Help me find middle-of-the-road schools that I can love...

College Search & Selection
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<p>hello all! </p>

<p>I am having trouble finding schools that I really just... feel myself belonging to. The schools I have found which I do really really love are schools that might be a reach for me to get into. I don't want to get on a high horse and expect to get into a competitive school. I need places that are between safety and reach. And I need help. </p>

<p>4.0 GPA, weighted. 95 average, which I think is weighted, but I do have to check. Class ranking has faltered as I have gone along on in years - freshman year I was (rough estimate) 30 out of 880, sophomore year I was 30 out of 800, and junior year I was 50 out of 670. I am unsure of my ranking this year, but I fear it has gone down more. (Same school. No, I don't know where all those kids disappear to each year.) </p>

<p>I've taken 1 honors class (English) and three AP classes (APUSH, Psych, and English). I did very shamefully poorly in APUSH (I ended up with something like a 78 in the class and did not take the AP test). In my school, there are A, B, and C level classes and I have taken A level everything. (A and B are college prep, A being more rigorous) </p>

<p>SAT scores: 2040
Reading: 730, Writing: 700, Math: 610. These are my highest scores, but I took the test itself 3 times.
SAT Subjects: US history - 650, Literature - TBA </p>

<p>I am either going to be an English or a Psych major, but the thought of deciding before I even start school seems terrifying. </p>

<p>My ECs are small in quantity, but large in quality. I only have two - but I literally do not have time to do anything else. They have taken up nearly every day of my four years in high school. I am in the band (marching band, highest level audition band, have multiple officer positions) and the theatre/drama group (I have the highest leadership position available to students. I run the productions.) </p>

<p>My two top schools are the College of William and Mary and Tufts. </p>

<p>I am looking for schools that are schools I will most likely not have an issue getting into... but won't be to easy for me to get into. I know W&M and Tufts (more so the latter) aren't QUITE in my grasp. </p>

<p>And oh I know it is so late for me to be just determining this now, but I am so worried I am going to apply to a bunch of tough schools and not get into any of them. It's quite sad, since I'm all ready to just hit that send application button, but I just don't know what schools I'm applying to! </p>

<p>If anyone could give me any suggestions, that would be great! </p>

<p>I live in new hampshire, and would like to stay on the east coast. I would love schools that are NOT in a city, and don't have a huge population of students. I love old architecture and I would really like a school with a liberal feel to it in terms of decision making and class structure. I love schools with senses of community. </p>

<p>Any ideas? I would really love any sort of input here.</p>

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<p>What’s your budget? </p>

<p>William and Mary is an OOS public and it does not give much aid to OOS students. If your parents will pay the costs, then great. However, if they won’t, you might want to consider that choice.</p>

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<p>William and Mary is at the high end of the budget. If it could get down to under 40k per year, that’d be swell, but we could probably make do with paying full for William and Mary.</p>

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<p>What about Lafayette?</p>

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<p>Have you thought about some of the Liberal Arts Colleges (LACs) in the NE? Schools like Bates and Colby in Maine? Hamilton in NY? Muhlenberg in PA? You might find that the strong sense of community, smaller classes, and faculty mentoring are worth giving up some of the plusses of a larger school.</p>

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<p>yikes - all great schools with huge prices… how are those LECs with their financial aid? </p>

<p>I have also heard some bad things about Lafayette…</p>

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<p>might look at Holy Cross.</p>

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<p>Colby came to mind. If willing to consider all-women, Smith and Mt, Holyoke. Not in east, but look at Kenyon too.</p>

<p>This may not fit, but Skidmore offers a 10K music talent scholarship.</p>

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<p>Ithaca? You might get some merit money there.
Goucher? Syracuse? There are a lot of schools between Tufts and absolute safeties for a student with your credentials.</p>

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<p>BU? I think you’d be eligible for some money.</p>

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<p>^^ BU is actually pretty stingy with merit $$.</p>

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<p>Do you want to participate in marching band in college? Are you eligible for financial need-based aid or will you need merit for a private LAC? If you were admitted to Tufts how would you pay (you say you could just swing W&M - Tufts is even pricier)? Best suggestions will depend on what you can afford and what KIND of assistance you need. </p>

<p>FWIW and price aside, my son (whose first choice is W&M) has also looked at and liked Franklin & Marshall and Lafayette (would you be willing to share what negatives you’ve heard?). He also liked American (not IN the middle of city like GW - campus feel yet close access to DC - maybe more like Tufts setting) and Richmond. Did not personally love his visit to Muhlenberg, but it might be worth a look. As a likely school at a better price, he liked U of Mary Washington. Also thought Skidmore sounded like a good fit, but we haven’t made it up for a visit. Dickinson? St. Mary’s in Maryland (Maryland’s public honors school)? Elon? None of these are just like W&M or Tufts, but trying to think of more “mid-range to likely” suggestions with some of the attributes you described. It is hard to find a school like feels like W&M since it is a public with a private feel. My niece, who is a freshman at Tufts, had American as her favorite target/likely choice. </p>

<p>Goucher, Syracuse, Ithaca, Colby and Bates seem like good suggestions. Don’t really know much about the all-women choices (I have 2 sons). </p>

<p>Good luck!!</p>

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<p>*yikes - all great schools with huge prices… how are those LACs with their financial aid? </p>

<p>*
*If it could get down to under 40k per year, that’d be swell, but we could probably make do with paying full for William and Mary. *</p>

<p>If your family can pay $40k or more per year, it’s doubtful that you’d qualify for financial aid. Schools that are generous with financial aid are not generous to those with high incomes or savings.</p>

<p>You need to run some NPC calculators on the websites of some of your schools to find out what you might get.</p>

<p>And also get some clarification from your parents about how much EXACTLY they will pay. </p>

<p>Scholarship deadlines are coming up for many schools, so if you need to apply to some schools with large merit scholarships, you need to find out now.</p>

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<p>Bard, Skidmore, Goucher, Sarah Lawrence, U VM. I’ve heard that Muhlenburg has good performing arts programs and gives merit money.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the help, but I’m still kind of stuck, hence the bumping up of the thread. </p>

<p>I’m starting to think I might want the option of going to a school that has a marching band… are there any LACs like that?</p>

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<p>They may be smaller bands, but you should be able to find some. Just a quick search of the college name and “marching band” came up with Oberlin’s:</p>

<p>[Home</a> – Oberlin College Marching Band](<a href=“http://www.oberlin.edu/stuorg/OCMB/]Home”>http://www.oberlin.edu/stuorg/OCMB/)</p>

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<p>I really like this list from U.S. News called A+ Schools for B Students - basically they’d be good safety/match schools for you. They are often overlooked, fairly high ranked schools with less selectivity than you’d expect for schools of their caliber.</p>

<p>[A+</a> Options for B Students | Top National Universities | US News Best Colleges<a href=“National%20Universities”>/url</a>
[url=&lt;a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/a-plus]A+”&gt;http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/a-plus]A+</a> Options for B Students | Top Liberal Arts Colleges | US News Best Colleges<a href=“Liberal%20Arts%20Colleges”>/url</a>
[url=&lt;a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/regional-universities-north/a-plus]A+”&gt;http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/regional-universities-north/a-plus]A+</a> Options for B Students | Top Regional Universities North | US News Best Colleges<a href=“Northern%20Regional%20Colleges”>/url</a></p>

<p>Oberlin definitely has that sense of community that you are looking for, along with the fact that it isn’t in a big city (in fact it’s in a really cool, rural town). They are part liberal arts college and part music conservatory. Although they aren’t quite on the east coast, they aren’t too too far from where you live, roughly the distance to W&M.</p>

<p>In my opinion, many of the public colleges in VA are pretty swell. Have you considered Virginia Commonwealth, James Madison, or George Mason? I don’t know too much about any of them, but I think their locations might be conducive to that community feel in a not-urban location that you are looking for.</p>

<p>If you are interested in Catholic colleges, they tend to be in suburban locations and lots of them are really great. <a href=“http://www.stirenes.org/information/college_list.html#NE[/url]”>http://www.stirenes.org/information/college_list.html#NE](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/a-plus]A+”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/a-plus)</a></p>

<p>A quick CollegeBoard search turned up UNC Chapel Hill (really hard to get into out-of-state) and University of Maryland College Park (which has a really good honors program with scholarships, I believe).</p>

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<p>My DD is attending a lesser-known school, Slippery Rock University in Western PA. She is a freshman and absolutely loves it there. She feels like she really fits in, it has an enrollment of 8800, small town that loves their students and total cost is $22000 per year. That includes the an upgraded dorm that is absolutely awesome, wood floor, carpet, built in microwave and refrigerator. She has met and made friends with many east-coast kids. Her professors have been terrific and she is doing well in her classes. They have a great marching band, she has some friends in the flag corps. I wish it was more on other’s radars, they don’t know what they are missing.</p>

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<p>Have you seen the list of Colleges that Change Lives?</p>

<p>I removed some of the really far away colleges.
(sorry for the all caps)</p>

<p>AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE (women’s college, GA)
ALLEGHENY COLLEGE ¶
ANTIOCH COLLEGE (OH)
BELOIT COLLEGE (WI)
BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN COLLEGE (AL)
CENTRE COLLEGE (KT)
CLARK UNIVERSITY (Worchester, MA)
DENISON UNIVERSITY (OH)
EARLHAM COLLEGE (IN)
ECKERD COLLEGE (FL)
EMORY & HENRY COLLEGE (VA)
GOUCHER COLLEGE (MD)
GUILFORD COLLEGE (NC)
HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE (Amherst, MA)
HIRAM COLLEGE (OH)
HOPE COLLEGE (MI)
JUNIATA COLLEGE ¶
KALAMAZOO COLLEGE (MI)
KNOX COLLEGE (IL)
LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY (WI)
LYNCHBURG COLLEGE (VA)
MARLBORO COLLEGE (VT)
MCDANIEL COLLEGE (MD)
MILLSAPS COLLEGE (Jackson, Mississippi)
NEW COLLEGE OF FLORIDA (FL)
OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY (OH)
RHODES COLLEGE (TN)
ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE (MD)
URSINUS COLLEGE ¶
WABASH COLLEGE (IN)
WHEATON COLLEGE (IL)
WOOSTER, COLLEGE OF (OH)</p>

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<p>

College of Wooster in Ohio. :)</p>