I’m a rising senior from Colorado looking for a good academics, medium size, decent sports, small class sizes!!
Duke is my #1 and my brother goes there but I know it’s a reach. Also looking at Columbia, WashU, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern but those are all reaches too.
Here are my stats:
ACT: 34 (33E, 35M, 35R, 34S, 29 english/writing 8 on the essay)
GPA: 4.238 Weighted 9/503 rank, 4.0 Unweighted 1/503 rank
EC are nothing spectacular but they are there
Few leadership postitions
Until we get more info (gender? Cost constraints? academic interests?) Here would be the usual responses of other reach type schools based on your list so far: Georgetown, Tufts, Dartmouth. Schools a little more safe academically possibly Clemson, Emory, UVM, Tulane
How small of a school are you willing to consider esp for matches and safeties??
Colgate has “good academics … decent sports, small class sizes.” I’d also consider it medium sized, though other posters might disagree with that. The campus is beautiful. Colgate’s setting, an authentic village/rural combination, is quite different from those of the others on your tentative list.
With your stats I would suggest Notre Dame and Boston College. They are both medium sized schools. Colgate is also an excellent choice. Wake Forest is another.
More info:
I’m an asian girl, undecided about a major but possibly thinking pre-med or pre-law or something in science and a minor in journalism, cost isn’t much of a factor since my parents pay for Duke for my brother and are willing to pay that much for me also but scholarships would be nice, also I don’t want a school so small it feels like high school again (my high school has around 2000)
Thanks so much for all the help so far!!
Your unweighted GPA is what matters, not your unweighted rank.
If it doesn’t matter about financial aid, the list of reaches you have is good. Just add in a couple safeties and maybe some match schools. Colorado State, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Oregon, NYU, Penn State. Be a little flexible with size (including larger schools) because finding a tight knit community at a large university is not that difficult at all.
Many of the schools on your list don’t seem to have big athletics…perhaps also think about BC, Villanova (has non-binding early action), Tulane (also has non-binding early action), Dartmouth (another reach), Gtown (also a reach), Lehigh to name a few.
Bucknell and Holy Cross. Holy Cross has great science programs(pre-med is fantastc). HC has strongest sports traditions of the top liberal arts schools and is building a $100 million sports complex, Trivia-Holy Cross won the 1947 NCAA basketball tourney. Like Duke, HC HAS STRONG ALUMNI NETWORK and plays in the Patriot League. HC fields 26-28 varsity sports.
Note that a college with 2,000 students - and a real campus, with many buildings, dorms, athletic facilities, labs, student center, etc. - would NOT feel like a high school that has 2,000 students.