Undergrad program Physics/Anthro

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Sorry to bring this on you guys, but I'm just another HS Senior looking for some direction in the search for college.</p>

<p>Roughly, I'm a 4.0 Student
SAT: Math-630 (I'm a fantastic math student, normally I get 800s on this section, honestly IDK what happened)
Crit Reading- 720
Writing- 680 11 essay
I'm retaking my SAT come october I expect to do better</p>

<p>SAT IIs: 770 Chem, 760 US His, 800 Global, 690 Bio E, 600 Latin (Teacher was inept at teaching class or handing kids and I didn't take initiative to teach myself :-) I think I'm going to try and take the Math SAT II to hopefully show my strength in that region.</p>

<p>I'm pretty much an AP Student, I've taken Ap Spanish (Didn't take test for viable reasons) AP Global-5, AP Eng Lang-5, AP Chem-4, AP US-5. This year I'm taking AP Macro Economics, gov, span lit, eng lit, bio and I'm considering switching into ap calc rather than calc x honors.</p>

<p>I've played the french horn for 5-6 years, taking part in NYSSMA and county concerts (selective type, semi award thing). I'm lead chair and always have been.</p>

<p>I'm a member of Leo Club for 2 (going on 3) years, Amnesty International for 3 years, 2 as historian, Class historian for 2 years, Member of Student Office for 2 years, a Mathlete since middle school so 5 or 6 years, recently inducted into NHS. </p>

<p>I've competed in too many spanish, math, and latin contests to remember. I've won awards in several of them, like the National Latin and Spanish exams. I've competed in local latin contests at the state university and taken part in latin poetry recitations (god that sounds bad :-D)</p>

<p>I haven't seriously participated in a sport since 8th grade and my extra curricular activities aren't the jesus acts that some others have, but where would it be most appropriate for me to look. My real interest is in astrophysics and archaeology. The number one thing though is FINANCIAL AID. I simply can't afford 36k a year and I'm not willing to go into debt because graduate school is a MUST HAVE for me. I'm up for work-study, anything to bring tuition down. I want a rigorous education in a suburban to urban area, rural is fine if a city is within reach.</p>

<p>I'm going to have great recommendations (I think) my teachers all like me a lot and so does my guidance counselor. My essay also should be excellent.</p>

<p>The only thing that really sets me apart from the rest of my peers is my interest in rifelry and bladesmithing (two things I may actually want to keep quiet because of their obvious connection to violence) so idk if I'll play that up or such.</p>

<p>I'm not a competitive person though and I don't have a driving force within me that drives my interest to go to Harvard. I feel like my undergrad degree is just another step on a staircase I've been on my entire life. I want a respectable school though, one that will let me get my grad degree where I would like.</p>

<p>Sorry for the long post...</p>

2

<p>Try the University of Arizona. They have one of the best anthro programs in the country, as well as one of the best astrophysics programs in the country. Your stats could probably get you a full ride, saving you plenty of money for grad school.</p>

3

<p>Other ideas: Berkeley, UChicago, UT Austin.</p>

4

<p>Your description makes me think very much of Chicago, but then again, I'm pretty one-track.</p>

<p>Other schools that I would consider (not necessarily because of departmental strengths, but because of your preferences): Reed, Rice, Carleton, Haverford, Oberlin, Sarah Lawrence, WashU, Tufts, Brandeis, NYU, URochester. I pulled a lot of these schools from looking at the ranked percentages of students who go on to earn PhDs in your areas of interest. Link: <a href="http://web.reed.edu/ir/phd.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.reed.edu/ir/phd.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I think a school like Rice, Rochester, or Oberlin would love to have you, though your SAT's don't seem high enough for a merit aid award. You might end up with a solid package, though. Sarah Lawrence I know would love to have you, but make sure you want them.</p>

<p>Assuming you're in-state for NY (that NYSSMA acronym is all too familiar!) look at Stony Brook, Geneseo, and Bing. They might not completely offer what you want, but you'll get a good education on the cheap.</p>

5

<p>I STRONGLY recommend the College of Wooster. The archaeologists/art historians there (Nick Kardulias & Stephen Lucey) are awesome, and COW has a great record for sending students on to good grad schools. They're usually pretty generous with merit aid.</p>

<p>The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has quite a good archaeology/art history program with excellent professors, although I'm not sure how strong their physics program is. </p>

<p>Holy Cross offers scholarships for prospective Classics majors with a strong Latin background.</p>

<p>world changer's suggestions of Arizona and UT Austin were good ones. I'd also suggest U Pitt, Emory, TAMU, Penn State, Minnesota, Boston U, Indiana, Franklin & Marshall, GWU, and Washington & Lee.</p>

<p>More selective schools that are good with financial aid include Hamilton, Cornell, UNC Chapel Hill, UVA, Columbia, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Penn, Brown, and Tufts.</p>

6

<p>Four I forgot:</p>

<p>Haverford- Fantastic archaeology resources courtesy of Bryn Mawr and Penn. Strong astronomy/physics program and an observatory on campus. Good financial aid.</p>

<p>U Florida- Strong programs in anthro/arch and astronomy. Great for merit aid.</p>

<p>Davidson- Good anthro/arch and physics programs. Supports interdisciplinary research; one professor does archaeological chemistry. Loan free!</p>

<p>Amherst- Good classics, astronomy, and physics programs. Loan free!</p>

7

<p>You should check out the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Losing to a triply hot Appalachian State University in football notwithstanding, I trust you will find the University's undergraduate offerings in both Anthropology and Physics quite satisfactory.</p>

<p>If you can improve your SAT (specifically the Math section), you could get a good merit scholarship.</p>

8

<p>Is there anything I should aim for in my senior year to make myself more attractive to a school like Berkeley or Haverford?</p>

9

<p>Take the most challenging classes you can and do your best to up that SAT score, and continue doing what you're doing. Make a push for that 4.0. Other than that, I think you're set. If you join 5 billion clubs at the beginning of sr year, that looks VERY suspicious.</p>

10

<p>Here's to give you some ideas:</p>

<p>Gourman Report ranking for undergraduate anthropology:</p>

<p>Michigan
Chicago
Berkeley
Penn
Arizona
Stanford
Yale
UCLA
Harvard
Northwestern
Texas Austin
New Mexico
Cornell
Illinois UC
Columbia
UC SB
U Washington
U Mass Amherst
Wisconsin
U Fla
Penn St
Pitt
Duke
Rutgers NB
Indiana Bloom
Hawaii Manoa
UC Irvine
UNC CH
UVA
SUNY Buffalo
Arizona St
Brandeis
UC Davis
Colorado Boulder
Tulane
NYU
Princeton
Washington St Louis
U Conn
Bryn Mawr
U Oregon
UC Riverside
U Minnesota
Brown
Southern Methodist
U Kansas
Missouri Columbia</p>

<p><a href="http://www.stat.tamu.edu/%7Ejnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html#area35%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html#area35&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

11

<p>Gourman Report ranking for undergraduate physics:</p>

<p>Caltech
Harvard
Cornell
Princeton
MIT
UC Berkeley
Stanford
U Chicago
U Illinois UC
Columbia
Yale
Georgia Tech
UC San Diego
UCLA
U Pennsylvania
U Wisconsin Madison
U Washington
U Michigan AA
U Maryland CP
UC Santa Barbara
U Texas Austin
Carnegie Mellon
U Minnesota
RPI
Brown
JHU
Michigan St
Notre Dame
SUNY Stony Brook
Case Western
Northwestern
U Rochester
U Pittsburgh
Penn State
U Colorado Boulder</p>

<p><a href="http://www.stat.tamu.edu/%7Ejnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html#area33%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html#area33&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

12

<p>So as a student, where do I stand in terms of reach and match schools? Is Berkeley within my sights?</p>

13

<p>Are you a CA resident?</p>

14

<p>Nope, not even close.</p>

15

<p>Well it would definitely be worth it for you to apply, but getting into Berkeley OOS is a bit of a crapshoot, as others have pointed out. Improving your SAT math score might help.</p>

<p>The sad part is that so many Californians with worse stats will get in but you will really have to go the extra mile.</p>

<p>I guess I shouldn't complain though because it benefits me!</p>

16

<p>
[quote]
The sad part is that so many Californians with worse stats will get in but you will really have to go the extra mile.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Worse stats? While not all are as "amazing" as the OP is (the only 'amazing' part about him/her is the SAT IIs and honors/awards -- everything else is rather average for Berkeley), the majority are very good students. So few would be considered "worse."</p>

17

<p>KyleDavid80</p>

<p>I didn't mean to imply that its easy to get into Berkeley or that Berkeley students are not amazingly talented in their own right; I was simply stating that its easier for a CA resident to get in than an OOS student.</p>

18

<p>
[quote]
I was simply stating that its easier for a CA resident to get in than an OOS student.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>While logically, that's true, it's misleading to state it that way; it'd be best to say that it's harder for an OOS student to get into Berkeley. (Essentially the same thing, though the 'easier' does indeed make it seem as though getting in as a CA resident is easy.)</p>

19

<p>What about Yale and Princeton are they too much of a reach? UChicago, Haverford, Reed?</p>

20

<p>Chicago, Haverford, and Reed all look like realistic reaches (Reed might even be a match), particularly because your profile indicates a lot of intellectual interests.</p>

<p>Yale and Princeton are super-reachy, but if you want to try your luck, go ahead.</p>