I don’t see how St Michael’s would be too small with ~2K students if you’re open to a small LAC
Your GPA is actually below the mean for St M. https://www.smcvt.edu/-/media/files/offices/institutionalresearch/final_cds_2015-2016%20-%20smc20152016.ashx?la=en
I’m not sure you understand your standing wrt colleges nor the wayvyou choose matches and safeties…
It sounds like you want to create a list of reaches only which is a sure recipe for a shutout.
St Michaels doesn’t have a very good reputation and is barely known by anyone that I know.I am trying to find matches but I need to go to a good college so I am trying to find good match colleges.
^people you know will not know many schools: those on TV/ESPN, “big names”, where they/their kids went to, and whatever’s in your region. As for limiting yourself to colleges you’ve heard of at this point in your search, well, you’ll limit yourself A LOT and will miss a lot of great colleges due to sheer ignorance.
Test this: tomorrow ask people you know to classify these colleges in order of selectivity: UNC Wilmington, Rutgers, Penn State, Pomona, Macalester, Emory. Prepare to be surprised with the results.
(For the record, the right answer is Pomona, Emory, Macalester, Penn State, UncW/Rutgers closing the list as a tie.)
What high school kids think about colleges has ZERO impact on how you’ll fare. What matters is what the college offers you and whether you have the drive to seize those opportunities.
St Michael’s is a good college for a student with a 3.5 and a handful of AP classes. Not sure why you think it doesn’t have a good reputation or is below your caliber. Same thing for CNU and UNCW. (You can’t get into UNC-Ch from OOS with your stats).
People do know most of the good colleges…I would rank those colleges the same way except I would say UNCW is lower than Rutgers because Rutgers is the flagship.I am not stupid and ignorant,I understand how selective some colleges can be.Multiple people from my high school go to Macalester,Pomona,Emory and Penn State but none Rutgers and UNCW.I am familiar with many colleges so I would actually consider myself to be pretty knowledgable.
Entering stats and overall selectivity place UNCW and Rutgers at the same level (a bit higher for UNCW overall but higher for Rutgers Honors compared to UNCW Honors).
DO the test, ask tomorrow - friends, teachers, neighbors. You’ll see most people get that wrong and haven’t heard of those colleges or have the wrong idea about them.
People DO NOT know “most of the good colleges”. Really. Buy a Fiske Guide and/or a Princeton Review’s Best Colleges if you don’t have them already and start reading.
It’s fine if you don’t like St Michael’s, but that category of colleges would be a low match to safety for you, and you need a bunch of those.
If you don’t like St Michael’s, check out Goucher, Loyola Maryland, Allegheny, Lewis&Clark,St Mary’s Maryland, Hendrix, Truman State, Austin College.
It’s too bad you won’t consider anything among VA publics or UNC’s. 
Would you consider SUNY Geneseo? It’d be a low reach/high match for you. Perhaps Miami Ohio, Michigan State for larger low reaches?
Most people would pass the test.I have looked at Goucher,it is a strong possibility.Loyola Maryland I’m kind of iffy about because it is in Baltimore,obviously if it was Johns Hopkins I would not eliminate it because of it’s location.My cousin goes to Lewis&Clark and I have looked at Allegheny.I would consider VA public,such as JMU but not george mason because i read that it is commuter heavy.I don’t know if I would consider suny geneseo I would prefer to stick to the more prominent state universities.I decided after touring UMaryland that I would prefer to stay under 25,000 people so no to Michigan State.I read that Miami OH has lots of farm land and cows which i don’t know how i feel about but i guess i should be more openminded because i don’t really have a choice.
Where I live, people would have heard of PSU and Rutgers but none of the others. The valedictorian of my HS class had to educate our guidance counselors about Pomona, which is where she ended up going.
My high school is ranked within the top 100 nationally so everyone is very familiar with colleges.My college doesn’t rank,but a few people in the past couple years are going to/go to Pomona.It is pretty well known in my area even though it is really far away.
What is your home state?
If you are female, would you consider a women’s college?
Is your 3.5 weighted or unweighted?
It sounds like you are interested in a mid-sized college or university that is politically moderate and is located in a pleasant suburb.
This thread might give you some realistic ideas about match and safety schools for a B+ student with a projected SAT of around 1300.
You might also consider Colleges that Change Lives schools, check ctcl.org
I may have missed it, but did you list a budget ? Will you need merit aid ?
I second college’s that change lives.
I don’t want to say my home state for privacy reasons.I would not consider an all womens college.I don’t have a budget and don’t necessarily need merit aid.It is more of a touch and go basis depending on the specific school.For example I don’t think my parents would want to pay $45,000 for UArizona when it is extremely comparable to my state school but would pay full price for many schools such as Lehigh or Bucknell.
Does your school have Naviance? That would help in finding matches.
Please check out Miami University in Ohio. Yeah, I know the name is a bit confusing, but I think u would love it. Very safe town; excellent academics–often ranked very high nationally in quality of undergrad education; quite possibly the most beautiful campus in the country; not hard to get into considering the top-notch academics; doesn’t lean left politically; not far from Cincinnati if u want some urban stuff; good in a wide variety of subjects.
Check out Rollins College in FL
Have you had a job? I think that would catalyze focus and motivation. I found that one summer of landscaping work was an epiphany.
Concerning a major. Are there any ECs that you are involved in that you can compare to a major? Or even activities you might like to continue in at college? Do you like to participate/watch sports? If there is a particular sport you like to watch, that might help with the college search.
I am actually really starting to consider Miami U,does anyone know how rural it is or if you think I would need a car[ik no one needs one technically but to get around]I tried looking on the website but couldn’t find much.
I have not had a job,my parents don’t want me to be tied down and it to distract me from studying but I do a lot of volunteering.I’m involved in spanish club and a community service club and hold leadership positions in both.I also do a lot of volunteering on my own with a local food center.
In college I definitely want to keep volunteering and am considering Greek life but it isn’t a must factor in choosing a college.
I don’t play any sports and there is no sport I care that much about watching.I am more into activities like sewing,shopping and baking but I am trying to become more outdoorsy.
The Miami U campus is very close to the town’s shopping district, so a car would not be necessary. So the campus isn’t “rural” in the sense of being far from stores and restaurants, but the town itself isn’t huge or real close to any city. So in that sense some big city folk might consider it rural. Greek organizations often do a lot of volunteer charity work, so you could probably pursue that interest via whatever Greek organization you joined. I don’t know how many options there are for volunteering in the town itself…maybe somebody else could speak to that.
I have no connection to Miami U., but I was blown away by the campus, and have heard plenty of great things about the academics. In the Midwest, the huge universities get most of the attention; congrats to the state of Ohio for putting so much effort into making this medium-sized university so special.
I really have been struggling to find matchs.I have eliminated Miami U because it has a too big social emphasis on Greek life and partying which I am not into.I like to go to parties but I don’t feel like that college has the academics to balance it out and my parents say I am aiming too low.I really don’t like any colleges that would be “matches” and feel like they are below my academic capabilities.My school is extremely competitive and probably 10 people in my math class have Cs and I know 5 people who had to switch out of physics because it was so hard so I don’t think my gpa is an accurate representation of my intelligence.How can I explain to colleges that I am smart and can do well even if my grades are a little rocky?I study so much every day and spend most of my weekend teaching myself because the teachers in my school are not very good yet the tests are abnormally hard.Last week in the middle I raised my hand and asked my teacher when did we learn this?He said “you didn’t learn it you should know it”.Sorry I can’t remember an obscure fact from 3 years ago but am expected to be able to answer a question on it.That is basically what every single test in my school is so as you can imagine getting As is close to impossible.