Suggestions Please! College help needed!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Like many juniors, I am surrounded with talk of colleges, SAT scores, GPA, etcetera. Most kids I know have a firm grasp on what they would like do do in college. Hence, the majority of them have at least some idea of the type of schools they will apply to.</p>

<p>However, I for one am feeling confused and intimidated by the college admissions process and have no idea what type of school would be the best fit for me. I constantly hear students conversing about a future career in medicine, engineering, teaching, law etc. How can a 16 year old kid know exactly what he wants to do at such an early stage in his life? A feeling of urgency is starting to creep up on me with admissions looming. What should I major in? Which colleges should I look into? Help!</p>

<p>Here is some personal info and stats if it helps:</p>

<p>SAT junior year: 740 CR 800 M 700 W (1st and hopefully last time)</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9 UW 4.0 weighted</p>

<p>Course load: </p>

<p>Frosh: was a really lazy kid freshman year. Took honors courses in geometry and bio. A level classes i English, Western Humanities, etc. Grades mostly in A range/B+(I didn't do well 1st semester, but really stepped it up towards the end of the year and managed a 3.8)</p>

<p>Sophomore: Honors in Algebra 2 and Chemistry. Realized soccer and track weren't the only things that mattered and focused on school. </p>

<p>Junior Year: AP Stat, AP chem, Honors physics, Pre-calc H. Really buckled down in school this year. </p>

<p>Interests: From my class list, I am shore you can see that I am a math/science oriented guy. However, I have never done any outside research or anything of the sort. (No real motivation or passion in any school subjects until this year). I am not sure if proficiency and mild interest in a subjects such as chem and physics would suggest a future career in science. I've always loved math, but again, have never truly pursued my passion outside the classroom. I have always felt that school should stay in school, and thus I haven't pursued curricular interests extracurricularly. </p>

<p>ECS: I like to think of myself as a very focused person. Perhaps this is merely my own rationalization for the fact that I lack many great extra-curricular activities. However here is a (short) list:
-Varsity soccer (high school team won conference, states, 6 seniors this year are heading off to division 1 schools) (I would like to play soccer in college, be it at the club or varsity level. I would say I am a fairly decent player)
-Club soccer: I play on a competitive regional team that requires 8-10 hours a week, my coaches coaches a decent division 1 college team.
-attended recruiting camps at Dartmouth, Brown. Coaches told me division 3 soccer would be realistic.
-Varsity Indoor/Outdoor track and field: I would consider participating track and field in college. I have solid times in a few events, and based on research, I think I could definitely compete at the college level.
- school radio station DJ/ local and school Sports Broadcaster: I have a weekly radio show and broadcast many of our school's basketball games. I love being on the air, but am not sure I would like to pursue a career in broadcasting.
-Youth Soccer Referee: Its awesome. I make like 120 bucks a weekend. </p>

<p>Other Stuff:
-Money is not a problem ( very affluent community in CT, hence the high level of competition in the public high school.
-Dad went to Harvard (no pressure on me or anything)</p>

<p>I hope you were able to glean enough from this brief personal description to come up with the names of a few schools/potential majors</p>

<p>By the way I have already visited the following based on my counselor's (who doesn't know me very well) recommendations
-UPenn
-Georgetown
-George Washington
-UCONN
-Tufts
-Amherst
-Haverford (outside Philly)
-Boston University</p>

2

<p>Those are all great schools but you need more safeties and match schools. Have you considered Harvey Mudd and Swathmore as well? You might also want to check out
Olin College, as well as Bates, Connecticut College, Davidson, and Trinity Colllege .</p>

3

<p>Let’s go through the usual list of questions first-and if you don’t know the answers, then do some research, otherwise people will throw random schools at you that meet one or two criteria but may not otherwise be a good fit.</p>

<p>1) size: You have both LACs (Amherst and Haverford) and larger and mid-sized schools. What kind of experience are you looking for? LACs are different.
2) geographic preferences: any part of the country, weather issues?, distance from home, must have______(mountains, ocean, etc…)
3) Urban/rural/suburban
4) culture: frats? religious orientation? single sex? jock? artsy? granola? intellectually intense? preppy?<br>
5) Soccer/sports and sciences-anything else?
6) deal-breakers?</p>

4

<p>UConn is a good safety. Try Rochester, Williams, Swarthmore and Carnegie Mellon.</p>

5

<p>Chicago, Rice, Vanderbilt, and Cornell come to mind.</p>

6

<p>You are right, it is overwhelming and yes a 16 yr kid does not know what they want to do for the rest of their life. Many college students change majors several times before they settle on something that they want to pursue. You have a good list going, and you should do a mix of safties and reaches, state schools.</p>

<p>Some info needed should get you started on narrowing your list down to 6-10 schools that would appeal to you.</p>

<p>This website helps you get started by answering some questions based on your interests.
<a href=“http://www.princetonreview.com/com.aspx[/url]”>http://www.princetonreview.com/com.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>Holy Cross, Bucknell.</p>

8

<p>A lot can be learned by staying overnight at different sizes of schools and it’s too bad to wait for that until after you have been accepted. So if you have acquaintances at one small liberal arts school and one medium or large university try to do an overnight and visit a class— you would gather a lot of information comparing them. You need to figure out what size is the best learning/social environment for you. Once you are into a great school the classes will help you figure out your focus. Also try to find one school with early action that you like so you have something set by November and can work from there. University of Chicago would be a great choice with your scores. Choose some liberal arts colleges (a few of the top 5 and a few more definite), a few ivies and a few more likely universities. At least ten total, I think.</p>