<p>I originally posted this in "college search and selection" but was told I might get better answers here, so here goes:</p>
<p>In high school I ended up applying to probably too many reach schools and ended up at my safety: my state flagship university. I tried to go in with an open mind, and while I've ended up with a lot of great new friends and had several great opportunities, I'm somewhat frustrated by the anti-intellectualism and party atmosphere of the school. A lot of the classes are too easy, (boring) and I often feel like I'm at a level above the other students in my classes motivation wise. I guess you would say my school is not a "fit." As far as colleges go.</p>
<p>I'd like to go somewhere more intellectually stimulating, and with a more motivated, creative, and intelligent student body. A liberal arts college might be nice, but a university would work too--I figure most of my classes would probably be small anyway since I'm pretty much done with GenEd. If anyone could give some suggestions of school that seem like they might fit that would be great.</p>
<p>Some stats to help:</p>
<p>College:
GPA: 3.85 (4.0 in my Major--English--if it matters.)
ECs: Student government, humor magazine, philosophy association, community service, etc. Probably a research assistant position this summer.</p>
<p>High School: (Fairly large public)
GPA UW: 3.7 (No grade inflation at my school--no one made a 4.0)
GPA W: 4.95/6
Rank: Top 4%
Course Load: All APs or Honors courses--13 APs Total; 4s or 5s on all.
SAT: 2150
SAT IIs: 740 US History, 660 Literature
ECs: ~150 hours of Comm Service, Summer Jobs, Co-Captain on Debate Team, Leadership in Political clubs, Jazz Band, Other Music ECs</p>
<p>What kind of environment can you picture yourself in? Do you want a larger or smaller school? Do you like more of an urban environment or a rural one? When you say English, does that mean a Creative Writing program to go with it, or just English?</p>
<p>try college ******* to compare your stats.</p>
<p>other than that, there’s really nothing anybody can suggest to you without knowing you as a person.</p>
<p>“What kind of environment can you picture yourself in? Do you want a larger or smaller school? Do you like more of an urban environment or a rural one? When you say English, does that mean a Creative Writing program to go with it, or just English?”</p>
<p>Smaller I think is more preferable. Maybe somewhere with less than 10,000 Undergraduates. Like I said, a liberal arts college might be nice (I figure there might be more intellectually minded people there.), and would feel less like a “degree factory” than a university would–with true interest in academics going on there.</p>
<p>Urban or suburban is more preferable, but I’m fine as long as there are things to do on campus besides frat parties on weekends.</p>
<p>Not too picky about creative writing. My major is in traditional English.</p>
<p>Going to give you a lot of the advice I gave another student on here:
I have a friend who goes to Kenyon (which is known for their English and Creative Writing program)and really likes it. However, I wouldn’t apply there if I were you. It’s a great school and my friend really likes it but he likes to party, so his description of there being a lot of stuff to do on campus may not be accurate. Plus, Gambier Ohio, where the school is situated, is super super super teeny!! It has barely over a thousand people, and there isn’t even a movie theater in town, if you judge life by such things.
My experience with frats is, if they are there on smaller campuses (the school that I transferred from had around 1500 kids and was a LAC in a rural area) they can be more noticeable. It’s one thing if 25% of your student body is in a frat and there are 15,000 kids on campus. That means over ten thousand kids are not associated with Greek life, and if you’re in an urban or suburban area there’s fun things to do. But if you have 25% of kids in a frat on a teeny campus, that is a lot more noticeable.
Sometimes not having frats at all can actually make things worse. Another friend of mine goes to a campus with no frats on it, but their residential dorm was known as The Tower of Terror because of all of the parties that went on. People may (not always) stay in and drink if there isn’t much to do in the surrounding town.
I would strongly suggest looking at Fiske’s Guide to Colleges, The Hidden Ivies or Rugg’s Recommendations (he does it by major, so you can get some good results looking for English). Fiske’s is particularly useful I found in my college search, because if you found a college description in there that you liked, they had lists of other schools that kids applied to when they applied to that school, so you can find similar ones.
Another thing you can look at is transfer friendly colleges. Here’s a look at what some consider the top 50 schools, and their transfer rates.
<a href=“Transfer Acceptance Rates at US News Top 50 - Transferweb”>Transfer Acceptance Rates at US News Top 50 - Transferweb;
A lot times the rates are the same, but in some cases it’s actually easier to get in as a transfer than it is as a freshman.
There’s also the schools with the highest transfer acceptance rates <a href=“Highest Transfer Acceptance Rates - Transferweb”>Highest Transfer Acceptance Rates - Transferweb; and the ones with the most transfer students <a href=“Most Transfer Students Enrolled - Transferweb”>Most Transfer Students Enrolled - Transferweb.
You do have to remember that a lot of these kids may be kids at community colleges which have special agreements with the schools though, so they will skew the numbers especially at the large public universities.</p>
<p>What is your financial situation? Do you need merit aid, need/qualify for based FA, or can you afford full pay at a private or OOS public?</p>
<p>I’ve heard good things about Kenyon, (someone in the previous thread also suggested it to me) and I know it sounds counter to everything I said earlier, but I’m not anti-party nor am I anti-Greek. I know that in reality there are very few schools that don’t involve alcohol or partying, and that’s fine. I’m far from innocent as a college student, and I can name at least one Fraternity on my campus that I have a lot of respect for. BUT, from my own experience at a state school, a lot of people seem more focused on having the “college experience” than focusing on their academics. Maybe it’s just a case of the few loudest voices overwhelming the silent majority. Regardless, a school that could do both would be fine by me. </p>
<p>Thanks for the transferweb recommendations. Had seen the website before, but some of those pages I hadn’t seen.</p>
<p>In regards, to financial aid. I can’t do Full Pay. Merit Aid (I’m assuming you mean grants and scholarships) would be preferable. I don’t qualify for Federal Aid, but school aid: probably–be that loans, or grants.</p>
<p>This pretty much rules out OOS public (little financial aid), which after my experience at an in-state large public university was pretty much off the table for me. Really, as far as OOS publics the only one I might see as a possibility would be William & Mary.</p>