atxnickg

My parents will only let me apply to a certain number of schools, and since these schools seem to all be paired with a geographically close school that contains an almost completely different student body/vibe, I was wondering if anyone could give me advice as to which is a better fit in each pair.


USC vs Berkeley
NU vs UChicago
Dartmouth vs Middlebury


So considering I'm:

-A very committed Christian
-A white guy from Texas (No cowboy boots/hat/ranch though..)
-Someone who can spend hours surfing/reading random Wikipedia articles
-Pretty liberal politically, although I'm not one to force my views on others
-Really in to volunteering
-Not a huge partier/drinker, though still a pretty loud and social guy
-Not planning on joining greek life, although I will keep an open mind
-Not an athlete, although I do enjoy watching sports
-Going to college to get an education, not a high paying job

will I be more of a fit at either one of these in each pair? I really don't want to show up freshman year and have a hard time meeting people with similar interests, so I could use some advice from anyone with experience at any of these schools. I'm really sorry if this isn't the right place to be asking this or if I'm wasting anyone's time. Thank you so much for reading or possibly responding though. I really appreciate it.

eagle69

You don't sound like a guy from Texas haha

tk21769

You aren't saying that your parents will allow you to apply only to these six colleges, are you? At least 4 of them are reach schools for nearly all applicants. The other two (USC and Berkeley) are very selective as well.

You sound a little more like a Berkeley, Chicago, or Middlebury person than a USC/NU/Dartmouth person. However, you sound even more like a St. Olaf College person. But you'd surely be able to find kindred spirits at any of these (or many other) colleges.

GoodACTor

Give us your stats. We want your stats.

atxnickg

Haha I know. Having grown up here almost my entire life, I can say I'm like the worst Texan ever.

eagle69

Ehh idk if he's really st. Olaf material. My parents went there and I live close so I'm there a lot, and everyone has told me it is fairly conservative and I've seen it too. But I suppose the political thing is not a huge issue, as the other aspects definitely correlate with Olaf, so I suppose I suggest checking it out! Girls are attractive too. I'm assuming you're into them?

Sam Lee

Can you elaborate how you are a "very committed Christian" but at the same time "pretty liberal"?

atxnickg

@tk21769: These are not my only schools, I have a couple others, including safeties, that I plan on applying to. And you are totally right, I'm pretty sure I will not get into all six of them. I apologize if I seemed overconfident, I was just posing this as a general question. I completely agree with you about the St. Olaf thing, considering it's atmosphere seems to fit me a lot. But I'm concerned that my parents wouldn't be willing to pay a private school price unless it's like a top 20 Uni/LAC. St. Olaf seems like an awesome place though.

@GoodACTor: Here's my profile, which may look familiar from my mobile account post in the chances section of the website.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basic stuff/possible diversity
- White Senior Male in Austin, Texas
- First Generation College Student.
- English is my second language


GPA and Rank
- Weighted GPA: 106.84 (weird 100 point scale..)
- Unweighted GPA: 4.0
- Class Rank: 1/517 at a pretty competitive Public High School.


AP's and Honors Coursework/Grades
- AP World History-A/A - 5 on exam
- AP Chemistry- A+/A+
- AP English 3- A/A
- AP U.S History- A+/A+
- AP Spanish Language- A+/A+
- AP Computer Science- A/A
- all other classes are Honors Classes (bio, trig, physics, etc...) with A+

Next year schedule:
AP English 4
AP Calc BC
AP Environmental Science
AP Gov't
AP Econ
AP Spanish Lit
AP Psychology

ACT Scores
Composite- 35
English- 35 (33 with 10 essay)
Math- 34
Reading- 36
Science- 36

SAT Scores*
CR- 740
Math- 750
Writing- 740 (10 Essay)
2230 composite

*These are superscored. I have taken it twice. I probably won't send these.

PSAT- 225, should hopefully be NMSF in Texas.

Subject Tests
World History 770
Chem-800
Math 2-720

EC Activities

Elected Class Office Positions
- Sophomore Class President
- Junior Class VP
- Student Body President Senior Year

Academic Competitions
State-wide Science Competition(UIL)
-3 years participation
-Team Captain for two years
-Qualified for regionals this year.
State-wide Social Studies Competition(UIL)
-2 years Team Captain
- First Place Team at District level, qualified for regionals

Social Events Comittee
- Head for one year (10th Grade)
- Planned a school dance from the bottom up.
- Planned Homecoming events

Community Service Committee
- Head Junior Year
- Sponsored outings to a retirement home
- Organized a school-wide coat drive
- Organized other outings to marathons and other community stuff

Principal's Council
- Member 3 years. (Elected)
- We sit with the principal once a month and discuss campus issues.

National Honor Society
- Member 3 years
- Officer 1 year
- Elected as Liason to Student Council/Public Relations Chair
- Overseeing a TBD committee as a committee co-head.

Will be sitting on school board next year.

Summer Activities

10th grade
- Employed as a cashier at Chick Fil-A (3 months)
- Was tutor at a summer program for elementary schools (3 months)

11th grade
- UT Honors Colloquium
- Camp counselor at a residential camp for children with special needs (4 weeks)
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Sorry for the length, I just copied and pasted from a past chance thread. This is not a chance thread though.

This thread is, of course, premised on POSSIBLE admission. I promise I'm not assuming that I will get in to any of these schools. They're all super competitive.

atxnickg

@Eagle69: Haha I'm totally into them. I've heard the same things about the girls at St. Olaf. Another reason I feel like I'd like it there. Politics are pretty much a non-issue though, I'm not going to discriminate against conservatives or anything. I'll probably apply there anyways, considering the application is free.

@Sam Lee: I've seen way too many threads turn into debates about politics and religion. If possible I'd really like to avoid that. I'm all for progressive taxation, gun control, sensible drug policy, affirmative action, healthcare reform, the environmental movement, ending capital punishment, etc. However, I'll admit there are particular liberal policies which I don't really agree with, but I feel like a tilt much more to the left than the right. Politics are, as I said before, not a huge deal to me.

tk21769

How about Davidson College? It's a bit less selective than your 6, but still makes the top 20 ("national LAC") hit parade. It's fairly liberal, apparently, but still has a Christian affiliation (Presbyterian, if that counts).

atxnickg

tk21769: I feel like you know me so well with your suggestions! Haha. Davidson is also on my short list, we actually visited this spring and I really enjoyed it. If it was a little cheaper/less fratty I'd probably do early decision there. Right now I'm definitely still going to apply, maybe i'll be surprised with a good aid package. I feel like Davidson and St. Olaf are both really good fits for me, and like I'd be happy at both.

Does anyone know anything about merit aid at St. Olaf? As in how competitive/how much it is? I feel like Davidson might be much more difficult to get merit money at.

ILoveUofC

^ I second that Davidson College rec. The new president of Davidson, Dr. Carol Quillen, is a UChicago grad and Karl Weintraub acolyte. She is firmly committed to improving the Davidson College experience even beyond its current high level.

That said, I think the OP has a very good/excellent shot at any of the top ten schools.

atxnickg

@ILoveUofC: Thanks so much for your comment about the top ten schools, I really appreciated that. I think I'll have to do an overnight visit at Davidson in the fall. The campus tour/info session alone got me thrilled about Davidson, and I'm glad I seem like I would fit in there. I take it you went/are going to UofC, Any opinions on where I'd stand there?

tk21769

1. Google for "St. Olaf Common Data Set"
2. Click the top link.
That should take you to the following page:
IR&E | IR: Common Data Set
3. Click to "CDS All Sections: 2011-12"
4. Go to Section H2A ("Number of Enrolled Students Awarded Non-need-based Scholarships and Grants")

From this, you can see that 175 freshmen (out of 739) were awarded merit aid, averaging $12,218. With your qualifications, I'd expect you to get more than that. Maybe much more (but don't be over-confident ... it might not be your year).

You can follow a similar procedure to look up merit aid at Davidson in its Common Data Set, (section H2A). In the past, Davidson has awarded quite a bit of it. But then, it's more selective than St. O (expect tougher competition for their money).

ILoveUofC

atxnickg:

Your objective stats are obviously excellent and it sounds like you have an interesting back story to your life that you could reference for your college essays. For UChicago, you definitely would meet the target scores/class standing/grades threshold. The main task for you will be to write essays that:

1) show that you understand what UChicago is all about
2) demonstrate you would thrive in such an environment
3) show that you have a curious mind that is not only interested in Ideas, but is capable of examining and re-thinking them in unique, unconventional and perhaps playful ways.