<p>My college list right now is heavy at the top and bottom but thin in the middle- please help me.</p>
<p>I’m white, female, upper middle-class, and live in Maryland.
Top 5% of a 620-person class, public high school in a competitive magnet program.
GPA is 3.9 UW/4.14 W. SAT is 2290 (800 R, 700 M, 790 W).
SAT IIs are 800 (Bio E, World History) and 780 (Math IIC).
For APs, I got 5s on US Gov, Bio, and Calc AB, with 4s on World and Lang.
Editor in chief of the school satirical newspaper (9th-12th), two years’ participation in Model UN and Japanese National Honor Society (including running the most active cultural club in the school) when counting senior year.
National Merit Finalist. Am currently doing the magnet program’s senior capstone project- research project collecting data from a national park. Suffered from depression in 9th and part of 10th, so strong upward trend in GPA after that. Great writer, will have 2 great teacher recs and, unfortunately, one from my guidance counselor, who barely knows me.</p>
<p>I’m looking for colleges in CA, the Pacific Northwest, the Northeast, and I suppose the mid-Atlantic. I just really don’t want to go to most of the South or in Texas.</p>
<p>Want to major in English. Would like to double-major in History or Computer Science. Prefer a college with an even focus on humanities and sciences, but okay with a slight slant either way. Any size between 4,000 and 25,000, give or take a thousand. MUST be LGBT-friendly (emphasis on the L…). Distance from home (suburb of DC) is an EPIC BONUS. In/near urban area preferred, with a wide range of languages. Assume price isn’t an issue- what are some matches?</p>
<p>I thought Carnegie Mellon was heavily tilted towards the sciences? That was my only quibble about it… I should really look into UMich though I think Boston College might be too religious for me. Thanks so much!</p>
<p>It probably does not meet all your criteria, but since you mentioned California, maybe you might want to consider Berkeley for computer science? Not sure though.</p>
<p>With a minimum size of 4,000, you’ve automatically ruled out all the LACs, although there are many that would otherwise be a great fit-especially for an English/Hist major. How certain are you of that criteria? </p>
<p>Assuming you are convinced that bigger is better, NYU might be a good fit.</p>
<p>“To prevent overlap, right now my list is: Stanford, Brown, Chicago (legacy), UC Berkeley, Reed, Tufts, UMD, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, University of Redlands, University of Rochester, and Northeastern University; maybe Duke (legacy), UNC, or the University of Washington.”</p>
<p>Saw your other post with the list of schools you are considering and “the geekier the better.”</p>
<p>@M’s Mom: I really would like to go somewhere bigger then my high school (which is around 2900 people), but if they’re awesome enough in other ways I’m perfectly happy looking at smaller places. I just looked into Wesleyan- I didn’t know anything about it before- and it actually does look really nice. I think I’ll apply there. I need to to the same for Vassar, but I’m kind of iffy about NYU. It seems like, for the price I’d pay to go, I could go somewhere better.</p>
<p>@porkperson: I probably should look into WUStL. Duke is on my maybe list… I don’t know much about Northwestern. Anybody know what would make it stand out?</p>
<p>LAC Plug:
-Yeah I feel like Vassar would fit your criteria really well even though it IS an LAC/small.
-Claremont colleges in California might be the balance between 5000+ students while still the LAC vibe which seems like it would align itself with what you’ve specified…
-Swarthmore has a super active LGBT community and is definitely geeky but it definitely wouldn’t be a match for a white female (no offense)… even though your stats are really impressive. If you need another reach look into Swat! (What would one of my posts be without an attempt at selling my own school :P) Yeah… if you have Reed and Chicago on there there’s no reason for you to not look into Swat…</p>
<p>I don’t think WUStL is as good as US News and World Report or whatever rankings make it out to be but… that’s just me…</p>
<p>BC is definitely conservative-leaning…</p>
<p>I’d definitely be wary of UCs/Berkley just given the nature their current budget issues… But who knows how much of an affect that stuff is having anyway…</p>
<p>Uh let’s think… matches… matches… Well given that you’re in Maryland I’m gonna suggest Hopkins just given the fact that it has incredibly strong Science program, and also quite a fantastic Humanities department as well. This to me is the best of both worlds because you get the Hopkins reputation in the sciences but you’re also getting a great education and attention in the humanities…</p>
<p>@gc14:
-Why do you think so?
-I’m not sure any of those are really matches… maybe Claremont McKenna?
-Swarthmore was the first college I really visited, when they had a junior visit day a while back. It’s a beautiful campus- which I realize more and more when I tour other places- but, well, I dunno. I can only kind-of see myself going there. I don’t really know why…</p>
<p>My cousin in San Fransisco told me that the budget was really hurting UC Berkeley, but I’m waiting on judgement until after I visit :-/</p>
<p>Hopkins… would be great… if it was anywhere but Baltimore…</p>
<p>I guess there just aren’t very many non-LAC matches for me… but I will look into Northwestern, WUStL, and Wesleyan, at least… I think I just need to be less picky.</p>
<p>have you considered Dartmouth at all? It’s big enough for your criteria and relatively excellent. If you want a small LAC with bigger resources and community Amherst is a selective institution with a Consortium agreement which means it both has a wider course selection (from the other schools) and a community of 30000 students in the surrounding area. I’m also curious, which UMD campus are you applying too? (also in MD considering that as a safety and not sure which one to choose)</p>
though I think Boston College might be too religious for me. Thanks so much!</p>
thanks, though!</p>