<p>I posed this in the transfer section as well, not sure where it belongs. I'm in dire straits so the more people who read/respond the better.</p>
<p>Hey I'm currently enrolled at Wake Forest. I got here and found out the social scene isn't for me (Greek is the ONLY option) and the kids are only here to aquire knowledge as a commodity that leads to a high-end job. I really want a school where people are legitimately there to learn and enjoy the process. Oh and the vast majority of the kids at Wake are cut from the same attractive-preppy-cool/aloof-athletic cloth. I'd be shocked to find anyone here reading for pleasure or patronizing a coffee shop. All of that said, here is my list of credentials</p>
<p>-Cum Laude student at an elite prep school in Cincinnati, OH
-Graduated with around a 3.8 gpa with an upward trend (I averaged around a 3.9 my senior year with 4 AP's as opposed to a 3.6 my freshman year with 0 advanced classes)
-I scored a 2050 on the SAT, 700 English, 680 Writing, 670 Math
-I'm caucasian with very limited work experience
-took 7-8 AP/honors courses in high school
-played 4 years of tennis
-was in the school french honors society
-I've been playing piano off and on for about 10 years, i played in the school classical ensemble. Also I've been playing guitar for two years
-went to china the summer after my junior year
-was in a play and helped with the school literary journal my senior year
-I'm an incredibly avid reader, my computer background is camus and when i first applied to colleges i included a list of works i had read in the previous year. I have it on my home computer, but im not sure if i'll include it this time around
(i know my extracurriculars are weak, i didn't really become a motivated individual until the end of my junior year)</p>
<p>oh and I'm looking to major in either the humanities (anthropology or english) or the sciences (bio, but i really like astronomy)</p>
<p>so here are the schools im thinking about (p.s. I'm a fan of liberal arts)
Hamilton (i was waitlisted the first time around),
Northwestern (didnt apply)
NYU (didnt apply)
Tufts(didn't apply)
Bowdoin (denied the first time)
Wash U (applied E.D., was waitlisted and denied)
maybe Grinnel
Swarthmore (giant stretch I think)
Ohio State as a fallback </p>
<p>Please let me know if you think I have a good chance of success and if there are other schools with free-thinking, unique, intellectual students that I should consider. I really appreciate it, I'm finding it hard to cope with choosing such a bad fit.</p>
<p>Are you a freshmen? If so give it a month or so before making you’re final judgement. If not work super hard on getting a perfect or close to perfect GPA. That being said, I think you should have more variety.</p>
<p>I will now give my shameless plug for Beloit:</p>
<p>Going to beloit I think i have found exactly what you look. Despite the school being about half as selective as its east coast partners, I think it is twice as good. So far I have found students from all sorts of places (it is insanely diverse) and all want to be here (I actually know freshmen who turned down Bowdoin (Financial Reasons), Wesleyan (Hated Atmosphere), Grinnell (Liked Beloit Better), Pomona (Felt more comfortable with people at Beloit) and many more). Basically, a group of very intelligent people. And very accepting. By far the most friendly and happy school I visited (which Included Bowdoin, Kenyon, Macalaster and Grinnell among others), and you would have to try hard not to be accepted and have friends here. Everyone is accepted as they are and are encouraged to stay that way.</p>
<p>Almost everyone here is passionate about what they want to do. There are plenty of people reading for fun, talking about class discussions over lunch and meeting in study groups. No one so far that I have met is stupid, a lot were bored in high school or didn’t work hard and therefore didn’t have outstanding credentials. But everyone once they get here is committed to learning. No one skips classes really and people do the work. Professors go out of their way to make sure everyone gets the support they need.</p>
<p>If you just started school, you need to give it a lot longer than a month. See how first semester goes, prepare your transfer apps, but don’t be surprised if Wake grows on you and you decide to stay. My son had some very negative feelings about his school (an Ivy) freshman year and was prepared to transfer, but by the end of freshman year he figured out how to improve things for himself, and he stayed.<br>
I can guarantee that there ARE students at Wake who are like you. It might take you a little while to find them.<br>
Give it some time.</p>
<p>if you do well your first semester or first year, meaning a near perfect GPA, and can make some connections to faculty members that demonstrate that you truly are an outstanding student, then i think your transfer chances are good at the larger schools only. the liberal arts schools are notoriously difficult to transfer into, so, while worth an application, i would not expect a favorable response no matter how excellent your record ends up being. </p>
<p>i would second the motion to apply to uchicago, which is a tremendous, fantastic place filled with students who are quite possibly the opposite of those at wake. i think northwestern is a good choice. i’d also suggest cornell and maybe even brown. cornell, because of its size, can absorb a large number of transfers. brown seems to be very close to what you seek in a small LAC but is larger and accepts more transfers. it will of course be a reach, but strangely less a transfer reach than the LACs, even though the LACs are easier to get into as freshmen. </p>
<p>Chicago is quite transfer-friendly. Brown really varies. Some years they take a fair number, other years not many at all. Brown tends to prefer students who are disadvantaged and have shown a lot of promise at a CC or low level school. LACS such as Williams are just about impossible.</p>
<p>Maybe Williams and some of the other NE liberal arts college accept hardly any transfers, but that’s not necessarily true of all top 25 (or top 50) LACs. This year (2008-2009), Colorado College accepted 62 of 436 transfer applicants (14%). Macalester took 53 of 265 (20%). So yes, the admit rate is even lower than it is for first years (probably because the better LACs just don’t see a whole lot of attrition) but if your grades are good you should have a shot.</p>
<p>I’d like to agree with other posters and say give your school more time, though I have to say, what you are reporting (and what I think must have been one of your parents reporting elsewhere) seems to fit a stereotype. </p>
<p>Beloit sounds like it would be a good fit. So would several other midwestern LACs. I’m biased toward Colorado College. It provides a good atmosphere for “free-thinking, unique, intellectual students”, is strong in the life sciences and anthro, and has an observatory on campus. It’s a good match for your stats. Kids tend to be athletic, outdoorsy, and liberal. The small Greek scene is very low-key. D1 and D3 sports are there if you want them but not totally in your face all the time. The arts scene appears to be very good, too.</p>
<p>Their biggest cross-app school is Middlebury. One of my kid’s first college friends turned down Bowdoin for Colorado College. The surrounding mountains get snow of course but the winters in Colorado Springs are much more tolerable than winters in the upper midwest or northern New England. The school has relatively few URMs (which the administration and students desperately would like to change.)</p>