Location/Region: City/suburb/college town is ok, only USA, west coast/midwest/NE
Major: English, Journalism (Only for NU or BU cuz of their programs), Communication. Probably minoring in Music or Graphic design but not a deal-breaker.
GPA/Test Scores: 4.0 unweighted, 4.5 weighted, 1440 SAT (690 math, 750 r/w), No ACT
Curriculum: Quite rigorous
Size: Prefer small - medium class sizes
Costs: 60k/year max but preferably lower.
Schools I'm looking at rn: Northwestern, Yale, Stanford, UChicago, Brown, UC Berkeley, Reed, William & Mary, American, Cal Poly
Additional: SoCal resident. Not interested in Greek life. I've visited Stanford, Berkeley, Cal Poly, UChicago, NU, and I liked Berkeley/NU's campuses a lot. I'm fine with snow too.
On the advice point: I'm wondering about preprofessional (NU Medill) vs all-around liberal arts education/more "intellectual" schools like UChicago's Core or Yale / Brown. Dream career is journalist / writer. Dunno if I want to do grad school yet but Reed has good options for that so idk. What are the merits of preprofessional vs intellectual?
Also should I try ED for NU? I've read that the chances for ED there are better than RD, but I don't want to shut out all my options. But then again, my stats might not be enough for RD at my most rigorous options, so maybe ED might be better.
I don't have that strong of an SAT score but I hope my essays / ECs / LOR will be enough for at least a few schools on the list.
Thanks in advance :)