Oops sorry you’re right. My pa geography is terrible 
Ok. Would any of you mind commenting on it you think any of the following schools are within my reach based on my stats? They are all appear to be be financially affordable based on the NPCs but I am afraid they all may be too competitive for me. I have what I think they might be (but I am afraid I am being overly optimistic)
University of Notre Dame South Bend IN High Reach
Colorado College Colorado Springs CO High Reach
U of NC Chapel Hill NC High Reach
University of Richmond Richmond VA Low Reach
Lafayette College Easton PA Low Reach
Franklin & Marshall Lancaster PA Low Reach
Boston College Chestnut Hill MA Low Reach
Emory University Atlanta GA Low Reach
Grinnell College Grinnel IA Low Reach
Lehigh University Bethlehem PA Low Reach
Dickinson State Dickinson ND Low Reach
Wake Forest Winston-Salem NC Low Reach
Trinity College Hartford CT Low Reach
Dickinson College Carlisle PA Match
Washington & Lee Lexington VA Match
College of the Holy Cross Worcester MA Match
University of Virginia Charlottesville VA Match
University of Alabama-Birmingham Birmingham AL Match
Truman State Kirksville MO Match
St Olaf Northfield MN Match
None are completely out of reach for your stats.
You aren’t a shoo-in for any of the reaches, nor for most of the matches, but any of them is worth a shot if you think it is affordable and otherwise a good fit (as long as you have a balanced, realistic reach-match-safety mix).
We have some experience with a few of these, so can offer some suggestions.
I would delete Notre Dame entirely, it is very stat driven, and a 30 is well below the mid-range (a 33-34 is what non-hooked kids typically need to be a serious applicant).
Grinnell is a wonderful school, but a 30 ACT makes it a reach, likely the same with Washington & Lee. Similarly, Dickinson in Carlisle, PA, as well as Franklin & Marshall, Trinity, and St Olaf are probably all a match, in the sense that there is probably a 50/50 chance at admission. I would have thought Richmond falls into that same category but perhaps I’'m wrong.
I don’t think any out of state student can consider U VA a match.
Thanks for all the help. I am actually starting to feel less overwhelmed here. It appears that there are more options than I thought - but I guess I need to get over my fear of being more than a car ride from home - part of the appeal of ND and Grinell 
I am thinking the following may be matches (hopefully not reaches…)
University of Richmond Richmond VA
Franklin & Marshall Lancaster PA
Dickinson College Carlisle PA
Lehigh University Bethlehem PA
Davidson College Davidson NC
College of the Holy Cross Worcester MA
Trinity College Hartford CT
Kenyon College Gamier OH
Lafayette College Easton PA
Dickinson State Dickinson ND
University of Alabama-Birmingham Birmingham AL
And my safety list has grown too:
Missouri S&T Rolla MO (actually somewhat of a stretch financially compared to the others)
University of Louisiana Monroe Monroe LA
Pittsburg State Pittsburg KS
Lindenwood University St. Charles MO (only on the list bc mom won’t take it off - too close to home)
Emporia State University Emporia KS
Westminister Fulton MO
Murray State Murray KY
Truman State Kirksville MO
University of Louisiana Monroe seems almost too good to be true. Nearly free with a 30act and 3.0gpa and looks like it’s focus is Health/Medical. Does anyone know anything about the school? I don’t want to go 10 hrs if it is just a commuter school or gloried CC.
D16 with just about the same stats as you across the board, got into Lafayette but waitlisted at URichmond. Just an FYI. Those are the only two overlaps on your list but this whole admissions process is so arbitrary at times. In fact, DD and her two friends, one of which was HS valedictorian with top stats and ECs, were all WL at Skidmore, a school I’d put in the same category as the top half of your list, so definitely make sure you include plenty of safeties, but only ones that you’d actually want to attend.
Good luck!
I know you are just leaving it on the list for your mom, but Lindenwood would likely give you a full tuition scholarshipo with a 30 ACT. Add in Work and Learn and you could easily be under 5,000 per year in costs…and it is a great school.
@stanatedj about Lindenwod. I know. I haven’t totally ruled it out yet, but it is in my back yard. I really feel like I need to go father away.
I am feeling much better about my list. I now think I have too many options…but still have some thinks to look into about each of the schools on my list.
I am sure I’m going to apply to quite a few without a formal visit. My mom won’t spend the money to fly to visit a 50% chance school (I have a handful on my list right now) before I’m accepted. I’ve been reading about ways to show interest without an actual visit.
Which leads to my next question… Can anyone point me to a timeline or checklist I can use as a guideline/resource for the application process? Now that I can see some of my top choices might be slight reaches I want to make sure get everything done correctly and on time so I have the best chances at acceptance.
Many college sites post an admission calendar/timeline, like this one:
https://www.butler.edu/admission/applying/important-dates
Try Googling for [college name] + application + calendar
(or something like that).
In my opinion, you really only need one safety, as long as it is a true admission and financial safety that you’d be happy to attend. Some people do like to have 2 or 3 just so they have a choice, in case they get shut out of all reaches and matches.
@tk21769 my safeties will likely all be in driving distance. So I think I will try to visit them all before I apply and only apply to the one I really like the best. With only applying to one safety I can spend more time/$ to apply to a few more match/low reaches since those are harder to choose between withou a visit first.
One other thing. Since I am counting on quite a bit of grant and merit money from a lot of my choices, does waiting till regular decision deadlines limit the awards I might get?
I’m worried about applying ED to any of the schools I won’t visit first.
ED commits you to attending a school. This means you cannot compare multiple financial aid offers. Use this only at a college you know is generous and/or affordable.
EA gives you an admission decision sooner, but you still have until May 1 to make your final decision where to attend.
If ED doesn’t make sense in your situation, apply well before the deadlines, but check the box for regular decision. Getting your information in early shows interest and your application will get a more personal reading than if it arrives when the office is swamped at the RD deadline.
Thanks @AroundHere that helps a lot! So I’m thinking I will only apply EA to one or two schools but try any get all of my apps for my match/reaches in early for RD. Now off to find app deadlines for the schools on my list…
EA is a great way to apply to possible get more merit/FA, possibly increase admission chances and settle some safeties early. BUT if you need your senior first semester grades or any retesting for a stronger application, it can make sense to wait for RD.
If you need financial aid, Ed is only advisable at colleges that meet full need (preferably without loans) and where the NPC indicated it’s quite affordable. Examples would be Haverford, Colby, Davidson.
For other colleges, apply EA or as early as you can if it’s rolling admissions.
This is provided your application doesn’t need a stellar first semester grades to be 'considered ', IE., no huge problem in 11th grade.
@MYOS1634 all of my matches/reaches meet full/95% FA. The NPC show them affordable only if I get the merit/grants per the NPC. My safeties are all within pre application visit distance and are affordable with much less grant (only need automatic merits).
My grades are good without senior year…but I think that the course rigor and grades will only help my apps.
You will always list your senior courses and they will assume that you’ll continue performing at the same level as junior year. They often ask for confirmation through 1st quarter grades and/or 1st semester grades and if you start getting grades of C, D, F, you’ll b rescinded.
For those following along here is where I’m at:
Safeties (I’ll probably apply to one +UofLA-Monroe)
University of Louisiana Monroe
Pittsburg State Pittsburg KS
Lindenwood University St. Charles MO
Murray State Murray KY
Truman State Kirksville MO
Match/Low Reach (apply to 3 or 4)
- I am going to have a hard time narrowing these down without visits
Lafayette College Easton PA
University of Alabama-Birmingham Birmingham AL
Missouri S&T Rolla MO
University of Richmond Richmond VA
Franklin & Marshall Lancaster PA
Macalester College St Paul MN
Lehigh University Bethlehem PA
Davidson College Davidson NC
College of the Holy Cross Worcester MA
Wake Forest Winston-Salem NC
Trinity College Hartford CT
High Reach (apply to 2 or 3)
Boston College Chestnut Hill MA High Reach
Emory University Atlanta GA High Reach
Colorado College Colorado Springs CO High Reach
Out of Reach unless ACT goes up but like them too much to delete off list yet
Vanderbilt Nashville TN
University of Notre Dame South Bend IN
Northwestern U Chicago IL
Once I have trimmed this list I will start to think about EA and ED apps
Thanks so much to everyone replying to this thread. You all are a ton of help!
Good list and good luck!