<p>One very fine example of CC-induced anxiety. Congratulations on your test scores and your grades thus far.</p>
<p>Regarding the science/math grades – anybody reading your transcript will conclude that (1) not bad at all (you did get an SAT-M of 800, after all), but perhaps not your strongest suit and (2) in spite of this imperfection you are not protecting your GPA but continuing to challenge yourself – bonus points for that.</p>
<p>I agree that, with the exception of the most competitive sci/tech schools, you could apply anywhere and have at least the same expectation of success as most other applicants and greater prospects than most applicants at most schools. </p>
<p>If you have a serious interest in linguistics you will find that requiring a major in that field will narrow the list of smaller schools extensively. This could be useful to you in guiding your search but I would suggest you not let it be too much of a filter because it would exclude schools that might otherwise be very suitable for you. And it is well known that intended majors change frequently over the course of one’s college experience</p>
<p>Look up the list of National Merit Scholarship schools in the CC National Merit Scholarship forum – quite a few offer very generous “automatic scholarships” to NMF’s. (Be sure to send your SAT results to NMSC.) If you aren’t strongly opinionated about where to go then cheap might be a good enticement. At any rate I would suggest you include at least one probable high merit-aid school that you like on your list as a “safety”.</p>
<p>Have you visited any schools in your area to help sharpen your opinions? Try to visit examples of small, large, urban, and smaller-town schools and get a feel for what you prefer. When you visit, try to factor out the serendipitous factors – like whether or not you liked your guide – and focus on the more pervasive ones. It is difficult to give you suggestions without a little more information about your preferences.</p>