<p>I am looking for a perfect University. I have already visited most college sites (College Board, Princeton Review, College Prowl'er, Fiske, College Confidential, etc) and have spent endless hours searching and researching what I think will work. I already have a list together, and I am using that list to see if any of you can confirm some of my selections. If you have the time, I really will value any responses.</p>
<p>My Stats:
Junior in HS
29 ACT - Have not yet taken SAT's, but will take SAT/SAT II's for schools that require it.
4.3 GPA Weighted on 4.5 Scale
Quite a few EC's, Toughest Schedule Possible
Ranked 7/105</p>
<p>Here are some things that I would like:
-A school that has a good Law School, but the focus is on the Undergrads.
-Where Business, Sociology, or <em>Public Policy</em> Majors are strong for a Pre-Law Major.
-Needs to have good merit aid options. No need based only schools [no Ivy Leagues]. Our EFC is too high and my parents are not huge on spending money for college, even though around 75K is saved up for me.
-Students are creative, free-thinking, ambitious, talkative, friendly, and respectful. Groups are not always divided. Everyone pretty much gets along with everyone else.
-Religious, Preferably Jesuit or Roman Catholic. Does not need to be religiously affiliated, but having religious students would be a plus.
-Not a large Greek Presence
<em>-Great, Larger than Average Dorms</em>
-Urban (with good transportation) or Rural/Suburban (with walking distance to fun downtown area)
-Weather does not really matter to me, though my parents like warm weather.
-Within 10 Hours of Ohio by car
-Something with at least a little prestige.
-Good athletics. Intramural and Varsity.
-Where theatre is hot, NOT ONLY for theatre majors.
-Good study abroad.
-Tons of clubs, something for everyone.
-Needs to have at least 1,250++ Enrollment. Not to exceed 40,000.
-Where the students are mostly happy.
-Students are NOT crazy about studying ALL the time. Non-competitive with grades, low pressure, but professors/classes are better than most.</p>
<p>Any ideas? I know that no college is PERFECT and that finding one with everything I want is probably hard, but if you can help me out, it would mean a lot. Thanks.</p>
<p>Well, if you didn't hate students that study, the University of Chicago would be absolutely perfect. It meets every single other thing on that list.</p>
<p>Georgetown is a good suggestion, but the theatre scene isn't so hot. I'd say George Washington may be better.</p>
<p>Creighton university in Omaha....if you make it into the honors program, which you probably would you can live in the sophomore dorms, which are really nice...walk in closets...etc....also you can skip out of some gen eds. I believe it is jesuit. The also have good merit aid.</p>
<p>BYU!!! Seriously.. you will spend almost nothing on tuition, and theatre is hot there... that's where Napolean Dynamite got started. If it weren't for the stigma surrounding the school as uber-conservative mormon (which is only partially true, often overstated by the naive), you just described it to a tee--except I think it's more than 10 hours from Ohio.</p>
<p>Not sure how many parameters it fits, but Brown (an ivy, but you have a lot of freedom of what your experience is like there. No core) might be something to look at. Same with Georgetown. Actually, you'll probably want LACs. And those I know little about.</p>
<p>About the whole Law School thing, I just want somewhere where I can go to the same Law School if I want, but hey - maybe your advice is better.</p>
<p>I would LOVE Brown, but I just would find no way to come up with the $44,000 each year when our EFC is around $40,000. I also would have trouble getting in probably.</p>
<p>Georgetown seems like a good alternative, but I might have trouble gaining Merit Aid there.</p>
<p>Loyola Chicago may be a good match for you. I think it meets a lot of your requirements: pretty generous with merit aid, right in the city, affiliated with the Catholic church. I can't speak specifically about the nature of the student body, but I know a couple people who chose it over the likes of Georgetown, UChicago, etc., because Loyola actually gives out merit aid. </p>
<p>I agree with the recommendation for GW. There's a good chance you'd qualify for some merit aid there. And there's no better place to study public policy than in DC. I'm pretty sure they have a joint BA/JD program where you can get both a bachelors degree and your law degree in 5 or 6 years. </p>
<p>Catholic U of America is also in DC, and that might be something worth looking into as well. </p>
<p>BU and Northeastern are both becoming very popular and well-known schools, so I would check them out as well. I'm pretty sure they both give out merit aid, and they're right in the city of Boston. </p>
<p>Villanova is right outside of Philly, and might be another school worth checking out. It's a Catholic college as well.</p>
<p>You could probably get a full ride at U South Carolina, although I don't think it fits all your criteria. It does fit a lot of your desires. I don't know how they look at the ACT, but if you have a 1350 SAT (old) and are in the top 10% of your class, you automatically get a $4k scholarship, renewable for 4 years, plus in-state tuition. And there is one scholarship they give out to 20 out of state students which basically pays for the entire 4 years.</p>
<p>I know this sounds off the wall, but you should check it out. We are taking a trip to visit in a couple of weeks, and my son has similar stats to you, but not as many EC's.</p>
<p>If you're from Ohio, have you thought about University of Dayton? It has a reputable law school, but the school itself focuses on the undergraduate education, is Roman Catholic (Marianist, though), has a strong devotion to community/civic involvement (I believe even a special program called Civics Scholars), is in the city of Dayton (hence, urban), and has strong school spirit and athletics. Their Berry Scholars honors program provides full tuition merit scholarships to all thirty students that it accepts.</p>
<p>I live about a block away from UD, so I didn't want to go there. But I did get into the Berry program and seriously considered it. It also has a very strong Business program.</p>
<p>You might look at University of Rochester. They are not religious and don't have a law school, but I understand their theater program is one of the best for people who don't want to major in drama. They get folks out from NYC to work with them on a regular basis. They also offer quite a bit of merit aid and have one of the best poli sci programs in the country which can be a good major for pre-law.</p>