hey im a junior who's not really sure where to start in looking for colleges, and would like some help from you guys. i'm looking to major in physics/comp sci, possibly double major idk
all my core courses (math eng history science) have been honors/ap since freshman year, and i've had about A- in 40% of them and the rest A to A+. idk my actual gpa since our school is weird, so hoping that's enough. 1550 on SAT: 750 R&W (39 Reading, 36 Writing), 800 Math, and 23/24 on the Essay.
my extracurriculars are very sparse, and are what's going to hold me back. i'm going to have a total of 3 years varsity tennis, ~50 hours of volunteering, and 2 clubs i joined this year. i'm looking to do more this spring/summer, but as of right now my ec's are pretty bad
personal preferences: small classes would be nice (who doesnt like small classes) but not necessary, i also somewhat dislike the city. if a university is in the city i'd prefer it to have its own campus (e.g. i'd probably hate to go to somewhere like NYU). other than that anything is on the table, no preferences in regards to location or whatever
could anyone give me a general list of colleges that have good physics/compsci programs and are in my reach? thank you so much!
For a person like you, you're definitely qualified for some competitive programs. I don't know if your schools is a magnet (or has a strong academic reputation), but I can give you tips in general.
ECs: Varsity Tennis for 3 years is definitely a big plus since athletics naturally take up more time than an ordinary school club. 50+ hours of volunteering is definitely good, since schools like to see that you're doing extracurriculars outside of school. If you're planning on entering the STEM side of things, I would highly recommend finding a high school research position at a local university. Depending on how fruitful your research is, you can submit a paper for the Siemens competition or Intel. Siemens usually release results before regular decision deadlines, and if you make it as a semifinalist or a regional finalist, that's a humongous boost to your credibility academically.
General comments on Schools: Since you're very much into smaller class sizes and seem to be a good fit for some Liberal Arts colleges. The benefits to a Liberal Arts college is that there's a greater focus on teaching. At bigger universities, professors often juggle teaching and research, moreso focusing on the latter since that's where a good portion of their income is coming from. Contrary to its name, majoring in a STEM at a Liberal Arts college won't mean you won't get a job (at least if you go to a top 10 LAC). Also, it's easier to double major at an LAC than at a bigger university. Many of the top institutions for STEM are located in cities, but they usually have a centralized campus, so this shouldn't be too big of a problem.
I've included a list of strong STEM schools with a short description following each one. Although some may disagree with me, I use the Graduate program rankings as a factor for deciding what school is best for your intended major. This usually includes the strength of the research programs there, which is critical for an education in undergraduate Physics. Also, graduate CompSci rankings usually correlate with undergraduate CompSci reputation. :
Safeties: Schools that You Should have No Problem Getting Into
University of Texas-Austin: Although a bit low on the rankings, don't let that fool you. It has strong Physics and CompSci program. However, it is a public school, so expect some large class sizes. Since your stats puts you in qualification range for an Honors college placement, you can get extra enrichment out of that.
University of Maryland-College Park: Again, public school strong in both the Physics and Computer Science curriculum. Has an interesting Honors college system that place you in honors programs based on your interests(digital design, entrepreneurship, research, cybersecurity, etc.)
University of Wisconsin-Madison: Another STEM public powerhouse. Big downside is that it's situated in a really, really cold part of the U.S.
University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign: If we're going off of graduate program rankings, UIUC is probably should be your top 3 safeties for the programs that you're applying to. #5 in CompSci and #9 in Physics on Graduate level, indicating high levels of research activity. Sadly, school's in the middle of nowhere (I literally drove there once for a competition and it's just two hours of wheat and cornfields from Chicago).
University of Washington: Rank 22 for Physics. Rank 6 for Computer Science. Also a strong STEM school. Seattle's also a growing center for entrepreneurship, so you can definitely look into that.
Range: These schools should generally be in your range
University of California schools: Berkeley is obviously your top choice, but the other UCs are equally good for both Physics and CompSci. Pros to this is that it's all one application that you send to all the UC schools (i.e. UC-Berkeley and UCLA use the same application, no difference in essays). You still have to pay for each application though (as well as sending test scores to each school individually).
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: Also a STEM powerhouse. Suffers from the same geographical issues as Wisconsin. Also has academic reputation (which comes in useful if you plan on going on with post-BA degrees (J.D., M.D., M.S., Ph.D., etc.)
Tufts University: Not necessarily strong for its CompSci or STEM, unlike the schools I stated above. However, it retains a LAC-sized classes with decent research activity that undergrads can get involved with. To give you the scope of how small class sizes are, 2/3 of Tufts' classes have less than 20 students in it. Also very close to Cambridge and Boston (Cambridge moreso for research. A couple of Tufts kids I know do research in CompSci at MIT labs).
Cornell University: #7 in Physics. #6 in Computer Science (Graduate). It's a suburban Ivy League. Not too solid on research in these areas though. That's for you to look into ;).
Swarthmore College: Liberal Arts College. Great focus in undergraduate teaching with 3/4ths of its classes having less than 20 students. The reason I say that this is a range instead of a reach for you is because of your hours spent for volunteering.
Reaches: These schools are a bit of a stretch. Going to need a hella good essay or recommendations to pull you through this one.
Amherst College: Liberal Arts College. Same strong focus in undergraduate teaching.
Carnegie-Mellon University: CompSci powerhouse. Not so much for Physics though (Rank 1 for CompSci ahead of MIT, Rank 36 for Physics). Very hard to get into for CompSci. May be easier to first get in for Physics and see if you can get a CompSci degree alongside that.
Williams College: Liberal Arts College. One of the biggest draws for it is its OxBridge tutorials. Essentially, students learn about topics in the class from fellow students. Usually paired off, one student prepares a paper/presentation, and the other student critiques it. Switches off every week. Definitely something that might pique your interest.
Harvard, Princeton, UPenn, Columbia: These schools are what I consider core Ivies for Computer Science and Physics. You can mix Yale in there too, though I consider it a "Humanities" Ivies alongside Brown and Dartmouth.
Stanford University: Best of a lot of things. Strong research in Physics (Rank 2) and Computer Science (Rank 1), proximity to Silicon Valley (imo very overrated but w/e), and strong entrepreneurship culture if you think research isn't your thing. Very hard to get into. Good luck.
MIT: Rank 1 on both disciplines. That's really all I have to say. MIT speaks for itself.
University of Chicago: Strong in Physics, not so strong in CompSci.
Here's my semi-exhaustive list for you. If you want any extra information let me know.
Croven