<p>Just wanted to see what kind of colleges would fit for me. Comment on suggestions or tell me if i'm looking in the right directions based on the colleges i already see fit. I'm only a sophomore and i no i shouldnt be worried but im just curious to see where i stand</p>
<p>Basic info</p>
<p>Male white jew
HS rAnking is around 350th in country
Looking for mostly suburban or maybe city school
Medium size 4000<school<10000
NO liberal arts schools without engineering of some sort-not saying i love engineering but i want to have a lot of options to major in
Within 24 hour drive from CT (Farthest ill go is like St. Louis, Detroit, NO deep south except Georgia)
Major-NO IDEA</p>
<p>Academics by application time of senior year</p>
<p>Currently 3.8 gpa (unweighted) out of 4.0 and im guessing it should stay about there
Honors english (junior)
Honor spanish (junior)
Accelerated sciences (chem in 10 and physics in 11)
AP Macroeconomics (junior)
AP english literature (senior)
AP Biology (senior)
AP spanish language (senior)
AP US Gov and politics (senior)
All my other classes are high reg. courses (would be treated like honors classes in nearly every other hs in country)</p>
<p>Tests</p>
<p>Projected SAT score-2170
Math-760
Reading Comprehension-700
Writing-710
Don't know what SAT IIs ill take</p>
<p>ECs/volunteering</p>
<p>Cello (9 years by senior)
Hockey (2 year jv/2 year v)
Tennis (2 year jv/2 year v)
Garden club (lots of produce to local food banks/3.5 years-summers)
Hebrew school teacher aid-payed (5 years by senior)
Temple youth group board member-includes community service
Volunteered at CT NOFA (Northeast organic farming association) conference-lots of work to prep for (at least 15 hours)
Trip to yellowstone to help preserve and maintain nat. park trails (at least 80 hours)</p>
<p>Schools i'm thinking about</p>
<p>WashingtonU at St. Louis
Tufts (legacy)
Emory
Carnegie Mellon
Vanderbilt</p>
<p>check into the following schools (IMO)
case western
I would suggest a smaller school muhlenberg college
and also hendrix college not in your geographic zone but you might be a perfect fit for this amazing school!</p>
<p>U. Rochester, Case Western, Bucknell, Union, - these are all mid-sized good schools with engineering.
Neither Hendrix nor Muhlenberg have engineering so they don’t meet OP’s criteria.</p>
<p>beantown my bad I did not see the engineering part.
the rest of the op fell in line with muhlenberg and hendrix
I will trade muhlenberg and hendrix for
Lafayette College.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins, Case Western, Northwestern, Lehigh. These are all good small to mid-sized universities that have strong engineering but have plenty of other offerings. Most are in the Northeast, but Hopkins is in Baltimore and Northwestern in Chicago (14+) hour drive. All of these schools are also considered urban. I suggested them because I was looking at many of the same schools that you listed, and these ones are similar. </p>
<p>I second BeanTownGirl; Hendrix and Muhlenberg don’t have engineering. But I’d add that Bucknell doesn’t quite fit either-- the OP wanted urban/suburban schools, and Bucknell is in the middle of nowhere (still a great school though).</p>
<p>My recommendations were based on your criteria and the schools you’re already looking at. In general, I think you’re on a good track to consider these schools (the ones you listed and other people’s suggested schools). However, I think most of them are high matches (not reaches) if your scores/grades turn out the way you anticipate, so make sure you add some safeties to the list</p>
<p>I don’t think Case is great if you’re not science or engineering. I have issues with their SAGES program. </p>
<p>I know that both Rochester and Johns Hopkins have serious engineering programs that you don’t have to decide beforehand to apply to. Whereas at Tufts you apply to the school of engineering if you want engineering, and it’s not that easy to go from A&S to engineering, at Rochester and Hopkins you are admitted to the university and can choose to major in engineering after you are admitted, after you have taken some courses. That’s a nice feature to have and may really appeal to someone who is undecided. Rochester is very laid back with a very flexible curriculum and has the feel of a liberal arts college yet it’s a serious research university. Seems like the best of both worlds. </p>
<p>I don’t think the ranking of your HS is at all relevant. </p>
<p>You have competitive stats and might do well in competitive admissions. If there are some reachy schools that might interest you, by all means pick a few.</p>
In your college search, should you look for the absolute perfect school or ones that cover most but not all of your wants?
What would be a few suggestions for reach schools? Maybe UChicago?
If I were to apply to say, Carnegie Mellon, would i have to apply to a specific school in that college (i.e. Tepper School of Business) or could i take all around general classes and then choose what school/major id like to be a part of?</p>
<p>ClassicRockerDad-the point of me adding the hs ranking was to show the competitiveness of my schol. Sorry i didn’t make myself clear.</p>
<p>Michellel-the reason i didn’t add JHU to my search was because i was talking to some people and they said that the students there are really intense, focused, competitive, and sort of snobby. Is this really true? I like WashU because I know all the kids there are super friendly, welcoming and just good people.</p>
<p>Foody13, I’d recommend you find schools that meet most of your criteria. I think you’ll have a rough time searching for “perfect” schools. If you can find a school that is “perfect” for you, by all means apply. But most schools will have at least something you don’t like, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a great school where you could be very happy. I’m not quite sure what I’d recommend as a reach school for you, but I wouldn’t suggest UChicago if you want a school to have engineering available.</p>
<p>For CMU you have to apply to specific schools. This might be a problem if you’re interested in engineering but not enough that you’d apply to their engineering school, CIT (which is harder to get into than some of their other schools). You may be able to take some engineering classes, but my guess is those opportunities will be fairly limited if you’re not in CIT. If you decide to pursue engineering, it’s supposed to be hard to switch into engineering, but easier to switch from engineering into arts & sciences (idk about Tepper). </p>
<p>Regarding JHU, it definitely has that stereotype. I was going to apply but decided against it because I liked my other schools (WashU included) better. But part of that decision was influenced by aversion to urban environments and JHU feels way more urban, which I guess isn’t a concern for you. I’ve toured, interviewed, and just hung out at bit at WashU, and I’d definitely describe it as friendly and welcoming, so it’s definitely a good school for you. I have no personal experience regarding JHU and its rumored intensity.</p>
<p>Note that at many schools, students need to apply for, and get into the engineering college. Note that admission requirements are often higher for prospective engineering students than the rest of the student body. </p>
<p>Also Emory doesn’t offer engineering except as a 3/2 program with Georgia Tech. </p>
<p>Why the 24 hour drive requirement? Is it because of cost of travel, or simple desire to stay in a particular geographic area? From my experience, when a school is more than 8 hours away from home, most students choose to fly rather than drive home.</p>
<p>How much can your family afford?</p>
<p>Some schools not mentioned are Villanova (not sure about its Jewish life if that’s a consideration, sounds like it is), Drexel, Tufts, and WPI. Outside of your geographic area, look into Santa Clara University, Gonzaga, and LMU. All of those schools are Jesuit, but not extremely religious. I believe SCU in particular, has an active Jewish life.</p>
<p>michellel-CIT is too far away for me. CMU could unfortunately be a problem then. I mean i am a science guy but I don’t know if i’m ready to commit to just a computer science or engineering major. I don’t have a true passion and im just not sure what id like to do with myself. With all the other schools I like, im pretty sure you don’t have to apply to individual schools and set your major right from your college acceptance. Also, what college did you get accepted into and eventually attended?</p>
<p>jvtDad-By deep South I meant like Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and even Arkansas and Texas. For me, Duke seems ivy league like and a bit too big. That’s kind of why i like Vanderbilt-sort of a downgraded version.</p>
<p>Ah, now that you mentioned NOT Texas, I have to point out the Rice U fits your bill. Going from engineering all the way to liberal arts, or vice versa, is extremely easy at Rice. You can change your mind all you want and no one blinks an eye. The bulk of the students actually come from the NE, not the south. And it’s cheaper than Emory and Vanderbilt. In fact, it’s probably the cheapest of the top tier national schools.</p>
<p>What do you mean by “Ivy League like”? The Ivies are very different schools and range from Dartmouth, a smaller school in the middle of rural New Hampshire, to Columbia, a research powerhouse in the heart of NYC. </p>
<p>^OK, I respect your number In my visits there, I’ve always met someone from the NE. Maybe those Texans are not that outgoing or something. Joking aside, it’s still a great school.</p>
<p>jvtDad-I always assumed that Houston was WAY too far away for my college taste. But now that i look at it on google maps, its not that much farther from any of the other schools i’m interested in. This school does seem to fit me pretty well. I especially like that this school is the perfect size.</p>
<p>whenhen-By “ivy league like”, i mean extremely prestigious, hard to get into and regarded as a top school in the nation. I’m not saying wustl isn’t any of these, but just not as much so, except the prestige. Also, i’m sure that out of all the people in the US, more people would recognize Duke’s name more than WashingtonU’s. Also, no financial aid needed.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt and Wash U are still VERY difficult to get into. When you see a school with <20% admissions rate, assume that most applicants are highly qualified, and you’re competing against them for one of a very few select spots. </p>
<p>What I’m curious about is why you’re excluding the deep south (except GA). From my experience as a Californian living in exurban Atlanta, most cultural differences center around the rural urban divide, not necessarily the region of the country. Dallas, Tx is likely more similar to your current living situation than Western PA is, even though Dallas is in the deep south (really Southwest), while western PA is in the NE.</p>
<p>whenhen-maybe there is a school in the South for me. What I want in a school is to be able to get home to relatively easily. I look at the South now and it doesn’t seem like a problem to me anymore. Also, trying not to sound too jerkish, but Dartmouth is actually in Vermont.</p>
<p>ClassicRockerDad-I worded my sentence a little awkardly there and i didn’t really make my point understood. I think people know that Duke is a great school because of their basketball program. If it did not have basketball, i don’t think as many people would know that it is a superb school. I’ll give you an example, a few years ago i thought that all teams that have top notch sports programs were just decent at best colleges. But then i realized that UMichigan, UNC, Duke, UCLA, john hopkins, even UConn were great schools. I found out about these great academic colleges because of their nationally-recognized athletics. I do agree with you that people who know good colleges, will definitely know WashU. But because it doesn’t have stand out athletics, i don’t think the entire country would recognize them as top tiers. By “except prestige”, i meant both WUSTL and Duke have the same level of this.</p>
<p>You might want to invest in a good guide such as the Fiske Guide - it gives you a good “feel” for each school beyond the statistics. The description of schools I know the best are pretty accurate…
Zobroward - yeah, and I didn’t notice the suburban/urban part of the request. Bucknell is out in the middle of nowhere. Lafayette would be a better choice as you said.</p>
In my visits there, I’ve always met someone from the NE. Maybe those Texans are not that outgoing or something. Joking aside, it’s still a great school.</p>