<p>Also, I keep forgetting to mention that I am interested in an open curriculum. I know not many schools have open curricula, so the more curricular freedom a school has, the better.</p>
<p>I’ve heard Sarah Lawrence has an open curriculum? Would this school fit my wants for a college? I know almost nothing about it.</p>
<p>SLC is about $60,000/year, one of the more expensive schools. </p>
<p>Bennington College - Vermont
Hampshire College - Massachusetts
Marlboro College - Vermont </p>
<p>These three might have what you are looking for although not really urban areas by any stretch of the imagination! Marlboro is in the middle of nowhere.</p>
<p>Brown, Wesleyan, Amherst, Smith, Rochester.
As a potential psych/English major, what sorts of classes are you hoping to avoid through an open curric? You’ll likely still have math, science and lit requirements. </p>
<p>Bennington is about 600 kids. You’d be at the top of their 75th percentile (not always a reason to choose a college.) And it’s waay out in western VT. They offer good aid for freshmen but, this year, stated they won’t guarantee if/how it will continue, due to budget issues.</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence- 75% women. Roughly 50% admit rate (I just think this is telling.) I don’t know if they “meet full need” for finaid-?</p>
<p>How are you coming up with safeties? If you are looking at where you place above the 75th percentile, that needs to be combined with other factors. I think you can do better than a school where a minority have your stats- actual experience can be affected when average stats dip. Look for those figures. Also look at online course catalogs to see how much in your proposed major interests you and backgrounds/interests of profs. (Sorry if I’m repeating myself.) For my D1, some schools offered 4 classes in her interest area in her major. She chose a school that has more than she has time to take.</p>
<p>I’m not necessarily looking to avoid any classes with an open curriculum, I just like the idea of one.</p>
<p>I think I’ll forget about SLC from what I’m hearing about it.</p>
<p>Bennington seems a little small (as I said, I am really looking for 2000-7000 people), but I will look into it as it seems like a nice option for a smaller school. Would this be a safety?</p>
<p>Would Rochester be a safety if I visit and do an interview?</p>
<p>And as for Hampshire, when I looked it up, it seemed to have a 71% admit rate. While I’m not choosing a college based only on prestige/selectivity, I would like to go somewhere that is selective enough that my fellow students are also very intelligent and interested in learning, and somewhere at least somewhat well known.</p>
<p>Also, lookingforward, I’m not sure I understand the end of your latest post. Do you mean that I’m choosing safeties that would actually be matches for me, or do you mean that I could be choosing more selective safeties?</p>
<p>Safeties generally have a higher admit rate.</p>
<p>No matter what you do, just make sure that your list includes…</p>
<p>1) a few reach schools that you like</p>
<p>2) a few match schools that you like.</p>
<p>3) a few financial safety schools that you know FOR SURE are affordable that you like (they may not have 100% of your wish list, but they are likeable schools)</p>
<p>Wheaton (MA), Bryn Mawr, and Dickinson all have about 50% admit rates. I am above the 75th percentile for reading, writing, and math for Wheaton and Dickinson, and above the 75th percentile for writing and math for Bryn Mawr. I was under the impression that made them safeties for me, but would they not be?</p>
<p>Rochester’s curriculum is more on the open side, so that’s a plus. I’m not sure if it would veer into safety territory for you–check with the denizens of the Rochester forum. </p>
<p>Tufts as match rather than reach because of the California connection…hard to say. Your essays will mean a great deal to them, so if you look at the prompts and they resonate with you, possibly. Isn’t it great that I’m giving you all these definitive answers? 
;)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about classifying schools as high matches or low reaches. The important point is to find a safety (or preferably two) that you’d like to go to, then you can have as many reaches/matches as you have the energy to apply to. Tufts is notoriously unpredictable in admissions. I grant that Slithey knows more about it than I do, but I’m still doubtful that CA address would be much of a positive at any New England college.</p>
<p>When many of the top colleges were men-only, they all had partner women’s schools. Some remain all-womens, some became coed, some were absorbed by the brother school when it became coed. My son didn’t visit Bryn Mawr for obvious reasons, but he was interested in its art/art history association with Haverford. My understanding is that although it’s in a consortium with Haverford (and Swarthmore and Penn) it’s geographically separate, as are Smith and Amherst. Barnard on the other hand is right on Columbia’s campus. Same for Scripps and the Claremont colleges.</p>
<p>I believe that schools with 50% acceptance rate would be safeties for you. It takes a lot of energy and time to find one or two that you could get excited about. Once you visit, you will find that they have plenty of smart, academically driven students who ended up there for the same reason that you might. The professors went to the same top colleges as the professors at selective colleges. They’re just younger. </p>
<p>There are no hidden secrets in finding safeties. Are they going to be as immediately appealing as the most selectives? Probably not, but they’re out there. You just have to keep slogging through the options. Be open to going against the grain. That’s why small rural, Midwestern and all women’s colleges are good admissions values. </p>
<p>Also EA schools. If you’re admitted early in a non-binding arrangement, that school could automatically become your safety. Chicago comes to mind, but there are also LACs that are EA.</p>
<p>Don’t confuse open curriculum, distribution requirements and core curriculum. The core curriculum system is restrictive, but distribution requirements are genernally quite accommodating.</p>
<p>Try Amherst.</p>
<p>May be a bit of a reach, but write a good essay and your in.</p>
<p>Sent from my Droid using CC App</p>
<p>OP, here’s a great thread for looking for quality safeties:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/881237-ivy-caliber-safeties-matches-condensed-advice.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/881237-ivy-caliber-safeties-matches-condensed-advice.html</a></p>
<p>Some of these schools grow on you. Though my kid isn’t going to be attending them, I’ve grown especially fond of U Pitt, Macalester, Rochester and Muhlenberg, among many others. </p>
<p>I concur with momrath about the importance of finding a good safety. You’ve got great stats, but admissions is still a bit of a gamble unless you are applying to a public school with auto-admit based on your stats.</p>
<p>I really like the idea of applying EA to some schools and using those as safeties if admitted. Bryn Mawr is sounding like it’s not something I would be interested in, so I might take it off my list.</p>
<p>Maybe BC for EA, and I could throw in an application to Providence College and Salve Regina University as well? (I have never heard of Salve Regina, but it came up when I looked up colleges with EA in the Northeast.)</p>
<p>Also, I would be open to suggestions from the midwest, although my top preference is the northeast.</p>
<p>If you’re going to visit Brown, might as well visit PC- but let me warn you the rep is big-time party school. </p>
<p>My comment about safeties is based on my thought that schools like Brown, Tufts, Amherst, etc, aren’t reaches, to me. Assuming the rest of your package is great (EC’s, essays and short answers, LoRs, etc,) I think your stats put you right in their pools. Of course, it’s a gamble- low admit percentages. But, worth the application cost if you really like these schools and did your homework on them. </p>
<p>Most of the NE schools are intersted in geographic diversity. It’s pretty safe to say all the top schools are. Most want a student body that reflects the country. In some cases, this can be a small hook. Depends. </p>
<p>Holy Cow- Salve??? Not a competitive academic experience. Thats my concern about some of the schools suggested. Yes, all schools can have some % of 1400+ CR/M- but those kids may choose those schools for varied reasons that may- or may not- apply to you. I know you are asking for this very help in narrowing- but a big part of the work is digging deep into the web sites and also looking at the actual psych/English classes offered and the quality of the faculty- where they studied, what their research focuses on- and the % of full-time PhDs to part-time lecturers.</p>
<p>Are you digging down through the USNWR list of top schools? (As much as I hate their ranking, in your case it’s a valid start.) For those that intrigue you and have enough classes of interest, support reseacrh opps and internships, have solid career planning offices, great study abroad opps, see how you rank vis-a-vis the average or median stats. Carefully read their finaid blurbs. If they say “meets full need,” that’s far, far better than, eg, BU’s, “We’ll help you find a way to meet the cost of your education” or similarly non-committal wording.</p>
<p>Safeties aren’t just schools that are highly likely to admit you- they need to be schools that meet your needs, offer you the right opportunities- and that you can love. As an example, D1 had one that has a lesser national rep, but a wonderful dept in her major with top-educated profs and plenty of research opps.</p>
<p>I know this all seems daunting, but take the time to see how various schools fit you. Everything I’ve heard about Dickinson is super, btw.</p>
<p>I think the chance of your actually going to your safety is low. You seem like a careful person and having a reasonably reliable safety is sleep-at-night insurance.</p>
<p>EA at BC would be ideal since you already have a hook there. This would preclude you from applying ED to Brown or anywhere else, but you probably shouldn’t go ED anyway if your finances are unclear.</p>
<p>Other good EA choices Beloit, Goucher, Earlham.</p>
<p>In the midwest you might look at some of the small but good LACs in Ohio like Dennison or Wooster. 8 years ago, Kenyon was a safety for my son, but unfortunately it’s become more selective. Ohio University and Miami of Ohio are a little larger, also quite good academically.</p>
<p>Do me a favor, after Amherst, visit Smith. My guess is that you’ll change your mind. Not about attending (that decision comes later when you have your acceptances and money offers), just about applying.</p>
<p>For Brown, you can apply EA to another, but are committing to Brown if they accept you ED and finaid is in order. At that point, you have agreed to withdraw any and all other pending apps.
Smith and Amherst are just miles apart and a bus loops between all the schools. Pretty neat advantage. I think you can take 2 classes/semester at any of the other four.</p>
<p>Brown allows you to apply ED to Brown and EA to other schools but BC does NOT allow you to apply EA to BC and ED to another school. </p>
<p>Agree, though that ED isn’t a good idea unless you’re financially secure.</p>
<p>Agree with momrath, apply ED only if money is not a concern!
Otherwise it can throw a monkey wrench into the works if you are not happy with FA.</p>
<p>I agree with not applying ED to Brown, and plus my parents are against it (for financial reasons and also because my sister came close to applying ED to BU, but when it came time for final decisions, she realized it wasn’t right for her, so they worry that this would happen to me with Brown).</p>
<p>After doing a little more research on Salve, I’ll chuck that idea. I’ll at least visit PC, though, because I do really like Providence (second favorite city after Boston). Is its surroundings somewhat like Brown’s? Note: I haven’t officially visited Brown, but I have been to Prov. a couple of times and walked around campus.</p>
<p>Beloit and Earlham sound interesting, but a little out of my way visit-wise so would it be a good idea to choose one for EA, along with BC and (possibly) PC?</p>
<p>I will definitely add Smith to my visit list even though I am wary about an all-girls’ experience, especially if it is so close to Amherst.</p>
<p>Give Georgetown a look. Not in the northeast But close enough.great school that fits most of your criteria and you could be competitive applicant.</p>
<p>I think if your GC considers Northeastern a safety you could also consider Rochester a safety-they were my son’s final two choices and even though they are very different schools their accepted student profile is pretty close in terms of test scores, GPA etc. </p>
<p>I love Rochester and from what you are telling us about you it seems like a great fit. They do love to be loved as another poster said. They are also very generous with merit aid. It is a very nice campus and a great school. Even though my son ended up picking another school I can’t say enough good things about Rochester.</p>
<p>Check out PC but you might also look at Stonehill. </p>
<p>If you want merit aid your options are going to be very limited in this area of the country.</p>
<p>I think your best bet is Barnard for a solid match that fills most of your criteria. I also like Rochester, as a solid match/safety. I would also take a look at Cornell and JHU. Skidmore is not great with aid so although it may be easier for an admit, the package may not be great.<br>
For the all important safeties, look at Ithaca and Goucher,</p>