What Colleges Should I apply to (what league of colleges in terms of selectivity)

This link might help with athletic facility info: http://www.olin.edu/academic-life/student-affairs-and-resources/student-life/sports-recreation/

case western reserve and univ of rochester come to mind

Thanks everyone for the advice! While searching for colleges that are good for science majors the University of Rochester has come up quite a bit. I was wondering if someone could give me more information on that, like what colleges is it similar to in terms of rankings/facilities/prestige?

UR is indistinguishable in some important ways from the nation’s most selective universities. For a ranking that compares essentially all selective colleges by standardized scoring, see “The 610 Smartest Colleges,” Business Insider. If you would like a traditionally arranged campus with a distinct main quadrangle, then UR should be a school to continue researching further.

Thank you! I’m from the northeast part of the country and even with that, I’ve met quite a few people who have either never heard of UR, or believe that it is a SUNY school. I was concerned about whether or not its prestige is known throughout the country, even though as a person from the area I’m aware of its strong academics

@HelloThere101 : Colleges that are widely familiar across the country are often those known for their prominent sports programs or sometimes sheer size. It may be a contrarian indicator of academic quality and overall desirability that UR may be somewhat less well known than some more “heard of” schools.

I have a friend at Rochester, and it’s an excellent school! Wasn’t his first choice, but he’s very happy there, and the academics are good. I’d definitely at least check it out.

Both University of Rochester and Case Western Reserve are excellent schools for your intended majors and are quite well known among those who matter as you follow either of those paths.

For your interest in pre-med, consider schools from this list: “The Experts’ Choice: Colleges with Great Pre-med Programs.”

@HelloThere101 you keep asking about prestige. With your current stats, you will do extremely well to get into U Rochester. So there’s prestige for you. Your stats are great for many colleges, but if you think they will get you into a very prestigious school, I am sorry to say they probably won’t. In academic circles, Rochester is very highly regarded, and as more and more students aim for prestige colleges, they think Rochester is a safety, and then are shocked when they don’t get in. Rochester strongly considers interest. My kid had 2240 SAT on the first sitting, and her GPA is 3.75. She visited, interviewed, and met the rep. She got in, with a very nice merit award. Her stats were in the 75th-80th percentile, if that gives you an idea of how you compare. As it stands now, a college like Rochester is probably a low reach for you. Rochester has a great international reputation too, and if I could be bothered, I would look up its world rank again. But you can google it if you like. I suggest you stop fixating on prestige and find a range of colleges that you can hopefully get into with your stats.

@Lindagaf The reason that I’m concerned with prestige is because I have an older sibling at Duke and another one at Georgetown, and I know that my parents aren’t going to pay for a college that they think is not that great (so somewhere around the ranking of these schools). However, if I get into something that they feel is a good enough school, they won’t have a problem paying. That’s why I was asking about the University of Rochester, as it is a school I am interested in, and was just curious about its standing. I’m surprised that you think of my stats as that awful as while my brother at Georgetown had a 2380 on his SAT, I have the same (actually a little higher) gpa as him and did not really think that I was that unqualified. Trust me my biggest fear is being overconfident during college admissions.

Whoa, hang on. I said your stats are great for many colleges. YOU said your stats are awful. Don’t put words in my mouth please.

What’s your class rank? Especially if you’re in the top 10% at a HS that sends many students to very selective colleges, then your 3.6UW GPA might be quite competitive. The unweighted GPA doesn’t tell the whole story.

URochester is an excellent, respected university.

I don’t think that’s what she’s saying at all.

Keep in mind that prestige is subject to change. For example, URochester students at one time had higher standardized scores than the students at Duke.

Check out @Lindagaf’s thread on “the average excellent student”. There’s tons of good advice on there.

The problem with comparing your chances with your siblings’ experiences is that schools are getting more and more selective. That doesn’t mean that Georgetown and/or Duke are “out of reach” for you, but that you are facing a more competitive admission process than your siblings did and that you and your parents should be prepared for that eventuality. I know that’s hard.

I completely understand that and am probably not going to even apply to schools like Duke, as I know that I am not nearly as qualified (and my parents don’t really think I can get in lol). I’m just interested in finding out more about other schools that have good science programs that I have a shot at. I’m sorry if that came across as rude in my previous post, as that was not my intention at all, I was just surprised because despite my grades I’m actually top 10-15% of my class

A few other colleges that have had admission stats ~similar to Rochester’s in recent years::

School …SAT CR+M … T10% … Admitted
Michigan … 1395…71% … 36% (per 2015-16 CDS)
Case Western
Brandeis … 1356
* … ? … 35% (per collegedata.com, 2015)
Barnard … 1355…81% … 20% (per 2015-6 CDS)
Oberlin … 1355
…61% … 29% (per 2015 CDS)
Rochester … 1343** … ? … 36% (per collegedata.com, 2015)
NYU
Colby … 1331** … ? … 28% (per collegedata.com, 2015)

  • sum of the averaged 25th pct and 75th pct SAT-CR and averaged 25th pct and 75th pct SAT-M numbers reported in the Common Data Set ** sum of the average SAT-M + average SAT-CR numbers reported on collegedata.com

Rochester is ranked #80 in the country! That isn’t good enough for your parents to contribute?

In comment #29:

Not that I doubt your comment, but according to the CDS, Rochester lists Level of Applicant’s Interest only as “Considered” (the choices are “Very Important”, “Important”, “Considered”, and “Not Considered”):

http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=117

Are you just speaking informally, or does Rochester, and/or schools in general, downplay how much they consider interest? I’ve seen people say that, but I wonder how true it is – unlike other factors, there doesn’t seem to be any benefit gained by the school by downplaying this as a factor (unless it’s a trick!). Also, I keep telling my son how important it is to show interest, which doesn’t have the desired impact on him when he responds that most of the schools on his list only “Consider” interest :-).