college fit?

College Search & Selection
1

I’m currently a junior and would appreciate any suggestions about colleges that might be a fit for me.

small-medium (up to 10,000)
small classes
not dominated by greek life
up to 50% acceptance rate
urban area or near a city, but if in a city must have an enclosed campus

prefer but not necessary:
northeast
LAC

I like Brown for the open curriculum (this isn’t necessary but no schools with strict core requirements) non competitive atmosphere, and the location.

ACT: 29 (practice, only taken once)
4.3 weighted GPA
9 APs by graduation
from Connecticut
undecided major

2

If you are female, I think you might like Bryn Mawr - small LAC, near Philadelphia, no Greek life. Haverford is nearby and is co-ed; if you get your ACT up a bit, that could be a good option as well.

Wellesley is another women’s college that is close to Boston and fits most of your criteria. Smith College is in Northampton, which is a small city. Both of these would probably be reaches based on your current stats.

For open/mostly open curriculum schools:
There is my school, Amherst, which would be a good fit for you except that it isn’t really urban and it would be a reach.
Hamilton in NY has an open curriculum, but it also has Greek life (don’t know how popular it is) and isn’t really urban either.
Sarah Lawrence has an acceptance rate a bit over 50%, but I think it would be a great fit other than that! It is a small LAC near New York City with no Greek life and a fairly open curriculum.

3

I think that most of the schools that @glittervine mentioned are a reach for you with your current test scores. You may want to apply to them without your scores. I think that Bryn Mawr, Mt. Holyoke and Sarah Lawrence do not look at scores or are scores optional. I don’t think that they have the open curriculum of Brown, though. Many people who like BMC also like Mt. H for the homey, excellent academics, scores optional, gorgeous campuses, empowering feeling.

For open curriculum schools, Hampshire college should be part of your list and URochester has an open curriculum. Grinnell I think also, and Marlboro.

Wellesley, Smith, Barnard are a little more competitive, IMHO.

Vassar has few core requirements, and low competitive atmosphere, but its not test optional. You’d need to raise your ACT to above 30 at least.

You may want to consider Mills college in the San Francisco area. It’s also just reduced tuition to $28K, has a lovely campus, cross registration with Berkeley, and homey culture.

Also consider for non-competitive values: Wooster, Earlham (love the values of this school), Skidmore, Agnes Scott, Goucher, Colorado College, Quest U in Canada, Hendrix, Muhlenberg, Juniata, Wesleyan, Lewis and Clark, and Whitman.

If looking at state schools, and you have plenty of cash, I’d look at Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Davis

Another option for private school in california – Occidental and Santa Clara