Help in college search

College Search & Lists
1

Hi Everyone,

I am a rising senior at a small private high school. My problem is that after going through numerous threads discussing various colleges, I can’t decide which schools I should put on my list to tour and/or attempt to stay overnight before applying. If you could give me your thoughts/opinions they would be much appreciated. :slight_smile:

Stats:
Ethnicity: Hispanic
GPA:
Cum UW: 4.014
Cum Weighted: 4.347

Junior Year Schedule: (One of the most difficult I know of at my school) [AP scores next to class name]
AP Physics 1 : 4
APUSH : 5
AP Calc AB : 5
Honors American Lit
Honors Chamber Singers
Spanish 3

Planned Senior Year Schedule (might exchange AP Bio for APES)
AP Bio
AP Physics C
AP Calculus BC
AP English Lang
Spanish 4

ACT: 33 – re-taking in fall
SAT II: taking Math II, Physics and Amer. History – Oct//Nov

Extracurriculars: 4 years of debate (and several tournament team awards), 2 of cross country, 1 of water polo, 2 years of yearbook, 2 years of swim, 8 years of church volunteering, 4 years of official and unofficial tutoring, 2 years orientation leader + freshmen ombudsman

Major/minor: Planning on majoring in either general or mechanical/electrical engineering, depending on the school, as well as a minor in psych and/or exercise physiology

Personal/College Preference:

  • Small-medium size school (I’ve been at small private my whole life)
    o Prefer Collaborative over Competitive environment, but open to everything
  • Located wherever (Born and raised in warm weather, although I think I can suffer through the cold in the East)
  • I’m a diehard extrovert, which ties in with my preference for a small campus; I love knowing everyone and likewise, being known by everyone (although this is negotiable)
  • In terms of peer interactions, I’m not really one for political debates or philosophical conversations on ancient literature, although I wouldn’t consider myself a jock-type, maybe somewhere in the middle
  • I do consider fitness a fairly large part of my life (hence the minor), so I would prefer a school where there’s obviously hard work, but also some time to myself to work out and catch a breather
    Potential Colleges (Have thought about, but not sure)

HMC
Stanford
Olin
USC
Brown
Dartmouth
Vanderbilt
Cornell
Cal Tech
Georgia Tech
HYP
MIT
NW
RHIT
Clemson
Cal Berkley
Virginia Tech
Amherst
Swarthmore
Case Western
Haverford
CMU
Brandeis
Cooper Union

This is my first CC post ever, so if did anything wrong be gentle plz, but don’t be afraid to let me know :slight_smile:

2

Congrats on your hard work, you have excellent stats! One really important question you will get with this sort of question…do you have financial constraints? If so will you qualify for need based aid or will you seek merit based aid? What state are you from?

3

I don’t believe Brandeis, Haverford or Amherst have engineering. If you like these schools, you may be able to do your engineering in a cooperative program.

4

Do you have a preference on greek life: love it, hate it, indifferent?

5

@lr4550 Thank you! :slight_smile: I will definitely need need-based financial aid, and I probably have a good chance of getting it. I plan on also applying for merit-based aid, but that’s less guaranteed. And Cail born and raised :slight_smile:

6

@merc81 thanks for the heads up :slight_smile: i have heard some good things about these schools but haven’t looked into them too much (obviously)

7

@doschicos I think that I would prefer to not have a large Greek community (I probably won’t join regardless) although iirc at Dartmouth and the other Ivies there’s a fairly large Greek portion of the community

8

I was thinking HMC before even getting to your list. Definitely visit! I would not worry about overnights at colleges now. Go on tours, sit in on a class if they are in session, eat in the cafeteria if it is open. Also, run the net price calculator on each college website before visiting to see if it looks affordable. You should pick some UCs for match-safeties, too (other posters from CA can make specific recommendations). Easy to apply to multiples there, so you should. I’d drop any school without engineering, too.

9

@idkwhatimdoing2 - I asked because you have a whole range of different “vibes” on your list. Dartmouth social life is very greek dominated. So, since you need to narrow down your list, perhaps that could be one to remove. As @merc81 mentions there are a few schools on your list that don’t offer engineering.