Colleges

[j24jags]

So I'm a Jr in HS, my huge decision is looming. Some of the schools I'm looking into are;
UMich
Duke (Reach School)
Emory (Just Visited)
Vanderbilt (Just Visited)
Georgetown
Wisconsin (More Safety School)
Lehigh (Small School within a few hours of where I live, good school though)

I was just wondering if any of you went to or know people who went to these schools and how you/they liked it. My main concerns with the schools are as follows.

UMich (May be too big for me, I'm visiting in Sept to get a feel, everyone does love it though)
Duke (Just don't know if I'll get in, waiting on SATs, Visiting in summer)
Emory (I visited and spoke to some students there, the guys like it but aren't that into sports, the girls like it but think the guys are metrosexuals. It seemed fairly preppy/jappy. Obviously those are generalizations though and I'm sure if I went here I'd find a group of kids into sports.)
Vanderbilt (I visited here, have a cousin here, she loves it. I was at the Vandy Florida upset and loved the game, loved the school spirit, student section looked like a lot of fun. I could see myself here, very diverse school. The only problem here that I have is that they do not offer a Finance major for an undergraduate student, the closest they have is an Economics major. I will look into this further to see how big of a difference there is)
Georgetown (Jesuit school, crosses in every classroom, I'm Jewish so I'm not sure if I'd be comfortable here. I think the school has a decent Jewish percentage though (12ish %). Haven't visited though)
Wisconsin (Don't think it stands out quite as much academically as the others on an application)
Lehigh (Maybe too small?)

By the way, lots of cute girls at Emory and Vanderbilt so that is a plus. There is also a Southern Hospitality that definitely does not exist in the North. The people are so friendly in the South compared to New York. The weather is also a plus for the southern schools and a negative for Michigan. I'm a little nervous about the SATs and the big decision so any comments/experiences you guys would like to share will help.

My parents do not want me to go to the West Coast. Also if you would like to mention your own school/experiences there go ahead.

Thanks a lot guys

[Mugrila]

Well what do you want to study? (Well, at this point it's probably more like what do you think you want to study.)

[Coppermine]

You a glutton for cold weather

[RugbyD]

I'm a Vandy grad, econ major/finance minor, who also considered Duke and Emory. Drop me a PM with anything you want to know.

[AcidRock23]

Don't sell Wisconsin/ Michigan short or just look at them as 'safety schools'.

While I went to Illinois, I think that the diversity and size of the large, land grant colleges is an asset, rather than a drawback. While I had econ classes w/ like 600 students, I was also the only student in a Ukranian Literature class taught by a full prof. Depending on the strengths of the university, science can be very amazing to study at these places. The University of Illinois has won 19 Nobel Prizes, FWIW...

[pokeyjoe]

I'm a sophomore in high school, so I'm just beginning to look at colleges. I would love to go into film and be a movie director, but I know thats a bit unrealistic, so I really want to go to a school with a film program but also a strong journalism program or something like that so I can learn other stuff I can fall back on.

So far I'm interested in a lot of liberal arts schools-NYU, Northwestern, those kind of ones.

Yea, that doesn't really help you, I'd just thought I'd share.

[teddy ballgame]

I'm also a junior and starting to look. My first choice is the University of Maryland, which I visited in the summer. Problem is there aren't really any other schools as a fall back that interest me. I think I'll be able to get in to Maryland but you never know, so I gotta start looking.

[acsguitar]

Georgetown is a really cool and very nice school.

Don't worry about the Jesuit aspect of it. DC is lots of fun for those people that didn't grow up there.

[j24jags]

Thanks a lot guys, I'm loving the feedback.
Any Emory experiences?

Btw Rugby I'll definitely drop you a PM within the next few days.

[Webster11]

Im a student at Michigan and I love it so far. I was worried about the size at first also but it really hasn't been an issue . If you have any questions feel free to ask