help me add interdisciplinary research colleges to my college list

[vital elk]

hello, need help with refinements, potentially removing colleges that wont fit me and maybe adding more targets :)

Location/Region: City/Urban

**Major: **Computer and Environmental Science (very important to me to have both. I will most likely pursue a double major) I also want to take liberal arts classes for fun, like literature classes or random interdisciplinary classes (like ecowomanism at brown for example)

GPA/Test Scores: 4.0 UW (+ max course rigor), 1500+ SAT. my gpa weighted is like a 4.5 but my school doesn't offer APs and the curriculum is a little funky.

Curriculum: I need a curriculum that'll make interdisciplinary learning easier, however most core curriculums include classes I would enjoy taking anyways (ie: LitHum at Columbia).

**Schools You're Currently Looking At: **

• Columbia
• Brown
• Yale
• Stanford
• MIT
• UCs (all of them)
• Johns Hopkins
• Rice
• WashU St. Louis (should I remove?)
• UMich Ann Arbor (should I remove?)
• UVA (should I remove?)
• Georgia Tech (should I remove?)

Additional: Being able to conduct research is a must, ideally in both disciplines mentioned above. Also, I love old campuses but that's not a priority for me. A strong/positive community is also something I really want in college, and I prefer to not go to a party school.

also, im not sure if i want to do computer science in the engineering college or computer science in the liberal arts college, so ideally i need to be able to transfer if i change my mind. ill be applying liberal arts though

[agile rampart]

unless you wanna have a horrible application season, pls REDUCE the amount of schools you're applying to and ADD safeties/targets

[sick mantle]

I mean it’s not thattt many

But yeah need safeties and targets

[vital elk]

yeah tahts what i need help with 😭 i did the math i have around 50+ supplementals

[vital elk]

currently the UCs count as safeties and targets for me! i need more though but im having trouble finding some that fit my interests. im thinking maybe uw madison and mc gill but they dont entirely fit me 😭

[unborn hamlet]

I disagree with nay_nai, your lift isn’t massive especially since you are a very qualified candidate for those top reaches (stats wise), and speaking of interdisciplinary look at Penn, a fair amount of students seek out dual degrees

[sick mantle]

Yeah this is very true you are applying to all of them. Are they in state?

[oblique tide]

are you in state for cali or oos? bc UCs are def reaches by far

[vital elk]

im in state!

my cc at school said uc davis, ucsc, uc merced, and uc riverside could be considered safeties for me. the rest of the ucs are targets

[vital elk]

in state ^

[vital elk]

yeah i've heard of the viper program that seems cool! ive heard that penn is very cutthroat and ultra competitive though, not sure how true that is but it kinda deterred me from researching penn more

[inland marsh]

idk sometimes the UCs are real nasty

my friend was in state 4.0/1560 decentish ECs

he got owned everywhere except davis

I dont think he applied to SC/Merced/Riverside though

[vital elk]

ouchh

i think im guaranteed admission though for ucs bc top 9%

[inland marsh]

ur guaranteed only one UC

(usually merced)

[vital elk]

yeahh

i need oos safeties lmao

[unborn hamlet]

I think the cutthroat aspect mostly applies to Wharton but it probably is still competitive outside of Wharton like most top universities

[inland marsh]

is wharton even cutthroat

or is it just competitive

[agile rampart]

casewestern - northeastern are techy schools that don't require essays

[vital elk]

oh thats not rly a criteria for me :0 no essays is nice but tbh i dont mind writing them, i kinda enjoy writing them & they usually dont take me too long (+ i already have stuff i can copy paste)

as long as it isnt like mit/stanford amount of essays lmao

[ocean wadi]

Sounds like you should look into LACs. Try Wellesley, Smith, Vassar, etc. Tufts is also a really good interdisciplinary, create your own thesis option. As for GT, I don’t think it would be a good fit because it’s very structured and there’s not much movement between majors

[vital elk]

i dont rly want to go to a women's college but ill look into vassar & tufts! i worry those would both be reaches for me though (esp tufts) & im trying to add more targets/safeties. i'll prob cut georgia tech though

[vital elk]

im at this rn:

reaches:

• Columbia
• Stanford
• Yale
• Brown
• Rice
• MIT
• Johns Hopkins University
• WashU St. Louis

target:

• UCB
• UCLA
• UVA (EA)
• UCI
• UCSB

safety:

• UCSD
• UCSC
• UC Davis
• UC Merced
• UC Riverside

[jovial cloud]

UCB target

[vital elk]

idk im following what my college counselor from school said 😭

its prob a reach but idk how to determine this precisely

[sick mantle]

Instate it’s not the most outlandish thing I have heard

[ocean wadi]

curious, why not women’s colleges?

[vital elk]

i prefer mixed gender classes, and i dont want it to be a culture shock when i enter stem workforce

[ocean wadi]

That’s actually a very common misconception of women’s colleges, but a lot of them, like Smith and Barnard especially, have cross-registration with other schools in the area so you will end up having mix-gender classes if you wish

[elder moss]

It's kind of weird but women who go to women's colleges can actually excel in the stem workforce because they can have a lot more confidence and less imposter syndrome than women who feel minoritized in a stem environment

for targets/safeties, I would look at: Ohio State, Purdue, Vtech, UVA, University of Florida

[vital elk]

ohh ok! ty both :D