<p>Quick stats:
3.92 unweighted GPA
34 ACT (35/35/33/33)
Top 10%
I am a leader in most of my extracurriculars, primary one is theater
I live in WA</p>
<p>And now, the list:</p>
<p>Safeties:
UWashington + honors
Mount Holyoke
Willamette</p>
<p>Matches/Slight Reaches:
Wellesley
Rice</p>
<p>Reaches:
MIT
Amherst
Kenyon</p>
<p>Top choices are MIT, Amherst, and Kenyon (I realize the differences in atmosphere between the three). I have tried to strike a good balance between small universities and small liberal arts colleges (with the exception of the UW, to which I would gladly go).</p>
<p>This is not a chances thread, but rather an inquiry into the quality of my college list as it stands. Here are some questions to guide you.</p>
<li><p>Should I take away some safeties? Have I incorrectly assessed my chances at a particular college? </p></li>
<li><p>I am also considering adding Oberlin or Grinnell to Matches and/or Williams or Brown to Reaches. What are your thoughts on this?</p></li>
<li><p>If I took away one women’s college (Wellesley or Mt. Holyoke) from the list, which one would you advise? I am strongly considering majoring in the sciences, particularly biology.</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>Your safeties are fine, though I might consider Mount Holyoke slight more as a pretty low match. I would also consider Rice to be more of a reach. </p></li>
<li><p>If you want, add one of the four. I wouldn't add any more, unless you're going to subtract some. Also, since you seem to be more interested in LAC's, I wouldn't go with Brown (Williams for you would seem more of a fit.) </p></li>
<li><p>Mount Holyoke for sure, only because I saw Wellesley and think that it's a really nice town (plus, Ming Tsai's restaurant is there = big plus.) Yeah, I'm a bit biased.... (But seriously, both Mt. Holyoke and Wellesley are pretty good with the sciences, though, I think I've heard Wellesley is better.)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I think you should cut it down to either 1 or 2 safties. Safeties are safeties after all. Looking at your stats, Kenyon is also definitely not a reach for you. If you are interested in Brown, then I would encourage you to apply. All of my friends who have gone there REALLYlove it. It's very liberal and free spirited.</p>
<p>What part of bio are you interested in? Wellesley is stronger in molecular biology than more ecology-type things, although it's strong in both. I don't know much about Mt. Holyoke.</p>
<p>Also, I'm pretty sure Wellesley is harder to get into than Kenyon. You might want to rethink the match/reach positioning of those two.</p>
<p>thats a good list...and the fact that you dont have a college list filled with names like stanford, harvard, yale, princeton etc....i really wish u make MIT...well I really hope you make your first preference ( i just guessed it was MIT)</p>
<p>I like this list a lot for the same reasons-- I can anticipate why and how you like each of the schools on your list, and again I think you did a great job of thinking beyond the "usual suspects."</p>
<p>I think you should add Oberlin to your list, if only because my best friend (a science major at Oberlin) has indoctrinated me to think that Oberlin= amazing sciences.</p>
<p>I think Oberlin also has a good sense of community and a lot of independent and creative thinkers, the two things that I think are a part of all the schools you listed as being interested in.</p>
<p>I agree with the majority sentiments. You have a ggod list there that gives you many options. I can see you picking among MHY, UWash and Williamette depending on how you perceive the schools and yourself at the end of this process. You have as much choice getting into your safeties as your reaches, as getting into MIT, Amherst, Rice, Wellesley covers a wealth of possibilities.</p>
<p>Joining the chorus that your list looks very realistic and shows a lot of thought. I also agree that Rice & Kenyon should be reversed. </p>
<p>As far as MH and W, they both have cross-registration with other colleges strong in sciences. However, you should give a good look into how easy it is to actually do so, as there are often problems with: priority given to students in the college, limited number of courses that can be taken at another college, and distance/time to other college. I know that the time factor in taking the shuttle can be a problem with some of the consortium schools in western MA. You might want to ask the students on the forums for those particular schools what they have experienced.</p>