<p>Concur re: Tufts. Strong STEM with an interdisciplinary focus. Closer to an LAC than others on your list. Smaller-to-mid-size. Far enough outside Boston proper, possibly, to satisfy your desire to not be in a city. </p>
<p>Not necessarily a safety, though. 18%+ admissions rate this year. Essays and ECs very important.</p>
<p>Was also impressed with Bucknell and Lafayette when we visited last Spring.</p>
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</p>
<p>[Freshman</a> admission profile | UC Admissions](<a href=“http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/san-diego/freshman-profile/index.html]Freshman”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/campuses/san-diego/freshman-profile/index.html)
UCSD freshman admission profile
37.7% acceptance rate
4.07 average gpa</p>
<p>I don’t think I would consider that a safety.</p>
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Note that the GPA is high because it is weighted with a system where AP/IB/UC certified honors counts as a 5. The unweighted GPA is more consistent with the rest of the stats including a combined SAT of just under 2000.</p>
<p>Hmm, okay.</p>
<p>SCU was on my list before I took it off because it was too expensive. What’s the financial aid like? Is the religious aspect of the school very pervasive?</p>
<p>It’s funny that you mention Tufts! My dad got his masters from Tufts and suffice it to say he did not enjoy his time there and would probably be extremely opposed to me applying XD. </p>
<p>I’ve heard lots of good things about Loyola Marymount! I’ll look into those!</p>
<p>4.07 is a UC weighted GPA. </p>
<p>SCU is too expensive? It is about the same as most of the colleges on your list. I would consider SCU a safety.</p>
<p>Try the net price calculator on each school to see if it is too expensive.</p>
<p>UC weighted GPAs are typically about 0.3 to 0.4 higher than unweighted 10th-11th grade academic (a-g course) GPAs, due to counting at most 8 semesters’ worth of honors courses with +1 points.</p>
<p>Smith and Swarthmore are two excellent small LACs with engineering programs but which aren’t completely STEM-oriented. Smith received a lot of funding from the Ford Foundation and others over a decade ago to start an engineering program.</p>
<p>UCBAlumnus, do you have any other suggestions for where I could look into?</p>