<p>I'm a Junior this year. Here are my basic stats -</p>
<p>Female
Caucasian
Location: California
High School: Very competitive</p>
<p>SAT's: CR 760, W 740, M 700.
SAT II: US History 720
GPA: 4.1 Weighted, 3.8 Nonweighted.</p>
<p>Grades: Majority A's, with some B's here and there.
Classes: Have always taken challenging honors and AP classes. As of Senior year I will have taken seven AP classes, including European History, US History, Language, Literature, Spanish IV, Spanish V and Calculus AB.
Extracurricular: Founded and run a local nonprofit charity, Editor in Chief of school newspaper, have a long time commitment to my two sports, soccer and horseback riding, volunteer to tutor local children who don't speak English well.
Essays and Recommendations: Will definitely be good. :)
Interests: Passion for english, psychology, history and diplomacy.</p>
<p>Colleges and Universities that I'm Considering:
Amherst College (Legacy)
Tufts University
Emory University
Boston College
American University
Mount Holyoke College (Legacy)</p>
<p>Does this group seem reasonable to you? I'm pretty sure I'd be happy at any of them. Or, if have any similar suggestions that seem to fit into my list, feel free to suggest away! I'm interested in LAC's or small-sized universities that are either rural or a bit removed from a big city. A nice campus and diverse student body are preferable. =D</p>
<p>This is a great list. You have some reaches (that are reaches for everyone), some matches and a couple of safeties. You might want to look at Bucknell, which is a small, very rural, university, or University of Rochester, which has a campus that feels more suburban than Boston College does. Brandeis University also feels similar to Tufts but is a bit less selective.</p>
<p>With those SATs, American (and probably Mt. Holyoke) would be safeties. Seems like all of your non-legacies are in nice areas in or near interesting big cities. Others that would fall into that category would include Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, and Miami (Fla.),</p>
<p>I agree with TourGuide446, and say that American and Mt. Holyoke are the schools that you have a good chance of getting into. I think you could get into Boston college, too, but I don't know too much about it. Good luck! Keep those good grades up, and start thinking about rec letters.</p>
<p>Well....I hate to rain on your list parade. They are all EXCELLENT choices...except you want a smaller school in a rural setting and away from big cities, right? Several of your schools dont fit the "away from big city" qualification.</p>
<p>If you want SUPERB academics, then Washington and Lee fits the bill. Its a gorgeous setting and HIGHLY competitive. But its REALLY hard to get in there because it is so small. Its not very diverse....mostly upper class kids. </p>
<p>Then there is Furman. Its easily one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. Its in Greenville South Carolina, so its not too cold in the winter. Its actually outside of Greenville by 5 miles so its sort of rural. But the campus is HUGE.....like a country club and golf course setting...while the student body is about 2,700. It has superb academics. Students there are all happy and have a GREAT time. Great sports too! </p>
<p>Davidson also fits the bill somewhat..though its only about 15 miles to Charlotte and that is a big city now. But the village of Davidson is on Lake Norman and they even have an NCAA water skiing team! Its a superb school that is HIGHLY respected.</p>
<p>In Ohio, Kenyon College is a truly amazing school that is somewhat off the beaten path. Its particularly strong in liberal arts. Some of its graduates have become famous authors. Gorgeous campus.</p>
<p>Sewannee_the University of the South is very rural. Its in Tennessee and is very small but very pretty. It is an Episcopal school. Not much diversity there either, but highly respected school academically. Teddy Roosevelt went there, I believe. </p>
<p>Oh...I almost forgot. In the Northeast......Holy Cross and Williams College fit your definition, if not also Dartmouth. All are somewhat rural...particularly Dartmouth and Williams. Williams is an AMAZING school, but less diverse than Dartmouth. And dont forget Haverford and Hamilton Colleges. They are rural (Pennsylvania and New York respectively). Both are superb academic schools that are highly selective.</p>
<p>I think that you will be admitted to a number of your schools, and that you don't really need to add any to be safe. American is not at all rural or removed from a city. It's right there in Washington, DC. The area is quite residential, but densely populated. It is not one of the easier parts of the city to get around in or get out of. It's fine- but it's for somebody who wants urban Washington, DC. You might want to replace that one. How about Goucher- it is outside of Baltimore, and allows cross registration with Johns Hopkins. Brandeis sounded like a good choice, too. Rice is reported to have a suburban feel, so you may want to check it out. Academically, it sounds like a good match for you.</p>
<p>I suggest Carleton, Vassar, Grinnell, Oberlin and as women's college alternatives to MHC, Smith and for a serious horseback rider Sweet Briar or Hollins.</p>
<p>I know a girl at Hollins right now. She LOVES it! It has a rather highly regarded creative writing program that has produced a number of authors.</p>
<p>College of the Holy Cross is a highly regarded LAC with Division 1 sports an hour west of Boston. It is 3 miles outside the city of Worcester on a 175 acre wrought iron gated campus that has won national awards for landscape and architecture. Worcester has 10 commuter trains a day to Boston's South Station.</p>
<p>I'm from Worcester area and you do not want to go college there. The trains that the above poster referenced leave Union Station and take over an hour to arrive in Boston. Although Holy Cross is a wonderful school, it does not compare to the other schools mentioned such as Georgetown, Amherst, Tufts, and Boston College. If you don't care about location, do look at Holy Cross;it certainly does afford a wonderful undergrad experience (being an exclusively undergrad program).</p>