Can someone please suggest some "match" schools?

College Search & Selection
1

Hello! I am a senior this year with pretty good stats, but I am having trouble finding schools I like that fall somewhere between schools that are safteties for me and schools that are a reach for everyone who applies. I live in Indiana, but I would prefer to go to school in the Northeast.

My stats:
SAT I (breakdown): 2280 CR:730 W:790 M:760
ACT (breakdown): 33 M:33 W:31 R:34 S:28
SAT II: Math 2: 720 Literature: 730
GPA (out of 4.0) UW/W: 3.9/4.23
Student Council (Class Secretary) 9, 10
Key Club (Class Representative) 9, 10
Third Wave Feminism (Co-President) 11, 12
Amnesty International (Co-President) 11, 12
Astronomy Club (Co-President) 11, 12
Academic Super Bowl (Captain of 2015 State-Finalist Team) 10,11, 12
School Newspaper (Organizer of a TEDx event with this club) 11, 12
School Ambassador (we give campus tours to prospective students) 11, 12
French Club 9, 10, 11, 12
Competitive Dance Team (Captain) 9, 10
~200 hours of community service

Note: I transferred from my local public high school to a much more rigorous (still public) residential college prep high school about 3 hours away from home. I have taken the most rigorous classes available to me at both schools.

I have been accepted to Indiana University (+honors college), Purdue University, University of Arizona (+honors college), and Ball State University (+honors college). I have applied ED to University of Pennsylvania and EA to UChicago, but I know the chances of me being accepted to these schools are not great. I’m interested in both astronomy and political science/government programs. I like liberal arts colleges, and I am not excited about the idea of attending a large public institution. Neither of my parents are college-educated, and I’ve been given a lot of freedom to do what I want with this process.

My main difficulty has been finding schools that are a “match” because when I look for schools based on my SAT score/GPA, I get a list of highly selective schools. Can someone suggest schools that accept 30-60%(ish) of their applicants but are similar in culture/rigor to an Ivy/UChicago? If you read all of this, thank you.

2

Run the Supermatch engine on the left side of this page. As you already know your problem will be that matches are also reaches due to the low acceptance %ages. How much can your family afford? Kenyon? Oberlin? Reed? I have no idea if any of them offer astronomy, which may be hard to find at LACs.

3

What about the University of Rochester?

4

@“Erin’s Dad” I have run the Supermatch a few times, but at this point all of these schools are running together. We can probably afford anything that will cost us <$20,000/year after financial aid. I like Kenyon, Oberlin, and Reed, but I would really like to live in/close to a large city like NYC, Philadelphia, Boston, etc. I’m thinking about applying to Boston University, but I don’t know if I would get the financial aid necessary to afford it. Is it dumb to put so much weight into the location of a school. My logic is that I will have to live in this place for the next four years, and all of the connections I make there will be close the school, so I should choose a place where I would enjoy being for a long time, right?

5

@txstella I was interested in Rochester last year for a while, but I crossed it off my list for a reason I can’t remember. I’ll do more research on it today! :stuck_out_tongue:

6

Run the NPC for Rice. Rice is a small university and feels like a LAC in certain ways.

I recommend sitting down with your parents ASAP and running the NPCs for the schools you have mentioned. Public OOS schools could be very pricey for you.

7

Tufts, Boston University, University of Rochester, Case Western, Lehigh, Northeastern, Syracuse

Vassar, Hamilton, Wesleyan, Colgate

8

Reed is in Portland OR.

9

Because of the strength of your full profile – beyond your excellent standardized testing results – your match schools may begin at acceptance rates of ~25%. Astronomy is frequently offered as a minor rather than a major since physics will comprise a good portion of your core courses in either case. Your choices should definitely have observatories. Math II and Literature make for a nice combination of subject tests. You will be an excellent candidate for a variety of schools.

10

You got into University of Arizona (Honors) which has one of the top Astronomy programs. Though it’s not Northeast, if astronomy is still a top consideration, I would keep it high on your list.

11

Are a white female? That would be helpful to know.

I think you have a decent chance of being accepted to Penn with your stats, if your essays were good. You will know soon. GPA is in line, and SAT is above average, subject tests are above average, ECs are above average. I think you lack a Wow! factor, but you are still a strong candidate. Your consistency plus ED application, plus a small bump for first gen status make you a strong CAS candidate, in my opinion. If not, I think you also have a good shot at Chicago.

If not, the first thing I would do is drop Ball State from your list, it is not going to be the environment you are looking for.

Second, I would apply to Cornell. It would not be a certain admission, but it would be likely, in my opinion. It would not be near a big city, but I think that it is an amazing school and worth the tradeoff. You will have to decide that for yourself.

Third, I like Tufts, Case Western, Lehigh, Vassar. These will probably all admit you and have good rigor and culture. You will have to visit and research them to find the exact culture you are looking for. Lehigh and Vassar are not in big cities, but you can get to NYC or Philadelphia from either.

12

Have a look at Haverford. It’s not a match, but it’s a lower reach than Chicago or Penn. Neighboring Bryn Mawr might be a match (if you’re female).
https://www.haverford.edu/physics-and-astronomy

Other LACs that are in/near urban areas, and are a bit less selective, include Macalester and Reed.
Consider URochester, Case Western, or Brandeis if you want a fairly small university.

13

Take a look at Carleton in Northfield, MN, about 45 min from Minneapolis. It’s not northeast, but they do have an observatory and a combined physics and astronomy dept. The acceptance rate is 25%, so still rather selective, but a strong intellectual vibe. Grinnell also has an observatory, a strong physics dept, and is about an hour from both Des Moines and Iowa City. They also have an interesting program called Grinnell-in-Washington which might be a good fit for your interests. (https://www.grinnell.edu/offices-services/ocs/giw) The acceptance rate is 27%. Grinnell offers generous merit aid for which you would qualify. Both are intellectual (and produce a high number of PhD candidates) and individualistic. Being first gen will give you a boost for admission.

14

@merc81 Thank you! I’ve definitely been looking for places that have astronomy in any capacity (joint physics/astronomy programs are nice). I really appreciate your response :slight_smile:

15

@phoenixmomof2 University of Arizona is the only school I applied to in that region for that exact reason! It’s definitely at the top of my list of schools I have already been accepted to. The only problem is affording it OOS, though they have offered me a fairly substantial merit scholarship.

16

Carleton only offers $2K of merit aid and that is for NMF. Everything is FA there so if you are not low income it probably won’t work. It’s also still a reach (my D2 with comparable stats was waitlisted, though you have more ECs).

17

Someone above asked if you are female. If so and you aren’t opposed to a single-sex school, look at Wellesley. Half hour outside Boston, smallish (@2500 students), liberal arts, astronomy dept., but also very strong in social sciences, gorgeous campus.

18

@Much2learn I am a white female. Is that a good or bad thing (if it really matters)? I really appreciate your kindness regarding the quality of my app :slight_smile: Ball State is pretty much off of my list already, to be honest. I only applied because it was free, and I felt like I needed a back-up for my other back-ups. I hadn’t really considered Cornell, largely because of its location, but I will look into it more. Tufts is already on my list, and I will be sure to research Case Western, Lehigh, and Vassar.

19

@tk21769 I actually visited Haverford this summer, but I wasn’t a huge fan. It wasn’t urban enough for me, and the culture didn’t feel competitive, which is something that drives me. It also didn’t seem like a great place to double major / do a lot of interdisciplinary study. I’ll take a look at your other suggestions, though :slight_smile:

20

Astronomy at a small LAC with great facilities is a huge plus. Speaking from direct experience I can tell you that the large universities will never let a lowly freshman touch any equipment, much less do any original research. Arizona is a great PhD program, but I think you could do much better in a dedicated Astronomy program at one of the leading LACs with facilities on campus and open to undergraduate research. Among the NESCAC schools, Wesleyan has among the best facilities on campus, with both a 24" Cass and the newly restored 20" Clark refractor. Amherst is part of the five college astronomy department, giving you access to not only Amherst’s classic 18" refractor but also to the radio astronomy resources of the consortium and Mount Holyoke has a great facility with a 24" cassegrain as well. Vassar college has one of the largest telescopes in the north east, a 1m reflector and lastly I would suggest Swarthmore which has a historic observatory and large clark refractor and modern 24" reflector as well. Overall, if you had an idea of the type of research you were interested, then targeting some of the specific LAC astronomy departments would be my recommendation. At Wesleyan they are doing t-Tauri star research and exoplanet transit studies, Swarthmore is also doing exoplanet transit studies and stellar astrophysics… anyhow you get the idea. Overall, the key benefit to going to one of these small LACs for Astronomy is that you will get to run the equipment and do original research and most likely get co-published as a senior thesis. Overall, this background will give you a huge boost on moving into a PhD program at a major research university… if that is what you want to do… As for location, Vassar is in a run-down town but has a fast train into NYC, Swarthmore is on the main-line into Philly and Wesleyan and Amherst/Holyoke are in small towns, albeit honestly, once you are at school you seldom ever care about the towns or proximity to major cities imho… good luck!