<p>Looking for a smallish school, not big into greek life or sports, somewhat quirky and liberal, within 45 minutes of a big city, mid-Atlantic, NE or west coast, ACT 31, gpa 3.0 UW. </p>
<p>Have a solid list of match schools, but would like a couple reach schools on the list as well.</p>
<p>Any ideas?</p>
<p>what is the weighted gpa?</p>
<p>Weighted is about 3.3 - 5 AP classes and a few honors, science magnet so no soft classes, most rigorous courses according to GC.</p>
<p>what are the match schools that you've found?</p>
<p>Match schools are Clark U, Goucher, Willamette, U of Portland. Thanks.</p>
<p>What about Reed or Swarthmore?</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. I think Swarthmore would be an uber-reach, and Reed a high reach. I guess I was look for schools where he might at least have a long shot at acceptance due to the ACT.</p>
<p>I think a 31 ACT is excellent- I wouldn't rule either of those schools out. Those are schools that will consider the difficulty of the high school curriculum and not just focus on the GPA. If midwest was an option, I would also suggest Carleton.</p>
<p>Haverford would also be a good reach. Quirky students, no Greeks, near Philadelphia.</p>
<p>Occidental and Santa Clara U in California.</p>
<p>I don’t know, I think schools like Haverford, Swarthmore, Carelton and to some extent Reed (though they might be the most likely to take someone below their stats who shows promise) are REALLY big reaches for this guy. It’s not just his ACT (which is fine), it’s his GPA which, even weighted, is low for these schools—it’s true that they will take rigor of his school/courseload into account, but these are schools that attract students from top schools with GPAs higher than this applicant’s. So, unless there are some awesome ECs or extenuating circumstances we don’t know about, those schools will be fairly long shots. (I guess the way I’d express the difference is this: most of the schools on his “matches” lists are “safeties” for more competitive applicants to these schools).</p>
<p>Of course it might be worth it to apply to one or two, especially because his high school was rigorous, which will help explain the GPA; just make sure that he doesn’t fall in love. (If he is looking for one or two high reach schools like these, Vassar also comes to mind. So does my school, Wesleyan, though it is ½ an hour from New Haven and Hartford, which aren’t exactly big, so maybe not. 1.5-2 hours from NYC). </p>
<p>Some more realistic high matches/reaches, IMO:
--Pitzer
--Agree with Occidental
--Lewis+Clark (maybe more of a high reach-GPA is low, but ACT is on the higher end of their mid 50%)
--Bard (might not be close enough to a city, I’m not sure)</p>
<p>I was thinking maybe Bard, Sarah Lawrence, Skidmore...actually I was thinking Goucher until I saw he has it pegged as a match. Unless that GPA translates into a high class rank or the OP is a highly desired URM or has a killer EC, it seems to me that Haverford and Swarthmore are probably out of reach. How about Hampshire?</p>
<p>I think that SATIIs and AP scores might play into it for this candidate.</p>
<p>I appreciate all your input, but I agree that many of these schools are way out of his league. Not that he doesn't have the capability of being successful (his ACT was the first and only ACT test he took and he'd never looked at a practice test), but his GPA reflects the amount of effort he's put into HS. </p>
<p>He went to an info session at his school from Wesleyan and came away very interested, but I dissuaded him thinking there was 0% chance for acceptance. There is enough work on the application process as it is without adding supplemental essays for schools where there is virtually no chance. </p>
<p>BTW, his EC's are weak, and his HS has another magnet that is the only highly-gifted magnet in our huge district, so his ranking will only be about 25th percentile. He also does not want to stay in the Los Angeles area.</p>
<p>Lewis & Clark might be the type of reach I was thinking about, where he may have somewhere between a 25-40% (total guesstimate) chance of acceptance. Would St. Olaf be similar? The midwest is not out for me, in fact I'd prefer it as we have family in Wisconsin and Washington State and none on the east coast.</p>
<p>Of course, the downside to a reach school, even if he does get accepted, is that any merit $$ is off the table. I just don't want to shortchange him, but it sounds like the list we have is appropriate.</p>
<p>cpeltz: I agree that you should be focusing on the schools he has a realistic chance at. I just want to point out that Wes actually has no supplemental essay (it's just the common app), so if he's going to throw an application at a super reach just to see what happens, Wes might be the place to do it. However, I agree that in general you should not let him get his hopes up about that kind of school (and you might not want to spend the app fee at all, which is reasonable). </p>
<p>I also agree with the suggestion of Hampshire, unless he wants to continue with science, in which case you might want to examine it more closely (I have a friend who transferred out because he thought the sciences were too weak, but that is just one person’s experience).</p>
<p>How about Franklin and Marshall in Lancaster, PA? I am biased (since I live in Lancaster), but it sounds like a reasonable school to consider.</p>
<p>I hink I'd focus on the schools that really need guys like Vassar and Sarah Lawrence.</p>
<p>Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Massachusetts Wheaton College is a match school. I am suggesting these two schools because the student liked Wesleyan University & these both offer similarities. Wheaton is close to both Boston & Providence.</p>
<p>Whitman as a reach?</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great suggestions. I've been so busy trying to find match schools that I think the list may have gotten too "easy" and there are now more options.</p>
<p>American U (Washington, DC), Brandeis (near Boston), Suffolk (in Boston).</p>