Help! What schools do I have a shot at?

College Search & Selection
1

ACT: 32
SAT II US History: 720
SAT II Lit: 740
Private School
Unweighted GPA: 3.43
Weighted GPA: 4.2
Sex: Female
Race: White
Home: New York
Grades: B+/A- range

Junior Classes: Art History, Modern World History, Shakespeare, African Lit, Advanced Statistics, Biology, and Latin

Senior Classes: European History, Global Politics, Creative Writing, Historical Lit, Macroeconomics, Latin, and Advanced Art

Awards:
Scholastic Gold Key winner for Art (painting)
Scholastic Gold Key winner for Art (drawing)
Scholastic Gold Key winner for Art (drawing)

ECs: Newspaper cartoonist
Yearbook - President
Leadership Club - Vice
Feminist Club

Varsity Track
Varsity Lacrosse - defender, not many at my school

Volunteering: Working with children with autism
Work Experience: Internship at an art gallery

My school doesn’t have AP or Honor classes. I am thinking about small LACs and some others. Schools I have in mind are:
Middlebury
William and Mary
Boston College
Bates College
Trinity College
Colgate University

… but I’m still not sure. What schools do you suggest, based on my profile?

2

St. Lawrence would serve as a more moderately selective alternative to some on your list. As indicated, you could reach for a few NESCACs. Just be aware of these schools’ generally high expectations with respect to GPA and course rigour, as well as of their low acceptance rates. However, your interest and versatility in art could enhance your application for those to which you apply.

3

weighted gpa is essentially meaningless, so you have to get that unweighted gpa up, especially for the schools you’re considering. that’s the biggest weakness in your application thus far, and it could potentially be the difference between an admit or deny decision. if you’ve taken the most rigorous classes available at your high school, you may have some leniency, but you still need to work to bring it up.

4

Are you taking a math class senior year? For the schools on your list, having 4 years of math is important.

5

Is it correct to assume that you don’t need significant merit/financial aid? You don’t mention financial considerations and attend a private school, so you might be fine in that regard. It would be helpful to know in terms of advice. I’ll answer assuming it’s not an issue.

I love the schools on your list. Perhaps all of them are reaches, not because you aren’t qualified but because these schools receive many more applications from qualified students than there are seats available. William and Mary is tough because OOS females are in the most competitive group. WM, Colgate, BC, and Middlebury have been very competitive for a long period, and Bates and Trinity have seen big bumps in applications in recent years. Apply to any or all of these, they’re reaches but you’re a reasonable applicant at all of them. I’d suggest more matches and reaches–and keep in mind that safeties are schools with probably a 40+ acceptance rate and and ones that are affordable for you and where you would be happy attending.

All of these are outstanding schools with outstanding students and academics. You’d need to research art history at any that seem appealing.

Sewanee: If you love nature, a stunning campus on a mountain in TN with miles and miles of trails. Acceptance rate is 41% (google) and ACT 25/75 range is 26-30.

http://www.sewanee.edu/admission/why-sewanee/#the-domain

If you like nature, you might also check out University of Vermont and UNC-Asheville. Vermont is a little bigger but doesn’t feel that big. UNC-A is a public LAC. It is more the size of a typical LAC. I list these because Burlington, VT and Asheville of two of the coolest towns in the country, Burlington right on Lake Champlain and Asheville right in the Great Smoky Mountains. Both have great vibes and lots to do, in town and in surrounding nature.

College of Wooster in OH–really great school with great outcomes. 55% acceptance rate.

https://www.wooster.edu

Connecticut College (not University of Connecticut), in New London, CT, formerly an all-women’s college, still a relatively large % of female students. It’s not far from Hartford, so if you check out Trinity, maybe you can check it out as well.

https://www.conncoll.edu/academics/majors-departments-programs/departments/art-history/

Would you consider a women’s college? I think Mount Holyoke might be a possibility.

https://www.mtholyoke.edu

It is a member of the Five College Consortium (with Amherst, Smith, Hampshire, and U Mass Amherst), and students can take some classes and take advantage of opportunities at the other schools.

https://www.fivecolleges.edu

Finally, Kalamazoo College is a terrific LAC, a hidden gem.

http://www.kzoo.edu

Well, that’s some ideas, good luck!

6

Your 3.43 GPA (UW), combined with your course rigor (no calculus, no APs), may place a school like Middlebury nearly out-of-reach. All the others probably are at least low reaches. If your school has Naviance, try running it on some of those schools.

I like the suggestions above. For more match/target schools, check out others in the “Colleges That Change Lives” group. https://ctcl.org/category/college-profiles/

Women’s colleges tend to be a bit less selective than peer co-ed schools.
Consider Mt. Holyoke, Bryn Mawr, or Agnes Scott.

Also consider some public LACs such as St. Mary’s College of MD or New College of Florida.
https://coplac.org/members/

7

Are you recruitable for D3 lacrosse?

Some options in that category would include SUNY Cortland (your affordable in-state option), Denison, Washington & Lee, Gettysburg, Rhodes, Trinity (CT), TCNJ, and Hobart Wm. Smith.

What do you want to study? Your listed schools don’t suggest that you want to do something art-related, necessarily, although that seems like a big area of interest. If you do want art to be part of your academic program and/or career, then that’s an important piece to consider in looking at colleges.

8

Hamilton is a peer of Colgate. PA is full of great schools: Bucknell, Gettysburg, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Dickinson, Lafayette, Franklin & Marshall, and…

…Haverford. I’ve never visited Haverford. Maybe I’d hate it. But I love it in theory. A Quaker school that has its values built into the school’s mission and policies, such as encouraging collaboration over competition. Pretty campus. Bright, diverse students. It sort of feels like a possible fit given the OP’s original list, which includes Middlebury, Bates, and Colgate.

9

Some colleges that might be good for you would be: Elon (safety), Arcadia (safety), Smith, Eckerd (safety), Sewanee, Denison. Davidson might also be a good fit for you.

10

You have a good ACT score, but your unweighted gpa will likely drag you down in admissions. If you can’t get that up, you may want to retake the ACT and shoot for a higher score (34+) to hopefully make up a bit for the gpa. Unfortunately, it might be hard to overlook at places like Middlebury.

Colleges do consider the academic rigor of your curriculum given what’s available in your school, and since no honors/ap is available they shouldn’t be able to hold that against you as long as you’ve been challenging yourself. On the other hand, it will still be very hard to outshine another applicant that might have 10+ AP classes and a higher unweighted gpa. This is where improving your ACT could really help you shine, since it might be difficult to change your gpa much at this point. If there is an AP that you’re interested in, consider self-studying and taking the exam. This would show that you eager to learn and willing to challenge yourself even when your school isn’t providing the challenges for you.

I’m curious though, how do you have a weighted gpa if your school doesn’t have honors or ap? How are they assigning the weight?

11

The colleges you listed are reaches.
You need to find two safeties you like and can afford - could be SUNY Geneseo, Hobart &WilliamSmith, UNC Asheville…
St Lawrence would be a good match. Dickinson, Gettysburg are high matches, Muhlenberg or Elon low match.
If you need merit aid then the list would be different.

12

The schools are mostly reaches (meaning as a way of visualizing it perhaps 5 kids out of 100 without a unique variable. Location. Ethnicity or talent. Get in. (A white female applying from NY is in one of the more competitive pools on the planet).

I would think Trinity is the most accessible for you of the names listed. I would take the excellent advice in previous threads and stretch out your universe of schools. Plenty of great schools would love to have you on campus. Really love the Mt Holyoke and Conn Coll ideas. Along with the top SUNY schools.