Help! What colleges should I be considering?

College Search & Lists
1

I’m an Asian female from Georgia applying to college this fall. I’ve been considering some schools, but I really need help deciding what would be some good safety, target, and reach schools. I’m going to major in business, finance, or economics.

GPA: 4.0 (103.02 Weighted, 98.54 Unweighted)
Class Rank: 1
SAT: 1450 (710 Math, 740 R+W)
AP: 4 (Government), 4 (Human Geography), 3 (Biology); haven’t gotten my scores back for junior year; by graduation, I will have taken the max amount of AP courses at my school (8)
SAT Subject: Will take in August

Extracurricular (basically all are 9-12 grade)

  • Honor Band + local orchestra as a flutist
  • 150+ Volunteering (tutoring, food bank, nursing home, various events)/Beta Club
  • Varsity Swim Team
  • National Finalist for SECME (STEM team)
  • Model UN
  • Secretary for a service club (we planted a garden for our community)
  • National Honor Society

Miscellaneous stuff:

  • Duke TIP (ehh, probably won’t mention in my application, I know it won’t help out a ton)
  • I received the Wellesley College Book Award this year
  • Average income (need financial aid)
  • I’m either going to major in business or finance
  • I have legacy at Emory (sort of, my brother is currently attending)

My school isn’t really known to send students off to very prestigious schools. Most students go to UGA or our local Georgia Southern, or if they’re at the top of the class, they easily attend Georgia Tech. Emory is not as common, but good students still have a likelihood of getting in. There have been rare cases of students going to universities like Northwestern, Vanderbilt, NYU, Chapel Hill, and Syracuse

I’m definitely applying to Emory and Georgia Tech, and I’ve been considering WashU, Wellesley, Boston College,Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, and Davidson but I’m scared that I don’t have any safety schools.

2

For safety, I guess might apply to UGA or Georgia Southern, but I really don’t like their “party school and sports” focus. And they’re just so BIG in terms of enrollment size. I would be really sad and disappointed if I ended up at these schools.

So for colleges I’m looking for, I want to go to a small to mid-sized school (at MOST, 20,000 people) that focuses on my major. I don’t mind if it’s outside of Georgia, and it needs to have decent financial aid. Also, it would be nice to have a good bit of diversity.

3

In terms of LACs, in addition to Wellesley, look into Williams, Middlebury, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Claremont McKenna, Bates et al:

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html

http://blogs.wgbh.org/on-campus/2015/5/5/harvard-business-school-expands-online-initiative-liberal-arts-colleges/

https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/infographics/top-feeders-mba-programs

4

LACs don’t normally have AACSB accredited undergraduate business/finance programs, but they will usually have economics - just keep that in mind as you think about majors. I suggest looking at individual curriculums because often, a Finance program will have you taking introductory level economics courses and often an Economics program can have you taking introductory level finance/accounting courses.

5

@merc81 @philbegas : Honestly it would be nice to get into any LAC, but in my situation, those are some reaches. I’m just wondering if there is a target university (that’s good) that would better fit my credentials? The schools I’m interested in don’t have to be SO small. I mean I could still comfortably attend a 20,000 student school.

6

URichmond?

Overall, though, your credentials will not be a problem for you.

In terms of financial aid, these schools would be some of the most supportive:

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/2016-09-19/colleges-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-need