<p>Hi! I'm a junior, that upon discovering CC has realized that I have been pretty ignorant and that my college list is too top-heavy. I need some schools that are less selective. While getting in to my in-state (UNLV) is definitely feasible, I don't think I would be happy attending it. I don't really know too much about the whole process of college selections and applications as my parents are foreign and didn't attend university in the US. Also, I am fortunate enough to not require any finanical aid. </p>
<p>My stats are:
Gender: Female
Race: Caucasian
School: Competitive private
GPA: 3.8 (unweighted)
SAT: 2300 (800 CR, 800 W, 700 M)
SAT II's: Literature: 780, French w/listening: 800, World History: 790
Classes: All AP classes (predicting all 4+)</p>
<p>ECs:
Junior class president
Over 200 hours volunteer tutoring immigrants for the US citizenship exam
Over 100 hours volunteering at Planned Parenthood
Founder and President of my school's GSA + organized multiple successful fundraisers for GBLT homeless shelters
President of french club
Varsity field hockey
Treasurer of model UN
Member of National English Honor Society, French National Honor Society
Member of Make-a-Wish club + organized successful fundraiser for it
Member of Key Club</p>
<p>And these are the (very top-heavy) schools I am planning to apply to:
Dartmouth (my ultimate dream)
Amherst
Cornell
Middlebury
Bowdoin
Carleton
Colgate
Oberlin</p>
<p>Are there any schools that are similar to the ones I plan on applying to (in terms of atmosphere, location etc) that are less selective and that I could consider as safeties? Thank you very much!</p>
<p>St. Olaf is Carleton’s neighbor, so if you are using location as a criterion, you may want to add it.</p>
<p>Amherst is part of a five college consortium, so you may want to consider the other four (one of which is University of Massachusetts - Amherst, which is apparently not that selective).</p>
<p>Other small rural schools include University of Minnesota - Morris and Truman State University. Both are also relatively inexpensive.</p>
<p>With smaller schools, be sure to check the offerings in your intended or possible majors, since some of them can be rather limited in some subjects.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great suggestions to look into, Erin’s Dad and ucbalmuns! I’m not too interested in women’s colleges and am not fond of the mandatory religious education component of St. Olaf. </p>
<p>Lewis and Clark, Willamette and Umass Amherst actually look perfect (and all have such beautiful architecture) and I will definitely be adding them to my list. </p>
<p>I would appreciate any other suggestions if anyone has any ideas!</p>
<p>Dickinson is a small LAC in pennslvania. I’m looking at similar schools to you and that is one of my safeties. I visited and ended up loving it too!</p>
<p>Oh wow, Dickinson looks perfect and seems to be very similar to Dartmouth. Macalester, Connecticut and Kenyon are definitely going on my list too. My parents won’t actually pay for a school in the south.</p>
<p>I’m so glad I found CC because my guidance counselor has basically just told me and everyone else in the top 5% “oh don’t worry you will get in anywhere” which seems so misleading.</p>
<p>Carleton is on the first list (the ACM schools). ACM schools that are a notch below Carleton in selectivity are: Grinnell, Macalester, Colorado College … then I suppose it would be St.Olaf, Lawrence, and Beloit.</p>
<p>The CTCL list includes a couple that are also on the ACM list (Beloit, Lawrence). The most selective of the CTCL schools probably are Reed and Whitman. </p>
<p>Many of these schools (on both lists) are quite similar to the New England LACs you’ve singled out. It’s just that most of them are less selective and are not in New England.</p>
<p>“My parents won’t actually pay for a school in the south.”</p>
<p>Am I the only one bothered by the off-hand way in which the OP drops this into her post? It seems some forms of discrimination are still very acceptable.</p>
<p>Holy Cross is very similar and has nice location 1 hour from Boston. HC has great school spirit and one of the better alumni networks for job placement. Holy Cross is a long-time athletic rival of Dartmouth. The HC website is informative.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that some smaller schools certainly pay attention to whether a student has demonstrated interest in their school and has not just thrown it on the list. </p>
<p>As you understandably have some travel limits (with UNLV as your state school), consider how else you can “show the love.” Is there a CTCL fair coming to your area that you could register for and meet with reps from some of those schools? For some of the tougher schools to get into, such as Oberlin, Kenyon, Grinnell and Mac, can you arrange a visit in the fall? Those campuses will be awfully quiet in the summer, I suspect, so a summer visit will not help with your impression of the campus or student body. </p>
<p>If you are considering schools like Grinnell, Mac, Oberlin, Kenyon – which are still in the 25-35% acceptance rate range, you might take a look at College of Wooster or Denison in Ohio, Cox College, Knox College (Illinois), Cornell College (block plan), or Kalamazoo College?</p>
<p>I do hear wonderful things about Dickenson, energetic administration, forward-looking. How about Trinity College in CT, if you are thinking East Coast. Skidmore or Bard? </p>
<p>Good luck, an exciting, nerve-wracking time.</p>
<p>There are many great LACs in Pennsylvania that might serve as safeties and low matches for you: Bucknell, Lafayette, Franklin and Marshall, for example.</p>
<p>Is the ban on Southern colleges unconditional? Because it sounds like you might really like Rhodes, Centre and Sewanee. If campus architecture/atmosphere is important to you, Rhodes and Sewanee in particular are very beautiful.</p>