I've gotten to the point where it's really hard to differentiate mid-high tier colleges and figure out which schools have the strongest programs in what I'd like to study when they all seem very similar overall. I'm hoping some of you might have a few names of schools I could look into as safeties or matches (I'm getting to the point where most of my applications are to reach colleges) which seem to match up with what I'm looking for.
Here's some general information about my preferences—if a couple things remind you of something off the top of your head, please tell me!
As for where I'm standing academically, I'll just say that the only two schools on my list my counselor considers safeties for me are William & Mary and Case Western. I'd rather not post all my stats publicly, but if they'll help you help me then send me a PM.
Intended major: Chemistry
Prefer smaller schools (that said, would be open to small- to mid-size research universities). Going to a school of 20,000 or more is probably out of the question for me.
Open to both liberal arts (leaning towards this) or research schools
Prefer not to freeze, but hey, there's a lot of nice colleges up north
Environment: not a huge issue, but would rather be out of the way than in the middle of a city. ex. I liked Williams a lot.
Don't want a school with a dominating fraternity presence (ex. Washington and Lee)
I'll add more if it seems pertinent. Thanks in advance!
edit: added stats, hopefully that helps
Stats
Test scores: 2190 SAT (will be getting more scores tomorrow) SAT 2: 800 Math 2, 800 chem, 800 us history ACT: 36 (31 essay with writing) PSAT: 230 (national merit semifinalist) AP: 7 (2 sophomore, 2 junior, 3 senior). So far 5s on chem, compsci, BC calc, APUSH
GPA: 4.16 (my school inflates a lot, that's a mid-range GPA) School doesn't rank
Extracurriculars: Relatively unusual primary interest (birds, for about 7 years) with relevant internship, summer programs, reports, started bird club at school, etc. cello for 8 years, various orchestras, music supplement Just 40 hours of volunteering so far Student admin for school's Linux lab French National Honor Society
All of the good Tier 1 research universities are Xbox hueg or retardedly expensive AND xbox hueg, and you're going to want a good research school if you want to do anything at all with your Chem degree. They can set you up with internships and TA/research assistant gigs easy.
Also, where the fuck do you live? You listed W&M and Case Western, but those are in different states. Out of state tuition is a bitch, even with kickass scholarships, and there are a bunch of quality state schools all over the place.
As far as finding an institution without a significant frat presence, GL; they're everywhere for a reason.
Why? No one knows who you are here. The insecurity is astounding.
You sound like a University of California at San Diego student.
I feel like the thread would then turn all judgemental
look what happened to poor Chocolate
On October 23 2013 09:49 HolyExlxF wrote: All of the good Tier 1 research universities are Xbox hueg or retardedly expensive AND xbox hueg, and you're going to want a good research school if you want to do anything at all with your Chem degree. They can set you up with internships and TA/research assistant gigs easy.
Also, where the fuck do you live? You listed W&M and Case Western, but those are in different states. Out of state tuition is a bitch, even with kickass scholarships, and there are a bunch of quality state schools all over the place.
As far as finding an institution without a significant frat presence, GL; they're everywhere for a reason.
I'm in VA. I'll narrow down schools by financial aid after I have a list.
UVA and VTech are no-brainers. Public and highly active and respected research universities that constantly rank in the top 10 in the nation (that includes Ivy Leagues, BTW). Because of this, however, be aware that their academics are stringent. However, as W&M is an estimated "safe" school, you should be up for it.
VTech is on the larger side, with about 24000 undergrads, but UVA fits the kind of size you're looking for. The only downside of UVA is Richmond. Kind of like Ga Tech and Atlanta, on campus and immediate vicinity is fine, but some of the city can be seedy. Not dangerous like Mexico City dangerous, but you wouldn't want to walk around during a new moon at 3 AM.
Yeah everybody hated me after posting my stats. I agree that you should just PM people that are curious. I also whined a lot, though, so that probably contributed. I kind of disagree that I was uninformed, though.
There is a LAC in my state called Centre, which might be worth checking out. It is in a small, quaint town called Danville, which I liked. It's not huge but not painfully small. There are fraternities and the school is about 50% greek, but from what I know it defintely DOES NOT conform to the stereotypes of a fratbroski Smirnoff-for-breakfast greek scene. There is still drinking there, but I don't think greeks are necessarily dominant socially. I don't know if you care about how well a school is regarded but iirc it is like the 50th ranked LAC. It is not that hard to get in to; it should be no problem for you. You might even be able to get their full ride scholarship. Research might be hard to come by, however.
To be honest I think I read some study that the more rural a college was, the more likely it was that drinking would be a campus-wide problem. I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with drinking, but if you don't like fraternities then I can guess that you don't like drinking. I guess I'm saying this so that you realize that it may be hard to find an out-of-the-way LAC that also has the social scene you are looking for.
I'm sure if you are looking at LACs you have heard of vassar, swarthmore, etc. There is also this cool school called Olin (in MA) that is a weird kind of LAC- everybody studies engineering. Unfortunately, the closest thing to a chem degree is either a materials science degreee or a bioengineering degree, but I'm sure that the bioengineering degree especially would allow you to get to wherever you want to go (whether that be an MS, MD, teaching position, etc.) in a variety of subjects. It's a really interesting school. It has a lot of quirks like no tenure, everybody gets 1/2 of tuition paid for (though if everyone gets it it's kind of like there is no original tuition anyway), and they publish the average starting salaries of their graduates and they tend to get paid pretty well. It might be a good match.
On October 23 2013 09:39 catplanetcatplanet wrote: ... I've gotten to the point where it's really hard to differentiate mid-high tier colleges and figure out which schools have the strongest programs in what I'd like to study when they all seem very similar overall....!
That's because they really aren't different; they're going to be about the same.
I sort of hate to say it, but unless there is a really good financial reason for it, vtech/uva/william and mary are all good schools and going to be your best bet.
liberal arts I have no idea about but uva and william and mary should be fine; vtech I assume too but generally that's more engineering. The school culture is also going to be hit and miss, people may think uva is too snooty or preppy or whatever but honestly you will go through college and not have to worry about the culture of 90% of the school, you just find people/things/whatever that you like and hang out there.
though I guess are you from nova or other parts of virginia? Guess you don't have to answer but even things like george mason can be a good idea (I knew a guy who got some merit scholarship thing there that was a nice package), really all the public schools in va are going to fine.
people on tl will know plenty about vtech at least, I assume uva and some w&m too. I went to high school in nova so plenty of people I know went to those places (but I cannot answer any good questions about how they are overall besides "eh people seem to like it enough").
edit: oh I'm dumb about liberal arts school vs research school, didn't pay attention to OP enough
thank you everyone for the feedback so far! I might post more detailed stats later.
Another thing—I'd like to have a place to store my cello and it would be great if the school subsidizes music lessons for nonmajors (been playing since 4th grade). So if you know any schools with decent music programs as well I would appreciate hearing about them.
do you intend to do a PhD in chemistry sometime down the road? a bachelors in chemistry is honestly pretty useless so unless you're pre-med or intend to do research I have no idea why'd you'd be interested in the degree
do you intend to do a PhD in chemistry sometime down the road? a bachelors in chemistry is honestly pretty useless so unless you're pre-med or intend to do research I have no idea why'd you'd be interested in the degree
hopefully yes! I do intend to do research but I agree there's little I can do with just a BS in chem
undergrad ~prestige~ is nearly a non-factor with respect to chemistry grad program admissions. the most important thing is undergrad research experience (its pretty much mandatory tbh. also, if you get very strong recommendation letters from a research advisor/advisors you get 100% guaranteed admission to any top 5 chemistry program. the admissions procedures for graduate programs seems far more consistent than those of undergrad programs).
I would really advise picking a school where you can get as much scholarship $wag (state school v. good in this regard), debt is a bitch.
do you intend to do a PhD in chemistry sometime down the road? a bachelors in chemistry is honestly pretty useless so unless you're pre-med or intend to do research I have no idea why'd you'd be interested in the degree
surely it can't be that bad, but I guess it depends on specialization of chemistry. I'd assume inorganic chemistry has enough industry related jobs with a bachelor degree (like waste forms/vitrification, um metallic chemistry, etc etc).
you could sell your soul to the petroleum industry and make $$$ if you want :p
well I guess this counts as "chemical engineering" more, I don't know the field. I'd hazard to guess orgo is more the pre-med/other routes.
On October 23 2013 13:31 419 wrote: undergrad ~prestige~ is nearly a non-factor with respect to chemistry grad program admissions. the most important thing is undergrad research experience (its pretty much mandatory tbh. also, if you get very strong recommendation letters from a research advisor/advisors you get 100% guaranteed admission to any top 5 chemistry program. the admissions procedures for graduate programs seems far more consistent than those of undergrad programs).
I would really advise picking a school where you can get as much scholarship $wag (state school v. good in this regard), debt is a bitch.
I'll second what 419 is saying: the only thing a Chemistry degree sets you up for is grad school. Also, be careful that those liberal arts schools aren't only offering a BA in Chemistry. That shouldn't even exist, but somehow it does.
EPT
