What schools should I look at?

College Search & Selection
1

Hi! I am deciding what colleges to look at right now. I really want a school that is outdoorsy, has greek life, and is somewhere snowy. I would prefer a college town/small city and a small-medium school, but those have less of an impact. I have a 95 weighted average at a top ranked private school, and a 34 on the ACT. I don’t think I will get into an Ivy, but anything below that.
The schools I like right now (some are too hard, but this is just for reference):
Dartmouth
Cornell
Colgate
Colorado College
CU Boulder
Syracuse
UVM

2

What state are you from?

What is your budget?

“outdoorsy”, “greek life”, “snowy”, and “college town/small city” all make me think of UVM (it has greek life, although this did not seem dominate when I was visiting). Burlington is a very attractive small city and UVM is very good. A 95 average should give you a good chance of admissions and possibly a presidential merit scholarship. Whether this is enough to get it within budget will depend upon the answers to the two questions above.

I think that your list looks pretty good, but your home state and budget would help us give more accurate information.

Your intended major or possible majors would be helpful also.

3

I am from Georgia, but I don’t care about distance; I just don’t want to go to the Northwest. Honestly, I can afford any school, but unless it is very prestigious, I don’t want to pay full price. For example, I would love to go to Syracuse, but I definitely would need merit scholarship to sway me to go.

4

With respect to this, two of your potential choices appear in this Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliesportelli/2017/04/26/10-expensive-colleges-worth-every-penny-2017/amp/.

5

Have you considered St. Lawrence University and Hamilton? They are both outdoorsy with lots of snow and Greek life. IMHO St. Lawrence would be a match so it’s worth considering. Hamilton is likely a reach.
You may also want to look at University of Rochester, which is in a small city close to lots of outdoors activities even if the school doesn’t give off a typically outdoorsy vibe and definitely lots of snow.