Applying To Colleges

[Psychic Octopus]

Congrats, Xahar!! Go Terps! 

[Psychic Octopus]

So, I just noticed that there will be a lot of avatar changes. EMD to Oregon, Xahar to Maryland, Simfan to Illinois or New York, Lief to New York, Verin to Maryland or New York,  Klecly to West Virginia, and potentially Ben to DC, Massachusetts, or New York.  Wow.

[Psychic Octopus]

You and me are applying to similar schools, A-Bob, though I'm more West Coast focused, and I'm not applying to Tufts, Brown, Richmond, W&M, or MIT. If you want to study International Relations, you should definitely put Johns Hopkins on your list. The school's got a top five program, and since you aren't pre-med, it's easier to get in, and you get more attention from your professors.

BTW, has anyone here ever applied to Rice? I'm kind of interested in it. It has a residential college system like Yale, and seems to have great quality of life.

[Psychic Octopus]

I applied and got into Rice, but didn't go. A few of my friends go there though. The quality of life is probably one of the best of all undergrad schools, from what I've read/been told. Seems like they have a tradition to celebrate nearly every day.

I recently learned that it is ridiculously small -- only about 3500 undergrads. That's even smaller than Dartmouth...

I also have heard that it is somewhat easier to get in out-of-state, as the school is inflated with Texans. Would you happen to know if that's true?

[Psychic Octopus]

NiK, I've known a couple of people who went to Rice and they loved it. Two girls from my graduating class are going there in the fall.

Well, that's good to know. Unfortunately, I'll probably end up not being able to visit it due to its distance from everywhere else I am applying. Ah well.

I'm actually considering applying to Reed as well; I recently read more about the school, and I liked the "intellectual" culture it seems to have. I'm not sure if it fits me, though. And I'm not sure if I could handle the workload of it. Portland is awesome, though, so that would be nice.

I recently visited the Claremont Colleges and USC. I was sort of neutral on USC; the campus was nice, but didn't like the neighborhood around it. I also don't know how I'd be able to reconcile my dislike of Trojan football. The Claremont Consortium schools were nice, but I think I'd probably get bored in the area eventually. The suburb seemed boring, but I really liked the campus.

Saw Stanford for the first time as well, too. I loved it. I had to leave convincing myself I didn't have a shot in hell of getting in, since I didn't cure cancer or travel to Uganda and capture Kony. There's always grad school, though.

[Psychic Octopus]

No clue, but I do know that UCLA enters you as pre-political science when you arrive, and that after two years, they require you to petition to actually get into the major. I read that a long time ago, though, so I am unsure. I do know that UCSD is ranked higher at the graduate level for IR, but that hardly matters, I'm sure.

If you are highly interested in international affairs and are looking at LA-area colleges, why not Occidental College? It has a pretty cool program in which you get to intern at the UN, and as far as I know, is reputed to be fantastic in the subject.

[Psychic Octopus]

Ask what the most frequently attended graduate schools are for your subject. Are they at the top of the food chain? The highest ranked? If a school claims to be effective in placing students, you need to know where they place the students.

[Psychic Octopus]

That really sucks Tmth. I'd be pretty devastated if I was in your situation.

[Psychic Octopus]

Visiting Reed next week. For the resident Reedie (looking at you, EMD), what should I ask? Should I be nervous about my interview?

[Psychic Octopus]

So, this week, I'll be in Southern California, interviewing at Occidental, Pomona, Claremont McKenna, and USC. If all goes according to plan, that is. My trip to the East Coast, unfortunately, has been postponed until the fall...

My list, as of now, is as follows:

Claremont McKenna
George Washington
Georgetown
Johns Hopkins
Occidental
Pomona
Princeton
Reed
Stanford
Swarthmore
University of Chicago
University of Southern California

The list is being cut still.

Duke
Yale
Harvard
Princeton
Stanford
Brown
Tufts
Georgetown
George Washington
UVa
William and Mary
Michigan
Denver
American
Cornell
Hamilton

Bolds are up on the cutting block.

Don't cut Princeton. Awesome politics department and great program in political history. Also, Robert George is the man.

I wasn't aware you loved conservative Christians.

[Psychic Octopus]

Why don't any of you guys have LACs on your lists? Just curious, because to me, they seem really appealing, especially ones like Occidental, Swarthmore, and the Claremonts, because they are within reach of the major cities.

[Psychic Octopus]

Why don't any of you guys have LACs on your lists? Just curious, because to me, they seem really appealing, especially ones like Occidental, Swarthmore, and the Claremonts, because they are within reach of the major cities.

Personally, I just never felt right with any LACs. I considered Sarah Lawrence and Wesleyan, but, I guess it was just a secondary thing for me. I need to limit the amount of colleges I apply to anyways, just so I don't have to pay over 800 bucks just paying admissions fees.

I guess the usual remoteness and the size bothers me more than it should. And also, Yale is a liberal arts college.

Fair enough. I just like the idea of a small college; I'd be a bit fearful of being lost in a crowd of 30,000 people (though I am applying to USC, which has a lot of students).

Why don't any of you guys have LACs on your lists? Just curious, because to me, they seem really appealing, especially ones like Occidental, Swarthmore, and the Claremonts, because they are within reach of the major cities.

Seconded. And Claremont McKenna is fantastic.

I loved Claremont McKenna. The politics focus, the graduate placement rate, the idea of many schools centered around one another, but all having their distinct identities. The school's rapidly rising in popularity. I liked Occidental's location a bit more, though, and the idea of interning at the United Nations for a semester is almost too good to pass up.

I think that LACs are ultimately better for me, but I am applying to traditional universities. I just think that I'll get a lot of focus from professors and have more room for intellectual growth, however, and that's really appealing.

What was your early decision school?

[Psychic Octopus]

I will admit Verin, your ideas are slowly winning me over. You should be an admissions counselor.

Why don't any of you guys have LACs on your lists? Just curious, because to me, they seem really appealing, especially ones like Occidental, Swarthmore, and the Claremonts, because they are within reach of the major cities.

Personally, I just never felt right with any LACs. I considered Sarah Lawrence and Wesleyan, but, I guess it was just a secondary thing for me. I need to limit the amount of colleges I apply to anyways, just so I don't have to pay over 800 bucks just paying admissions fees.

I guess the usual remoteness and the size bothers me more than it should. And also, Yale is a liberal arts college.

Fair enough. I just like the idea of a small college; I'd be a bit fearful of being lost in a crowd of 30,000 people (though I am applying to USC, which has a lot of students).

Why?  It's not like you're required to know all of your peers.  You'll find a group.  As far as a big state school experience goes, it's even better if you can get into Honors Colleges - then you'll be able to find the best of the crowd around you rather than having to have people filter through.  Or you can do things like residential colleges (see, e.g., Michigan State's James Madison College).

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Why?  That's going to be dependent on what classes you take, what your major is, and how motivated you are.  You're not going to be able to get to know your professor regardless of what school you're at if you're in an Intro to Psych class.  Likewise, senior seminars are small everywhere.  If you're going to feel intimidated by professors at a big state school, you're going to be intimidated at a LAC, too (and the reverse is true if you're not going to be).

As far as "intellectual growth" goes, I have no doubt I grew more intellectually at Michigan State than I would've at Swarthmore or Pomona — maybe not Amherst, but that's because I hope I would've fallen in with the linguistics department at UMass.  The most intellectually-growth-stimulating positions are going to be from research (which happens much more at big research institutions than LACs) and internships (where location and connections matter much more than what type of school you're at).

Well, maybe I just buy the line that I would feel less like a number at a smaller school, and that classroom sizes would be smaller on average, meaning that I could have more interaction with professors. Of course, I haven't gone through college like you have, so perhaps I'm very wrong.

But wouldn't you have more abilities for independent research at a small college than at a large university? I remember a big selling point of a lot of LACs was that undergraduates were allowed to conduct their own research, while at universities most of the opportunities were reserved for graduate students. Again, I could be wrong.

(And "intellectual growth" was rhetorical; I think that I could succeed at a number of schools... poor choice of words on my part).

[Psychic Octopus]

Why even cut if you like a lot of the schools? Getting accepted to a lot of schools is a great problem to have.