<p>I LOVE Columbia's NYC location and it's relation to the city (has a campus but still very urban), but am having trouble finding similar safeties...</p>
<p>3.9 GPA, 2350 SAT, 800/790 on top 2 SAT IIs, okay ECs...</p>
<p>Looking to study biology...</p>
<p>So you want a campus in a large city?</p>
<p>Check out Georgetown, U Penn, John's Hopkins, Tufts (not in the city but very close), and Rice.</p>
<p>None of those are safeties, or even close.</p>
<p>Fordham, Boston University, George Washington, maybe Emory (though probably not a safety), Seattle University, University of San Francisco, University of Minnesota, University of Pittsburgh (an excellent place!).</p>
<p>Macalester? Significantly smaller than Columbia though, being an LAC.</p>
<p>NYU? if you like the new york scene.</p>
<p>UChicago is in no way a safty, but, like the colleges kingofqueens mentioned, might make another good reach that is <em>slightly</em> (very slightly) less selective. Also WashU and Northwestern.</p>
<p>BU and NYU don't have as much of the campus feeling. </p>
<p>BC might be a good match. Maybe American as another safety option. If you're willing to consider LACs, Occidental has a gorgeous campus in the Middle of LA and would be a safety.</p>
<p>While not a safety, Vanderbilt would be a safer option</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions! I forgot to mention, I don't want to go to the south/southern CA, but am willing to consider the northwest/Northern CA and the midwest (plus the northeast).</p>
<p>And yes, campus in a large city.</p>
<p>What gender are you? Barnard (a women's college) is affiliated with Columbia, you could take classes there, and it is a fantastic school in its own right. Not nec. a safety, they're very holistic with admissions, but at least a good match based on your stats.</p>
<p>American would be a good safety.</p>
<p>Barnard is actually my first choice (ED)! I used Columbia as the baseline for the thread because it has more of a campus and it's in the same neighborhood (I love Morningside Heights!).</p>
<p>Case Western University is in the middle of downtown Cleveland, with a university neighborhood all around it...don't know much else about it, though (sorry).</p>
<p>But if I had to choose between cities in that region, I think Pittsburgh is a more delightful city than Cleveland for attending college. Both cities have good museums, symphonies and such, but there are more other colleges/unis in Pittsburgh, so there might be more college-related culture there, in more parts of the city than Cleveland. Hence, U. of Pittsburgh.</p>
<p>If you love NYC in particular, I echo mini's suggestion, among others: Fordham U!
It's a beautiful, tree-filled large campus in the heart of a borough of NYC, and all connects by subway.</p>
<p>EDIT: I was thinking about Chicago, and Northwestern came to mind as a safety, but it might be too suburban in location. Chicago's a great city, though.</p>
<p>What about University of Toronto, York University or McGill, up in Toronto or Montreal, Canada? ONe more: Syracuse University. Smaller, upstate NY city, but the uni is right in the middle of the city.</p>
<p>NYU, certainly. It's the closest you'll get, and you can legit call it a safety.</p>
<p>Strange there aren't that many schools in NYC. Boston and Philadelphia are a fraction of the size and they have more.</p>
<p>Maybe there will be some space for a new school now that half of Wall Street has gone belly-up ;)</p>
<p>Check out DePaul. Very cool urban Chicago neighborhood and an academic safety for you. It is a great school, worth a visit. The kids who we know who go there absolutely love it there.</p>