Hello! I am a white female who resides in PA! I have about 5 colleges I am interested in: Hamilton College, College of William and Mary, University of Richmond, Dickinson College, and Gettysburg College!
I am a good student and I believe I have a good chance at these schools. However, when reading these forums I see some of the most qualified kids get told “it’s unlikely.” So I decided to look for safety schools but I cannot find any I really like! I was wondering if anyone had any in mind!
I prefer LACs, small to medium schools, no further than upstate NY or more southern than VA. I would like ones that aren’t excessively preppy and have good reputations. I looked into Albright College , Pitt, and Duquense, but I couldn’t I,a fine myself going to school there at any of those places. Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had any good recommendations! Cause I need to find one! Anyways, thanks 
Maybe take a look at Conneticut College, Goucher, or Hobart & William Smith (maybe too preppy). Or how about St. Lawrence? (VERY upstate NY) Good luck.
Stats would help us. Also, money is no object right?
Juniata? Skidmore? Drew in NJ might be perfect: suburban location (easy train ride into NYC), traditional campus layout in walkable town, etc. It is fiendishly expensive, but you might qualify for decent merit aid there if you’re a strong enough student to be considering some of the other colleges on your list.
This is a key question. Being out of state for a school like William and Mary means you are full pay. Depending on your stats and the LACs you are looking at those may be the same.
No money is not an object fortunately! And thank you so much for the responses! I’ll definitely look into all of these! It’s so helpful! Well for some stats, I got a 183 on the PSAT, and am awaiting SAT scores. I studied extensively for the SAT so I’m hoping those are better! And my weighted GPA is a 4.65 (I don’t know unweighted - school does not give that out), and I am second in my class. I also participate in a lot of extracurriculars like marching band, brass ensemble, woodwind ensemble, jazz band, orchestra, pep band, French club, and chess club. And I play French horn, trumpet, and mellophone! I hope this helps!
Take a look at some of the midwestern LACs. You should give consideration to Oberlin if a good music scene is important to you. It’s about 45 min from Cleveland and the LAC+conservatory have a total of 2400 students. There is a different music performance every night of the school year and an unusually high percentage of kids in the LAC are into music and performance, so you’d have shared interests from the start. And Oberlin doesn’t have a preppy bone it it’s entire student body. Oberlin would be a match if your SAT goes up to 2000 - check the Common Data Set, Section C to be sure.
Others that would be good choices in the midwest: Grinnell, Colorado College (if you like the block system), Beloit, Macalester, Lawrence…all excellent schools and possibly no farther away than some of the other schools you are considering on the eastern seaboard depending on where you live in PA. Midwestern LACs tend to get overlooked by those living on the coasts, but they are a good option for non-preppy, academically serious students. Because they value geographic diversity, PA residency might give you a slight boost at some of these schools.
In Pa, Moravian, Franklin and Marshall, Muhlenberg, Lafayette are nice LAC’s. Grove City can be a real gem out in Western PA, Allegheny as well, very good name and reputation.
Lebanon Valley College has a great record with people going on to grad or professional schools, Elizabethtown has some nice scholarships but like most LAC’s, though it isn’t cheap.
We visited Shenandoah University in Northern Virginia, excellent for music/dance, health professions and business and reasonably priced for an LAC.
What do you like about the schools you listed? That may be a good place to start looking for safety schools that may be a good match. You live in a state that happens to have a couple of liberal arts colleges such as Muhlenburg, Susquehanna, Franklin & Marshall, and Allegheny. There are quite a few in the upstate new york area as well. Liberal arts colleges in general aren’t as well known as universities, but depending on what you are looking for often the quality of academics are hard to beat
Holy Cross
Wow!! Thank you all for the responses! This has been so so helpful! I have a ton to look into now and I am so grateful! I’m especially excited about Drew, Allegheny, and Oberlin! Thank you all so much!
Washington and Jefferson is another good LAC in PA that might be a fit. Alfred in NY is a very affordable school, usually makes the Best Buy lists. Good luck!!
Grove city is a super conservative, evengelical college - to consider if you’re deeply religious and conservative (think Rick Santorum).
However it wouldn’t be within the range of thinkable for someone considering Oberlin which is the polar opposite.
Moravian, Washington & Jefferson would be a bit below safety for someone aiming at William&Mary.
Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan, Guilford, Goucher, st Lawrence, Hendrix, Drew, are all good ideas.
Oberlin and Macalester would be matches, not safeties.
Look into st Olaf, denison, Rhodes, drake, Whitman, Willamette, agnes Scott.
If your SAT scores are in line with your PSAT, you might want to consider test-optional colleges for your reaches. Wait and see. If they are under 2000, you can retake the SAT and try the ACT in the fall, before deciding. In many cases, there are extra essays involved. My younger son decided not to go test optional after his second round of tests; he had been on the fence previously (29 ACT/1900-ish SAT, rose to 31/2060) about submitting scores to one or two selective, test-optional colleges.