Hi I am a current senior second guessing my app. list. I was wondering if any of you could let me know your thoughts…
Is it too unbalanced? Right now has the following schools on it. I have visited all of these schools.
According to my college counselor, this is my list sorted by chances.
Reach Schools: Pomona (ED1,) Swarthmore, Brown, Bowdoin, Haverford,
Middle: Carleton, Vassar, Wesleyan, Pitzer (He says it’s in the middle, but I think it’s a reach)
Safety: Lafayette
I was thinking about adding Middlebury and Amherst (I visited both, was slightly turned off by snobby vibe, but not enough to cross them off entirely. I had a similar issue with Bowdoin.) Other students keep telling me about Williams, Rice, and University of Chicago and how I should consider them too. This really doesn’t help me continue to make firm decisions about crossing schools off my list. Maybe some of you know how these schools compare to schools already on my list? I really don’t want my list to grow much bigger than it is right now, especially adding many more reach schools. I really love Pomona but I know that my chances are very, very slim and I am panicking and suddenly trying to expand my pool of schools.
If I added more reach schools, should I then consider adding schools like Oberlin and Kenyon to balance off my list. I really don’t want to continue this indecision much further into the app season. Any advice?
@CHD2013 Thank you for pointing this post out to me. I figure it would be easiest to respond to it all here in the chance that it will give any of you more information to go off of.
Cost isn't a huge issue. Besides, all of the place I am considering have need-based financial aid, and are need-blind in admissions, for whatever that's worth.
See my interests above. I am really most interested in a broad, liberal arts education where I can study a lot of different things as I have pretty diverse interests. I am fairly undecided as far as professional goals.
Weather and location don't have a huge influence on me, though it would be nice to see a different part of the country, and Pomona's beautiful weather doesn't hurt (I'm from the Northeast.) Originally, I looked down a lot on "isolation," which is way I am unsure about schools like Williams and Middlebury that seem to be completely alone. I know that an LAC is fairly insular anyway, and they are both in absolutely beautiful places, which is why I still consider them, but the idea of having access to a larger community is appealing to me. Also a really preppy/elitist vibe turns me off, I have grown up around that kind of thing and I'm not really into it. I'm gay and would feel insecure in a conservative environment or one where I am singled out for being different. Here's something else that might help: out of the schools I visited I didn't like Occidental (felt lazy and drugged out, almost,) CMC (felt like a giant pre-Wall Street frat party,) and Macalester (similar to Oxy, students seemed less passionate.)
As for GPA, I have the highest/second highest in a class of ~90.
Carleton, Vassar, and Wesleyan aren’t exactly “middle,” even with your stats. Consider them low reaches or high matches.
Lafayette is NOT a safety.
Don’t bother adding any more reaches - you have more than enough of them. You could add more matches though. Oberlin and Kenyon would be good additions. I would also check out Reed - it would definitely be a match and seems like it might fit your interests. You also need to find at least one real safety.
@lalalemma: I should probably specify that Lafayette is a safety because an immediate family member donated A LOT of money there, not because of my stats. It’s almost a guaranteed in. Thank you, I was simply putting those schools as middle because that’s what my counselor says. I had a feeling they were more of a reach as well.