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Author Topic: Applying To Colleges  (Read 86532 times)
Simfan34
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« Reply #500 on: April 19, 2012, 09:04:37 PM »

Speaking from experience?

Yeah, US university applications seem a nightmare from Hell.

Not entirely sure, but I think they have to sometimes even pay for the privilege of having their application reviewed.

And then when you even do get into a university their degree requirements seem to also be rather absurd, having a round of basic courses in Math, literature, etc. (although some universities might be different) in the first couple of semesters. Either high schools aren't doing what they need to be doing or the universities, as dependent as they are on tuition fees, are just trying to make a buck.

The whole system is very odd.

Well considering the vast amounts of essays required to differentiate the students from one another, the fees are justified. There are a lot of fees in the US system. AP exams can limit core classes. The system focuses on broad liberal arts education. Thus there is a need for advanced degrees.

God I hate it when your post deletes yourself- as you're about to copy it!!!!
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LastVoter
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« Reply #501 on: April 19, 2012, 09:59:09 PM »

Down to University of Chicago or Columbia University. Leaning towards the former due to money.
Doesn't Columbia give generous grants like the rest of the ivy league?

Columbia gives no grants, like the rest of the Ivy League. Only need-based aid.
Well I meant need based grants to people whose parents make under $180k.
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Хahar 🤔
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« Reply #502 on: April 20, 2012, 07:26:39 PM »

Having spent a couple days at UMD, it seems almost certain that I'll go there. At this point, I'm looking at a double major in government and linguistics.
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ilikeverin
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« Reply #503 on: April 21, 2012, 11:55:44 PM »

Having spent a couple days at UMD, it seems almost certain that I'll go there. At this point, I'm looking at a double major in government and linguistics.

YESSSSSS.  I knew you'd like it.  Grin Cheesy Grin *hughughug* Grin Cheesy Grin
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Miamiu1027
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« Reply #504 on: April 22, 2012, 03:44:52 AM »

Having spent a couple days at UMD, it seems almost certain that I'll go there. At this point, I'm looking at a double major in government and linguistics.

YESSSSSS.  I knew you'd like it.  Grin Cheesy Grin *hughughug* Grin Cheesy Grin

have you decided on a grad school yet?
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ilikeverin
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« Reply #505 on: April 22, 2012, 08:12:43 AM »

Having spent a couple days at UMD, it seems almost certain that I'll go there. At this point, I'm looking at a double major in government and linguistics.

YESSSSSS.  I knew you'd like it.  Grin Cheesy Grin *hughughug* Grin Cheesy Grin

have you decided on a grad school yet?

Yes, Maryland.  I thought I posted that?  If not, ˇsorpresa!  Hence being very excited Xahar may be going there as well Grin
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Miamiu1027
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« Reply #506 on: April 22, 2012, 08:21:17 AM »

maybe you'll be his TA
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ilikeverin
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« Reply #507 on: April 22, 2012, 01:49:01 PM »


It's a possibility.
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« Reply #508 on: April 23, 2012, 06:59:39 PM »

Put down the UVA deposit Smiley
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California8429
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« Reply #509 on: April 23, 2012, 09:44:23 PM »


yay. It continues to look more likely that I'll end up there if accepted.
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ilikeverin
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« Reply #510 on: April 23, 2012, 10:07:26 PM »


Woohoo, congratulations! Grin
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TheDeadFlagBlues
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« Reply #511 on: April 24, 2012, 01:13:15 AM »

So, it looks like out of my graduating class I will be the one attending the school most difficult to get into and that is the most prestigious. I really don't understand how this happened...
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California8429
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« Reply #512 on: May 01, 2012, 08:38:28 PM »

I spent a considerable amount of time updating my mess of where I want to go to college (for either international relations or political science) and how I'm stacking up thus far. Basically the colleges I want to go to in descending order are almost the exact order of difficulty for me to get in.

Less likely
Yale
Harvard
Princeton
Stanford
MIT (tied with Stanford)

Maybe
Georgetown
Tufts
Brown

More likely
UVA
William & Mary
George Washington
University of Richmond
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Psychic Octopus
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« Reply #513 on: May 01, 2012, 09:39:37 PM »
« Edited: May 01, 2012, 09:42:53 PM by Blackwater NiK »

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.
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Lief 🗽
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« Reply #514 on: May 01, 2012, 09:50:57 PM »

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.
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California8429
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« Reply #515 on: May 01, 2012, 09:53:34 PM »

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.

Yale's lifestyle is the reason it's the top of my list out of all the schools. So if Rice is anything like that woo!

I wasn't planning on applying to Brown until the past month when I've started to look at. My uncle went there and has a lot of contacts so I knew I'd have a better chance there than any of the other ivy leagues, but I'm still not sure. They are extremely liberal with majors and you have great flexibility in determining your concentration which is awesome.

For living in the west, I've actually never gone anywhere past Vail. And since I'm only going to be on the east coast for a wedding this summer, that's when I'll do college visits so I'll never get to visit any west coast schools. There's a good chance I'll drop Richmond as well just looking at its program and smallness. It's really just a back-up school.
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Psychic Octopus
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« Reply #516 on: May 01, 2012, 09:55:34 PM »

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?
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Simfan34
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« Reply #517 on: May 01, 2012, 10:04:24 PM »

So, it looks like out of my graduating class I will be the one attending the school most difficult to get into and that is the most prestigious. I really don't understand how this happened...

Nor do I- in my own case, that is, not yours! Committed to Columbia.
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Lief 🗽
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« Reply #518 on: May 01, 2012, 10:08:10 PM »

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?

Wouldn't know about out of state chances, but yes, the school is full of Texans.
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ilikeverin
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« Reply #519 on: May 01, 2012, 10:10:39 PM »

I wasn't planning on applying to Brown until the past month when I've started to look at. My uncle went there and has a lot of contacts so I knew I'd have a better chance there than any of the other ivy leagues, but I'm still not sure. They are extremely liberal with majors and you have great flexibility in determining your concentration which is awesome.

If you're looking for flexibility, I can help; that was one of my key considerations in picking a school.  On your list, besides Brown (which sets the bar), UVA's Honors program is lovely on that count.  The University of Rochester was very good.  The Honors College here at Michigan State is great.

In general, take a harder look at state schools.  This isn't just personal bias against elitism, but one of the perks that's often associated with Honors programs at places like state schools is flexibility in choosing your major (some Honors programs just have you do an "Honors major" which you make whatever the heck you want) and in avoiding gen ed requirements.  While Simfan is slaving through 6 classes worth of core curriculum requirements, where he'll be reading "Great Books" that no one will ever care about ever again (Wink to Simfan Grin), you'll be able to make your education what you want it to be.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #520 on: May 01, 2012, 10:27:05 PM »

But the Core Curriculum is awesome! In my field you have to get a graduate degree no matter what, and apparently there's some repetition, so why not broaden your mind if you have to fill credit requirements? Gives us all something in common to talk about, anyway.
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California8429
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« Reply #521 on: May 01, 2012, 10:27:42 PM »

I wasn't planning on applying to Brown until the past month when I've started to look at. My uncle went there and has a lot of contacts so I knew I'd have a better chance there than any of the other ivy leagues, but I'm still not sure. They are extremely liberal with majors and you have great flexibility in determining your concentration which is awesome.

If you're looking for flexibility, I can help; that was one of my key considerations in picking a school.  On your list, besides Brown (which sets the bar), UVA's Honors program is lovely on that count.  The University of Rochester was very good.  The Honors College here at Michigan State is great.

In general, take a harder look at state schools.  This isn't just personal bias against elitism, but one of the perks that's often associated with Honors programs at places like state schools is flexibility in choosing your major (some Honors programs just have you do an "Honors major" which you make whatever the heck you want) and in avoiding gen ed requirements.  While Simfan is slaving through 6 classes worth of core curriculum requirements, where he'll be reading "Great Books" that no one will ever care about ever again (Wink to Simfan Grin), you'll be able to make your education what you want it to be.

Thank you! Michigan has come up a few times during my research. I slightly fear going in more in depth simply because I always just end up expanding my list instead of limiting it Tongue though I guess it won't matter now and I'll have the summer. I looked at Rochester for that reason, but I don't think I could do it. If I don't even enjoy the weather at Ithaca, there's no way I can last Rochester Tongue . It's been in the 70s and 80s here and today for the first time I took off my jacket in class because our school has decided to stop using the air-conditioning to save money (of course they had it on DURING winter) and the class was shocked. So I am generally a very gold person already haha.
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ilikeverin
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« Reply #522 on: May 01, 2012, 10:42:10 PM »

But the Core Curriculum is awesome! In my field you have to get a graduate degree no matter what, and apparently there's some repetition, so why not broaden your mind if you have to fill credit requirements? Gives us all something in common to talk about, anyway.

Sure, if you'd like to "broaden your mind", and if you think that the best way to do so is read a bunch of old books, your university should let you.  If you don't want to, your university should let you.  If you want to broaden your mind by taking a bunch of random classes from all sorts of different departments, your university should let you.  Besides, how often do you think those mythical "conversations about core curriculum" conversations actually happen? Wink

I wasn't planning on applying to Brown until the past month when I've started to look at. My uncle went there and has a lot of contacts so I knew I'd have a better chance there than any of the other ivy leagues, but I'm still not sure. They are extremely liberal with majors and you have great flexibility in determining your concentration which is awesome.

If you're looking for flexibility, I can help; that was one of my key considerations in picking a school.  On your list, besides Brown (which sets the bar), UVA's Honors program is lovely on that count.  The University of Rochester was very good.  The Honors College here at Michigan State is great.

In general, take a harder look at state schools.  This isn't just personal bias against elitism, but one of the perks that's often associated with Honors programs at places like state schools is flexibility in choosing your major (some Honors programs just have you do an "Honors major" which you make whatever the heck you want) and in avoiding gen ed requirements.  While Simfan is slaving through 6 classes worth of core curriculum requirements, where he'll be reading "Great Books" that no one will ever care about ever again (Wink to Simfan Grin), you'll be able to make your education what you want it to be.

Thank you! Michigan has come up a few times during my research. I slightly fear going in more in depth simply because I always just end up expanding my list instead of limiting it Tongue though I guess it won't matter now and I'll have the summer. I looked at Rochester for that reason, but I don't think I could do it. If I don't even enjoy the weather at Ithaca, there's no way I can last Rochester Tongue . It's been in the 70s and 80s here and today for the first time I took off my jacket in class because our school has decided to stop using the air-conditioning to save money (of course they had it on DURING winter) and the class was shocked. So I am generally a very gold person already haha.

Ahem, I said Michigan State*, which is a vastly superior school to Michigan, obviously Grin (I actually know very little about the University of Michigan, as I promised my dad I wouldn't do that to him.  Obligatory blustering aside, they're both good schools, though Michigan is certainly traditionally better-regarded and is likely in a nicer location.  Our Honors College is a national model for Honors programs, though, no embellishment.) Honestly, don't worry about making your list too long.  So long as you commit to going through it and pruning in a reasonable amount of time, you're fine.  My grad school list was at some points over 100 items long (because I included just about every psych and linguistics program with a minimum ranking), but it was easy to prune out a lot of them with a cursory inspection; note, though, that it was at its longest early last year, and only got down into the single digits last fall.

You should also look at Maryland to party it up with Xahar and me.

Man up re: Rochester.  I loved the place, and continue to, even though I've rejected it twice.  I suppose you're talking to a Minnesotan, though, who cannot perceive anyone else's winter as particularly threatening.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #523 on: May 01, 2012, 10:44:34 PM »

But the Core Curriculum is awesome! In my field you have to get a graduate degree no matter what, and apparently there's some repetition, so why not broaden your mind if you have to fill credit requirements? Gives us all something in common to talk about, anyway.

Sure, if you'd like to "broaden your mind", and if you think that the best way to do so is read a bunch of old books, your university should let you.  If you don't want to, your university should let you.  If you want to broaden your mind by taking a bunch of random classes from all sorts of different departments, your university should let you.  Besides, how often do you think those mythical "conversations about core curriculum" conversations actually happen? Wink


A great deal, I am assured.
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California8429
A-Bob
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« Reply #524 on: May 01, 2012, 10:51:53 PM »

But the Core Curriculum is awesome! In my field you have to get a graduate degree no matter what, and apparently there's some repetition, so why not broaden your mind if you have to fill credit requirements? Gives us all something in common to talk about, anyway.

Sure, if you'd like to "broaden your mind", and if you think that the best way to do so is read a bunch of old books, your university should let you.  If you don't want to, your university should let you.  If you want to broaden your mind by taking a bunch of random classes from all sorts of different departments, your university should let you.  Besides, how often do you think those mythical "conversations about core curriculum" conversations actually happen? Wink

I wasn't planning on applying to Brown until the past month when I've started to look at. My uncle went there and has a lot of contacts so I knew I'd have a better chance there than any of the other ivy leagues, but I'm still not sure. They are extremely liberal with majors and you have great flexibility in determining your concentration which is awesome.

If you're looking for flexibility, I can help; that was one of my key considerations in picking a school.  On your list, besides Brown (which sets the bar), UVA's Honors program is lovely on that count.  The University of Rochester was very good.  The Honors College here at Michigan State is great.

In general, take a harder look at state schools.  This isn't just personal bias against elitism, but one of the perks that's often associated with Honors programs at places like state schools is flexibility in choosing your major (some Honors programs just have you do an "Honors major" which you make whatever the heck you want) and in avoiding gen ed requirements.  While Simfan is slaving through 6 classes worth of core curriculum requirements, where he'll be reading "Great Books" that no one will ever care about ever again (Wink to Simfan Grin), you'll be able to make your education what you want it to be.

Thank you! Michigan has come up a few times during my research. I slightly fear going in more in depth simply because I always just end up expanding my list instead of limiting it Tongue though I guess it won't matter now and I'll have the summer. I looked at Rochester for that reason, but I don't think I could do it. If I don't even enjoy the weather at Ithaca, there's no way I can last Rochester Tongue . It's been in the 70s and 80s here and today for the first time I took off my jacket in class because our school has decided to stop using the air-conditioning to save money (of course they had it on DURING winter) and the class was shocked. So I am generally a very gold person already haha.

Ahem, I said Michigan State*, which is a vastly superior school to Michigan, obviously Grin (I actually know very little about the University of Michigan, as I promised my dad I wouldn't do that to him.  Obligatory blustering aside, they're both good schools, though Michigan is certainly traditionally better-regarded and is likely in a nicer location.  Our Honors College is a national model for Honors programs, though, no embellishment.) Honestly, don't worry about making your list too long.  So long as you commit to going through it and pruning in a reasonable amount of time, you're fine.  My grad school list was at some points over 100 items long (because I included just about every psych and linguistics program with a minimum ranking), but it was easy to prune out a lot of them with a cursory inspection; note, though, that it was at its longest early last year, and only got down into the single digits last fall.

You should also look at Maryland to party it up with Xahar and me.

Man up re: Rochester.  I loved the place, and continue to, even though I've rejected it twice.  I suppose you're talking to a Minnesotan, though, who cannot perceive anyone else's winter as particularly threatening.

Our winter this year was mostly in the 50s with an occasional blizzard, so yes, anything up there, I'm a freezing person. I belong in arizona or florida with the old people Cheesy

Yes, I should look into expanding my list greatly this early summer (though I won't actually be able to visit these places).

Michigan St.
Maryland
UNC Chapel Hill?
Duke?

Any other suggestions?
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