Help choosing schools! (determining Safety/Match/Reach, general suggestions too)

College Search & Selection
1

Hello everyone! I have been trying my hardest to create a list of schools to apply to (halfway through a best colleges book!) but I am having a very hard time gauging what would be S/M/R schools for me. I would greatly appreciate recommendations of colleges that might be a good fit for me, as well as what you think that school is in terms of S/M/R. I will be a senior this fall!

(Not a frequent user of this board, so I hope I am doing this right!)

Objective:
SAT I: 790 EBRW, 800 Math, 8/7/6 Essay (single take)
SAT II: 780 Literature, 800 Biology (Molecular)
4.0 UW GPA
Rank: Top 5% but technically school doesn’t rank? It’s confusing.
APs: Taken eight so far (5s), taking five APs senior year–> this many APs (+/- 2) is about par for the course for upper level students at my school

Notable (?) achievements:
1520 PSAT so probably National Merit Semifinalist? Is that how that works?
National AP Scholar
High level of achievement in foreign language (state level honor, perfect score on international exam, on track to be certified next summer by consulate) → However, many other at my school are at a similar level. Not necessarily identical achievements, but similar… so I guess this is not much of a hook…

Other extracurriculars:
NHS, Beta Club (leadership in latter for 3 years) → probably ~200 service hours?
Co-editor-in-chief of yearbook this year, editor last year
Clarinet in various ensembles, state level honors symphony one year
Trying to get a peer leaders program started at my school!
And then just a couple smaller clubs/sports at school just for fun :slight_smile:

Other notes:
I am from GA, looking mainly at schools on the East Coast but am open to schools in other areas. I’m interested in biology or psychology, perhaps pre-med, though I’m pretty undecided about long-term career. Definitely looking for more liberal arts
oriented schools with flexibility in exploring many different areas. Size preference is medium, and suburban/urban campus. Financially, I am fortunate enough that my parents CAN afford private school tuition (do not think aid is likely), but it would not be easy or ideal, and I am uncomfortable with asking that of them… but we are planning to weigh pros and cons later, once I know what my options are.

I honestly have enjoyed school but I don’t think I am outstanding in any way. I am just very genuinely fascinated with the world around me and enjoy what I do, and I care a lot about having and building supportive communities. That’s the only ‘‘narrative’’ I can really offer? :frowning:

Schools I want to apply to include Rice, Emory, WashU, Georgia Tech, Brown, Yale → obviously very unbalanced, but that’s why I’m here! I am having a hard time assessing what ““tier”” (so to speak) of school I should be aiming for and would greatly appreciate any suggestions you all have for me.

2

We were full pay as well for our D. We did not want to pay full fair so we looked at the best fit academic schools (our D had similar stats) that offered big merit for high stats. First we identified what type of school was a good fit and our D preferred small LACS. She had a strong preference for East Coast or West Coast but most of the big merit came from mid west schools so we looked there. Schools highly ranked that gave excellent merit to mine included Grinnell, Oberlin, Smith, Mt Holyoke, Case Western, Macalester, Kenyon, Whitman and St Olaf. Based on what you wrote I would really recommend taking a look at Grinnell.

3

I’ll add your flagship, a nearby awesome private school, and some east coast LACs to your current list… since you want a safety (a must-have…) and expressed an interest in the liberal arts, which LACs do best:

Reach:
Yale
Brown

Low reach:
Williams
Amherst
Swarthmore
Middlebury
Bowdoin
Rice
Wash U

High match:
Emory U
Haverford
Wesleyan
Vassar
Hamilton
Colgate
Davidson
Washington & Lee
Colby

Match:
Georgia Tech
Bates
U of Richmond
Holy Cross
Lafayette
Bucknell
Trinity (CT)
Connecticut College
Bard

Low match:
Wheaton (MA)
St. Lawrence
Hampshire
Rollins

Safety:
UGA (try the honors college for a much smaller feel)
Less selective public and private schools

If you are a female, you could also consider:

Low reach: Wellesley
High match: Smith, Barnard
Match: Bryn Mawr, Mt Holyoke

Finally, there are some universities on the east coast that aren’t LACs, but that are heavily undergrad-focused (like Brown…):

Reach: Princeton, Dartmouth
Low reach: Cornell
High match/Match: William & Mary

In sum (sorry… lol):

Reach:
Princeton
Yale
Brown
Dartmouth

Low reach:
Williams
Amherst
Swarthmore
Cornell
Rice
Wash U
Middlebury
Bowdoin
Wellesley (women)

High match:
Emory
Haverford
Wesleyan
Vassar
Hamilton
Colgate
Davidson
Washington & Lee
Colby
Smith (W)
Barnard (W)
William & Mary OOS

Match:
Georgia Tech
Bates
Bryn Mawr (W)
U of Richmond
Holy Cross
Lafayette
Bucknell
Trinity (CT)
Connecticut College
Mt Holyoke (W)
Bard

Low match:
Wheaton (MA)
St. Lawrence
Hampshire
Rollins

Safety:
UGA Honors

4

URochester is a research U with strong liberal arts, great curriculum/major flexibility, and outstanding music opportunities. Merit is fairly generous. Size and urban-adjacent location seem like a fit. Could be a great match school for you.

Case Western Reserve is a bit more urban, but also has a fantastic lack of barriers to exploration and major-changing, and has music opportunities through the Cleveland Institute of Music. Also mid-sized and generous with merit.

If you’d consider heading West, the Claremont Colleges could be a great option for you; you’d be a good merit candidate at Scripps, and the freedom of cross-registration among the five schools makes each small college essentially mid-sized in terms of academic and social opportunities. Definitely a good place for exploration, with majors not declared until the end of sophomore year.

Major-wise, a Cognitive Science program might be a good way of spanning bio+psych. Programs vary in emphasis, with some including a heavier computation focus and some incorporating more linguistics and philosophy. If you go this route, schools with a full CogSci department (not just a major that hobbles together requirements from multiple departments without providing a departmental “home” for its students) are best. (UR and CWRU both have CogSci departments, fwiw.

Also, New College of FL has an interesting Biopsychology major that could be worth a look. https://www.ncf.edu/academics/undergraduate-program/interdisciplinary-programs/biopsychology/

5

@prezbucky - could you comment on putting Mount Holyoke on the match list for OP (assuming OP is eligible based on gender identity)? 25th/75th for SATs are EBRW 640-720 math 630-750, and OP exceeds 75th on this. 4.0 GPA, 13 APs, solid ECs. Seems like a likely? I’m asking because I’m very much hoping that Mount Holyoke will be a match or even likely for my D20 who will not have as strong a record as @sprouts7.

6

Sure.

Their overall acceptance rate is about 50%. Their ED rate is about 57%, which would make their RD rate under 50%.

I might actually call it a low match (60-90% chance), as OP’s stats are above the 75th. Good catch.

I wouldn’t call it a safety unless the OP were to apply in the ED round.

7

@Veryapparent thank you for the advice! I’d honestly forgotten about merit aid being a possibility. Will definitely look into the schools you’ve mentioned!

@prezbucky wow, thank you so much! I had many of these schools bookmarked to do more research so it’s great to have some confirmation that I am in the right ballpark. And many other schools I will look into as well!

@aquapt thank you for the great suggestions. I’d not heard of cognitive science before, but it sounds like something that could be a good fit! Is it similar to neuroscience?

8

CogSci is broader than neuroscience. You can be a scienc-y CogSci major and take lots of neuroscience classes (the neuroscience-major type ones with heavy bio and chem prereqs), or you can emphasize other areas and take only a few non-major-type neuroscience classes. Minoring in neuroscience is not uncommon for CogSci majors who lean toward that emphasis. But you can also lean in a completely different direction, like linguistics+CS “natural language processing” stuff, or CS-AI, or human-factors/UX, or a more social-sciency psych-centric emphasis that just has more of an interdisciplinary foundation than the average undergraduate psych degree. Philosophy and anthropology can also figure in to varying extents.

Some of the differences in emphasis are the individual’s choice, but the range of options varies by school. For example, CogSci at Carnegie Mellon or RPI would be very computation-heavy. CogSci at Occidental tends toward the “enhanced psych degree” type emphasis. At Pomona, CogSci shares a department with Linguistics, and the CogSci major has a computation track and a more psych-oriented track. UCSD does a ton of UX design stuff. Schools like CWRU and Rochester that have tons of medical and medical-adjacent research going on provide lots of opportunities for neuroscience emphasis. So you have to look at the course requirements/options for the particular programs you’re interested in.

My recommendation, if you’re considering CogSci programs, is to favor the ones that either have their own courses (i.e. there’s an actual departmental code for CogSci classes that comprise part of the core for the major, as opposed to major requirements that are just assembled from other departments) or that are part of the psych department if you are happy with a psych emphasis. My daughter did a CogSci major that was of the hobbled-together variety, and ended up feeling that the CogSci students weren’t well-supported because no one department really took ownership of advising and mentoring them. (She ended up minoring in Sociology and getting her advising/mentoring from the Soci department - and if she had it to do over again she would have just done the Soci major) But schools that have a true department and faculty who are specific to CogSci would not have that problem. FWIW, Vassar was the first school to establish a full CogSci department.

9

I’d list Mt Holyoke as a match just because they have been overenrolled for last three years. There will likely be some yield protection this upcoming year. That being said OP would be a strong candidate for their Trustee Scholarship which is full tuition.

10

The list is good, but you could use a couple of safety schools. GA Tech is 50/50. You have a 90% chance of getting into UGA. I would add that to my list. Also, you’re eligible for a full tuition scholarship at TCU and Baylor. Those would be solid safeties as well.

11

Your scores are above the average scores at every school in the country, so I don’t think there is such thing as a reach for you. Honestly, if you don’t get into a school with those stats, college is a lie.

12

Congrats on your academic success!

One way to ‘chase merit’ is to be a geographic diversity pick, so Scripps, Mt. Holyoke and Grinnell are really good options. These are LACs so might be too small, but Scripps is essentially medium size b/c of the 5Cs.

I think Wake Forest and Furman would be great merit options for you too.

Most highly selective colleges don’t offer merit aid, BUT some of the top schools also define need based aid more generously so pick a few of your favorites, including Ivies, and see what the cost would be for your family. You might be surprised and get at least a little need aid.

If you can swing the time, I suggest applying to 1 safety (UGA?), 3 to 4 low reaches that offer merit, and 4 to 5 non merit reaches. It’s a numbers game so you won’t get in all, but you’ll have some great options!

Finally, don’t forget to show some demonstrated interest this Fall!

13

@aquapt Thanks so much for all the information! If you don’t mind me asking one more question, what is your daughter pursuing/doing now?

@Veryapparent @coolguy40 @AlmostThere2018 thank you all so so much for the input and advice! I really appreciate it.

@trump2020 Haha, I wish that were true! I guess we’ll have to see in the spring :slight_smile:

14

I agree with @AlmostThere2018: Figure out which of the top 30 reach schools offer the best of what you want (best biology, psychology and non-major music participation) and what you can bring to their table to narrow down 3-5 (regardless of great stats, these are essentially a lottery and a great essay is one key to that lock) and then focus on matches/low reaches that offer what you want in campus size, location, fit, etc. ALWAYS have at least one safety that is palatable. There is a whole group of great LACs, generally top 30 to 70, that would probably have great fit, good merit and regularly place their students in the best graduate programs. Along with Wake (harder on merit) and Furman (great psychology department, great music opportunities, and great merit), look at Rhodes. Rhodes and Furman are smaller but known for collaboration.

15

@sprouts7 , she’s actually working in bioethics research right now. The job resulted indirectly from the internships she did during college, which in turn were more of an outgrowth of her sociology focus than of CogSci. She will likely apply to grad programs after working for a 2-3 year research cycle and getting some publications under her belt. Other CogSci majors she knows have gone into neuroscience research, but lab work was never really her jam. A lot of other CogSci majors do more CompSci coursework than she did, and end up working in tech. Others are CogSci/premed and go to med school.

Even at schools that have real CogSci departments, it’s a field where graduates do a wide variety of things. But when there isn’t a department at all, then there’s no research that really “belongs” to CogSci either, so even at the student level doing research means working under some other banner, whether it’s psych or linguistics or neuroscience or computer science or soci or whatever. Whereas at a major CogSci department like UCSD, there is a massive amount of interdisciplinary research being conducted by CogSci faculty. (In that case, a lot of it is CompSci-adjacent, which in turn gives participating students a foot in the door to careers in UX design and fields like that.)

Basically the breadth and flexibility of the field can be good or bad - it means you have to decide where you want your depth to be and pursue that, or else make a conscious choice that “a mile wide and an inch deep” is what you want for undergrad because you’re going to get your depth in grad school, med school, etc. But it can be a great major for students who like psychology and psychological theory, but don’t want to focus on pure psychological research or prepare for a career in clinical psychology. (Another psych-adjacent route, btw, would be “human factors” focused engineering majors like https://ase.tufts.edu/psychology/undergraduate/concEngineeringPsych.htm and https://www.hcde.washington.edu/ )

16

Sorry to respond so late - crazy start to the year! Thank you all so much for your input and suggestions. I appreciate it a lot.