What top colleges would fit me?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey guys, I'm having trouble narrowing down my college list to only the ones that fit me. Regardless of academic matches, which colleges would fit what I want in a school? Out of the University of California Schools and the Ivy leagues. I've tried college searches like the ones on college confidential but they don't seem to help at all.</p>

<p>Urban/City or close enough to a large city
Medium-Large student body
Strong Economics/Business and Computer Science departments. (Want to go into business professional field)
Classes small enough that the professor would know your name by the end of the semester.
On campus housing.
Good social life and community presence. Not too individualized or awkward.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>I’m not sure any of the Ivy league would be considered Medium/Large. UCLA is an obvious thought. Classes won’t be small until you reach upper division.</p>

3

<p>USC and Carnegie Mellon </p>

<p>Columbia, UPenn?, Yale?, Harvard?</p>

<p>U of Chicago (not sure about housing), MIT</p>

4

<p>CS, economics, and (where offered) business are popular majors, so expect introductory class sizes to be large relative compared to others at the given school.</p>

5

<p>You generally don’t get small classes like you want with a medium-large student body, especially for the first two years. That just doesn’t happen, especially at UCs, so you need to pick one or the other.</p>

<p>Given that you want business/economics and CS and maybe an Ivy, but those schools don’t tend to rank in those areas or even offer them, consider MIT. It might be your best combination of the things you want, while not exactly meeting all of them. MIT economics and CS are considered very, very good.and off the top of my head, I can’t think of another school that has higher ranking in both departments - individual yes, but not both.</p>

6

<p>“I’m not sure any of the Ivy league would be considered Medium/Large”</p>

<p>Erin’s dad, generally speaking, 4,000-8,000 undergraduate students is considered medium and over 10,000 is considered large. As such, most Ivies are considered “mid-sized” while Cornell and perhaps also Penn are considered large.</p>

<p>Brown University
Carnegie Mellon University
Columbia University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Northwestern University
Princeton University
Rice University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Chicago
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Pennsylvania
University of Southern California
University of Texas-Austin
University of Washington</p>

7

<p>Sounds like UPenn would fit.</p>

<ul>
<li>It’s in a large city (Philadelphia)</li>
<li>It’s the largest of the 8 Ivies (25K students)</li>
<li>It has a top business school (Wharton), USNWR #9 econ & #19 CS departments (graduate level) </li>
<li>68% of classes have < 20 students, 10% >= 50 students</li>
<li>54% of students live in college-owned, operated or affiliated housing</li>
<li>It’s known as the “social Ivy” </li>
</ul>

<p>Is cost an issue? Penn is very expensive but has good need-based aid.</p>

8

<p>@Alexandre, I thought the break points on medium/large were higher. I would have put medium at 10-15K, large would be higher than that. 4K is a large LAC.</p>

9

<p>I come from an extremely low income family so I think that I would receive a lot of financial aid. If I had to pick, I’d probably say a larger student body and thriving social life is more of a priority over small classes. </p>

10

<p>Erin’s dad, you are absolutely right. There is no one definition of medium or large. Colleges and universities have undergraduate student populations that range from fewer than 400 (Marlboro in Vermont, College of the Atlantic in Maine, Olin on Massachusetts to name a few) to approximately 40,000 (Arizona State, Penn State, Ohio State, Texas A&M, University of Texas-Austin to name a few). As such, what qualifies as “small”, “medium” and “large” can definitely vary significantly depending on one’s own expectations and standards.</p>

11

<p>@Karnier‌ </p>

<p>being low income doesn’t mean that you’d receive a lot of aid at most schools. At most schools, you would not.</p>

<p>But, are you instate for Calif? If so, you would get a lot of aid at a UC.</p>

<p>If you are not instate for Calif then you won’t get a lot of aid.</p>

<p>What are your stats? </p>

<p>Do you have a non-custodial parent?</p>

12

<p>

</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Actually, Penn is the 3rd or 4th largest of the 8 Ivies in terms of total number of full-time students (undergraduate and graduate), and the 2nd largest in terms of just undergraduate students:</p>

<p><a href=“Ivy League - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And 63% of Penn undergrads live in college housing (with a higher percentage to come with the opening of a new college house in 2016):</p>

<p><a href=“https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/university-of-pennsylvania”>https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/university-of-pennsylvania&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>But you’re right–Penn does fit the OP’s criteria. :)</p>

13

<p>@mom2collegekids‌ </p>

<p>I am from California and both my parents are custodial.
UC GPA: 4.76
Normal weighted: 4.57
UW: 3.97
Ranking: 8/892
ACT:33
SAT: 2190, Retook October and projected ~2280+
Subject Tests: 750 Chem Bio, 800 Math</p>

14

<p>You have very good stats, but you know that top schools that give the best aid will still be a big reach.</p>

<p>Certainly apply to most/all of the UCs and see what is offered. </p>

15

<p>Yeah, I’m planning to apply to LA, Cal, UCI, UCSB, and UCSD along with CSU Long Beach as a safety. Thanks!</p>

16

<p>I second the Ivies. I would also look into Vanderbilt and Emory, and if you don’t want to go South, Northwestern.</p>

17

<p>

</p>

<p>The numbers vary depending on how you count, the source, and of course the year … but yes, after checking a few sources, I think you’re right. I suppose the authoritative source would be the Common Data Set. Harvard, Penn, and Cornell are all in the 20K-22K range for “grand total” enrollment according to the latest CDS, Section B1 figures I could find. Columbia does not seem to post a CDS but claims 29,250 for 2013 here: <a href=“Columbia OPIR”>Columbia OPIR;

<p>

I took my housing number (54%) from the UPenn entry on the US News site.
That’s the same percentage cited in the 2013-14 CDS, section F1.
Again, it may vary a bit depending on how you count, the year, and the source.<br>
Anyway, let’s agree that a majority of Penn undergrads do live in college housing.</p>