“She would like a small LAC, ideally. And she’d prefer to be in an urban setting or at least a train ride away from a city. She’s leaning heavily toward a woman’s college.”
If Barnard doesn’t work out, then Vassar would something to consider, it’s a co-ed but I think ratio is 60-40 women-men. It’s more suburban than urban and I think a 90 minute train ride from NYC.
“We’ll apply to some CSUs too, but have to figure out a major given no cognitive sciences. Maybe Psych and Chem or Psych and Math.”
I wouldn’t see it as necessary for a 4.0 NMF instate student with a rigorous course load to look at CSUs as safeties, especially if they don’t have the major you want. Mid tier UCs are safe enough and there are OOS flagships like Arizona and Utah that offer a better financial deal (and overall experience) and are true safeties.
My S18 was confident enough not to go beyond UCB and UCLA (he was top 3 in his class with strong ECs and there are 10+ admissions per year to those from his high school) - he chose UCLA over UCB. His sister with similar stats and ECs added UCSB and UCI and was offered Regents at both, but turned down all four to go elsewhere with more merit.
If she really wants CogSci, don’t rule out UCSD - they have a really robust department with multiple tracks, and she’d have a shot at a Regents offer which would give her additional mentoring and research opportunities. Check out the tracks and course offerings for CogSci in comparison to the other UC’s.
My daughters both applied as CogSci majors; one went to Rice (and stayed in the CogSci major) and the other to Scripps (and ended up in a different major). Rice could be one for your daughter to consider - smaller school with wonderful residential college system & great urban location. (Sticker price is also a bit lower than most of its elite private peers.) URochester is another smaller, urban-adjacent university - great for musicians and your d would likely get some merit - has a strong Brain & Cognitive Sciences program. Vassar has a very well-established program and is a great one to have on the list. Tufts could be worth a look too - has both a Cognitive & Brain Sciences major, and also an Engineering Psychology major if the Human Factors aspect is a strong interest.
During my daughter’s application cycle, Scripps was our only huge surprise. Although she was a val with stellar test scores and strong extracurriculars, she was waitlisted. I am not sure, but either she did not show enough interest, or her moderate financial need had something to do with it. Or maybe Scripps protects yield. Since Scripps was (is?) need-aware, I am hopeful that a full-pay family might have better results.
Safety LACs – Trinity in CT (in Hartford) and maybe Connecticut College (suburban).
Thank you. Really useful info. Will def look at UCSD (my partner’s Alma mater) and keep it on the list though that place is very large. We’ll check out U rochester. Thanks so much. Oh, and engineering psychology sounds very intriguing. I’ll def. have her check that out.
Interesting. Would you mind sharing if she applied early decision or regular decision?
@socowonder, my daughter applied regular decision.
Thank you!
Interest/yield protection wouldn’t be a factor in an ED rejection/waitlist, as ED is usually considered the ultimate expression of interest, and you are bound to go so yield is high. Definitely an issue at some schools for RD.
Scripps (and other selective LACs) practice holistic admissions, so you should never count on them, even with perfect stats. It’s unpredictable. Btw, our daughter is a Scrippsie and we know a number of people who applied and were rejected. They look at fit, also.
I came to this thread as I have the same question re. Using Occidental as a safety for my son, who had a perfect academic record, though Oxy has a higher admit rate.
Scripps might be her number one pick – she’s having second thoughts about Barnard. Scripps is a complete fit, and she absolutely loved it when we visited, but even with that, of course I know rejection could definitely happen. Sigh.
Advice up thread about showing interest in Occidental seems right on target given the research we’ve done since then. They seem very intent on weeding out people who are using them as a “safety.” Ironically, since starting that research, Occidental has moved into the “really interesting and I might like to go there” column for my daughter.
Based on my D’s experience and that of a few friends (i.e., anecdotal), I think your D would get in to Barnard if she applied ED. If she did not apply ED and did not have a strong reason for not doing so, she might be rejected (or at least deferred), possibly because admissions thinks she’d like go elsewhere.
If that’s your D’s dream school and you can afford full pay, definitely suggest she apply ED! And let us know when she gets her acceptance. 
Good to know about demonstrating interest at Occidental. He will definitely get started on that, because in some ways it would be a good fit as he has no idea what he wants to do and needs to explore.
Definitely have your daughter spend time on the Why Us essay. Our daughter was mostly looking into women’s colleges and UCs, as we are from CA, so we have been through a similar process. She also applied to Occidental As a last minute addition, hoping it would be a safety, and they did let her in with a small merit package. Santa Clara was also a safety for her and they, too, gave her a little merit.
Her gpa was around 3.9 UW AND 35 ACT and good ECs. We are also S. Asian, and I think the women’s colleges (aside from Scripps and Barnard, unfortunately :)) recruit for diversity. None of the California colleges need to recruit for diversity LOL
Initially she was enthralled with Barnard and that was her top choice but during our moderate winter, and after applying, she decided to stay in California 
I too was told she should apply ED to Barnard, but fortunately she didn’t (Since she chose to stay in state) and in the end she was rejected. Smith gave her a merit scholarship, and she got one of the big scholarships at Mt Holyoke. At the time she didn’t apply to Bryn Mawr, but I think that’s a great choice because it’s in a consortium with Haverford, Swarthmore and Upenn.
Scripps turned out to be perfect for her, and it’s been nice to be in state during the whole Covid thing. She and her roomies are living together in an apartment. She says her profs have been doing a great job with online teaching and all of her classes still have a community engagement component. Of course labs are virtual or case studies, which is a bummer.
It’s a true consortium (five colleges within one square mile) and she has taken a number of classes on the other campuses, except Harvey Mudd. Scripps and HMC profs have a reputation for being tough graders.
UCSD was her top choice for the UCs. Although it is a huge university, they do split up into houses based on interest, and that seems to help make it a little bit more intimate. It has a very strong reputation in the sciences.
She got regents at Davis, Which would have allowed her to register before the seniors even. That’s another good choice and your daughter has a good chance of getting regents, though it’s not guaranteed based on stats… they take the top applicants and choose from there. Most of her friends are there and they are having a good experience overall. One of her friends took the regents offer and has been able to take any classes she wanted- That’s always a concern in the UCs.
UCB and UCLA are reaches for anyone, but as someone else said they are attainable reaches and they do tend to be quite predictable but NOT at all guaranteed, esp for impacted majors…
One more thing about the UCs. Although they are definitely a lot more focused on numbers, which will be a bit of a challenge this year, they do look at the essays and those can make or break an application and can often explain why two applicants with the same stats got different results.
@baymom1 Thanks for all that great information! She is buckling down on the essays and definitely taking them seriously. We were lucky enough to visit Scripps before lockdown and one thing that struck us was how happy and energized students there were. That moved it close to the top of my dd’s list. After doing a virtual event with Barnard this weekend, my daughter is not so enamored. Not quite sure what put her off but she’s really leaning heavily toward Scripps.
Barnard is actually a pretty wonderful college, but our daughter chose to apply to Columbia only and was accepted there. However, the reality of living in NYC and so far from home hit our daughter, so she is restarting school on the West Coast at the end of this month. Personally, for lifestyle and student happiness, I prefer Scripps over Barnard, but the latter is still quite amazing.
Hi all
I thought I’d follow up with results from this question, as today was an exciting day for my daughter and the info might be useful for future applicants.
She ended up applying to Fordham EA and Santa Clara EA and to Scripps ED. She got admitted to Fordham at lunch time (we are west coast) with a full tuition scholarship. At about 4pm to Santa Clara with a Provosts Scholarship (half tuition) and automatic entry to honors college. And at 5.30pm, she was admitted to Scripps ED.
She is beyond happy and I wanted to thank all here for their advice over the last few years. 