<p>I am a HS junior just starting the whole college-search process. We have a break coming up and I still have no idea what schools I should go visit. Can anyone take a look at my stats-and my intended major(s), and reccomend some colleges that would be good matches (maybe slight reaches-I really want to attend the best possible college) for me?</p>
<p>My Stats: ~4.68 Weighted GPA (~3.8 UW)
Top 5% out of 400
Should be in the 2000-2200 SAT Range
ECs are good-but no huge hooks (overseas relief efforts, etc) - More along the lines of 3 year varsity athlete-Captain, Lots of Community Service, NHS, Spanish Honors Society, etc.</p>
<p>I intend to major in something like Political Science, or Economics-and then work for a few years before going to graduate school to receive and MBA. So any schools that are good/highly recruited in this area would be great.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for ANY help I receive-Break is coming soon!</p>
<p>i don't know if you're looking for colleges in a certain area.. in the northeast i can recommend a few liberal arts schools, though. Hamilton College would probably be a good bet for someone with your stats. It's an amazing school that you could most likely get into, just sort of in the middle of nowhere. Colgate, Bowdoin, Bates and Colby are all maybe just a tiny notch above Hamilton in terms of selectivity, but i think all are pretty much the same sort of deal. I can probably answer questions about the subtle differences between those if you have any. All of those are pretty small schools within your range. Middlebury and Dartmouth are more selective versions of the others i listed. If you're interested in bigger schools, definitely look at Cornell- it has everything. McGill in Canada is excellent, but it's really different from schools in the US. Um.. maybe take a look at the University of Rochester (safer school, for you) also. The northeast is packed with great liberal arts schools that will have your major... i can't even think of them all off the top of my head. if you have any questions feel free to pm me.</p>
<p>I think you need to narrow your parameters a bit: do you want a big school or a small one? major uni or LAC? city or rural? Northeast/Midwest/South/West Coast?</p>
<p>location is not as big of a deal-I am in the NE, however, so I would only be able to visit schools in this general area. </p>
<p>I am not sure if size really matters to me because my dad went to Carleton and I liked the small, intimate campus-but I also see myself liking a larger school like Cornell.</p>
<p>There is a difference, albeit not a great one, between a 2000 and 2200 on the SAT. If you get a 2200 on the SAT, you will obviously be able to apply to a difference set of universities than if you get a 2000. </p>
<p>At any rate, here are some schools I recommend greatly, given your interests:</p>
<p>Universities:
Brown University (Top 25 in Econ, good in Poli-Sci and great professional and MBA placement)
Columbia University (Top 10 in Econ & Poli-Sci and great professional and MBA placement)
Cornell University (Top 20 in Econ & Poli-Sci and great professional and MBA placement)
Duke University (Top 10 Poli Sci, top 25 Econ and excellent professional placement)
Harvard University (Top 5 in Econ & Poli-Sci and great professional and MBA placement)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Top 5 in Econ, top 10 in Poli-Sci and great professional and MBA placement)
New York University (Top 20 in Econ & Poli-Sci and good professional and MBA placement)
Northwestern University (Top 10 in Econ, top 20 in Poli-Sci and great professional and MBA placement)
Princeton University (Top 5 in Econ, top 10 in Poli-Sci and great professional and MBA placement)
Stanford University (Top 5 in Econ & Poli-Sci and great professional and MBA placement)
University of California-Berkeley (Top 10 in Econ, top 5 Poli-Sci and great professional and MBA placement)
University of California-Los Angeles (Top 10 in Econ & Poli-Sci and good professional and MBA placement)
University of California-San Diego (Top 20 in Econ & Poli-Sci and ok professional and MBA placement)
University of Chicago (Top 5 in Econ, top 10 in Poli-Sci and great professional and MBA placement)
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Top 10 in Econ, top 5 in Poli-Sci and great professional and MBA placement)
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (Top 25 in Econ & Poli-Sci and good professional and MBA placement)
University of Pennsylvania (Top 10 in Econ, top 25 in Poli-Sci and great professional and MBA placement)
University of Rochester (Top 20 in Econ & Poli-Sci and ok professional and MBA placement)
University of Texas-Austin (Top 25 in Econ & Poli-Sci and ok professional and MBA placement)
University of Virginia (Top 25 in Econ & Poli-Sci and great professional and MBA placement)
University of Wisconsin-Madison (Top 20 in Econ & Poli-Sci and ok professional and MBA placement)
Washington University-St Louis (Top 25 in Econ & Poli-Sci and good professional and MBA placement)
Yale University (Top 10 in Econ & Poli-Sci and great professional and MBA placement)</p>
<p>LACs:
Amherst College
Carleton College
Claremont McKenna College (Large Econ and Poli-Sci departments for a LAC)
Colby College
Dartmouth College (not a LAC, but small and purely undergraduate level degrees in the Social Sciences)
Haverford College
Macalester College (Known for the Social Sciences)
Middlebury College
Oberlin College
Pomona College
Reed College
Swarthmore College
Vassar College
Wesleyan University
Williams College</p>
<p>As an MBA at a top 5 grad program, I have seen going Ivy or a top LAC (HYP, Dartmouth, Penn, Duke, Williams, Amherst, etc) is pretty much the best and most sure bet into a top program. </p>
<p>Professional schools care much less how strong a departmental ranking is, and much more about the overall reputation of the school. At my MBA school there are an inordinate amount of top LAC and Ivy alumni. The old school prestige names (Duke, Dartmouth, Williams for example) seem to do much better than the new climbers (WashU).</p>
<p>I like Alexandre's list but feel it could be condensed quite a bit given your scores. I think the most selective schools (HYPSM) are a real reach for you. Also, "top 25" doesn't really appeal to me if I'm seriously going into this field. So I think Columbia, Michigan, Chicago, or the UC's would fit you really well. From there it's just a matter of what traits you like in a school.</p>
<p>I agree with Slipper. Overall quality of the university is very important. But Slipper, one does not have to go to an Ivy-like school or a top LAC to get great placement. Some publics send a lot of students to top graduate schools too. Michigan is 5th in the nation at sending students to top graduate schools. Even as a ratio, Michigan is among the top 20, not far behind far smaller schools like the LACs and the Ivies.</p>
<p>i think that a lot of schools are going to have what you're looking for and will have names that will get you into grad school/get you a great career. i would recommend that you focus on finding schools with sizes and atmospheres that you like, too. you mentioned that you might be interested in a smaller school- definitely go for it, small schools have really great student-teacher relationships and a really nice sense of community, if you're looking for that. good luck :)</p>