advice on college search

College Search & Lists
1

<p>after being on this board for a while, i’d like to hear your guys’ opinions on the schools i am interested in. </p>

<p>basically i’m an indian female, i like to write… a lot haha i love english and i’m on my high school paper. i plan on doing pre med with a major in either english or spanish, i would def like to study abroad sometime in spain. im also vegan and everyone thinks im a hippie. hehe. </p>

<p>new sats i recieved a total score of 1960, 1320 if you add math and verbal, i plan on retaking it once. (i know it’s not the highest score, but whatever. the SATS can just bite me.) im taking act’s in june. also taking math 2c and lit sat 2 in june, and then spanish sat 2 with listening in the fall after i come home from a trip to panama for community service. GPA is like around 4.2 weighted and i have a 435 or more sized class. im in the top 10 percent, just not sure what rank because we have hidden rank at my high school. i have taken pretty advanced classes, will have 10 aps total not like it matters, 4 B year grades on transcript overall (not including the 7th adn 8th grade advanced classes shown on my transcript, i think i have a B+ on there for algebra 1 in 8th grade… it’s on my highschool transcript cus it was a high school class). senior year i have a full schedule… my art credit, journalism 2, and 5 ap’s (gov, spanish, eng lit, enviro, calc ab). </p>

<p>schools i am interested in: pomona, vassar, oberlin, case, OSU honors, northwestern, tufts. i also like brown and penn, but i really am not the ivy league pop that collar type (yes, i know i am making generalizations. but i visited my friend at penn, and we went to a party. interesting story. it was a tennis hoes and country club themed party. this girl there was commenting on everyone’s outfits and she actually said “did you see what she wore? it’s 1995 slutty” albeit, that was one person. but that is so not me!) i do like brown but i dont really care that much for providence. especially because i visited and we lost our van and we couldnt find it because every street in providence looks the same!! gah. </p>

<p>financial wise, my parents are rich enough to not qualify for need based, but not rich enough to fork over 40,000 a year. (and anyways, i don’t want them to have to struggle to pay especially because i have a younger brother who still has to go to college). hmm, also i plan on going to med school so i’d rather pay more there. then again, i am one of the oddball asians who doesnt care much for any science (except bio) and loves to write. i thought for a while i should major in journalism cus then i could go to scripps in ohio university (and it would be cheaaap) but i really prefer not to see anyone but the 25 people i like in my class ever again, (and if i go to OU or OSU or Case or Miami it would happen). i’d never go to Miami. i just couldn’t deal. </p>

<p>extracurricular wise i have a lot, ive been president of speech and debate 10, 11 and 12 gr. student congress pres 11, 12 gr. student council lettering member 9, 10, 11 gr and member of stuco senate. also in model un, NHS, freshman mentor, etc. list goes on. i also dance… a lot. i was in competition for 2 years and completed a classical indian graduation performance after 8 years. also won a few writing awards. </p>

<p>hooks wise i am going to panama this summer for comm service or homestay.
hmm that’s about it for me. i visited all the schools i’m interested in except for northwestern, pomona, and tufts. i liked u of chicago for a while, but i would like some form of social life and i am sort of scared from the comments i hear about the school on this board. also, not too much of a greek life person, but i do like chicago so i can get over the greek life at northwestern. i’m a midwesterner but i think i can deal anywhere. other schools i visited and didnt find appealing are univ of mich and barnard/columbia (just cause NYC was very overwhelming. i guess i could get used to it, but nah.)</p>

<p>yeah, thats all i can think of. this was kind of long. i heart you guys for reading it. btw, recc’s i think i might ask my soph and senior math teacher (ill have her both years), my GC, my english teacher this year or history teacher soph year, and if i need another one my speech and debate adviser or dance teacher. </p>

<p>so what do you guys think about my list? advice? suggestions?</p>

2

<p>About half your choices overlap with my daughter’s list. She also applied to the following schools, but she was not interested in English so I can’t comment there: Wellesley, Macalester, Carleton.</p>

3

<p>i have heard really great things about carleton and wellesley. i was actually looking into wellesley but then i thought i needed more safeties. is your daughter a junior?</p>

4

<p>oops i just read you wrote she applied. so she is a senior. has she decided where she wants to go?</p>

5

<p>She’s attending Oberlin College. Actually Oberlin sounds like a pretty darned good fit for you, but since you’ve already got it on your list no need to toot that horn any more.</p>

6

<p>You have some schools that look like good matches, but they are not matches if you want merit aid as you suggest. You’ll need to look at school where you’re at the very top of the stats heap to get non need based financial help.</p>

7

<p>thanks for your responses. congrats to your daughter on selecting oberlin!</p>

8

<p>I think Brown might be a big stretch with your current SAT but I would apply to give it a shot(and its very different from Penn).</p>

<p>You have a better chance at Pomona and Northwestern. But still I would say these are major reaches.</p>

<p>Vassar/ Tufts are semi-reaches, much less than the schools above. Vassar is AWESOME. I would look into adding Wesleyan and Grinnell as two more semi-reaches to make sure you have a good shot.</p>

<p>Oberlin is a solid match. Look into Macalester as another match.</p>

<p>You are in at OSU/ Case. Look into Skidmore another safety.</p>

9

<p>If you don’t qualify for need-based aid you need to be looking at schools that offer merit aid and maybe state honors programs. Kenyon, Grinnell, Denison, Wooster, and whichever state u’s might appeal to you. I think your SAT’s are a little low for some of the schools you have on your list. Take a look at OU honors, by all means. They have a great journalism program among other good features.</p>

10

<p>Also, work on that SAT, study for it like its your job even if you hate it. Raising it 100 points will go a long way to getting you into those semi-reaches and maybe even into Northwestern.</p>

11

<p>thanks guys. yeah i know my SATS are low for northwestern and pomona, so i’ll retake them and we will see. but thanks for the input everyone.</p>

12

<p>A few additional idea. You might want to check out Beloit in Wisconsin and Earlham in Indiana. Both have the same sort of “hippie” vibe as Oberlin, excellent English programs (although Beloit’s has the stronger creative writing program) and strong language programs. They both have amazing study abroad programs as well. They’re not as competitive for admissions as Oberlin but all three get a large amount of cross-applications with each other because they attract the same type of students. They would both be good bet schools for you, with the strong possibility of merit money.</p>

<p>A few other schools with the kind of vibe you are looking for that are good for English, languages, and study abroad: Lewis & Clark (Oregon), Whitman (Washington State), Skidmore (NY), and Connecticut College.
These would all be solid matches for your stats. I’d also suggest that you take a look at both Scripps College and Pitzer as back ups for Pomona - they are also in the Claremont Consortium of colleges like Pomona but are somewhat less competitive in admissions. Both would be good fits for your interests plus you get the benefits of being able to cross register. Finally, since you’re not opposed to all-female schools, check out Mills, also in California.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

13

<p>As previous posters have notesd, your SATs may in fact bite you. Strong SAT II scores or an uptick on your SAT I retake (review the results of your first effort and study for your second) would help a lot, but regardless. . .you need to broaden your list with more matches and safeties, unless you would be happy at OSU or OU. </p>

<p>Macalester and Grinnell came to mind as good fits, but along with Oberlin are only matches if your test scores improve. Other “best fit” schools would include Bard, Beloit and Earlham, and though there is merit money available at all three they are not among the most generous LACs. Beloit may be your best bet.</p>

<p>One school you might like with merit aid opportunities would be Lewis & Clark in Portland OR. Other schools that may not quite fit as well but are good pre-med options with merit money possibilities include College of Wooster, Kenyon, Franklin & Marshall, Denison, Allegheny and Lawrence University. In this group, I would lean toward Lawrence.</p>

14

<p>thanks carolyn and reidm. also, i know my SAT wasnt that great, but compared to the people at my high school, it was among the better scores. sigh, i guess that’s life. </p>

<p>but i feel like i have gotten enough advice and other schools to consider, so thank you for your help. i think this thread is done.</p>

15

<p>I wouldn’t consider Macalester, Kenyon or Grinnell anything but reaches with your current scores, and as such the likelihood of merit aid declines. D was wl at Mac, accepted w/o merit at Kenyon and accepted w/merit at Grinnell with a 1400 this year. When she ran the numbers she said Mac was more selective the WUSTL this year. Be realistic so you don’t end up like some of this years ccer’s, rejected evrywhere. Beloit and Earlham seem like good possibilities. If you need merit money you need to be at the top of the heap. Kenyon doesn’t give merit to anyone below the top 20% of the admitted students.</p>

16

<p>It seems like some of us are focused more on SATs and less on grades, class rank and strength of schedule. </p>

<p>I’ve seen some kids with much higher SATs get rejected from some of these places due to worse grades, and some kids with the same or lower SATs who got in. The whole process seems somewhat mysterious and arbitrary to me, to a degree. But I would have thought that if your SATs are within the 25%-75% range of their typical class then other considerations would become as or more important.</p>

<p>So I for one can’t say if all these places are reaches or not. Probably true that you wouldn’t be a top 20% applicant for many of them, though.</p>

17

<p>D was top 10% at very competitive hs. Top schedule, APs and honors across the board. Good EC’s, great recs, great interviews. The SAT was merely representative. But unless there SAT is out of wake with the rest of the picture these schools aren’t going to provide the likelihood of admission with merit aid that the op is looking for.</p>

18

<p>the 25%-75% number is misleading. At these schools with relatively low admissions rates 75% may still mean that only 6 out of 10 get in, just a random number not calculated. None the less 75% does not mean a 100% get in with that score. If you are a suburban, middle class white kid, with college educated parents and nothing dramatic to distinguish you the 75% mark seems like the minimum you should have to consider these schools anything like a safe match. The 25%-50% range is only meaningful if there is something else about you; your SAT is completely out of wack with everything else in you package, you’re a published author, URM, recruited athlete, legacy etc.</p>