<p>Amherst
Swarthmore (Appling ED II to either Swat or Wes)
Wesleyan (See above)
Brown
Dartmouth
Bowdoin
Brandeis (Double legacy, Mom on Alumni Board, Connections to Dean of Admissions)
Bates/Colby (Leaning towards Bates, but I don't really know - only choosing one. Suggestions here?)
Skidmore</p>
<p>Possibles: Conn. College (Safe), Clark U (Safe), Middlebury (low/middle reach), Williams(reach, as with anyone), Muhlenburg (Safe), Vassar (Higher match), Tufts - I really only want to pick 2 at the most from this list. </p>
<p>Do I have enough matches/safeties etc?</p>
<p>Going to major in psych. I live in Boston, and as you can see I really don't want to go further than PA, and want a suburban school. I want kids to have a high intellectual curiosity, aware and concious of their surroundings, and having a desire to make the people and the society around them a better place. I also want quite a bit of diversity. Socially wise, I don't want a place with an incredible amount of drinking/frat/sorority presence. I love the idea of just chilling/watching a movie etc. with friends on Fri/Sats.</p>
<p>I'd say that if Swarthmore and Wesleyan are your clear top choices, Williams, Colby and Middlebury probably don't belong on your list at all. Opposite ends of the atmospheric spectrum. Other than Clark, and possibly Muhlenburg (depending on your stats) I don't see any safeties on that list.</p>
<p>Skidmore is a saftey, as is Conneticut College. No?</p>
<p>Also, I always thought Colby was more or less like Bates - not jocky/preppy kind of deal, not like W. Is Middlebury really that close to Williams? Always viewed it as a neutralish school.</p>
<p>Skidmore's sort of a safety, depending on your application. But driver's right, Williams, Colby and Middlebury are really homogeneous and you should look more at Swarthmore and Wesleyan for diversity.</p>
<p>Conn College is in the low 30s for acceptance, IIRC. That's not a true safety for anyone, although it could be a match, depending on your record. Skidmore in the low 40s is closer, but again, it depends on your stats. I didn't say that Williams, Middlebury and Colby were "really homogeneous," nor do I think that they are, but they do differ from the OP's top two in many ways, including diversity.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Is Bates in the same category as Midd, Colby and Williams?
[/quote]
No, of the three top Maine LACs, that's the one that would feel most like your top two, IMO.</p>
<p>You're really slinging those edits in, Moot! :) I don't know what you mean by "neutralish." Politically, I would call Midd and Williams nearly indentically ambivalent. Your top two are very much in the liberal activist mode. Colby has a substantially higher percentage of students playing varsity sports (42%) than Williams (34%) or Midd (28%). Some people say that Middlebury is doing their best to be more and more like Williams.</p>
<p>Well, Conn. College and Skidmore have ACT ranges of 24-29, which I'm above. Also, coming from one of the best public HS's in MA, I assume will be to my benefit.</p>
<p>For anyone to help you come up with a reasonable list of matches and safeties, you're going to have to post more of the info that will appear on your transcript.</p>
<pre><code> I go to school in one of those Boston subrubs...arugably one of the best in MA. My essays, extracurriculars, and letters of recommendation will be suberb. I was a personal aide to a girl with downs syndrome for a year. I've also interened with a State Senator (she'll be writing one of my recommendations). My other rec's will be awesome as well. That, on top of other various volunteer/extra currc stuff such as special olympics, mentor, and debate will help me out. My essays, as various teachers etc. have told me are excellent.
I have a 3.5 or 3.6 GPA UW, but that is easily in the top 5 or 10 percent at my HS. We do not do exact ranks. We don't do weighted GPA's either. I've taken all honors and AP's though throughout, with a coarseload that increases with difficulty each year.
I took the SAT and SAT II's, but I'm not submitting them. I took the ACT going in blind without studying or taking a practice test. I got a 29. I'm retaking the ACT's in October, and hopefully getting a 31 or so.
</code></pre>
<p>I'd say that the first five schools on your list are the most "diverse," or at least the most "non-caucasian." Looking at your other criteria, Dartmouth has a pretty high frat presence--perhaps that's exclusionary for you. Bates is a lot like Wes and Swat in the politics/liberal activism dept., but I think it's the most caucasian school on your list. Bowdoin probably belongs in the Williams Midd Colby category for you. I still disagree about Conn as true safety, and would add that except for Tufts, all the schools you consider to be matches/safeties are substantially less diverse than Williams (72% caucasian; by comparison, Wesleyan is about 69%, Bowdoin and Conn about 80%, Bates and Colby about 88%). Swarthmore looks like a pretty perfect place for you, but very hard to get in.</p>
<p>Your list is pretty reach heavy. IMO your only matches are Brandeis (reachier) & Skidmore (safer) and no genuine safeties.</p>
<p>I would add 2 safeties, like Muhlenberg & Clark, and also think about tossing in another match. </p>
<p>Vassar would have the right vibe, and if you are male it may be a bit of a plus, but I have a hard time calling Vassar a match. It's hard to find a north eastern match with the hip intellectual profile. Conn College is probably a high match for you, but it is not really atmospherically similar to Swat/Wesleyan. </p>
<p>Consider dropping Dartmouth; keep Bates. I'd say drop Bowdoin, but the score submission is optional there... so if your ACT does not go up, Bowdoin could be a good possibility.</p>
<p>The only match I can come up with that is not on your list but fits your criteria would be Union. Going a bit further afield from your wishes would be Syracuse. If you are female Smith could be a high match.</p>
<p>My D had a very similar list, but she went for a wider geographic range. Her college list included many of your schools, plus Trinity & Hamilton (both preppier/partier than what you seem to want, but nice schools) Kenyon, Oberlin; safer bets were Lawrence, Beloit & Allegheny.)</p>
<p>yah, at this point, you won't get everything you want in one safety--that's why they're safeties. Even Bard which I think of as more homogenous than any of your top choices, is in the low 30s. Hampshire is an interesting place, artsy with a strong neuroscience specialty; last I looked, they accepted about half their appls.</p>
<p>Bard and Hampshire are way too alternative for me. And Wheaton is 32% males, which is too low. And Union is just too party-oriented for me. </p>
<p>My Guidance Counselor does exceptionally well at Dartmouth, he has connections - one of the reasons I'm applying. I also have the impression that dartmouth is large enough (population wise) that one can find other activities on campus besides drinking.</p>
<p>Is Bowdoin really more like Colby/Midd/Williams? Strong jock/preppy/sports scene?</p>
<p>From what I've read Vassar is actually quite alternativish. This doesn't really appeal to me.</p>
<p>With a 29 ACT score, SAT's that you aren't submitting, 3.5ish GPA and no class rank your numerical stats don't look very impressive though your recs and extracurriculars are distinctive. My impression is that for a suburban kid with no particular hook ec's won't make-up for basic stats that don't get you onto the maybe list. I think that Swat, Dartmouth, Bates, Bowdoin, Tufts, Amherst, Brown etc are all high reaches. Unless there is more to the picture than what you've told us I think you need to get it down to a few reaches that you can really show why you are especially suited for them and find some real matches and safeties.</p>
<p>I'm officially in the top 10% of my class (about 500) - they just don't tell you exactly what number. In addition, the rank that they put you in is the unweighted GPA, so everyone who doesn't take H/AP classes are equal. I think it also has some importance to know that I am coming from a nationally-known public high school. </p>
<p>Not submitting SAT scores doesn't have much relevance -- all the schools I listed take the ACT with writing.</p>
<p>In addition, I think you'd be surprised on the average
(median) ACT's of many of these schools. Brown is 29, Wes is 30, Dart 30, Swat 31. The rest are all 29 and under, with not more than 75% of the class in the top 10% of their HS's. I understand that 29 is not a great number, but it definitley doesn't eliminate me right off from any of the schools.</p>
<p>That may be but as a suburban kid you need to be looking at the 75% if you want to consider a school anything but a reach. The ACT is likely to be especially skewed relative to you. Most kids taking the ACT are from the midwest or west and may get a little boost for geographic diversity, that isn't going to be the case for a kid from suburban Boston. My S had very similar stats to you and applied to both Swat and Tufts with the same logic and was rejected from both. I'm not saying that you can't get in to any of these schools but they should all be considered reaches and you need to find some other schools to balance your list. Having a list with 7 reaches and 2 matches/safeties (?) is likely to lead to disappointment. I took the fact that you weren't submitting your SAT's to mean that they would weaken your application package. The fact that you are from the east coast where the SAT is the norm I think these schools will also make that assumption rather than think you didn't take them.</p>