<p>Hello everyone,
I'd appreciate if anyone could give me some input on potential colleges that might be good fits for me?</p>
<p>white Female, immigrated from europe in elementary school
Attend rigorous, well-known high school</p>
<p>GPA:3.4 UW
SAT: 2040
planning on taking sat ii's in october</p>
<p>ECs:
senior editor of school literature magazine, regional essay winner, religious activities during summer, tutoring job, editorial internship, unicef club, honors roll</p>
<p>I'm looking preferably for a LAC or a school that has the feel of one atleast and planning on majoring in english & philosophy. I'd prefer a college that has a nice nature-y feel to it but wouldn't mind it being close to a city or something. Tuition is a big factor for me but for the time being, I don't really want that to limit any possible choices for me. </p>
Unfortunately that definitely WILL limit options for you. When you say tuition is a factor does that mean your family is low income or just doesn’t have $ for college? For the former, schools that meet full need would be good options but not for the latter. Would you be applying as an international?</p>
<p>I mean that my family is low-income and I do have a reasonable assumption that I’ll be offered a good amount of financial aid. And no, not international.</p>
<p>Parent of a student who had somewhat similar stats – I am sorry to say that a 3.4 unweighted is going to put the top LACs out of your range – including Oberlin, Grinnell, Kenyon, Macalester in the midwest plus the east coast ones.</p>
<p>Bard might be a possibility as they tend to look for the more interesting, unusual student so you might have more latitude there. Skidmore College in NY, Trinity College in CT, Earlham in Indiana, Kalamazoo College in MI, etc. are more likely to be academic matches for a 3.4 unweighted. Maybe Dickinson in PA. </p>
<p>My D was in a similar range and the LACs on the east coast that we visited included: Lafayette, Union, Skidmore, Trinity, Dickinson, Siena, Mulhlenberg, and Franklin and Marshall. They were all strong schools but had different attributes so while my D liked certain of these schools better than others, a different person could have a different opinion. </p>
<p>Don’t ignore finances as an important factor. You need to research if you could get enough aid from these schools. The other option is to find some other good LACs where you are above the average profile in the hope of gettting a stronger merit aid package (maybe Goucher, Wheaton, and perhaps some other schools on the list of Colleges that Change Lives). [CTCL</a> Members | Colleges That Change Lives](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/colleges/list]CTCL”>http://www.ctcl.org/colleges/list)</p>
<p>Our school’s Naviance does not support that statement.
Places like Bates, Carleton, Colby, Colgate, Grinnell, Kenyon, Oberlin all had some students with the OP’s stats or worse accepted. </p>
<p>Macalester, Bowdoin, Wesleyan, Amherst, Swarthmore and Williams did not.</p>
<p>I am curious about why OP is planning to take SAT II tests in October. Not many colleges require this and the few that do are essentially out of reach with a 3.4 GPA.</p>
<p>It might be better to focus on preparing for the SAT again and try to increase it - many colleges will superscore. Or, just save the money and use it for another application fee.</p>
<p>I would echo Erin’s Dad advice - it is pointless to look for schools without considering cost up front. “Full need met” schools are difficult to gain admission. It might be more prudent to find schools where merit aid would be a possibility.</p>
<p>You’re GPA is definitely low, but your SAT score is good! </p>
<p>Skidmore College in NY is a good, naturey one. Kenyon and Whitman are good, too. I would suggest Vassar, but I think your GPA might be too low. Too bad, Vassar is beautiful.</p>
<p>I understand my GPA is a bit low but this is really due to my high school’s curriculum and students from my HS have been accepted into several top schools despite lower GPAs than normally accepted since colleges tend to recognize where we’re coming from. However, I do of course understand its certain limitations. </p>
<p>Regardless, thanks everyone for the suggestions and feedback. They are much appreciated. If anyone has any other input to offer, please go ahead. Everything is helpful.</p>
<p>Looking at Common Data sets, at Kenyon, 65% are above a 3.75, and only the bottom 15% have below a 3.5. Oberlin has a little more room, with 65% above a 3.5 (and 35% above 3.75). An unweighted 3.4 suggests that those schools are reaches at best. Many of us have seen very bright students who are certainly well-qualified to be admitted and succeed at schools like this who are disappointed come April. Students can get in with lower stats, but no one can count on acceptance. If you are looking for match schools, those are schools like Kalamazoo, Earlham, maybe Dickenson etc.</p>
<p>There are only a handful of schools on this list that do not fall in the Most Highly Selective category. Also, even if a school does meet “full need”, some schools have a reputation for defining need much higher than any reasonable family would - Holy Cross comes to mind. Yet another consideration is that most schools include loans in the FA package for meeting need, even if the loans are five figures or more each year.</p>
<p>I was not famliar with Lawrence or Beloit (neither is on the US News list), so I looked at their Financial Aid web sites. I could not find any reference on either site that they commit to meeting full need. In fact, Beloit’s site has a statement that implies they do not meet full need, "College funds and other components of a financial aid package are intended to close the gap between the family’s resources and college costs. "</p>
<p>You have an interesting story (low income, immigrant) that might make a difference for you at schools such as Macalester or Carleton…or many schools for that matter. This is the beauty of holistic admissions - some things (background, recommendations etc…) are hard to quantify and can tip the scale in your favor! It simply depends on what they are looking for in your particular admission year. Your SAT scores are certainly strong enough to keep you in the race. Your GPA is a number that will be evaluated by each school based on your HS, strength of schedule etc. I think your stats ( SAT, GPA, EC’s) are very good. You should apply to a wide variety of schools including some reach schools. Sure, you may be disappointed but you also may be pleasantly surprised! I would continue with your plan to take the SATII so that you have options. You have done a great job so far! Keep up the good work!</p>
<p>Hmm. Beloit and Lawrence used to be on the list.</p>
<p>From rmldad’s list, based on our Naviance, the following are not out of reach:</p>
<p>Amridge - no data
Austin (safety but small sample, but everyone had much lower stats)
Bates (reach)
Boston College (reach)
Bryn Athyn - no data
Bryn Mawr (almost a safety)
Carleton (reach)
Carroll (WI) - no data
Colby (reach)
Colgate (reach)
Holy Cross (reach)
Concordia (AL) - no data
Gettysburg (almost a safety)
Grinnell (reach)
Mt Holyoke (almost a safety)
Oberlin (match ~50%)
Occidental (match but no rhyme or reason to scatterplots - some people with much lower stats got in, some people with higher stats did not - both of your SAT and GPA are higher than the average admit).
Pitzer (match)
Smith (very likely)
St Olaf - inconclusive data
Thomas Aquinas - inconclusive data
Trinity (match ~50%)
Vassar (reach)</p>
<p>On that list, Only BC, Bryn Mawr and Vassar require SAT II, though they accept the ACT in lieu of SAT +SAT II.</p>
<p>I think Hamilton could be a great choice for you since it has a very good English program and its location can definitely give you that close-to-nature feeling. Although it’s certainly selective, it’s not as selective as a school like Swarthmore or Amherst and I think you definitely have a chance there. With good grades senior year and good SAT II scores (or a higher SAT score, if you want to retake, even though a 2040 is definitely good), I feel like you have a good shot of getting in.</p>