies they’ve seen recently, and will choose classes because they sound unexpected and “thus” interesting, it’s not the right place. Since you know her well, what do you think matches her better?
Note that prestige as per USWR isn’t necessarily the same as prestige for academics (if she’s thinking of getting a PHD). For instance, colleges such as Earlham or Wooster aren’t well-known in the outside world, but are very well-known in academia. Same thing for Lawrence and Physics, St Olaf for International Studies/Science/Math/Music, Kalamazoo and Dickinson for International studies and Foreign Languages, Eckerd for marine science, Grinnell for sciences in general and chemistry in particular, Centre, Beloit, Juniata… Of those, if your friend wants prestige, St Olaf, Dickinson, and Grinnell would be the most “prestigious” ones, plus Earlham and Wooster (for undergraduate research).