Supplication before the CC oracles

College Search & Lists
21

@lostaccount that was my supposition, but I’m still in the running for a $2,500 award, and confident in myself! I should have articulated the fact that I’m anticipating money from winning the NM scholarship, not being offered some for a finalist spot. Today I learned some schools give you significant money for just being a Finalist.

Thanks for your point on tone, I’ve written it down. I fall into the trap of sounding either clinical or histrionic in writing, so it’ll be a perfect point of focus.

@Dolemite Thank you SO MUCH for these awesome options, they ring with me more than any colleges I’ve seen off my list. Love WashU but have some qualms with some of the professors there. Friend has it high up on his list for a Premed track. I’ll give it more serious consideration. Pitt / Fordham seem much cooler than I gave them credit and BU is a school I’ve had my eyes on. USC is far but must be gorgeous.

I’m with you on the writing thing, I really am in an okay place with my essays.

Hope things are well for you guys, thanks again!

@momofsenior1 I am a longtime UMD fan and wouldn’t lose sleep over going there. I’m thinking about diversifying but I am confident I’ll get into many of the schools on my list.

@SouthernHope That made my day, thank you so much! Judging by the posts of yours I’ve seen you’re a great asset to this site, at the very very least :slight_smile:

@BrianBoiler I appreciate your perspective. I was toying with second-round ED for Chicago, but I need to think on it more. I love what UChicago is about. I’ll look more into colleges that would be willing to hand me lots of money for my National Merit status. Thanks so much!

@Isoinfo Thanks for the tip, I’ve never actually been in the FA/Scholarships section, I’ll check it out right now. At least as of this year, any Semifinalist that sends a complete application by the due date gets Finalist status. They’ve indicated they have my app, so bar some freak occurrence I should be in good standing. I appreciate your words quite a bit, I always have anxiety about my writing voice(s). The way I think about it, I’ve been blessed with the capacity to articulate myself well in at least some contexts, and if college essays don’t end up being one of them so be it. Appreciate your reply so much.

@Dolemite I’m confident of my fit at every school on my shortlist so far: I have family who’ve graduated from there, usually have family/family friends teaching there, know professors at every one, and have close friends at every one. They deserve their high rankings because of the quality of their education. 80% females sounds sweet, females are pretty cool. (And I appreciate your insight there in terms of apps!)

@circuitrider I’ll look into them, thanks, and I don’t doubt the quality of their programs. I don’t like the idea of going to a college as small as my high school in terms of enrollment but I should give them more focus.

@MrSamford2014 Rice is on my radar, and I appreciate you giving me strong selling points. I’d totally be open to Houston, and I love Texas. I’ll look into it some more, thanks a lot.

22

I know you say you’d prefer a school in the NE or mid-Atlantic, but if you’re willing to take a shot at HYP, then you might want to add/substitute Stanford. Check out its neuroscience program. Robert Sapolsky teaches there and FWIW gets some rave reviews on RateMyProfessors (“One of the best teachers in the world.”) Look up his books on Amazon if you aren’t already familiar with them.

23

@tk21769 I have the utmost respect for Stanford but I’m not the biggest Sapolsky fan. The neurosciences faculty is loaded with great minds though (including his) and surely one of the best. Going to Cali just isn’t my thing, maybe for graduate studies.

24

I would definitely look into URochester based on your summary.

25

I like a lot of things about URochester, but they have a scummy professor there close to my area of study!

26

Many CC posters express similar reservations. There definitely are trade-offs
Keep in mind, though, that at a typical selective LAC, you have ~2000 18-22 year olds from all over the country.
This creates a different kind of community than you get at a typical US high school with ~2000 14-18 year olds from the same local neighborhoods.

At some selective universities, the populations in some liberal arts majors aren’t necessarily too much larger than LAC populations. For example, compare the number of math majors graduating in 2016-17 from a few Ivies and top LACs:
33 Wesleyan
26 Swarthmore
23 University of Pennsylvania
13 Oberlin
12 Brown University
Source: IPEDS

Now, the comparison will look different for another set of schools or for another major.
Per IPEDS, UChicago graduated 132 math majors the same year (but apparently zero neuroscience/neurobio majors, compared to Oberlin’s 26).

27

@Dolemite I think the concern over the writing is that the elite colleges already have plenty of super-confident students who use big words when small ones will work. It looks like certain posters were hinting that the OP and his large vocabulary might want to avoid the temptation to join that group.

28

Not what I was hinting. I was alluding to the number of applicants with high stats that mysteriously are denied to the majority of colleges to which they apply. My opinion - and it’s just opinion since the admissions process is shrouded in mystery - is that many of the high stats kids who strike out during the admissions process are in that situation due to an issue with their essays and LoRs. Arrogance and attitude are more of a problem than any specific vocabulary. The kids who least think they need objective review of their essays are the ones that might actually benefit the most from such a review.

29

Some schools that meet your criteria and might be just a tad easier to get into than the ones on your list:

Brandeis,
University of Rochester,
George Washington,
New York University,
Boston University,
Tulane

A bit harder to get into but a match for what you are looking for:
Tufts,
Emory

30

@tk21769 It’s a fair point, and that note on math majors (and applied further) really was new to me. Thanks so much for the perspective, I’m liking a few LACs more now. Wesleyan for example. Thanks so much.

@moooop I know how to write essays! I know how to get books published. I won’t be flaunting my vocabulary / thesaurus use in my essays, I know how poorly it comes off just as well as anyone else.

@milee30 I would bet on the kids who most think they need an objective review of their essays being the ones that would most benefit from one! But anyone’s as much of a pundit in this game.

@TheGreyKing I love this list, I appreciate you a lot. This was right to the point and I like every one of those schools more the more I look. Thanks!