Which colleges should I apply to?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am a HS junior at a competitive public school in the suburbs of Philly. Based on my basic stats (a more detailed list is on my chance-me thread), what colleges should I be looking at? Suggestions for match schools would be especially appreciated. Thanks!</p>

<p>ACT: 34 Composite (33E, 32M, 35R, 35S)
GPA: 3.9U, 4.1W
9 AP classes (assume two will be B's, the rest A's)
No AP scores or SAT IIs
Volunteer work: 200 hours or so
1 Varsity sport
ECs: Fairly involved, nothing too major
Awards: Again, nothing too major
Area of study: Biomedical sciences (but not certain yet)</p>

2

<p>What kind of finances do you need? Full pay? Merit aid? Need-based aid?</p>

<p>What type of school can you see yourself in? A large school with all the bells and whistles? A research U? A small LAC?</p>

<p>City? Suburb? Rural?</p>

<p>Visit schools around you (whether you are interested in them or not) and see which types you like.</p>

<p>Your stats and desired field of study can fit in at most places.</p>

3

<p>Thanks Creekland. I should have been more specific. I will not need any financial aid. Also, I am looking more into smaller research universities, although LACs are fine as well. The location doesn’t really matter, although I don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere… I have visited a number of schools (UPenn, Harvard, Yale, Brown, Princeton, Swarthmore, Drexel, BU, and BC), and the only ones I didn’t particularly like were BU, Drexel, and Yale. </p>

<p>I am open to any and all suggestions!</p>

4

<p>Check out Case Western Reserve and University of Rochester. Relatively small universities with very high research activity. With your stats, you should be able to get into both with merit aid (even though you said you didn’t necessarily need it).</p>

<p>[University</a> of Rochester](<a href=“http://rochester.edu/]University”>http://rochester.edu/)
[Case</a> Western Reserve University - One of the nation’s top universities and the best college in Ohio](<a href=“http://case.edu/]Case”>http://case.edu/)</p>

5

<p>Thanks cbamengel! I hadn’t thought of looking at either of those. I will defnitely check them out!</p>

6

<p>Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, JHU?</p>

7

<p>Rice University
University of Miami</p>

8

<p>Brandeis University
Emory University</p>

<p>If you want merit aid, University of Puget Sound</p>

9

<p>Duke, UNC -CH</p>

10

<p>Wow, thanks guys (beantowngirl, barrk123, whenhen, asmuoh)!
I had a few of those in mind (JHU, Tufts) but the rest are new and much appreciated! All the feedback is great!</p>

<p>For future reference, I would like to stay in the mid-Atlantic or NE if possible, but I am pretty flexible if the college if right for me. However, I think U of Puget Sound is a little too far away…</p>

<p>Also, if I were to change my major or concentration to astrophysics, which colleges/universities would be best for that?</p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

11

<p>In the Northeast/ Mid-Atlantic
-Wesleyan University
-SUNY Geneseo
-Franklin & Marshall College
-Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute</p>

<p>Outside of the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic
-Kalamazoo College
-Rhodes College
-Occidental College
-Loyola Marymount University
-Macalaster College
-St. Olaf
-Reed College
-Gonzaga University
-WashU St. Louis
-Whitman College
-Lawrence University</p>

12

<p>Small research U definitely screams U Rochester to me. You might like Case Western, but if you didn’t like Yale, BU, Drexel, you might not as Case is similar with the urban vibe. U Rochester is in Rochester, but has its own well-defined campus. I’m not sure what they offer for Astrophysics though.</p>

13

<p>Thanks guys! I will look into those colleges, they are all new to me! I will especially read up on Rochester, Emory, and WashU in St. Louis!</p>