How's this for a list? (and please narrow it!)

College Search & Lists
1

<p>I want to narrow the matches down because application fees are going to be out of control (colgate and colby dont charge through common app though, right?)</p>

<p>Stats</p>

<p>Academics:
Hardest courses available. 7 APs / 9 offered (AP Calc and Physics are no way)</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 3.80
GPA - Weighted: 4.25
Class Rank: top 10%
Class Size: 379</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>SAT I Math: 630
SAT I Critical Reading: 730
SAT I Writing: 650
ACT: 32 (might improve in october)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Significant Extracurriculars: Newspaper (Editor/President/Top Dog :slight_smile: )
Link Crew
National Honors Society
Page at the MN House of Representatives 2007 Session</p>

<p>Work Experience
2004-2006 Pizza Artist
2006 Historical Society
2006-2007 Zumiez sales associate
2007 Lifeguard fulltime for the city</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work: Volunteer at Wildlife Center - 30 hours
Volunteer at Ronald Mcdonald House - 100 hours</p>

<p>Started my own project to benefit AIDS awareness and research</p>

<p>Honors and Awards: Silver Medalist - National Latin Exam
Maxima cum laude - National Junior Classical League</p>

<p>“Reach”
Stanford
Brown
Princeton
Amherst
Columbia</p>

<p>“Match”
Vassar
Bowdoin
Oberlin
Colby
Claremont Mckenna
Colgate
Reed</p>

<p>“Safety”
Pitzer
UT Austin
UofM Twin Cities</p>

<p>I think i want to keep the safeties, hoping for some good financial aid offers</p>

2

<p>Colby, Colgate, and Reed don’t charge if you submit the Common App online.</p>

<p>It’ll be easier to give you advice with more info about what you’re looking for in a school. Which ones do you know you like, and what qualities do you like about them?</p>

<p>One way to narrow down your list: if you got into every one of your matches and had your pick of that list, which ones would you rule out immediately?</p>

3

<p>i like politically active, liberal, hippy ones</p>

<p>that have good snowboarding within reach
and arent too stressful or have people who work really hard at school, because i dont.</p>

<p>and suburban or urban, preferably with an awesome music scene.
but definitely not rural</p>

<p>and id rule out the ones that didnt give me any money…so i cant do it! haha</p>

4

<p>Working off what I know, which for some schools is limited:</p>

<p>Vassar - definitely politically active, liberal. You’ll find hippies if you look. Good snowboarding. Poughkeepsie is a decent-sized city. I know the classical music scene is good there, not sure about other stuff.</p>

<p>Bowdoin and Colby - Both pretty rural, small towns in Maine. Probably good snowboarding.</p>

<p>Oberlin - Small rural town, but 30-45 min. from Cleveland. Amazing music scene, both classical and not. Definitely politically active, liberal, hippie; students I met were laid-back and the academic climate didn’t seem killer competitive. You won’t find good snowboarding, though - Ohio is flat.</p>

<p>Claremont McKenna - Meets the politically active, liberal criteria. I don’t know about the city but I know it’s definitely not rural. I doubt there’s great snowboarding in California.</p>

<p>Reed - Portland is a great city with an awesome music scene. Lots of snowboarding nearby - college has a ski cabin on Mt. Hood. Students are definitely liberal and politically conscious, though there’s not a whole lot of activism. Academic environment is very intense and stressful - everyone has to work hard.</p>

<p>Colgate - don’t know anything about it, sorry.</p>

<p>Hope some of this is helpful.</p>

5

<p>based on what i know of bowdoin admissions over the past few years, i don’t think you can call it a match. it is not as difficult to get into as, say, princeton or stanford, but i think it still may be considered a reach for you, given your scores and ECs. i just saw too many students with more impressive credentials rejected this year and the year before to make me think it’s a match.</p>

6

<p>Ohio isn’t completely flat. There are more than a few places to ski/snowboard.</p>

7

<p>Why don’t you try to narrow down your list of reaches a bit?</p>

<p>As far as I know, Stanford wouldn’t have great snowboarding, although the students there definitely fit your desire of intellectual but laid-back.</p>

<p>Also, about snowboarding, define “within reach”. Because I live in New York City, and I can tell you that good skiing and snowboarding are probably 2-3 hours away by car, somewhere in PA. Also, Columbia might be a bit too stressful for your liking.</p>

8

<p>Also, do you have an idea about what major/field you might want to go into?</p>

9

<p>take off a few matches/reaches and maybe add UVM or CU-Boulder</p>

10

<p>If you like a strong hippie feel, Colgate, Claremont McKenna, and Colby might be too preppy for you. Colgate and CM are both liberal, but preppy. Colby is more conservative. Or at least that’s impression I’ve always gotten.</p>

<p>And I wouldn’t say that you need more safeties. If you have a couple good ones that you know you’ll get into, you really don’t need any more. You’d just be wasting time and money on the applications.</p>

11

<p>I would take off Colgate(I went there, not what you are looking for), Stanford, Princeton and Columbia, and maybe add Tufts.</p>

12

<p>I’d agree with the others, if you want a strong hippy feel, you could probably cut Colby, Colgate, CM (really, Pomona sounds more like what you want), Princeton, and maybe Columbia, Sanford and Amherst. At least cut some of those. </p>

<p>Also, how do you mean “people who work really hard at school?” Because people at all of those schools work hard…If you just mean you don’t want a UChicago/Swarthmore type of intensity, then your choices are fine, except you might want to cut Reed, which is known for being REALLY academically intense. </p>

<p>Another note: I’d consider Vassar, Bowdoin and Claremont Mckenna (or Pomona, definitely) as more reach-y for you (kind of in the low reach/high match category, as opposed to just plain match. Your ECs are great, but your SATs are a little low to call those schools true matches in the current unltra-competitive pool).</p>

13

<p>Columbia will be very tough and honestly it doesn’t seem like its a good fit. Its an incredibly intense school with not much of a music scene or much casual interaction. Colby/ Colgate might be slightly preppy for you. You might want add Wesleyan as a reach.</p>

14

<p>I agree with Weskid. Vassar, Bowdoin, and CMC are a slight reach. It would fit in a middle category between Reach and Match.</p>

<p>As for your last comment, Pitzer is not know for it general financial grants or scholarships. Just to keep that in mind…</p>

15

<p>Very High Reach
Stanford
Brown
Princeton
Amherst
Columbia</p>

<p>High Match
Vassar
Bowdoin</p>

<p>Match
Oberlin
Colby
Claremont Mckenna
Reed
Colgate</p>

<p>“Safety”
Pitzer
UT Austin
UofM Twin Cities</p>

<p>If I were you I would cut back on the high reaches and add a few slight reaches like Tufts, Wesleyan, etc.</p>

16

<p>Just a correction to Quaere’s comment about snowboarding in California - There’s lots of ski and snowboard areas in California’s mountains - including several within a two hour drive of Claremont.</p>

17

<p>With your SAT scores, Claremont McKenna is not a match. From my son’s high school in California, Claremont McKenna is as difficult to get into as Stanford. It’s certainly harder to get into than Colby or Colgate.</p>

<p>Reed sounds like the best fit for you.</p>