<p>My daughter is a HS senior and has a list of about 5 schools she is very interested in. Great schools and fit what she is looking for: small (under 2,500 or so, Northeast, non urban, Div III -may play a sport -- and pretty (likes the "outdoorsy" settings of schools like Middlebury, Williams). However, they are all highly selective schools and she knows she needs to find a couple of other schools that are more "likely" for her to get in. </p>
<p>Any other suggestions of schools to look at that are similar in feel to Middlebury, Williams, Colgate but may be more likely for her to get in?</p>
<p>Her "stats" highlights:
small private hs
90 gpa unweighted (school does not rank)
5 AP classes senior year
1 AP; 3 Honors junior year
3 sport athlete - captain of a team this year
music lessons/performances
other school clubs
Diversity rep at school (but she is not an urm)
SATs: 680 Math 690 CR 780 Writing
ACT 32
US History AP 5
SAT II: 700 Math I, 700 US History</p>
<p>That ACT 32 is a very good score, decisively better than her SATs. Her SAT IIs are very good. Lead with the ACT. Her overall stats and ECs could make her competitive even at the most selective LACs like Williams and Middlebury. (A 32 ACT is right at Williams’ 50th percentile; her SATs, on the other hand, would put her around the middle of their third quartile).</p>
<p>For “match” schools, what about Colby? Her 32 ACT would put her into their top quartile. Would she consider going outside the Northeast, say as far as eastern Ohio? Oberlin? Kenyon? </p>
<p>For “safeties” I’d encourage her to look at some women’s colleges. Mt. Holyoke and Smith, for example, have outstanding academics, but because their admissions pool automatically excludes half the age cohort, and because a lot of women won’t consider a women’s college, their admit rates are quite high. Her stats would be comfortably top quartile at either of those schools, and with admit rates up around the 50% mark it’s hard to imagine she wouldn’t be admitted. Both have gorgeous campuses (Mt. Holyoke’s is one of the prettiest in the country, in my estimation), and there’s lots of interaction with other area colleges both socially and through the 5-college consortium, so it’s not the cloistered life some young women may fear.</p>
<p>Smith and Holyoke are both in the 5-college consortium with Amherst, Hampshire and UMass Amherst- can cross-registr at each other. Blunts a bit of the girls school issue.</p>
<p>Hamilton, Union, Gettysburg, Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall.
My impression is that Hamilton has a similar vibe to Colgate and is rather close, geographically. Also, they are DIII (Colgate is DI). The balance would probably offer nice merit $$.</p>
<p>*
small (under 2,500 or so, Northeast, non urban, Div III -may play a sport – and pretty (likes the “outdoorsy” settings of schools like Middlebury, Williams).</p>
<p>Any other suggestions of schools to look at that are similar in feel to Middlebury, Williams, Colgate but may be more likely for her to get in?</p>
<p>Her “stats” highlights:
small private hs
90 gpa unweighted (school does not rank)
SATs: 680 Math 690 CR 780 Writing
ACT 32
US History AP 5
SAT II: 700 Math I, 700 US History
*</p>
<p>Her GPA is similar to a 3.7…A- average.</p>
<p>How much can you spend each year? If you can pay full freight, then great. If money is an issue, then finding “Likely” schools can be difficult because most do NOT meet need.</p>
<p>If you can pay full freight, then great. If not, then the “likely” schools will need to affordable schools because either they are inexpensive or they will give your D a big merit scholarship.</p>
<p>With an ACT 32 and a 3.7 GPA, there are schools that will give her a big merit scholarships. </p>
<p>What sport does she want to play in college. If not Div III, would she play club?</p>
<p>What is her likely major / career?</p>
<p>Would she consider a larger school if it offered the more intimate feeling one gets from an Honors College?</p>
<p>Skidmore, Wheaton, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Union, Dickinson and Gettysburg can give quite attractive finaid. Don’t know enough about the others. All depends on whether finaid is critical to you.</p>
<p>I’m talking about a 1600-point SAT CR+M scale, where this applicant has a 1370. According to the official ACT-SAT concordance an ACT 32 is equivalent to an SAT CR+M of 1420. Williams has a middle 50% ACT of 30-34, putting this applicant right smack at the median. Williams has a middle 50% SAT CR+M of 1310-1530, putting this applicant around the middle of the third quartile. That’s a difference.</p>
<p>Her SAT W of 780 is extremely strong and pulls up her SAT CR+M+W total on a 2400-point scale. But a lot of colleges still don’t use the SAT W; others look at it but don’t weigh it as heavily as CR and M. Bottom line, I think this applicant’s ACT score is going to look stronger to many colleges than her SAT score. Not that the SAT is bad; a 1370 is quite good. But a 32 ACT is better.</p>
<p>Bowdoin is just as reachy as her present list. Bates is slightly less so.</p>
<p>I’d take a look at Colby and Hamilton, and for something less selective, Wheaton. Skidmore, Bard, and Bennington spring to mind, but they are all edgier/artier schools, not usually placed on the Colgate/Hamilton spectrum. Definitely, Mount Holyoke and Smith.</p>
<p>Why? The ACT sections are English, Math, Reading, Science. There isn’t really a section that gets somewhat dismissed for admissions like the Writing score does with the SAT.</p>
<p>And…since many schools’ scholarships only consider the M+CR scores, her ACT is much higher for that. At my kids’ flagship, she’d get free tuition with the ACT 32. However, with her 1370 M+CR SAT, she’d only get 2/3 tuition…a difference of about $26k over 4 years…a substantial amount…the price of some new cars.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s replies! I should have mentioned that she does not want to go to an all girls college. She has gone to an all girls school K- 12 and emphatically says that is enough! She also is not considering schools in our home state of PA, which does eliminate some good matches. She is OK not playing a sport (I think she would play club or IM if she could not play at a varsity level). In fact, she is thinking pre-med and I don’t know if she truly will have the time to dedicate to a varsity sport after her first year. However, she has contacted coaches at a couple D3 schools because she thinks it may give her a hook to get in.</p>
<p>She did see Colby, Hamilton, Skidmore and Union. Of those, she liked Colby and Hamilton more. Although these schools may be “easier” to get into than a school like Williams, I don’t know if she can count on these as safeties. I guess there is no" guarantee "anywhere but I do want to make sure she gets in somewhere where she will be happy!</p>