If you need easier admissions, then consider the all female schools:
Barnard (attached to Columbia) & Wellesley (near Boston).
@Publisher Yeah, I know the list is far too long and I would be crazy if I would apply to that many. I’m currently researching a lot of these schools to see which ones I like the sound of. I just wanted to know if I had the right idea about what reaches, matches, and safeties are.
@ITG -
Columbia and Barnard are not “just north” of Manhattan, they are IN Manhattan.
I post these analyses at times because they can be useful for the purpose of organizing colleges by rough selectivity:
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-50-smartest-colleges-in-america-2016-10
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9
Note that the scores listed are for the prior version of the SAT exam. Acceptance rates and other factors should be considered of course.
Regarding your list:
Wash U in STL I would say is a reach. It’s a reach for everyone.
Vassar is either a high match or a reach.
Northeastern – Take it off your list. It is exactly the opposite of what you are seeking. It’s very preprofessional. Not the place someone seeking a life of the mind would choose.
As for safeties, it’s really hard to say. Yes, your stats are way above the averages of the colleges you listed as safeties. But schools like to keep an eye on their yield and thus reject if they think you are applying there just as a safety. Therefore, you must apply to your safeties very early in the process and take those applications very seriously. Visit if you can. Show interest so that they don’t think it’s just a throw-away application.
Also keep in mind that whether a school is a reach or a match can depend on whether you apply early decision. Many of these competitive schools fill 30% to 50% of their freshman class via early decision. This would apply to Tufts, Haverford, Swarthmore, and many of the LACs.
BTW, Cornell is a great school, but it’s in a small city surrounded by rural environment. Ithaca, NY is an amazing place, but it’s not urban. It’s a college town.
Good luck to you!
One more to add Davidson as a match. It is in NC cute town not to far from Charlotte NC.
Kenyon is small, beautiful & intellectual, but not the most convenient trip from Blighty.
@warblersrule wrote: “People in graduate school in the humanities are no strangers to alcohol, as you’ll find out at any major academic conference. (A friend of mine who interviewed for a PhD program in classics at Brown wound up doing jello shots with faculty and grad students there while on a prospective students visit.)”
I have no objections to alcohol use, and I’m not religious or abstinent, but I read the above story as a possible red flag. Moderate drinking and intellectualism are perfectly compatible, but I have first hand experience with alcohol abuse contributing to a toxic environment in a PhD program.
@OutOfKantrol best wishes! I think you are right to seek out a school, or a crowd within a school, where binge alcohol culture isn’t dominant.
Occidental College in Los Angeles would be a perfect match for you. The school is located in L.A. and is very intellectual and a very good fit. As for Reed, yes it’s intellectual, but it is a big party school. Steve Jobs attended this school and he did some serious partying ( dropped acid). A few of my friends children are currently enrolled here and I have heard that the school has become more social.
Anything with a less than 20% acceptance rate should be considered a reach, no matter how good your academic record is. So I’d consider the following reaches or low reaches:
Wash U
Haverford
ColoradoC
Carleton
Middlebury
Georgetown
Vassar
Hamilton
There may be more but I’m not familiar with all of the colleges on your list.
Competitive women’s colleges are more likely to be matches than safeties (Bryn Mawr, Smith, etc.)
Again, I think you will probably get into some reaches but how many is anybody’s guess.
Reed parent here, popping in to say that the “big party school” characterization above is not everyone’s experience. (Steve Jobs attended a long time ago.) It seems to be a friendly enough place–social in its own quirky introverted way–though. My kid says it is a ton of work, but worth it, and really enjoys the community.
Other people may have had difference experiences, you’ll definitely want to do your own research.
It sounds like you’ll have many great options–good luck with your search, wherever it takes you!
^yeah the comment that “Steve Jobs dropped acid” there is, shall we say, a bit irrelevant now, nearly a half century later!
UT Dallas prides itself on being more of an intellectual school. Their motto is Keep UTD Nerdy. The student union has a game rental area and a big lounge where people are always playing strategy games like Settlers of Catan, Dominion, Magic, and lots of deep conversations going on. They also do not even have a football team and Greek life is very small. If you are looking for something out of the classic Ivy feel (of which many may still have party feel) you may want to look.at Dallas.
Carleton College or Maclaster in MN might fit too. Carelton might be too in the middle of nowhere for you.
It’s a good list. Well thought out and I think your categorizations are about right. No school that builds the bulk of its class from A+ students with top test scores is going to be 24/7 out of control party, despite reputations formed 40 years ago. Many/most students at these schools will prefer quiet, deep, and lively discussions over a raging party most days.
By the way, you appear to be one of the least clueless 17 year olds I’ve ever encountered.
I have to agree with post #49 and tell you that, while your application may be strong, none of the following colleges are a match.
Wash U
Haverford
ColoradoC
Carleton
Middlebury
Georgetown
Vassar
Hamilton
LACs admit their class each year based on much more than just stats, so please understand that if your stats put you at above the 75% of admitted students it still does not mean that they are a match. I would expect you to get into some of these, but probably not all of them. Which ones? Well, that would depend on the adcom, your essays, and if you have whatever it is they think the class is lacking in the year that you apply.
Also, please note that some of the colleges on your full list allow for much quicker and easier access to a large city compared to others. Public transportation in the US is pretty variable depending on location.
I agree that St. John’s would be a fantastic safety. Its Great Books curriculum is unique, and the structure that has all the students doing the same reading at the same time promotes exactly the kind of intellectual discourse you are looking for. Furthermore, the fact that this shared curriculum is the only option, and that there’s no Greek life, athletic focus, etc. means that you might find a more like-minded cohort here than at the vast majority of colleges. While Annapolis sounds like the better base for you, you could also spend a year at the Santa Fe campus and see a completely different part of the US. Definitely take a closer look at this school. While it might not trump the very best-suited reach schools (and I’d agree with others that Swarthmore and UChicago seem like the best fit among those), you might end up preferring St. John’s to some of the other “elite” schools that would be less oriented toward pure intellectualism at the undergrad level. 70% of St. John’s grads pursue graduate degrees, many at elite universities, and you might well find that “your people” are concentrated more in those grad programs than in the undergrad divisions of the Ivies et. al.
I agree that while Northeastern is an amazing place for the right student, you are not that student. As a Rice parent, I think it’s a great place but also not really what you are looking for. I don’t think you would like CMU either, and I’m really dubious about GWU unless you are dead-set on a DC school and can’t get into Georgetown. I’m also skeptical that WashU would have the vibe you’re looking for. If you’re willing to consider a remote/rural setting, Williams or Middlebury would be a far better fit than Cornell. You might love Reed, but it’s definitely a “don’t go here sight-unseen” kind of school - it would be important to visit and see whether the Reed flavor of intellectualism appeals. (And obviously visiting Portland from the UK is no small project.)
Definitely keep Barnard/Columbia, Bryn Mawr/Haverford, Tufts, and William & Mary (which has 7% International students) on the list… and Carleton/Macalester if you’re willing to do the Minnesota thing. Consider scratching Dartmouth (remote and Greek/party heavy) and Hopkins (far more ambitious pre-meds than intellectual-discourse-oriented philosophers).
Good comments @aquapt. A good friend of my daughter spent one quarter at Dartmouth then took a gap 2/3 year and went to another school that had accepted her-- MIT. The heavy party/Greek life at Dartmouth turned her off.
Yeah. Do what @aquapt says. Spot on.
OP, the following program at WashU might be of interest to you.
Although it’s a great school (my son is a freshman there), it may not be an ideal fit based on your interests since there is sort of a preprofessional feel to it-premed is an important focus.
Boston College might be a school worth considering.
i second swarthmore, haverford, uchicago, macalester, and reed.
some to add: occidential, (maybe?) bard, and the claremont colleges
you may want to broaden your horizons just a tiny bit because finding “intellectual” colleges located in populous cities like you’re describing is kind of difficult. take a look at carleton, and grinnell. both are remote, but both have been described as “intellectual” at some point.
the ivies, stanford, mit, northwestern, etc. will all be “intellectual,” but they’re also incredibly hard to get accepted into.