Hello, I’m a high school junior about to enter the summer before my senior year and I’m beginning to think about the types of colleges I should be looking at and applying to.
Some Stats about me:
3.77U/W GPA, and 3.96 weighted GPA on a 4.4 scale (AP and Honors coursework is weighted x1.1)
Top 10% of a class of ~700 people, at a competitive Minnesota school
AP Scores (so far, planning on taking 2 next year & yet to take 2 this year): 5 AP Human Geography and 4 AP World History
Activities:
Mock Trial, 2 years
Robotics, 3 years (Captain of Business and Chairman’s for an award winning/world finalist team)
Speech, 1 year
Knowledge Bowl/Quiz Bowl: 1 year
Community Involvement:
250+ hours of volunteering
Robotics Ambassador
Involved in Women in STEM movement in community (Middle school STEM camp volunteer & mentor to 2 majority-female robotics teams)
Volunteer for free tutoring at school
Robotics Mentor
Girl Scout (Bronze awarded Cadet)
Misc. Accomplishments:
French Student of the Month (Dec 2015)
National Latin Examination Perfect Paper Award
Rookie of the Year - Robotics 2015
Most Improved Witness - Mock Trial 2018
Extemporaneous Speaking Award - Robotics 2017
Board Scholar, 3 years
Other notes:
Will be part time PSEO next year
Good at essays and interviews, so those shouldn’t be much of an issue.
Thank you very much for reading! I just want a range/type of schools i should be shooting for, and potentially a few examples of safe/reach schools.
You potentially will have some interesting choices open to you. Look into schools such as Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke, Reed and Pitzer, as well as any NESCACs that might appeal to you. Or consider similarly selective larger schools if you would prefer that direction. Regarding anthropology, review the department sites of individual colleges carefully with respect to subarea(s) of particular interest. In accordance with the premise of your post, consider these highly preliminary suggestions though.
You will find a dozen or more matches in that enrollment range. You could consider URochester and Case Western Reserve, for example, as well as schools that may be more or less selective than these suggestions.
Your superb ACT, not incidentally, would be suitable for nearly any college (although by itself would not guarantee you admission of course).
I think with your stats there are a lot of great of colleges you should be able to get into. I think what you should be looking at first is what type of college/college experience do you want. Do you want a large flagship university or a small LAC. Questions of this variety will help lead you to where you want to go and I think in most situations the schools you are interested in will provide an opportunity for your admission.
I agree with GoCubsGO719. Those questions of what are you looking for as in small, large? How far away? Tuition? With the academics you have, the most I can say is shoot for whatever school you want. But if you want a list, then schools you should want to aim for are higher Ivy or flagship schools. If tuition is a problem and a concern, your ACT can get you very far with smaller school scholarships. Look at this http://time.com/money/4088257/colleges-scholarship-financial-aid-safety-schools/
Honestly, the safety schools for you would be whatever you want- as long as it is not Ivy league. You are a good contender for flagships and 50/50 for Ivy since Ivy is so random of selecting students. Good Luck!
You are not 50/50 for the Ivies as a poster above has stated. You have roughly the same chance as all the other good applicants which is less than 10%. Apply to an Ivy or 2 if you want, but recognize that it is a long shot.
Sit down with your parents and discuss the actual cost of attendance of some colleges. Many parents don’t really know how costs have skyrocketed or they have unrealistic expectations of scholarship awards. Even if they they theoretically can afford it, in the end they might not want you going to a school that will cost an extra $100,000 by the time you graduate. Have this talk sooner rather than later, run Net Price Calculators, etc.
Go visit some colleges even if it’s just something close by that you aren’t even going to apply to. Look at it with an analytical eye and it will help you know what you do want.
Environment:
5-15k undergrad enrollment
Either suburban or urban setting
I just need fall-spring typical enrollment
I’m okay with any region, except for the midwest
Academics:
Genetics or Microbiology major
Standard curriculum
No calendar preferences really
Social:
Not completely dead socially, but campus should not be dominated by greek life and parties
I want lots of academic clubs (Specifically mock trial, robotics, and debate)
I’d like a lively area, with options for weekend activities
I don’t care too much about activism, but a Liberal school would be nice
To get a better idea about fit:
Go visit St Olaf, Carleton (both in Northfield - one a larger, one a smaller LAC) and UMN-TC. ask to visit the honors college at UMN-TC. See if you can attend a freshman class or two in your topic of choice. Take notes on your impressions about class size, teaching style, facilities…
Then, try to find colleges that are similar in fit.
Get a Fiske guide and read the Website “Colleges that change lives”.
Build your list from the ground up - start with two affordable safeties you like. To know what’s affordable run the NPC on the three colleges above plus Northeastern and Tulane. Bring the NPC results to your parents and start talking.
If you are a Minnesotan (for reference, I’m a native Wisconsinite – UW alumnus – who now lives in Iowa) you have two awesome low matches/safeties in your pocket: UW and Ski U Mah. You want high quality low matches and safeties just in case, and you have two. I know it’s the Midwest, but we often counsel kids to apply to their home flagship as a “just in case”, so it can’t hurt you to do the same. Besides, Madison is awesome (explicit bias acknowledged) and the Twin Cities are cool too. But that’s not why you’re here and we have work to do, so.
So:
Urban or suburban mid-sized colleges outside the Midwest that are neither known as party/Greek schools nor are conservative per se, with fairly standard distribution requirements (confirm majors and clubs):
Reach:
Princeton
Harvard
Yale
Stanford
MIT
Columbia
Johns Hopkins
Georgetown (check majors)
Rice
Carnegie Mellon
Emory
Tufts
USC (check party scene)
Match (high to low):
U of Rochester
Tulane
Brandeis
Boston College
Northeastern (size?)
U of Miami
SMU
Fordham
Pepperdine
Safeties:
Temple (too big?)
UNM
(find schools you like with at least a 50% admit rate, where your stats are above the 75th percentile)
Good list. I would only switch the order with BC as the highest match on the list. It’s a tougher admit than Rochester or Brandeis these days. In general. Possibly a low reach but the general grouping is spot on
I do not mean to rain on the OP’s parade, but I’m a bit surprised at how many people keep mentioning Ivies. Her GPA and ACT score, though excellent (OP, you are an excellent student), are below the typical admit profile. True, the Ivies do look at things holistically, but still, we’re talking about an applicant pool where nearly all candidates without hooks are in the 34+ range on the ACT, the 3.9+ range for UW GPA.
OP, if Ivies are on your radar, visit the CollegeData website and use its admission tracker. It is sobering to see how the sorts of applicants these schools reject. Sure, take a flier on one or two if you wish (I’d look at Cornell), but, again, not to be negative, but I hate to see students waste time on schools that are out of reach.
Plus, there’s life outside the Ivy League. OP, your profile suggests that you’ll be competitive for just about any other schools out there. As others have suggested, think more about what you’re looking for in a school. This site is great for getting feedback, especially if you have an initial list of places. Again, you’re a terrific student, and your high achievement will result in you attending a fantastic college. That’s not in doubt.