<p>Hi, I'm a rising junior who's, well, starting to look for colleges. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to find the colleges that I want to go to, though. I do have certain criteria that may or not be negotiable, because it seems that there are very few colleges that match exactly what I want. I plan on majoring in bio, but I don't believe that I need a college that excels in the sciences; a good school is all I'm after. I also really, really want my college to have a marching band; this is something I'm very passionate about, whether it's a traditional marching band or a scramble band. As for location, I'm reluctant to look anywhere but NY, PA, MA, RI, MD, DE, and maybe NJ (where I live), because staying relatively close to home is important to me. Also, I can't stand the thought of being in the middle of nowhere; an urban surrounding is also fairly important. Money is not an issue.</p>
<p>As of right now, my weighted GPA is 4.7859, I'm taking practically the hardest courseload available to me (with the exception of band), which includes APUSH1 my soph. year, four more APs my junior year, and a few more my senior year. My ECs lie mainly in music and theater (marching band, pit orchestras, stage/lighting crew, summer music, etc), with a few others (Spanish camp, Relay for Life). I have a mother than went to Barnard, a father who went to Brown, and an uncle who went to and currently teaches at Columbia. Right now, Barnard is my top choice school, and I'm aware that I need more than just a top choice... so any suggestions/advice is much appreciated.</p>