Seeking ideas for Northeast schools and Philadelphia

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • US domestic (US citizen or permanent resident) or international student DOMESTIC
  • State/Location of residency: (state is important if you apply to any state universities) WASHINGTON STATE (URBAN)
  • Type of high school (current college for transfers): PRIVATE, “All Honors”
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): WHITE GIRL
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.):

Intended Major(s) NEUROSCIENCE, PSYCHOLOGY, CRIMINOLOGY but want strong CREATIVE WRITING opportunities (my idea of a good time is song-writing)

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0 (SCHOOL DOES NOT AWARD HIGHER)
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.0
  • College GPA (for transfers):
  • Class Rank: SCHOOL DOES NOT RANK OR ASSIGN VALEDICTORIAN
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 33/1395

Coursework
(AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s)) ALL SCHOOL COURSEWORK IS CONSIDERED HONORS AND NO CLASSES ARE A/P

Awards
SCHOOL DOES NOT AWARD

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience)
VARSITY SOCCER, VARSITY ULTIMATE FRISBEE, SEWANEE YOUNG WRITERS CONFERENCE, HUGO HOUSE YOUNG WRITER’S COHORT, OUTREACH TRIP TO CAMBODIA TO STUDY IMPERIALISM RESIDUE, INDEPENDENT RESEARCH ON MUSIC’S IMPACT ON STUDY SUCCESS, CHOIR
Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)
EXCELLENT ESSAYS
Cost Constraints / Budget
(High school students: please get a budget from your parents and use the Net Price Calculators on the web sites of colleges of interest.)
FULL PAY - PARENTS CAN FUND UP TO $70K FOR TWO YEARS, THEN WILL NEED HELP WITH MULTIPLE SIBLING TUITIONS (FROM FAMILY OF FOUR KIDS)
Schools
(List of colleges by your initial chance estimate; designate if applying ED/EA/RD; if a scholarship is necessary for affordability, indicate that you are aiming for a scholarship and use the scholarship chance to estimate it into the appropriate group below)

  • Safety (certain admission and affordability) NO IDEA
  • Likely (would be possible, but very unlikely or surprising, for it not to admit or be affordable) UROCHESTER, UOFSOUTH SEWANEE
  • Match VASSAR, NORTHEASTERN
  • Reach BROWN IS MY FAVORITE, UPENN NEXT, THEN TUFTS
    THESE ARE ALL GUESSES!
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Are you a HS junior?

Why do you want to go east for college?

Vassar and NEU are reaches, Rochester probably a match. Safeties would include some of your state schools…Western Wash, WSU. U washington may be a match for your intended majors, not sure…does your school use Naviance or Scoir?

Most importantly, you say you are full pay. Does that mean you won’t qualify for need based aid? If so, the schools on your list that don’t provide merit will not be affordable…that’s Brown, Penn, and Vassar. Can your parents fund $70K for each of the first two years, or $70K in total?

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I’m a high junior who wants to leave her bubble in the Pacific Northwest. I want to live here when I grow up, and I don’t want to spend my entire life here. My dad’s family is from South Carolina and my values are not very Southern. I might go as far South as Richmond. My school uses SCOIR.

My parents make over $400k/year and won’t qualify. They say they can fund $70k each year for a reach school. This is with one sibling in private school. When the next two sibling enter high school, they will have four tuitions to pay and will likely qualify for some discounts.

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Is it my test scores that are making Vassar a reach? I am in test prep and intend to raise the scores.

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Vassar is a reach because their Class of 2026 acceptance rate was 18.7%. Many people (including myself) consider any school with under a 20% acceptance rate to be a reach for any unhooked candidate. https://www.vassar.edu/admission/quick-facts/class-profile/2026-Class-Profile.pdf

I would run Vassar’s net price calculator with several siblings in college to see what the result is. Run the NPCs for all of the other schools too. But, at that income level, I don’t know that it will make a difference, but still do the research.

Note that starting next year, FAFSA won’t split the EFC between siblings in college anymore. But that’s just FAFSA. For CSS Profile schools, like all the private schools on your list, it is widely speculated many will continue to give a break to families with multiples in college, but we don’t know that for sure. You will need to ask the schools this later in the summer, and re-run NPCs.

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These may be two of the better articles for suggestions for this interest:

This site offers ideas for colleges that are similar to Brown in one or more ways:

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These are great articles. Thank you so much!

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Here’s what I should have posted originally:
US citizen at progressive private school in Seattle, Washington.
White girl from family of four with medically challenged mom.
Changed schools from freshman to sophomore year, but both were small & private. In the change I lost Physics.
Legacy at Sewanee but Sewanee is too small, remote, and conservative
Interested in psychology, neuroscience, criminology and intend to continue creative writing, songwriting, stand-up writing, and other creative pursuits for fun - would love a Barnardbasement type situation where I can network with other creatives who will end up in production post-college.

All forms of GPA are 4.0.
School is ridiculously egalitarian, with no award system, rankings, valedictorians, AP classes. “All our classes are honors classes” and arts are not optional.
My class rank is probably top 5 out of 80 kids but there’s not way to tell.
At my school I’m considered/known as one of the best & brightest.

  • ACT/SAT Scores: initial scores are 33, 1395, but intend to raise them via test prep.

Coursework
Spanish every year of MS/HS, calculus junior year (will decide between Statistics & Advanced Calculus for senior year), Humanities all four years, Chemistry is my favorite class, will have Advanced Physics senior year to make up for the school change, plus a ton of in depth arts classes.
No Awards at my school. Didn’t seem important when choosing a school in 5th grade. Seriously a bummer. Really would have racked up a bunch by now in a normal program. Not sure how to position myself as a highly-awarded leader in a school committed to anti-hierarchal egalitarian idealism.

Extracurriculars
Co-created a mental health interest group for supporting kids during and post-COVID quarantine.
Varsity Soccer (no plan to play in college)
Varsity Ultimate Frisbee (VERY IMPORTANT TO PLAY IN COLLEGE)
Seven Hills Ultimate Frisbee (“club” ultimate/selective)
Summers: 9: UW Robinson Center for Young Scholars - Geometry, 10: Sewanee Young Writers Conference, six weeks in France (probably shouldn’t mention it?) 11: planning to do Brownsummer program in psychology and coach kids’ ultimate frisbee for DiscNW

Essays/LORs/Other
Letters of Reference will say I’m exceptional.
Essays will be excellent. Will receive coaching and consulting.

Cost Constraints / Budget
$70K will be a stretch but parents will do it for a stretch school. Parents will pay $30K for a safety school.

LOVED Brown, so much. Loved the student body, the campus, the idea-rich environment. Everyone seemed ENGAGED but not too status-conscious and loved that the campus was right adjacent to a city and a beach but set apart and safe.
HATED Hampshire. Crazy for COVID, anti-science, too isolated.
Sewanee too remote, too small.
Amherst too small, too typeA demonstrative (making sure everyone knew how hard they were working to be perfect.)
Could love Tufts, especially if I go pre-med and can apply to Tufts Med sophomore year.
Couldn’t stand the uppity, condescending, status-competitive environment of Harvard.
Excited to visit UPenn for criminology/high achievement, a common Venn diagram area which seems a bit rare.

Keep in mind my parents certainly plan for me to go graduate school given everything I would like to do with my life: either to get a PhD in antisocial psychology or an MD in psychiatry, or an MFA in writing. Or I could end up in a writer’s room writing for TV in LA. My mom was first generation college student from a teepee off the grid and cares a lot and my dad is from generations of grad students and Southern aristocracy. Education is their first priority. US citizen at progressive private school in Seattle, Washington.

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For clarity, you may want to edit your posts to correct what appears to be a typo in your SAT score.

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Not sure if you would consider OH but Oberlin and Kenyon could be worth a look.

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FWIW I’m pretty sure your ACT score is significantly higher than your SAT score. I’d just concentrate on that - another point or two. No reason to work in both - schools only want to see one or the other.

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I’m asking others who know more, but would CSS schools say that the family has increased need if it is paying extra private school tuition…for high schoolers? I think this could be a big factor in whether or not a “reach” school would be affordable in your junior and senior years.

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Many schools will not take this into account. Some schools do ask about it in the CSS profile and do indeed award more aid if there are siblings in private school (though, it doesn’t tend to be a huge additional amount awarded when this does happen).

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I read the articles about schools like Brown and Creative Writing programs. Thanks. Planning tentatively to visit Rochester, Vassar, UPenn, Barnard, and Rutgers in April. I could visit Princeton for another Reach, but would love other MATCHes.

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How about Wesleyan, which might represent a high match for you?

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Have you considered Smith? Great creative writing opportunities with some amazing visiting faculty each year and I do believe they are one of the schools that awards more aid for private school siblings.

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IIRC, there is a question on the Profile about this…but in reality, I believe that most colleges only consider siblings in college at the same time. And that is going away on the FAFSA starting in the 2024-2025 academic year. No one knows what Profile schools will do.

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University of St Louis would be an excellent choice if you intend to pursue a Criminology and/or forensics major.

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As others have said, you should run the NPC on the out of state and private schools that you are thinking of applying to. With a family income of $400,000 per year you may find that many private schools are going to cost more than $70,000 per year. Some may be over $80,000 per year (for total cost of attendance, not including travel). I am not sure whether having siblings in a private high school will help you get a break on need based financial aid. I would not count on it unless you know something that I do not.

You also may find that many “safety” schools are going to come in as more expensive than $30,000 per year.

You are in a WICHE/WUE state (WUE is the undergraduate part of WICHE). This can in some cases provide a very significant discount at the various WUE universities. There are some restrictions (such as some schools only offer WUE for some particular majors). I am not clear on all of the details.

If you attend an in-state public university (U. Washington or WSU) there is very likely to be the option of taking a semester or a full year elsewhere, such as studying abroad. The University of Washington is a very good university.

Would your parents consider a top university in Canada (Toronto, McGill, UBC) as worth something close to the larger cost? These would cost well under US$70,000 per year (note the exchange rate).

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These schools offer the creative writing and the criminology that you seem particularly interested in. These schools are mainly in the northeast, but a few midwestern schools were added in if I thought they might be a particularly good fit. I focused on schools that were likely or extremely likely for admission for you. With your academics, most of these schools would probably have a good chance of getting into your “safety” price range. As it seems highly uncertain how much additional aid you would receive in your third and fourth years, I thought it best to look at schools that would be affordable for all four years regardless of how the school looks at your family’s financial situation in later years.

  • Arcadia (PA ): About 1800 undergrads

  • Butler (IN): About 4500 undergrads in Indianapolis

  • CHATHAM (PA ): About 1500 undergrads in Pittsburgh

  • Emmanuel (MA): About 1800 undergrads in Boston

  • HAMLINE (MN): About 1800 undergrads in St. Paul

  • LEBANON VALLEY (PA ): About 1700 undergrads.

  • LeMoyne (NY): About 2700 undergrads in Syracuse

  • Loyola Chicago (IL): About 12k undergrads

  • Loyola Maryland: About 3800 undergrads in Baltimore…and it’s part of a consortium where you can take classes at other Baltimore schools, like Goucher and Johns Hopkins.

  • Marquette (WI): About 7700 undergrads in Milwaukee

  • Roger Williams (RI): About 4200 undergrads

  • Saint Anselm (NH): About 2000 undergrads

  • Seton Hill (PA ): About 1700 undergrads

  • U. of Idaho: About 8600 undergrads, and this is a WUE school with low tuition. It’s closer to home, in case you decide at some point that you don’t want to go as far away, but going from an urban Washington location to a rural one in Idaho would definitely be a different experience.

  • U. of Iowa: About 22k undergrads here, and its writing program is considered one of the best in the country

  • U. OF ST. THOMAS (MN): About 6k undergrads in St. Paul

  • West Virginia U.: About 20k undergrads here. This is considered one of the best schools in the country for forensics.

Also, most of the colleges on your original list were quite small (about 2k or under), but your later mentions of colleges are skewing larger. Do you have any size preferences?

ETA: Schools in all caps have separate majors in creative writing, neuroscience, and either criminology, criminalistics, forensic psychology, or similar. Other schools on this list may have specializations within the English major, but aren’t labeled out separately with a neuroscience major. Or their neuroscience specialty is a focus with the psychology major, or similar.

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