What college would be best for me?

kathlit
Sat, 28 Mar 2020 17:59:49 +0000

Hi everybody, I’m struggling to find a college/type of college that would be best suited for me- any type of help is appreciated!

I’m currently a junior in high school, and identify as female

I have pretty strong stats and extracurriculars, but nothing too special- I don’t know if I would get into the big Ivies but my target schools are around the 20-40% acceptance rate

My biggest problem is that I am completely undecided in what I want to do- I would say I am pretty well rounded in all subjects and I’m looking for a college that can let me explore what I want to study, and offers strong departments in both humanities and STEM

I prefer smaller/middle-sized colleges, but I’m still open to larger research universities. I live in Western MA, so I’m looking for somewhere that’s not too far away, but I’m not absolutely crossing out CA schools or other schools that require a plane ride. I’m also a figure skater, and would like to continue the sport in college so I’m looking for a school that has an ice rink nearby- I don’t really care if it’s suburban or urban.

I’m not that socially outgoing, so any type of school that has a heavy party-scene or a large sorority culture isn’t that appealing to me. I also love having intellectual conversations, so I really hope the college I go to has a “quirky” student body.

Lastly, I’d really like a school that has a great financial aid program. My family income is around 175k which isn’t enough for a substantial amount of need-based aid so any schools with merit aid or loan-free programs would be especially appealing to me.

I’m considering liberal art schools like Amherst or Williams, but I also really like the core curriculum aspect of UChicago, and the friendly vibe I got from Duke.

Thank you all so much, again any help is very appreciated!!