<p>I am an international student who hails from Saudi Arabia, and I will have studied in the States by the time I graduate from school. I have an interest in liberal arts colleges, so I am considering majoring in philosophy and mathematics before going to a professional school. </p>
<p>I have an almost perfect GPA (Almost 100%), great ACT score (34) and even greater recommendation letters, but an average SAT Subject Tests scores (Math Level I: 510, physics : 600). And about extracurricular activities, I have been the captain for three different teams since my freshman year, the school candidate for the physics olympiad and a member of the math team. Outside the borders of the school, I am a human rights activist (And soon to be an animal-rights activist), I am in a professional soccer tea and occasionally a political columnist. </p>
<p>Factors: </p>
<ul>
<li>Brilliant philosophy courses and flexibility to attend non-philosophical courses.</li>
<li>Must be private. </li>
<li>Beautiful campus and great environment for studying (Like that of Middlebury) </li>
<li>I don’t mind rural towns like Williamstown, I find these an advantage, to be perfectly honest. </li>
<li>I would love it if the school offers a halal food program for Muslim students. </li>
<li>Financing is not a problem, so a financial aid is not needed. </li>
<li>“Dorms like palaces.” </li>
<li>This is not important, but a small population of Arabian students would be pleasant. </li>
</ul>
<p>I am mainly interested in Amherst, Middlebury, Williams (Knowing that I have a small chance of getting accepted, but I am still applying). </p>
<p>Suggest you declare Philosophy as your major when you apply to colleges.
Your Math SAT I is very low for a math major.
You should take the Math II as an indicator of your math readiness for college level courses.</p>
<p>I am not really sure of math as a second major. Political economy and astrophysics seem more interesting to me, but I will have to talk with the Saudi Arabian Cultural Commission since it is the responsible office for scholarships, and it puts rules on what you choose for majors. </p>
<p>And I have to say that this score does NOT reflect my performance and level in math, having a limited time to solve a math test is probably the reason why I have a low score.</p>
<p>Try searching for the Muslim Student Association national page and see if they offer suggestions. Perhaps Pomona and Wesleyan, also Dartmouth. Macalester has a large international population, and will be an easier admit, but isn’t a rural school. Grinnell?</p>
<p>Rather than astrophysics and political economy, look at the more general physics and political science.</p>
<p>A backup for halal dining would be a school that offers kosher meals.</p>
<p>You wont find a large muslim or arab student group at most US colleges, except perhaps the famous large prestigious state flagships like Michigan, UNC, UCLA etc. Among liberal arts colleges, there will be some muslims and arabs, but often few in number. And there will be lots of christians and jews and some hindus and buddhists. </p>
<p>Rural is fine and I get that for your experience. But urban is not necessarily bad. </p>
<p>I am not looking for a large percentage of Arabs or Muslims (I don’t need the latter), I am just looking for schools that have, at least, a club for Arabs. I found that in Williams, but I am not really sure about Amherst and Middlebury. </p>
<p>And I am willing to be a double major as stated above, but I am not really certain about the second major since I am mostly considering my options in regards to the college. For example, if Williams, it would be philosophy and political economy, If Amherst, it would be philosophy and political science, and so on! </p>
<p>Macalester seems like a perfect choice with their acceptance rate, this will be my second choice after AMW. </p>
<p>And again, I am not bad in math. I just have something for standardized tests that cannot be diagnosed. </p>
<p>Regarding the kosher meals, I come from a denomination that prohibits eating any meats except those which are slaughtered in the Islamic way (Halal).</p>
<p>“Regarding the kosher meals, I come from a denomination that prohibits eating any meats except those which are slaughtered in the Islamic way (Halal).”</p>
<p>Then you need to identify places where you will be able to eat the food, or where you can live off campus and cook for yourself. If you are on campus, how happy will you be with a meat-free diet for four years? It may be worth your time to discuss the food issue with your spiritual leader before you take this much further.</p>
<p>Running out of time on standardized tests can be due to a number of things. If you have consistently had difficulties with them, you should have this checked out. Some possibilities that spring to mind include: poor exam strategies, exam induced anxiety, non-native language skills in English, and dyslexia-like processing issues. There are others. If your school has an educational psychologist on staff, sit down with that person and do your best to sort this out before you leave for college.</p>
<p>As you can see, not a lot of dining rooms in the US accomodate Halal dining. But after your first year, most schools will allow you to adopt partial meal plans so you can cook either in your dorm part of the time or, if you move off campus, in your apartment. But first year will be a bit of a challenge unless you are vegetarian. The more rural a school is, the less likely it is to have access to any halel eating establishments.</p>
<p>This is somewhat dated (last updated in 2006), but I believe Middlebury still offers Halal dining options to students three days a week. You can contact the school to make sure.</p>
<p>Occidental is another LAC in the Los Angeles area, more in the suburbs. I don’t know if there’s a significant population of Arab students there, but certainly there is in the greater Los Angeles area. Caltech, which is maybe 10 miles away, offers halal dining.</p>
<p>Not a LAC, not rural, and not a safety or match, but Tufts also has a large international population and halal food.</p>
<p>Middlebury is such a perfect school, it provides everything I do need, in addition to the environment that surrounds the campus. So it will be my first choice; applying ED II. And I checked that site before, it looked old and outdated, so it left me feeling suspicious. </p>
<p>And again, colleges in major cities are not preferred. (Except for Boston University, since I am listing it as a not-so-safe safety.) </p>
<p>Anyway, I came up with this initial list: </p>
<p>Amherst
Middlebury (ED II)
Williams
Macalester
Vassar
Boston U
And two other safeties. </p>
<p>I know that my list is irrational, but if I get into one of these five colleges, I will be more than satisfied.</p>