Suggestions for colleges PLEASE

College Search & Selection
1

<p>If you guys have the time, I would very much appreciate it if you guys suggest colleges for me to apply to and then give me my chances for the colleges you choose.
Thanks :D (never mind the title hehe)</p>

<p>Asian/female</p>

<p>GPA: 4.00 unweighted at a school that sends around 10-15 kids to the Ivy League+top schools every year</p>

<p>Advanced Placement Tests:
Sophomore Year:
AP Physics C Mechanics: 5
AP Physics C E&M: 5</p>

<p>Junior Year:
AP Chemistry: 5
AP United States History: 5
AP Calculus BC: 5</p>

<p>Senior Year:
AP European History
AP Spanish
Maybe AP Statistics</p>

<p>Courses taken at a Harvard Summer School and Harvard Extension School
Positive Psychology, Philosophy, English Seminar (all basically intro courses)
Linear Algebra and Differential Equations
I've gotten A's on all the courses.</p>

<p>I'm about to take Organic Chemistry at Harvard Extension School and Algebra (the hard kind of algebra) in an online course. </p>

<p>2350 SAT Reasoning Test
Breakdown:
Math: 800
Writing: 800
Critical Reading: 750</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests:
Math IIC: 800
Chemistry: 800
United States History: 790
World History: 750</p>

<p>Extracirriculars:
Member of math team and captain of the science team
Piano (self-taught, i really just play for fun and its my passion)
Varsity Crew
Philosophy: starting a small seminar with a couple of friends and a teacher who's going to be our advisor, we're basically going to be talking about cool ideas (metaphysics, ethics, etc) once a week (yeah thats my passion too :DDDDDDDD)</p>

<p>Quarterfinalist in the National Physics Olympiad</p>

<p>I want to do a double major or something like that in Philosophy and in something related to Physics/Engineering/Math (:</p>

<p>Basically, my situation is that I'm getting a late start (relative to a lot of people I see on this forum) into all this college admissions frenzy and I have no idea where to apply. I'm probably going to send off apps to some of the Ivy Leagues (why not try?) but other than that, I'm totally clueless :(</p>

2

<p>i would reccomend UMASS Amherst as a reach and bunker hill community as a match</p>

3

<p>Good academics.
No one cares about quarterfinalist in USAPhO.
You have no major ECs/awards.</p>

<p>Below average asian math/physics applicant to top schools.</p>

<p>Perhaps elaborate on the seminar thing?</p>

<p>Apply to low level top schools (NYU, Berkeley).</p>

4

<p>Thanks everyone!</p>

5

<p>Take full time college courses.
For a physics person, it would have been preferable to take AP Calc BC in freshman year.</p>

<p>Advanced physics research.
ISEF/Intel/Siemens</p>

<p>There are also other engineering competitions.
Try out JETS.</p>

6

<p>Only about 55 peeps take the BC Calc exam in freshman year…I wasn’t one of them haha
Sadly, I’m not nearly as smart as the people who win in those science competitions (I can’t even understand their abstracts).</p>

7

<p>So basically you have excellent grades and standardized test scores, fine but not extraordinary ECs. You have a good shot at every school in the country. We need more info.</p>

<p>Small or big? Urban, rural, somewhere in-between? How much of a concern is financial aid? Do you want Greek life to be the dominant social group or do you like artsy people and activities more?</p>

8

<p>i can’t even tell if this is serious or not…</p>

9

<p>You have excellent academic stats but very few EC’s.</p>

10

<p>I’m fine with any type of college, and financial aid is pretty big for me. I’m basically going wherever offers me the most money.</p>

<p>And yes, this post is completely serious.</p>

<p>As for the lack of extraordinary ECs, I’ve really just been pursuing my passions in piano and philosophy. I haven’t really branched out, but I’m heavily involved in each EC that I do.</p>

11

<p>You mentioned that you wanted to major in something that combines Philosophy and Physics/Engineering/Math. Franklin & Marshall offers a pretty neat major called Scientific and Philosophical Studies of the Mind. It combines classes in Philosophy, Psychology, Computer modeling and Artificial Intelligence. You are more than qualified for F&M but might want to look into that major and possibly put the school on your list as a match or safety.</p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>Probably not. How does Maharishi University sound?</p>

<p>Please help us help you by answering the following questions:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Big school or small? A state school with 25000 undergrads vs. a small liberal arts college with 1100 undergrads (smaller than many high schools) have different “feels.” Or do you prefer somewhere in between (say 3000-10000 undergrads). At least tell us which one you prefer more or less.</p></li>
<li><p>Urban or rural? NYU is very urban (almost non-existant campus). Grinnell College is in a small town in Iowa. Do you prefer a suburban setting? WashU and Northwestern are good examples.</p></li>
<li><p>Financial aid? How important are finances?</p></li>
<li><p>What sort of majors are you interested in? You mentioned you might be interested in Engineering. If an institution does not have an engineering school or program, would that be a “make or break” for you?</p></li>
<li><p>Do you want a school with many graduate and professional programs with plenty of research or do you want a college with few or no graduate programs with the emphasis on undergraduate education.</p></li>
<li><p>Geographic region? Where would you least want to be: midwest, west coast, mountain west, south, mid-atlantic, northeast?</p></li>
<li><p>How important are the above six relative to one another?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>If you give us some of these answers, we might able to help you along a little bit more.</p>

13

<p>Definitely look at University of Chicago. How about Brown? You have a shot at the top. Look at Barnard- going there makes any course in Columbia available to you.</p>

14

<p>@Jason110: Financial aid is really important, and it pretty much overweighs everything else. However, I’m not applying to any schools with over 10,000 undergrads (I feel like I’d get lost in the crowd) or schools, and I prefer small schools because of the small class sizes (thats why I arranged the philosophy seminar). I’m a bit cautious to choose liberal arts colleges, though, since I intend to enroll in graduate courses sometime during my 4 years of college and do research. </p>

<p>I’m fine with any urban setting except for NYC (too much for me haha), and I like suburban and rural settings too but in terms of geography, I’d like to stay at close to home at MA. My parents WILL want to visit me, and if they need to buy plane tickets every time they do that’ll just kill our bank account.</p>

<p>If an institution doesn’t have an engineering program, I probably won’t apply, since I really want to explore my choices and have a wide variety of majors available.</p>

<p>@BobbyCT: the major you’re suggesting sounds really interesting! I’ve found an analogous major at Wash U–philosophy, neuroscience, and psychology, and I’m definetely for trying it out.</p>

<p>@OneMom: UChicago’s academics look amazing, and Brown certainly has happy students. However, I’m more interested in career-oriented universities, especially since we’re in such bad economic times. That isn’t to say that I’m not applying to them–they are certainly really good schools and would probably offer really good financial aid.</p>

<p>Thanks all! I really appreciate all your time and help.</p>

15

<p>Your profile screams Brown to me. They love kids who are passionate in two really unrelated areas.</p>

16

<p>Are you implying the UChicago and Brown aren’t ‘career oriented’?</p>

<p>Kids in those schools do very well, and quite many graduates from them go on to graduate and professional schools. So to say they aren’t ‘career oriented’ is wrong, I believe.</p>

17

<p>Of course every college is to some extent career oriented, but I’m saying that some are more career-oriented as others–for example, a liberal arts college compared to an engineering school.</p>

18

<p>Don’t be silly, just finish your BA at Harvard Extension. It’s entirely possible, and you’ll have a degree from Harvard.</p>

19

<p>I think you should look into Rice. It’s very undergrad focused, has great research opportunities, flexible curriculum, friendly, collaborative environment, beautiful campus, good faculty interaction, and residential colleges (no Greeks).</p>

20

<p>This is extremely fishy. You took AP Physics C in sophomore year and got a 5, yet you took Calculus the year AFTER you took Physics C, which requires you to be able to differentiate. Did you take a Calculus class in freshman year??</p>