<p>I'm top ten percent of my class, our GPA isn't on a 4.0 scale but out of 100, my GPA is 99 weighted and 94 unweighted, by the time I apply to college I'll have an SAT score of 2200, my SAT subject scores will all be 700+, I have 200 hours of volunteer work, I only have one main extracurricular excluding my volunteer work (is that bad) but I've been active in it, and that EC is debate, so a college with a strong debate program would be really cool. </p>
<p>I don't care which part of the country the college is in, I like big colleges and I don't care if it's public or private. I'd prefer a college with a strong emphasis on academics and I'd love it to be competitive as well. I'd like to major in psychology or economics so a college with strong programs in either of them would be great. </p>
<p>Please suggest colleges, you have no idea how much help it would be to me.</p>
<p>Yes, I have checked out the collegeboard search engine, and unfortunately, it gives me fifteen pages of colleges. You’re right though, so here are some colleges I thought about:</p>
<p>University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
UCLA
University of California, Berkeley
Columbia University
Stanford University
Rice University</p>
<p>And my homestate is Texas. But again, I don’t care if the college is in Texas or abroad. It has to be in the US though.</p>
<p>Honestly, slik nik and everyone who wants to answer, do I have a shot at the Ivies?</p>
<p>I’m only National Merit Commended (most likely) and while I have invested a great deal of time into debate, my achievements aren’t amazing. However, I’m pretty confident I can write a great admissions essay and do an interview well.</p>
<p>Tim - Just a suggestion … but if you can settle on a couple of safeties (outside your home state) you really like, I think picking the matches and reaches will be a lot easier. UCLA and Northwestern are both excellent schools, but have wildly different environments.</p>
<p>Okay, I’ll definitely do that NewHope33. This question isn’t meant to criticize you, I’m just genuinely interested in why finding safeties will help me find matches and reaches?</p>
<p>Regarding debate, have you thought about what style you would like to pursue in college (if you continue)? Each college will generally focus on either Policy or BP.</p>
<p>You might want to take a look at the University of Pittsburgh.</p>
<p>^ BP is very popular at the college level. My home-town school, UAA, is one of the world’s best BP teams. Unfortunately, the school is terrible in all non-debate areas.</p>
<p>Yale
Toronto
Queen’s
La Verne
Colgate
Alberta
Princeton
Harvard
UBC
Bates
McGill
Alaska
Stanford
Duke
Brandeis
Swarthmore
Portland
…the list goes on</p>
<p>These schools are obviously good at debate, but most are excellent in academics as well (Alaska being a notable exception).</p>
<p>EDIT: I can provide a better list if you could give me the following info:</p>
<ul>
<li>Breakdown of the SAT scores by category (CR, Math, Writing)</li>
<li>Financial situation</li>
<li>Urban vs. rural</li>
</ul>
<p>Just to let you know… Rice has an excellent debate team. Rice’s George R. Brown Forensic Society (debate team) placed 5th in the nation in the 2007-08 school year. </p>
<p>Your stats were similar as mine when I applied to colleges. Although that does not mean you will get in to schools that I did or get rejected from schools that I did, I think you have a fair shot at the Ivies. It really does not hurt to apply to any of the Ivies, since you are competitive enough. Since the admissions process is a crapshoot, I cannot say you will get in, but at least you are competitive for the Ivies, so apply if you would go to any of the Ivies.</p>
<p>OP, “I don’t care if the college is in Texas or abroad. It has to be in the US though”??? You do know abroad means outside the US?</p>
<p>Can your parents afford to pay for large schools outside of TX? Will you need financial aid? What are your chances of finishing in the top 10% of your school which will help in getting into UTA?</p>
<p>As far as a safety, that is possibly your most important choice of your applications. You should build your application list from the safety up. Once you’ve selected a safety for which you are a virtual lock (and which you are WILLING to attend) you can pick whatever else you want for matches and reaches. With your stats there are a lot of very good schools which would offer you merit aid to attend. Look at the list of good merit aid schools in the financial aid forum.</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad, that was a silly but funny error :P. It has to be in the US. My parents can afford to pay for large schools outside TX and I won’t need financial aid. I will finish in the top 10%. </p>
<p>Noimagination, thank you so much for your detailed list, I’m researching your suggestions now, and thank you for helping me! Slik nik, Rice would be ideal and I didn’t know they had such a great debate program. And Menloparkmom, I’m really hooked on U of Chicago already and I didn’t realize they had a debate program! U of Chicago is great! Thank you!</p>
<p>With my stats (a question to everyone), is admission to Rice and U of Chicago plausible?</p>
<p>And I can’t express how much you guys have helped me, I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Yes to both. With the Chicago supplemental application, if possible, I strongly suggest you pick one of their essay prompts, and let 'er rip! Have fun with the essay. Let it reveal what makes you “tick”, and how you think.</p>
<p>I think you have a great chance of getting into both Rice and UChicago. However, your chances in getting into Rice is better if you are out-of-state since they want geographical diversity (50 percent of the student body is Texan). If you are in-state, I don’t know; but if you are out of state, your chances are really good to get into Rice.</p>
<p>I’m more and more hooked on U of Chicago and Rice every second, I’m really interested and thanks to you guys, I’ll definitely be applying there. Thank you all so much for going out of your way to help me and I’m sure many others have benefited from your advice.</p>
<p>Anyone else with ideas, please feel free to add to the list.</p>
<p>As you continue your research with Rice, be sure to look at the residential college system at Rice. I’ve heard the residential college system allows for a tight-knit community and makes the social life amazing at Rice; Princeton Review thinks so too, because Rice is ranked #2 in the best quality of life of all colleges in the 2009 Best 368 Colleges Guidebook (only behind Washington University in St. Louis).</p>
<p>You will also get an AMAZING education at UChicago, but I heard the social life is not as good there compared to Rice. Of course, that is what I heard, so take what I say with face value. But definitely continue researching these schools on your own; Princeton Review’s guidebook is very helpful, so is the Students’ Guide to Colleges (here’s a link to the publishing info: [Amazon.com:</a> Students’ Guide to Colleges: The Definitive Guide to America’s Top 100 SchoolsWritten by the Real Experts–the Students Who Attend Them: Jordan Goldman, Colleen Buyers: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Students-Guide-Colleges-SchoolsWritten-Experts/dp/0143035584]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Students-Guide-Colleges-SchoolsWritten-Experts/dp/0143035584)).</p>
<p>As you continue your college research/application process, be sure to PM me if you have any questions about the Rice application process/academics/quality of life.</p>