Definitely check out UPenn! There are few universities that offer as wide array of resources as Penn does to their undergraduate students. Not only will you have access to your own undergraduate program at Penn but you will be able to take classes, add second majors, add dual degrees, earn certificates and more across nearly all of Penn’s undergraduate, graduate and professional schools because of Penn’s One University Policy. If you want a well rounded education, it’s harder to find a better fit than Penn. Furthermore, while Penn’s athletics will not be like Stanford’s in terms of quality or excitement, Penn consistently wins Ivy League titles in a number of sports, especially football. Its sports culture isn’t all consuming but students do turn out for the rivalry matchup with Princeton each year (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn%E2%80%93Princeton_basketball_rivalry). If you’re looking for a sports culture like you would find at a big state school, you won’t find that here. But if you want a combination of great academics paired with a solid sports culture from a top tier school, Penn is a wonderful option!
I know that I am interested in both science and social science, and would like to take courses in each before deciding. I also wanted a school with strong courses in all programs, and flexibility of course selection, since I have a lot of interests I would like to pursue. This made me look for a school that is academically strong in many areas and flexible. So I eliminated technical schools (ex. MIT or GTech) or schools with many required courses (Ex. Columbia) or “schools within schools” that are not easily transferred to (ex. at NC State you apply to a specific college within the school and it is somewhat difficult to transfer).
I also wanted a school with good sports teams and social life, while not being dependent on greek life.
In the end, Duke is my perfect fit for these reasons and more and I applied ED. I also like OU, OSU, Vanderbilt, UNC-CH, and Yale, and will be applying to them all if rejected from Duke. I would advise you to decide what specific qualities you are looking for and narrow down your list from there. I started with 17 potential schools and ended with 6. Be honest with yourself and the list should become smaller.
Without test scores, no one can really make suggestions that are worthwhile.
There are lots of good universities of varying selectivity levels in the US. Which ones you can realistically get admitted to depend on how well you do in high school and standardized tests. The most selective ones also want something more, like a high level (e.g. national or large state/provincial level) achievement beyond the most challenging high school academics available to you.
In contrast to the super-selective universities that most replies have mentioned, less selective ones that offer broad selections of academic programs and majors include University of Arizona, Arizona State University, University of Iowa, and Iowa State University. They also offer relatively high level (NCAA Division I) sports, although getting onto the sports teams may be more difficult then at (usually smaller) universities in lower (NCAA Division II or III) sports divisions.
Don’t forget the liberal arts colleges. They may not have “big time” sports that get shown on TV, but they can have a lot of school spirit and social life and top tier academics.
^ there are a number of liberal arts schools with mostly Division 1 sports, such as Davidson, Richmond and William & Mary.
@intparent I agree that we can’t make a specific recommendation for the OP without more information, but I think the idea at this stage is just to generate a list of all-round universities so s/he can begin exploring.
OP, it is my understanding that American schools are understanding about a lack of ECs when the applicant is from a country where those type of pursuits are not the cultural norm.
If you want liberal arts schools with good athletics/academics go NESCAC and never look back. Probably better than most low tier D1 schools anyway.
@LILDWAYNE Stanford, UPenn, Duke, Vanderbilt, UMich immediately come to mind in this order when thinking of the best week-rounded schools.
I don’t want you to recommend exactly what college is good for ME, I just wanna know some of them.
suppose I will get accepted to any college I want, even Harvard (I know impossible, but suppose!)
There are ~3,000 colleges in the US and all are a fit for someone. Not all will be a fit for you. It’s great that your family can pay for wherever you want to go. Now you need to start building a list of options that are viable for you. Since you’re an international student admissions will be very competitive. Make sure you apply to a broad range of schools (not just highly selective ones) to increase your chances of being admitted somewhere.
Do you have test scores and your unweighted GPA? Use the college search on this or another site to see what colleges you’re competitive for then come back and ask about specific schools. Have you given any thought to specific features [size, geography, location (urban, rural), Greek life, sports, type (LAC, public), etc.] that you want in a school? Knowing those things will help others come up with suggestions that might work for you.
Re #29:
Then consider the acceptance carefully.
When then candidate, now Massachusetts governor, Charlie Baker, was asked by the Boston Globe to take the Proust Questionnaire, he responded as follows:
Q: What is your greatest regret?
A: Not going to Hamilton College. I never really felt comfortable at Harvard.
“suppose I will get accepted to any college I want, even Harvard”
I “suppose” that you are joking?
@londondad Yes, I’m joking! So what?!
@LILDWAYNE i do not think harvard truly fits the bill of a really well-rounded college. It is relatively lacking a bit in college/social life. If you are super focused on prestige, the school with more or less the same prestige level as Harvard that is truly well-rounded is Stanford. It is in the top 5 in pretty much every discipline, has really great social life, amazing sports, great location/weather.
duke, vanderbilt, smu, usc, uva, northwestern, stanford, umiami, notre dame
I’m not sure i would include SMU and Miami in that group but the rest seem solid. I would add a few more public schools like a coupld of the UCs and Michigan.
OP, what country are you from?
@paperchase I would describe UMiami as “well-rounded” consistent with the OP’s initial description. However, it is not academically as rigorous as some of the other schools that have been listed multiple times here (e.g., UVA, USC, Duke, etc.)
@ClarinetDad16 I’m from Iran