My D is a junior who feels certain that she wants to double major in Math and Dance. She is only looking at mid sized schools in or near larger urban areas where this will be possible. My concern is that none of the schools would be considered a true safety, more like matches or target matches. I am hesitant to force her to apply to schools where she knows right off the bat she will not be able to pursue both courses of study, but as we have all been hearing, there are no sure bets anymore. Any advice?
Do any of them have early action or rolling admissions so she would find out whether she gets accepted very early?
It may help others help you if you mention what constraints there are, like her academic credentials and the budget limits. A high stats student with parents willing to pay expensive private college list price can more easily find suitable safeties than a low stats student with parents who can pay nothing.
My second kid initially applied to only three colleges. Applications were complete in October. Two were early action and one was rolling admissions. She had acceptances to all three before Christmas.
We asked her to add a local choice, and she added a reach school later. TBH…those were a waste of everyone’s time. She really LIKED the three acceptances.
I agree …see if any of these have early ACTION. .
Sarah Lawrence
Sarah Lawrence is selective. Given the way college admissions are going, the safety schools of 2017 will be the reach schools of 2018.
“She is only looking at mid sized schools in or near larger urban areas where this will be possible.” Surely, could you not come up with a list of several safeties, matches, and reaches given this criteria? I’d add more schools to the categories of safeties and matches as I predict that more students are going to submit cross applications to even greater number of schools given this year’s record number of applications accompanied naturally by lower percentage of admissions.
My daughter was accepted to Sarah Lawrence as a math major and dance minor. The problem is the financial aid offer was minuscule, it was financially not feasible for us. Do you have budget constraints? What’s your home state?
Depending on her stars, Muhlenberg might be a good safety
Sarah Lawrence is an inappropriate school for a student whose interests are in math, since there is only one or maybe two math courses that could be considered to be junior or senior level.
https://www.sarahlawrence.edu/undergraduate/science-mathematics/mathematics/
(It is rather odd that Sarah Lawrence keeps popping up on these forums as a recommendation for students who have indicated interests in subjects where its offerings are noticeably lacking.)
I don’t know how anyone can through out suggestions given the fact we really know nothing about the student and her stats. If OP wants to share more info, including stats and schools under consideration, I’m sure we can give some helpful advice. How could we possibly tell whether Sarah Lawrence or Muhlenburg - or any other school - would be a safety for this student?
Absent that, I think applying to all matches is risky, unless some are early action or rolling and you know early that she has an acceptable offer in hand.
Rolling admissions or early action. Guaranteed merit would help too if you need money.
My kids each applied to only one school, both had rolling admissions, and we did a lot of work up front to make sure those two schools would work academically and financially. Both kids knew, and accepted, that by applying to only one school if something went wrong they’d have to take a gap year. Both were fine with that.
@ucbalumnus, because of the tutorial system, Sarah Lawrence students can study subjects in depth with professors. It doesn’t have to be an official “class.” It also has a very strong dance program and is immediately outside of NYC, thus fitting the criteria.
Our D applied to only 1 tramsfer U (USC). My friend’s D applied to one U (UVa) and then 1 grad school (Harvard). It worked for them. I wouldn’t recommended but it wasn’t my call. They were pleased with their results and owned the process.
If it’s a rolling admissions OR you’re fine with taking a gap year if you’re rejected and/or can’t afford your choice, OK, but make sure you will gracefully handle the consequences of your process.
Still, if the student is interested in a subject where the school offers only one upper level course, is it likely to have sufficient faculty in the subject to offer tutorials or similar for the usual range of courses in that subject?
To us, we wanted our kids to go to Us where there were several faculty, in hopes that they would get along especially well with one or more. When there are too few in a field, too many chances things won’t mesh or the kid’s interests and profs may not align.
It’s largish, but plays small as only about 10,000 students live on campus. They become a tight knit community. It has a very good dance department (oldest west of the Mississippi) AND a very good math department. It would also be a safety. Dual majoring would of course depend on dance auditions. Wait for it…University of Utah.
It’s often written off due to the religious influence in the state, but SLC itself is very progressive. It’s certainly worth a look. It was one of my son’s safeties for engineering. It made his final 3!
Sarah Lawrence is not a mid-sized school. Tiny.
Safety means 3 things. she can get in, it’s affordable and she’d want to go there. A school that checks off all of the boxes you mentioned is Loyola University Chicago. It’s very urban in a large city, mid sized, offers dance and mathmatics in the same college (makes it easier to share required electives). It’s a gorgeous campus right on Lake Michigan. It selective (71%) but not extremely selective and there are scholarships available for better stats. It is a private school however so COA is not inexpensive. If it’s a school you’re interested in compare your D to the Common Data set and determine whether or not you can afford the university. If your not sure it might be considered a match rather than a safety. It’s also rolling admission.
Maybe in the interests of having a safety you ask her to consider schools that are smaller or larger than her ideal. Goucher is a small school with a relatively high acceptance rate (and she could cross register at other, larger schools like Johns Hopkins or UMBC); James Madison and Towson accept more than 50% but have 20,000+ students.