LACs for my stats?

College Search & Lists
1

<p>I’m looking for matches and reaches.</p>

<p>Not really interested in the mid-west schools or the CMK Colleges.</p>

<p>Stats</p>

<p>Male from CA Public School
Ethnicity: Half Asian/Half White</p>

<p>UW GPA – 3.75
Weighted GPA – 4.1 or 4.2 not sure (but I’ve taken most of the AP courses at my school)</p>

<p>Upward trend in grades… Both semesters of Junior year I had a 4.0 UW + 3 Weighted AP/Honors Classes. </p>

<p>Course Load – Most rigorous</p>

<p>Top 4 or 5% Class of 300 </p>

<p>SAT (breakdown) 710 Math 760 CR 780 Writing (2250) (one sitting) </p>

<p>SAT II 730 Lit 760 Math II </p>

<p>5 AP Bio 5 AP Eng Lang</p>

<p>Senior Course Load: AP Physics B (Highest offered), AP Calculus AB (Highest Offered) AP Eng Lit, AP Government/Macro/Micro Economics, AP Statistics</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Varsity Basketball 9-12 (team captain 11-12)
Baseball 9-10 and 12 (Varsity 10 and 12)
Key Club (9-10)
Officer Interact Club (11-12) – key club was discontinued… people aren’t very active
CSF (11-12)
Scholar Athlete
Regional Finalist PTSA Reflections Contest Digital Arts and Photography (10 and 11)
AVID Program Official Tutor (over 100 hours)
Officer in the Tutoring Club at our school</p>

<p>Fall Semester Biomedical Engineering Internship at a nationally known research center in my county.</p>

<p>100+ hours volunteering for local basketball camps, in which I help train kids. Camps involved with the school varsity team, and assistant trainer for the basketball academy program in our city.</p>

<p>Another 100+ working at events around the county as involved with the school clubs, along with things I chose to do on my own… Includes tutoring at youth centers, volunteering at hospitals, and working at local senior homes.</p>

<p>Unique interests… though I plan to major in something that has to do with Biology and pre-med, I am very interested in Digital Arts and have participated/won many contests over my time in high school.</p>

<p>Conclusion</p>

<p>Overall… I only know a lot about national universities and the UCs and would like to learn more about top LACs. Tell me anything you think would be a match/reach and anything you know about these respective colleges.</p>

<p>If you know national universities that I would have a chance at getting into besides the UCs, I would like to know that as well.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>With LACs, fit is of utmost importance. What are you looking for in a college?</p>

3

<p>By “CMK Colleges” I assume you mean the Claremont Colleges (not just Claremont McKenna which is one of the Claremont Colleges). If you rule out Pomona, and Carleton in Minnesota, then the most selective remaining LACs are in New England (Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Bowdoin) and the Mid-Atlantic (Swarthmore, Haverford). Typically they are in rural or suburban settings (Wesleyan being one exception). They generally are politically liberal but also tend to attract a fair number of preppies and athletes. In Vermont (Middlebury), Maine (Bowdoin), or New Hampshire (Dartmouth if you consider it a LAC), you will face especially cold winters. </p>

<p>A few good LACs or small universities are in the south (such as Wake Forest, Davidson, and William and Mary.) These schools may be a little more conservative and Greek-oriented (fraternities, sororities).</p>

<p>Among east coast LACs, good match schools for your stats might include Bates, Colby, Trinity College, Connecticut College, Colgate, Hamilton, Gettysburg College, and a few others (depending on what you’re looking for). </p>

<p>Swarthmore is one of very few small liberal arts colleges that has an engineering program. Many other LACs have “3+2” cooperative programs with larger schools that offer engineering.</p>

<p>If you are used to California weather, you don’t want to freeze your tail off, and you are interested in engineering, consider Swarthmore. If pre-med, then add Haverford (quite small, but in a consortium with Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore) or one of the southern schools. If you don’t care about weather, you’ve got lots of options. Amherst is not only one of the tip-top LACs, but it’s in a 5 college consortium which means much broader course selections than a single LAC can offer.</p>

4

<p>Thanks a lot for that detailed answer!</p>

<p>I enjoy a liberal setting that isn’t too rebellious, but I love an intellectually stimulating environment. </p>

<p>I’m not sure how I feel about a cold winter, but I don’t think that would deter me too much from a particular school… Being from Hawaii and CA, I might want to try that out.</p>

<p>If I chose to go to a LAC, I wouldn’t want to go to the tiniest of schools. I would like a decent sized community, but also one that is close knit (know peers, professors etc.) I would also require the education to be at the level of the top 25 national universities (Berkeley is one of my top choices for NUs). </p>

<p>Also, how does the prestige factor into getting jobs? I know that national universities are more well-known… does this affect job opportunities, graduate school opportunities… etc?</p>

<p>What about Reed College in Oregon?</p>

5

<p>Biased perspective: top 25 NUs = top 25 LACs. Educational philosophies may differ, but quality does not.</p>

<p>Prestige can be a factor in job opportunities straight out of undergrad, except at regional large companies. Grad school placement is often better at LACs.</p>

<p>Oberlin, Vassar, Wesleyan, Bucknell are some larger LACs. The first three are very liberal and maybe too “rebellious” for you. Reed is along the same lines.</p>

6

<p>Well isn’t Berkeley considered extremely liberal as well? I like the atmosphere there. I don’t really know what I meant by “too liberal or rebellious”. </p>

<p>So can you tell me what the overall life is like living/going to a LAC compared to that of the common experience at a large national university with strong sports (UCB, UCLA)?</p>

7

<p>By extremely liberal, think Berkeley the town (city?) back in the 70s and 80s. Check out the Wes/Vassar/Oberlin forums.</p>

<p>An LAC is much more intimate than a university. Close professor interaction and no TAs, knowing a majority of the people you pass on campus, being able to walk the entire campus (nothing like UMich or UT-Austin in physical campus size). Some people feel that it’s too much like high school or too stiflingly small. I can’t speak for sports, since a school with ZERO varsity sports gets a bump up in my book.</p>

8

<p>What LAC did you go to? No sports is definitely a down-side for me – and I wouldn’t like it to be similar to my high school (1300 students).</p>

<p>What are admissions like? Is it nearly as competitive as national universities? Or, instead of being competitive, is it just extremely selective?</p>

9

<p>^It’s less “competitive” but extremely selective in that they are really looking for “fit”.</p>

10

<p>I’m a rising senior, so I haven’t attended any LAC yet–but I’m making my choices with the minor criteria of minimal sports influence. My high school is 1000 students and that’s my bottom limit on size, but 1500-2000 is my ideal size. My priorities are different from yours, obviously; I abhor most national universities. And I despise football.</p>

<p>In any case, if you want sports, don’t apply to Reed. They are very liberal and very life-of-the-mind academic. There are no varsity teams, only club.</p>

11

<p>Might look at Holy Cross-very good LAC located near Boston. Holy CROSS has 2900 students and strong pre-med program with new science center.</p>

12

<p>Thanks, par. I think I could deal without sports, actually. Maybe it would help me live a different type of lifestyle.</p>

13

<p>your stats are fine. Apply to Wesleyan.</p>

14

<p>dkwunw, johnwesley is biased but you know, even a stopped clock is right twice a day. In your case, Wesleyan is probably worth a close look for a couple of reasons. One, it’s a little bigger than most other LACs. Two, it has one of the best film programs in the county, which might speak to your interest in “digital arts”. It’s the kind of place where sports is something you could take or leave (there if you want them, but not overwhelmingly dominant in student life.) It is very selective, but not quite the crap shoot that a top Ivy would be. It’s in a 4-season climate but not Maine or Vermont, freeze-your-snot-into-popsicles kinda cold. The food and housing is good. Outside the northeast it’s not so famous, but anybody in New England or anyone who really knows colleges should have heard of Wesleyan.</p>

15

<p>William & Mary, Rice , Davidson would be good ones for you to research.</p>

16

<p>Also Dartmouth if it’s not already on your list. (Not an LAC, I know, but reasonably LAC-like and fits your sports criteria.)</p>

17

<p>Dartmouth is definitely on my list. What’s the difficulty level of getting into the aforementioned LACs compared to Dartmouth?</p>

18

<p>AWS (Amherst/Williams/Swarthmore) are about the same selectivity as Dartmouth, I think–but they care more about fit and interest.</p>

19

<p>So those 4 would be reaches for me… what of the aforementioned LACs are matches for my stats?</p>

20

<p>For Class 0f 2013:</p>

<p>Dartmouth – 12%
Amherst – 15.1%
Swarthmore – 17%
Williams College – 20.6%
UC: Berkeley – 21.6%
Wesleyan – 21.9%</p>