What colleges do you think would fit me?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>What schools do you think would be good fits for me? </p>

<p>White female.</p>

<p>I'm enrolled in the IB diploma program. Not sure what my GPA is since I don't know what the IB grades are equivalent to on a 4.0 scale. I get mostly 6s and 7s, with my lowest grade being 5.</p>

<p>SAT score: 2170 (CR 800, M630, W740)</p>

<p>Have a few ECs, some long-term (from before high school), some with good leadership positions, shows a passion for one activity.</p>

<p>Will need financial aid. </p>

<p>Probable major: psychology (or maybe English)</p>

<p>Prefer not to be in too large a city; if in a city, I'd like a clearly defined campus with lots of grass and trees and stuff- I like being outdoors. If rural, it would be good if there is good public transportation (or that the college has something) so that it's fairly easy to get around.</p>

<p>I like small classes and accessible professors, who are more/as interested in teaching as in their own research.</p>

<p>I like freedom to chose exactly what I want to study; I'm not a fan of core requirements or a whole lot of distribution requirements.</p>

<p>I'd like being able to take classes that have absolutely nothing to do with my major. For example, I'd love to be able to take a class in art, or theater, or something. So it should be both possible and preferably fairly easy to enroll in those types of things, even if not majoring in them.</p>

<p>The larger the international population at the college, the better. Its important to me that there is an international feel.</p>

<p>No "snob schools". I'd feel really out of place if everyone is rich and drives expensive cars and dress only in designer clothes, etc. </p>

<p>Location isn't terribly important, but I guess I'm less eager to go to a college in the South or California. The Northeast, Mid-west and West are all fine. I think I'd miss not having a real winter with lots of snow... If there is a school that fits in all other respects, location is irrelevant, however.</p>

<p>Any ideas of what places I should look at? :)</p>

2

<p>Wesleyan sounds like it would be a good fit for you.</p>

3

<p>For LACs, I'd check out Oberlin, Vassar, Connecticut College, Wesleyan, Haverford, Bard, and Macalester (despite the latter's core.) If you wouldn't mind an all-female environment, check out Smith and Mt. Holyoke.</p>

<p>For Unis, I'd look into Brandeis and URochester as matches. For slight reaches: Brown, Tufts, Northwestern...</p>

4

<p>Reed? Dont know the international situation though.</p>

5

<p>Reed's just-admitted class was 5% international. Some features of Reed:</p>

<ul>
<li>clearly defined campus in suburbs</li>
<li>lots of grass and trees (see <a href="http://web.reed.edu/trees/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.reed.edu/trees/&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/li>
<li>good public transportation to downtown Portland, OR</li>
<li>small classes and accessible professors</li>
<li>profs more interested in teaching (tenure based on it)</li>
<li>some distribution requirements, one core class (Hum 110)</li>
<li>classes outside major (incl. art and theater)</li>
<li>more crunchy, not "snob school"</li>
<li>usually a few light snowy days in winter</li>
</ul>

6

<p>Carleton, Reed, Macalester, Haverford, Oberlin, Wesleyan, URochester, Brown</p>

<p>Carleton may fit best re: unassuming, "no snob," student body requirement
Reed may fit best re: small city, green campus preference
Macalester may fit best re: internationals in large numbers</p>

<p>All, esp. LACs listed, will provide small classes and excellent professors</p>

7

<p>Wesleyan sounds like a perfect fit. Brown next best. I'm not sure how many required courses Grinnell has, but it also sounds like a good school for you. Brandeis may be good. American University in Washington, DC, may be good. In any case, investigate what "required" means at schools that you like. If it means pick from a list, and you really like one of the choices or would need to take it anyway, then it really does not matter that there is a "requirement". Just avoid requirements that you truly hate or consider time-wasters.</p>

8

<p>Vassar College sounds excellent for you. Of course, I'm biased, but it's a fantastic school and has just about everything you requested... defined campus in a small city, small classes, highly accessible professors, a virtually open curriculum (all you have to take is one freshman seminar, one quantitative course, and fulfill a language requirement), a huge range of classes to choose from (53 majors), and a nice sized international population (I believe for the class of 2011, students from 53 different nations were accepted).</p>

9

<p>Thanks for all the suggestions!</p>

<p>I have some reservations against Wesleyan and Oberlin. I've gotten the impression that they're VERY activist, and protest against most everything. Is this at all true?</p>

<p>Don't know much about Connecticut College. What is it like?</p>

<p>Is Brandeis a religious school? </p>

<p>Brown seems like a lovely place (if only it had a nicer name...). It's a big university, however. Are there many TAs and large lectures?</p>

<p>Carleton and Grinnell are places I've looked at some, and they seems really nice. They seems as if they're fairly down-to-earth colleges?</p>

<p>Vassar does seem wonderful. There are two things that I'm concerned about, though. Firstly, I've heard that it is rather stuck-up. Is </p>

10

<p>i wouldnt call brandeis a religious school- its no bob jones- but there is a larger than normal jewish population and ive heard many kids do practice--</p>

<p>connecticut college is a good liberal arts school- its right on the water in ct- nice in the summer, still snow in the winter- from princeton review--it says a good number of international students, nice campus, some preppy rich kids but dont show off their money much</p>

11

<p>Connecticut College is lovely an dhas nice selection of courses particularly if you want to do some arts, and great writing! Also would prob be closer to safety so financial may be good, check web sight.</p>

<p>While Brandeis is not a religious school it was started as a Jewish institution and still has a significant Jewish population. Not snobby and excellent english and with its close proximity to Boston, and transportation it is fabulous, also extremely generous with financials.</p>

<p>Ah! Brown, The epitome of taking whatever you fancy!! A very unique enviroment, Funny you don't like the name, LOL This is Ivy and clearly very haaard to get into, but considering your desire to explore many areas this should be a great place for you, keeping in mind it would be a reach.</p>

<p>I have also heard some of those things about vassar, but I would explore some more, as it is an excellent education.</p>

12

<p>I would also look seriously into Grinnel, as they have nice size international population, just not familiar with requirements.</p>

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<p>Grinnell has an open curriculum, which is great for the OP, but is quite isolated in rural Iowa.</p>

14

<p>connecticut college is a wonderful school. very friendly student body. FANTASTIC psychology. huge emphasis on internationalism/multiculturalism- lots of international students.
most professors are great- helpful, encourage research, etc.</p>

15

<p>Wesleyan activism - it's all relative; some people think <em>any</em> activism is too much. Political protest is certainly not a requirement for getting on at Wesleyan; the biggest protest in recent years (against sharing student radio airtime with NPR) drew 200 students, less than 10% of the student body. I dunno, I'm probably biased, is that a lot? :/</p>

16

<p>Amherst College has an open curriculum -- not sure how well it would appeal to your internationally apt preferences :P</p>

17

<p>
[quote]
I have some reservations against Wesleyan and Oberlin. I've gotten the impression that they're VERY activist, and protest against most everything. Is this at all true?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I'll speak to Wes, because that's what I know. I'd say that, yes, on Wes campus, you can find someone taking a stance on basically every issue under the sun (normally a liberal stance, though we have some conservatives). But the student body as a WHOLE doesn't get behind every cause--it's perfectly possible to fit in at Wes and not be politically active at all (though it's good to be basically politcally informed and have some opinions, but that's really just good citizenship), or to only be active about one issue that's important to you, or to start a fundraiser for everything ever...anything goes. </p>

<p>And although there are tons of people protesting things, it doesn't tend to be in campus wide/very visable events. Normally either there are buses taken to protests in big cities, or there is, say, a poetry slam to raise money for Darfur--the kind of thing you can get involved in or go to if you want, or ignore if you don't. Obviously, there are some exceptions (it's hard not to at least hear about Take Back the Night), but not often.</p>

<p>I definatly think you should keep Wes under consideration, and do an overnight visit to get a feel for the campus culture if you can, because it sounds like the school would be a really good fit for you! (We're strong in both Psych and English, BTW).</p>

18

<p>Amherst sounds perfect though it might be a reach.</p>

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<p>My niece just graduated from Wesleyan and based on conversations with her, the school is very liberal and activist. She returned from a semester abroad complaining endlessly about what a bad country we live in and how obnoxious Americans are. I can't say it was just the influence of Wesleyan, however....</p>