Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

Just out of curiosity, what are some of the best colleges to gain an undergraduate education at? I recall someone posting a list of the top 10, but I can't seem to find it through searching; I remember seeing both Carleton and Princeton on the list. Please enlighten me...

By Barrons (Barrons) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 06:22 pm: Edit

I don't think there is any reputable list. There are way too many variables.

By Savedbythebell7 (Savedbythebell7) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 08:15 pm: Edit

U of Wisconsin.

By Ladybajan (Ladybajan) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 09:18 pm: Edit

The U.S News has a list of the top schools, comprehensive wise. These are the best doctoral schools. It starts with Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, California Institute of Technology, Duke, Stanford, U Penn, Dartmouth, Wash U in St. Louis, and number 11 is Columbia.

By Haon (Haon) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 09:24 pm: Edit

It really depends on what kind of school you're looking for. There aren't really 10 schools that are indisputibly better than any others.

Tell us what you're looking for and we can prob help you out.

By Koopatroopa (Koopatroopa) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 11:45 pm: Edit

Looking mostly for a school that focuses on undergraduate attention and professors that are passionate about what they teach and thus bring it to life.

By May_1 (May_1) on Sunday, January 18, 2004 - 11:54 pm: Edit

Well, heck, I can list off 40 schools like that. We need more details and fewer platitudes about learning. What do YOU want to learn? Where? What size? The variables go on and on.

By Koopatroopa (Koopatroopa) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 01:13 am: Edit

Okay, okay! If you want it like that, I'll make a list of priorities. =)

1. Diverse ethnic student population
2. Studying English Literature, Classical Languages and French.
3. High ranking study abroad opportunities.
4. "Quirky intellectuals" ultimately prevalent.
5. Preferably rural with easy access to a city.
6. Looking to avoid insipid teaching.
7. Predominately liberal.
8. Focus on induvidual attention.
9. Offers the option to take several classes outside of one's major.
10. Generally looking to avoid the far West and South.
11. Doesn't require 3 SAT IIs.
12. Could best prepare someone for graduate studies abroad.

Well, if one cannot work with that, there's nothing much I can do.

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 03:13 am: Edit

That's a good list
What size and selectivity ranking are you looking for?

Overall I'd say some top notch LAC would best fit the bill. That list describes almost every LAC out there. If you're not averse to small schools, I'd look at Macalaster, Carleton, Haverford, Oberlin, Weslyan, Vassar, Bard, and Bodwin. If you want bigger, check out ivies like Brown and Yale or Tufts. Off the top of my head, Oberlin and Weslyan are rural. However, some of these require SAT II's.

If you venture west, there are a lot of great LAC out here. (I'm from Oregon, so we have our fair share of quirky liberal schools). I'd suggest Lewis and Clark, UPS, Pitzer, Pomona, or Stanford.

Check out the princetonreview rankings for overall information. I also recommend the rugg's recommendations and the college finder for more specific information about abroad opportunites and programs. They'll help

By Koopatroopa (Koopatroopa) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 11:07 am: Edit

In terms of size, I'd like to have small, concentrated classes, but I also have this urge to meet many new people. I suppose that the small size + small class route will help me more in the long run.

In terms of selectivity, I'd really prefer a college that looks at personality/creativity through essays and recommendations, rather than being mostly based on numbers. My GPA's about 3.4+ due to insubordination in my younger years, but is accompanied by upward trend. And ACT score will most likely be 30+. As a side note, I'm a URM from rurual Mississippi...so that may influence the adcoms.

By Collegeparent (Collegeparent) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 11:39 am: Edit

Koopatroopa, you need to look at Sarah Lawrence, Bard and Vassar, all outside of NYC -- Other eastern schools you might also look at are Brandeis, Emerson, Middlebury and Skidmore -- Out west, look at Reed in Portland.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 12:48 pm: Edit

Get a hold of a college guide and read up on these schools: Reed, Whitman, Pomona, Hendrix, Grinnell, Millsaps, Bates, Colby, Hamilton, Bowdoin, Macalester, Carleton, Earlham, Beloit, Lawrence U., Occidental.

By Mzhang23 (Mzhang23) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 05:59 pm: Edit

"Doesn't require 3 SAT II's"
That just about rules out a whole bunch of the top undergrad schools for you: Princeton, Yale, Williams, Swarthmore, etc.

By Voigtrob (Voigtrob) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 06:40 pm: Edit

Yea, why should it matter that they require 3 SAT IIs? One morning isn't too much to ask - why not take them? (This assuming you're a junior, because if you're not then its too late to apply to most of these schools anyways)

By Koopatroopa (Koopatroopa) on Monday, January 19, 2004 - 08:24 pm: Edit

Well, you see, it's all about the courses offered at my school. We only have a very limited amount of AP/in-depth classes offered at my school. Thus meaning I'd fail these tests miserably.

I'm self studying for a few of them with the little time I have left in the school year and If I pull it off, I'll take them. If this is the case, I'd be the first person in the entire school's history to take SAT IIs. (Just to help you get a better picture of the area)

Please understand that what you would consider one mere morning would be months of intense studying and cramming for me.

On a side note, would tests taken at the very beginning of senior year count? I hopefully will be attending a summer program that'll help me tremendously.

By Haon (Haon) on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 04:50 pm: Edit

It's worth trying...you can take writing and math w/out having very in-depth courses in those subject and without studying too much...then you only have to study for one more. I think you can take the SAT IIs at the beginning of your senior year.

Assuming you take three SAT IIs i'd recommend Carleton, Oberlin, Williams, Swarthmore, and Wesleyan.

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 07:17 pm: Edit

SAT II's are intended to test the knowledge of a subject after one year of basic study. In other words, regular chemistry, not AP chemistry. There are some good books and study programs out there that probably would not be so time consuming. You also have nothing to lose. If it turns out you do poorly on them, you're no worse off than if you didn't do them at all.

By deciding not to take SAT II you are cutting yourself off from many excellent schools, unless you don't want to go that selective anyways.

Another alternative is to take the ACT instead of SAT I's and three SAT II's

By Argilospsychi (Argilospsychi) on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 07:19 pm: Edit

"On a side note, would tests taken at the very beginning of senior year count? I hopefully will be attending a summer program that'll help me tremendously. "

yes
all schools will accept SAT's taken before their appplication deadline, and many accept all the way up to Jan or Febuary test.

By Mzhang23 (Mzhang23) on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 07:44 pm: Edit

I took the SAT II's in Bio, US History, and Chem while taking the regular non-AP courses and earned a 790, 800, and 780. The SAT II's do not go that in-depth; a regular course can cover all the material easily. Tack on a lot of studying and you should end up with a high score.

Writing should be taken by everyone, as should Math I/IIC. You really have a lot of options when a school requires 3 SAT II's only. Most people who apply to the top schools have usually taken far more.

By Koopatroopa (Koopatroopa) on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 - 08:38 pm: Edit

"Another alternative is to take the ACT instead of SAT I's and three SAT II's"

Yeah, I've been focusing on that instead.

By Haon (Haon) on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - 02:15 pm: Edit

The SAT IIs really aren't that bad...I took the SATII writing and SATII Math IIC before I took AP classes in either math or english and I got 800s in both w/out really studying more than an hour or so. I'd recommend taking them and seeing how you do.

By Arcadia (Arcadia) on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - 03:08 pm: Edit

if you're interested in languages and English lit, then Middlebury should be on your list...

By Stanfordrulez (Stanfordrulez) on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 04:55 am: Edit

If I had a chance, I'd LOVE to go to the following schools [maybe in someother life!!!]:
Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, CalTech, Columbia, Cornell, Berkeley and umm... Thats it
Hehe... That looks like a very very impressive list, doesn't it?!
[YAY! At least I'm going to one of those!]

By Stanfordrulez (Stanfordrulez) on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 04:57 am: Edit

Though MIT is awesome, I don't think I'd want to go there for my undergrad-- the environment wasn't very nice.... Long, endless concrete corridors.... Yuck.
But yeah, for research, nothing beats it.

By Ooga (Ooga) on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 08:40 am: Edit

I CANNOT BELIEVE no one has yet mentioned the University of Chicago!

"1. Diverse ethnic student population
2. Studying English Literature, Classical Languages and French.
3. High ranking study abroad opportunities.
4. "Quirky intellectuals" ultimately prevalent.
5. easy access to a city.
6. Looking to avoid insipid teaching.
7. Predominately liberal.
8. Focus on induvidual attention.
9. Offers the option to take several classes outside of one's major.
10. Generally looking to avoid the far West and South.
11. Doesn't require 3 SAT IIs.
12. Could best prepare someone for graduate studies abroad. "

The Above Stats DEFINE Chicago at every level. Geez.

By Haon (Haon) on Friday, January 23, 2004 - 08:40 pm: Edit

#5 is prevalently rural (which UChicago is not), and Chicago has a very strict Core...so at Chicago it's probably harder than most schools to take classes outside of one's major (#9). However, I agree that UChicago fits the requirements mostly.

By Ooga (Ooga) on Saturday, January 24, 2004 - 10:02 pm: Edit

Dear Haon,

With all due respect, I realize that UChicago is not prevalently rural. If you notice, in my list, I had already slyly taken out the "rural." Moreover, the CORE qualifies as a collection of classes outside of one's major, unless that major is a classical liberal arts education.[Unlikely]

By Reidmc (Reidmc) on Sunday, January 25, 2004 - 02:36 pm: Edit

In general, LAC campuses are not terribly diverse. But given your interests, an LAC would likely be a good school choice. And your URM status will definitely help you at LACs.

I'd definitely take the ACT or SAT II first semester senior year. SAT IIs are another story, based on the specific test and how recently you have studied it. ACT is a good idea, but your result may suffer some from the level of your high school instruction. Of course that may be the case too, for SAT IIs. (You might want to post a question about which tests to take and when to take them on the Testing or Parents board here.) Also, check out the score report options on these tests. You can elect to keep your ACT scores private and then send reports to schools if you are satisfied with the score, instead of having them automatically sent. Not sure what the story is on SAT Is and IIs. If you do significantly better on the ACT or the SAT combo you may want to only submit the best.

Finally, there are schools that do not require standardized tests (or specific standardized tests) in admissions. Check the website fairtest.org and confirm policies on individual schools' websites. However, my bet is that you could do well on the tests.

You are clearly a smart kid. Given your background LACs will give you individual admissions consideration and I think you can be admitted to some very good schools. Keep the grade trend pointing up, study for the tests and start doing some homework on the individual schools listed above. I'd check them all out and would add Kenyon and Lawrence (not too diverse, but great teachers in your areas of interest) to your list.

Good luck.

By Flowagal13 (Flowagal13) on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 04:37 pm: Edit

I took the SAT II's in Bio, US History, and Chem while taking the regular non-AP courses and earned a 790, 800, and 780.

Hoorah! you are so special! :-)