<p>I'm getting a bit nervous that my D is not applying broadly enough.</p>
<p>Her list:
Brown ED loves it
Claremont McKenna ED2 loves it</p>
<p>Swarthmore
Pomona</p>
<p>Oberlin
Smith
Wellesley</p>
<p>Occidental
Whittier</p>
<p>To go to either safety, she would need a full ride.</p>
<p>Brief stats: 3.93 UW, 720/780/790, 12 APs (all 5s so far, except Chem, which was a 2), 2 college classes at a solid school (4.0), NMSF, fair ECs (Teen Court, debate, government internships x2, plus the usual NHS, etc.)</p>
<p>At this point, she has had a lot of scholarship offers, but none have been to schools that fit. </p>
<p>I really want her to end up with some options she's happy with. Any suggestions to round out this list a bit?
She's looking for small, preferably warm, smart, urban or close to a city. We live in AZ. No southern schools - we moved from SC and she doesn't want to go back to that region. Also, no religiously-affiliated schools.</p>
<p>“religiously-affiliated schools”
if this was 1812 and not 2012 I would be more concerned. many schools have a super loose,left over affilation with a church. schools like hendrix college and muhlenberg college, both amazing beyond words, still have one but, it is not really relevant. some of the catholic schools maybe a different story. also schools like davidson college or hendrix college are in the south but, I would not avoid looking at them for that reason!</p>
<p>What do you mean by this? That assuming she gets into any of her other schools, she would attend those, and that only money (a full ride merit scholarship) could get her to attend Occidental or Whittier?</p>
<p>I also don’t understand what you mean by “not applying broadly enough”. What are you concerned about? Number of acceptances? Merit aid from those she does get into? Need based financial aid? (Often that is what people are worried about when they need to apply more broadly is having need based aid packages to compare). That she does not actually like all of the schools on her list? That you think she needs more of some type of school (more reaches? more matches? more safeties?).</p>
<p>I think nine is a pretty good number of schools to apply to if you are sure you can pay regardless of where she gets in. My D has 10 on her list, but I suspect she will not apply to one of those when it gets down to the actual applications.</p>
<p>Oberlin is an outlier for warm, urban, close to a city. Smith and Wellesley are outliers for warm. Claremont or Pomona make sense. Emory might be a replacement for one of the snow colleges or Oberlin. I wouldn’t call Providence warm, but it’s near water and urban so I guess it makes sense. She’ll be fine…best wishes. If the snow thing isn’t a deal breaker since it’s on her list, Macalester is more urban than Oberlin but you really didn’t say what her interests were so perhaps Oberlin makes more sense than Macalester.</p>
<p>We’re Jewish - religion is not a deal-breaker, but she’s not attracted to schools like Pepperdine. </p>
<p>At the “meet all demonstrated need” schools, she is fine. At schools that don’t meet all demonstrated need, she would need a scholarship. The cost of attendance for her would be higher at Whittier than it would be at Brown, absent a scholarship.</p>
<p>Since she has full-ride offers from less well-known schools, it makes more sense for her to take one of those instead of an academic safety at full cost. Most of those are big state unis, though.</p>
<p>She is likely headed to law school, and she responds better to liberal and quirky. CMC, though not liberal or quirky, has an awesome debate program that she’s participated in, and undergrad research opportunities that she loves.</p>
<p>She’s not at all in love with Pomona (too science-y). I just don’t want her to wind up with an expensive choice she doesn’t love.</p>
<p>Hmm, I don’t think of Pomona as “sciency” at all. Those kids mostly go to Mudd. Regarding “meets demonstrated need”, their definition and yours can be quite a bit different, but I assume you have run the Net Price Calculators for them and are comfortable with the numbers. Almost all of them will include loans, though. Law school is expensive (and the job market is awful these days for new lawyers). Having debt out of undergrad would not be a good thing.</p>
<p>Has she completed the apps for those schools? If so, why not just wait until the ED decision comes in to decide if she needs to add more schools?</p>
<p>I agree that Pomona is not particularly sciency. D2 attends, and while a Bio major, her friends are majoring in Sociology, IR, etc. Some are doing premed coursework, others are not. While likely more sciency than CMC, I think it’s no more so than Brown or Swat.</p>
<p>Law School huh… I would hazard a guess that Macalester is a better fit with her criteria than Oberlin. If you are “into USNWR” macalester is ranked a whole two points higher than Oberlin Music and bio are the two top majors at Oberlin and Econ, Political Science and Government are the top 2 at Macalester.</p>
<p>For Pomona it says Econ, Environmental Science and Political Science and Government are the most popular majors so I’m not sure I would call Pomona “sciency”…</p>
<p>Actually the more I think of it i don’t get Oberlin at all. Maybe it’s because I’m in the Midwest and “know” it because of music which is a huge “part” of Oberlin. Is Oberlin popular with the Jewish community? I know Tulane has historically been popular.</p>
<p>Unless I am missing something I don’t see any true safety schools on this list. She is certainly a likely admit at many of these schools, but she may very well land on a few waitlists or be denied. I would suggest she add a true safety and a school that she would be happy to attend if she came up without any options. You can search old threads here for Andison… who had a similar selective list of schools, had really strong stats and was denied at all his schools and waitlisted at Oberlin where he never moved off the waitlist. He had to take a gap year and reapply the following admission cycle. I know that Oberlin was a high match/reach for my d and she ended up waitlisted. While you are looking at your own d’s stats, you have to realize that there are many with similar stats nationwide and many with similar stats with possible connections. Older d only had one true safety on her list but received merit money at all her match schools and was waitlisted at two Ivies.</p>
<p>^^I think this is especially true (strange rejections) at schools that have a certain ‘type’ of student in terms of majors, interests, etc. which is at least to this Midwestern what Oberlin is about. It’s a fine college, but it has it’s niche of kids that get in. I don’t know the OP’s D or why Oberlin is on the list, but since we’re analyzing the list I thought I’d question Oberlin. Whittier would be the safety I think unless it’s changed alot in the past 7 years since my S1 looked at it. </p>
<p>Another warm weather safety like Whittier might be Eckerd, Similar size, similar ranking, safety for the OP’s D. Urban… a friend’s very bright, private school, great grades kid is thriving at Eckerd so I hear stories :-)</p>
<p>We’ve visited Pomona 3 times, really trying to like it. On paper, it seems like the perfect fit. In person, though, it hasn’t really clicked. It is still on the list because we are going that if she got in and visited again, it might. </p>
<p>Oberlin appeals for the writing program. We haven’t really looked at Macalester, but I’ll check that one out.</p>
<p>We’ve run all of the NPCs - some schools are better than others- Brown will give her the least money, but she loves it, so it would be worth it. It is also an easier “commute” than other places, oddly enough. I went to Brown, so I’m in favor of that decision, but her odds of acceptance aren’t wonderful, and she’ll have to submit the rest of her apps quickly after the decision.</p>
<p>(I also have to have pretty major surgery during that time, so it is going to be a stressful few Weeks.)</p>
<p>I don’t know that she will go to law school, or go directly to law school. She may go work for a non-profit. Prestige is not the deciding factor, nor is selectivity. She really is looking for a smart, socially aware place where she feels at home.</p>
<p>If she likes writing look at Kenyon, too, as a possible alternative to Oberlin. Might be even a better fit than Macalester although Macalester is urban and Kenyon is more like Oberlin as far as the ‘neighborhood.’ I believe Kenyon is less quirky than Oberlin with acceptances. Several friends have kids that were accepted to Kenyon but not to Oberlin. In terms of academic caliber they are very similar. All three are similar in size student body-wise.</p>
<p>I also think Macalester is a good fit. I don’t think this is an “Andison” situation. Being from AZ should help with some of the more distant LACs. Make sure she shows the love in her essays- make them specific to each LAC.</p>
<p>No but Oberlin can be quirky in their acceptances and the OP was looking to identify her “safe” colleges. Whittier is one, but it won’t hurt to have one additional. The D has a great resume and the geographic diversity is a big tip in the midwest. The OP can look at the two or three and figure out which one might work financially and see what her D thinks. Eckerd is a safety also meeting the “warm” criteria.</p>
<p>The OP’s D has Brown and ED. That’s all she needs if she’s in and her stats are fine for Brown and ED and has Claremont as EDII. Personally I don’t think the OP’s D is “shooting low.” Some kids don’t apply to the entire Ivy League, they pick the one or two they “like”… especially kids that aren’t living in the NE.</p>
<p>*
she has full ride offers from less well known schools*</p>
<p>Well, has she applied to these schools so that she actually has these financial safeties? Some of these schools will have scholarship deadlines for these offers and if you miss them, you won’t get them. </p>
<p>However, if your D doesn’t like these schools then they really would not be financial safeties for you.</p>
<p>*
Occidental
Whittier</p>
<p>To go to either safety, she would need a full ride*</p>
<p>If she “needs” a full ride at the two safeties in the first post, and you don’t know if she’d get such an award, then those aren’t really safeties either. </p>
<p>Maybe I’m misunderstanding. Does your D really have a couple of financial safeties that your know for sure will be affordable AND that she would like to attend?</p>
Music and bio are the two top majors at Oberlin and Econ, Political Science and Government are the top 2 at Macalester.</p>