Hello!
Although I am in the HS graduating class of 2018, I want to get a tentative list of colleges I would consider applying to for visiting sake throughout the school year. My list so far (in no particular order) is:
University of Michigan (in state)
Michigan State University (in state)
Spelman College (HBCU)
Georgetown University
University of Miami
University of Southern California
Recommendations at schools to add would be helpful
To give some insight:
Currently, I am interested in going on a pre-med track and Spanish, and am so far pretty set on both of those, but we’ll have to see what happens in the future. I’m not looking at many OOS public schools because the money isn’t there for scholarships.
Although I have pretty competitive stats for some of the more competitive schools, I don’t want to fill my list with of a bunch of HYP equivalents because the admissions process ends up being a crap shoot. Since all of the schools listed above have non-binding early programs (except USC, but you do have to apply early to get considered for merit aid), I would most likely apply to all of those early and see how the process went, and then decide if it is worth applying to more top 20s (so recommend them anyway!)
With the exception of my state schools, I want a school size ranging from 8000-20000. Weather isn’t an issue coming from Michigan. I want the student body to be generally liberal (especially to people of color), and for African Americans populations to make up a good amount of the student population if its a PWI (more than 5%). Minority prominence would be a nice factor on campus also (I’m a black female). Ability to graduate in 4 years with a double major/major and minor, not a super competitive environment academically, strong academics, are also important factors. I also need to be in some sort of big college town or a major city. I went to a camp at UMich for 7 weeks last summer and loved all of the different festivities going on all of the time and always being able to go somewhere new. To give you an idea, Wake Forest University’s campus and surrounding area is the exact opposite of the environment I’m looking for.
I appreciate any insight given! I have been searching through colleges lists and struggling to find more schools that I think would be a good fit for me. Thanks in advance to anyone that comments!