I would remove LACs that have super low acceptance rates (cough, Bowdoin, Middlebury,
Wesleyan, Colby, Hamilton and probably Colgate).
Bates might be a reasonable reach. I would add, Union, Skidmore, St. Lawrence, Rhodes, Sewanee, Occidental, Hobart. The University of Rochester. I am sure I am leaving many great schools off the list.
I would agree that RD at Bowdoin and Midd through Colgate or Bates would be pretty tough. But if he fell in love with one of them and NPC indicates it would be affordable, ED could help give him a shot.
FWIW, Wesleyan had a somewhat higher admit rate than Bates this year. So maybe it should stay on the list. Pitzer had a similar admit rate to Wes and offers the advantage of the Claremont consortium.
Bates had a 12% acceptance rate last year, so I’d keep Bates in the upper reach category. Middlebury had around a 5% acceptance rate, so it’s even harder, but both are tough. If OP fell in love with one of them, applying ED as a full pay applicant would help. But they’d still be solid reach schools.
The OP might consider endowment per student as a proxy for which schools are going to be more need aware than others. From memory Bowdoin’s is about $1 million/student, and Bates’ is about $200,000/student.
I love Wes but I think that it would still be a reach. Acceptance was under 16% and the OP test score is currently below the 25% so they would have to go TO. Wes has a larger Asian proportion than many of the LACs but Asian and male should help in building a balanced class. Great academics in the areas that OP is interested in so it might be worth taking a chance.
A skew toward students from wealthy families is not necessarily an indicator of need aware (for individual applicants) admissions. Many colleges do not give good financial aid while having need blind admissions. The result is that students from less wealthy families are less likely to matriculate if admitted, because they just cannot afford the net price.
Colleges are commonly need aware on an aggregate level for budgeting, even though many are need blind on an individual applicant level. Colleges that need to reduce aggregate financial need to make budget while remaining need blind for individual applicants can adjust their admission criteria because many criteria correlate to need (e.g. legacy correlates to less need, while first generation to college correlates to more need, even though not every individual legacy will have wealthy parents and not every individual first generation to college student will have less wealthy parents).
I agree. I was just saying that it didn’t make sense to talk about Wes as a school with a super low acceptance and Bates as a reasonable reach. They’re both reaches.
Mid does not have a 5.5% acceptance rate, to my knowledge they have not yet release their Class of 2027 acceptance rate. They reported 13,297 applicants (about 2% more than last year), and targeting a class size of 735 (which would not be the acceptance rate, as reported by some sites that don’t understand). Middlebury College Receives Record Number of Applications for Class of 2027 | Middlebury News and Announcements
Class of 2026 acceptance rate was 11.5% , so I expect this year’s acceptance rate dropped by a few tenths of a percent. Middlebury Admits Students to the Class of 2026 from Record-Breaking Applicant Pool | Middlebury News and Announcements
So, need blind is not the same as meets full need. And even for colleges that meet full need, they meet the needs of those that they choose to admit. In other words, they can choose to admit students that have limited need.
Relatively few colleges claim to “meet full need” for all students, and those that do generally define “need” however they want (so two different colleges claiming to “meet full need” could give very different net prices to the same student).
“Need blind” is a completely separate concept.
They take so many students early. They should break down the acceptance rates for ED 1 and 2 and regular. Is this listed anywhere for schools?
I would say no to UMich with your stats from Nova, no to UNC, no to UVA. Maybe for UMD EA full pay, and VTech. Very iffy for W&M.
I would say not even bother with top 30. Consider top 100. If you go between 50 and 100, you should be fine. Consider small LACS if they interest you.
You need to understand that Nova and MCPS are extremely competitive. Nova fills up all VA instate, MCPS fills UMD. Both compete for UMich, and the rest of your out of state lists. You are compared to all you classmates in metro DC and 50% of them overachievers Asians with great stats…
It is often available. Here is the breakdown from Wesleyan as an example:
https://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/apply/class-profile.html
The inconsistent use of Acceptance and Admittance by schools causes confusion. But, you are correct Midd wasn’t 5.5% this year.
However, the acceptance rate will still be very low by historical standards. We don’t have all of the numbers but if you consider 219 admit/enrolls out of 11,971 RD candidates and assume a typical yield of 40% for RD and 100% yield for ED that would imply a likely acceptance rate of RD candidates of 4.0 - 5.0% and an overall acceptance rate around 7.5 - 8.5% give or take a bit.
The real take away here for Midd is the impact of the huge ED number. Midd was ridiculously hard this year for anyone not applying ED.
Not many schools break out ed1 and 2. Some CDSs show ED1/combined ED numbers. Sometimes the school’s press release or student newspaper has more details. One can always contact institutional reporting and ask for the data. Some schools will share, some won’t.
Midd’s class of 2027, linked above, shows 516 accepted early which is a significant proportion of their target class of 735ish. Midd’s 2026 class profile, also linked to above, showed 438 students accepted early, 1940 in total.
You mentioned USC… if you’re open to California, the Claremont Colleges are phenomenal for history and poli sci, and the very close consortium (7K undergrads altogether, plus graduate programs) with contiguous campuses and seamless cross-registration can make these schools attractive to students who are wary of LAC’s that are “too small.” None of these schools is an easy admit, however. Pitzer would be the most likely admit in RD, but CMC (which is likely the best fit academically) gives a very strong ED “bump.” (Not as large as it appears, because of the many recruited athletes in the early cycle, but too large to be explained by athletes alone.) Your stats are a hair above median for CMC, but it would still be a big reach in the RD cycle because the admit rate is so low after they fill a large share of their entering class in ED. If you looked into the 5C’s and liked them enough to apply ED, an early app to CMC wouldn’t be a slam dunk, but it wouldn’t be a waste of an ED app either. They’re very holistic and I think they’d love your EC’s, your unique essay topic, and your strength in your academic areas of interest; and the geographic diversity of applying from the east coast wouldn’t hurt (although not the bump you’d get if you came from a truly underrepresented state).
If a smaller LAC in SoCal would work for you, Occidental could also be worth a look.
Although you’ve indicated that your family is high income, I don’t see a budget. Even if a family is able to pay $85k/year, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are willing to do so. Ask your family for a budget.
I would echo the suggestions from others to think about what it is you want from your college experience: rural/suburban/urban, size, areas of the country, climate, importance of intercollegiate athletics, Greek life, etc. Are there particular interests you would like to pursue in college?
Additionally, you’re starting your list from the wrong direction. As has been indicated multiple times, start your list from the bottom up. Look for the sure-thing schools (sure-thing for admission, affordability, and that you would be happy to attend). You’re very fortunate that Virginia has some awesome publics. These are some schools you might want to consider that would be extremely likely admits:
George Mason: Just a hop, skip, and a jump from D.C. proper and lots of opportunities for students with your interests.
Virginia Commonwealth: If you’re interested in public policy or politics, locations in state capitals are excellent options.
U. of Mary Washington: If you’re interested in historical preservation and/or a smaller school, this school definitely has options of interest.
Christopher Newport: This school is often considered a “just-right” size by students, as not too large or too big. If W&M doesn’t come through, this is often considered a good substitute, and I believe that service is a value of theirs.
James Madison: Okay, I’m just making myself jealous at all the awesome options you have in-state.
Not extremely likely admits, but apps to William & Mary and UVA should definitely be made.
Moving beyond the state’s borders, you might want to think about:
I wouldn’t put these as extremely likely, but I suspect they’re more likely than not:
These are some additional schools where I think you’d stand a decent shot at receiving an acceptance, even if your odds are lower than 50%:
You’ll notice that these lists are pretty wide-ranging in terms of size, feel, etc. But perhaps this might help you to start thinking about what it is you want out of a college.
I agree that you should consider for sure:
American
George Mason
Dickinson
George Washington
Gettysburg
Mary Washington
These 6 have great connections to DC politicians and local internships. You have a very good chance to be admitted to several of them for sure. If your family can pay, I would ED to American or George Washington and you are set to go.
Bowdoin’s acceptance rate is 7% this last year, and it is need blind, so high income won’t help in an ED round. It is a reach for any student at this point. The same is true for all tops LACs - perhaps Davidson but I am less familiar with that school.