Tyranny of Choice

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I've posted my stats here a few times, but my stance in terms of college admissions has changed so many times in between. The process is so darned daunting, and being an indecisive person by nature does not help. </p>

<p>Lately I've been considering W&M ED. It's in state, it's a good school, I love the vibe, but at the same time I'm not sure I can commit myself to just one school, especially considering that my SAT might improve by a pretty nice margin (I've been studying for the math section, and I went in blind with the essay the first time). </p>

<p>If I don't apply/get accepted at W&M ED, I need a list. I'd prefer small to mid sized schools, possibly with less preppy, competitive, intense, or right-leaning atmospheres. Also, surrounding myself with happy/positive people would probably do me a lot of good. Commonapp members would be convenient. </p>

<p>As of now, I can only think of UVA as a target purely because it's in state and a good all-around school (although it doesn't really fit my preferred criteria), maybe Gtown (DC is awesome, so is Georgetown) and CMC (In CA, purportedly happy students) as reaches. Maybe Brown/Dartmouth as uber-reaches. I really don't know about safeties, VTech and JMU come to mind, but they're not on the commonapp =/.</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2130 Comp - 760 R, 670 M, 700 W 8 essay first sitting; aming for 2200 Comp - 760/700/740 in November.
ACT: N/A
SAT II: 720 US, aiming for 700+ Math II, and 750+ Bio in October (studying with Barron's)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): ~3.95
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): ~15/315
AP (place score in parenthesis): Lang (5), APUSH (5), Bio (4), Calc AB (4), Geo (4), Spanish (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: APs - Calc BC, Physics, Lit, Gov. Other - Music theory, Weightlifting, SAT Prep, Free block.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar w/ Distinction
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity Swimming state qualifier (probable captain, only available to seniors), Summer League swimming divisional champion, All-Stars finalist, MVP, coach's award, Piano 7-8 years, NHS, Spanish NHS, obscure (?) International Word Masters Challenge top 210/53,000 in 9th grade...
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: Annual 100 mile charity bike trip, NHS
Summer Activities: Swimming, weightlifting
Essays: No idea. I'd say I'm a good writer, but I can be bad at organizing my thoughts.
Teacher Recommendation: 1 very good, 1 good
Counselor Rec: Probably will be fine
Additional Rec: Should I get one?
Interview: N/A
Other:
Intended Major: Undecided
State (if domestic applicant): VA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public, Pretty lackluster region, an embarassingly large portion of our schools missed accreditation, average SAT is below national average
Ethnicity: White/Asian
Gender: M
Income Bracket: ~200k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Unfortunately not fast enough to be recruited for swimming, W&M Legacy</p>

<p>Sorry for the wall of text, but what do you guys think?</p>

2

<p>

Why are you applying ED to W&M?</p>

<p>edit: Just saw that you said “considering” and not that you haven’t actually decided that you’re applying ED.</p>

<p>I know you said you’re undecided but are you considering any particular fields of study yet at all? That could help figure out what schools to apply to.</p>

3

<p>Most disciplines I think I’d be interested in are the traditional/general/generic ones like english, psychology, history, biology. I’m don’t really like math much, but I wouldn’t totally rule out technical fields either as I’m hoping to find a balance between interest and practicality (in terms of getting a job etc). I know that doesn’t really give you much to work with but I honestly don’t really know.</p>

4

<p>Bumppppppp</p>

5

<p>How do you feel about going to law school/med school? If you want to go to med school, I think you’d be a good fit for Emory.</p>

6

<p>Unless W&M is your hands down #1 choice, you probably shouldn’t do ED there. It looks like you have a decent chance at UVA and Gtown, and it would suck to get into W&M ED and then realize you would’ve rather gone somewhere else. </p>

<p>If your indecisive about colleges atm, don’t do anywhere ED. Maybe like your instate fallback’s EA program or some other EA program, but not binding ED. It would be better to just apply to more schools RD and then choose after you’re accepted to a few.</p>

7

<p>I agree with above poster, you will be underselling yourself. Your stats are good and try for better places. You are competetive enough to get into W&M in RD anyway.</p>