<p>I'm kind of grumpy because I just wrote this whole post out, but then I accidentally deleted it, so no I need to do it all over again:( OK, so I know how important it is tofind safeties that I woudl be happy going to, but I'm having a lot of trouble doing that. I'll just give a brief overview of my stats:</p>
<p>SAT: 770/12 essay(w), 740(m), 750(cr)
SATII: Should all be around 750 (taking Math I, USH, Literature)
Not MOST rigorous courseload, but definitely rigorous. All honors except for math, and I'll have 3 or 4 AP by graduation
Great ECS (3 president roles in clubs that take a lot of time, and a few other things)
8 seasons if sports by graduation, but I'm not good enough to get recruited.
Recs/Essays will be VERY strong. One of my main sellingpoints will be my personality/character.</p>
<p>Here's what I'm looking for:
Nothing too huge (maybe around 1200-5000 undergrads, but it could go a little higher)
Nothing totally isolated, I want to at least have access to a city or fun town
Intellectual atmosphere (I do understand that this will most likely be less prevalent in safety schools)
Nothing too preppy</p>
<p>I guess while we're at it, I'd appreciate information on good match schools as well. I will greatly appreciate ANY feedback, I really need help figuring this out. Thanks!</p>
<p>"Intellectual atmosphere (I do understand that this will most likely be less prevalent in safety schools)"</p>
<p>Just because a school is a safety does NOT mean the students aren't smart. It just means that it may be easier for you, personally, to be accepted--this can be due to low fraction of admitted who enroll, or fewer applicants for whatever reason, or other things. Intellectual atmosphere has to do with the school itself, not the percentage of people they admit.</p>
<p>Sorry if this sounded harsh, I'm really not that upset, but I am rather tired. I hope you find good safeties; this is kind of a problem for me, too, so I don't know how much I can help. </p>
<p>I am mostly looking at safeties in the Midwest, because that's where I live, and so a close location is a plus that some of my reaches don't have. So my advice is: think about something that is important to you, one thing, and find a number of colleges that have that. Princeton Review's Best 351 Colleges is a good place to start (I don't know if the title is still 351, though :P); just browsing through, you can find a whole slew of colleges that you may never have heard of, but that you may really like.</p>
<p>Yea, sorry about that, when I was writing it I was afriad it sounded a bit condescending. I think there is some truth in what I said though: schools that are easier to get in to will generally attract kids who didn't do so well in highschool, and those kids normally aren't as concerned with academics adn waxing philopsohical as others. It's definitely a generalization, but I think it woul dbe naive to think that this doesn't happen at all. Please though, let's not turn this into a debate about that, I just need some help with safeties, thanks though sara</p>
<p>Ummm U Chicago? I'm flattered, but there's no way that could be a match, definitely a reach. Same with Rice I would assume. Or am I selling myself short? Also, I forgot to mention above, my GPA is 3.9 for 10 and 11 grade...that's all my school reports for GPA</p>
<p>david218, uchicago is a match, and sounds like a great choice for you -- it's about as intellectual as it gets, & chicago is a very lively city.</p>
<p>for full on safety schools, i would look at schools w/in your state.</p>
<p>for schools that will be quite safe for you, I would look into schools around 35-50 on the US News list. If you apply to a few of these, I could just about guarantee you will be accepted into one.</p>
<p>I am not degrading you...you have a great chance at the top ten. But apply to a few in that range & you WILL get into 1, not questions asked. Look thru those & see which ones you like.</p>
<p>Thank you SO much stalimbark, you guys are more generous than I am I guess. I just hope you saw the thing about my courseload before you evaluated because I thought that was gonna kill me with really good schools. U chicago sounds like an amazing school, but are the rumors about a lot of socially awkward kids there true? Social life is very important to me, and I want to make sure I have fun at college, too. Also, to give everyone a better idea of what schools I like, my number one school is probably Brown. Thanks so much for all of the comments!</p>
<p>David- I went to Chicago law school many years ago. I would NOT have wanted to be an undergrad there and I wasn't even considering it for my S. UNTIL I did some research. I think it has changed a lot. There are many neat, social kids there and a strong party scene. The students work hard, but it is no longer a school filled with geeks. The neighborhood has improved a lot and the campus is really nice. It is cold as ____ and the wind off of the lake is brutal, so stay inside and party! I do think it is a match for you. The essays are important and the Chicago prompts are very unusual- things about mustard and "Talk about Wednesdays"..... The acceptance rate is fairly high because the applicants self-select to a large extent. I think you would love Rice as well. My D is there if you have any questions. It has nice warm weather and the kids have a lot of fun.</p>
<p>Thanks momofwildchild! I really had never thought about either Rice of Chicago, but I'm definitely going to look into them now. That was such a nice post...very motherly</p>
<p>For saftey look at a state honors college. You will have intellectual peers and probably close to a free ride depending on the school. I would include 1 in the mix. Kids do well with grad school acceptance from many of these programs. For matches you have tons of options.</p>
<p>Mercer University in Macon, Gerogia might be a good safety for you. It is a campus of about 3,000 students with a pretty intellectual atmosphere from what I can tell. I visited Mercer and it is a beautiful campus with alot of new renovations. It has alot of benefits of a larger university on a small campus. Financial aid is great too. You could probably get a large, possibly a full scholarship. Good luck!</p>
<p>We seem to be looking for the same things in a college, and I'm also assembling a list of safeties/ matches:) Skidmore is a great choice.. I went to CTY there, and the campus and town are beautiful and lively. Most of mine are women's schools (Smith, Scripps), which doesn't help you much, haha. I'd also take a look at: Reed (extremely intellectual, but higher admit rate), Oberlin, Earlham, Whitman, and Brandeis. Hope this helps!</p>
<p>thank you ladylazarus! Brandeis is on my list (it's a must for any NE Jewish kid). Reed and Whitman sounded great, but I don't want to go THAT far West. Good luck with everything though. Another plus about skidmore is it's very close to the horse race track</p>
<p>Nope...I hear swat isn't so great socially, and pomona is too far west (but otherwise, I'd love it). My super-reach right now is Brown, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.</p>
<p>Check out Vassar as a match, I visited a few times while I was in college and it was great. It seems totally up your alley. </p>
<p>Northwestern might be a good match also, although it seems like Vassar would be a better fit. </p>
<p>I honestly havent heard great things about Chicago or Swat's social scene. Sure there ARE "parties", but its not going to be nearly as community oriented as Vassar/ Brown.</p>
<p>Thanks slipper! Yea, I'm 90% sure I'm doing Brown ED, I just love it. Vassar is too isolated/rural for my taste, and I don't like the big university feel of Northwestern. Thanks so much for all your great suggestions, althought I still think you're being too generous. Don't you think my chances will be much lower since I'm in non-leveled math, and don't have most rigorous courseload? Any other ideas?</p>