<p>Hey everyone,
As I continue finalizing my college list I am realizing the need to find some decent safety schools since the schools I am applying to are so selective and thought I'd start a new thread for this. I already know I will apply to St. Olaf but seeing as that really isn't what I would consider a slam-dunk, I think I need one more safety/low match school. Obviously the school needs to be somewhere I could realistically see myself so to give you an idea of what I'm looking for, I would say my top two schools right now are Washing University in St. Louis and Carleton College. I like both the small LACs and the small-medium research universities with an emphasis on undergrad liberal arts. Also am considering a larger public school with a smaller honors college where I would get the feel of a smaller school. Looking for a friendly, laid-back student body and great academics. To give an idea of stats...
Unweighted GPA: 3.94
Basically all honors/AP classes all years
ACT: 34
Writing:9
SAT Subject Tests:
Math II: 800
Bio: 720
Good ECs as well</p>
<p>Schools I'm considering:
University of Illinios Urbana-Champaign (honors program?)
U Pitt honors college
Macalester
Kenyon
Skidmore
Occidental</p>
<p>Any other suggestions/ideas about schools on this list are appreciated.</p>
<p>@jkeil911 undecided. Which is why I want the liberal arts experience. I can see myself doing something with science but I can also see myself doing a lot of other things…</p>
<p>I can’t speak to affordability, so I’ll call these academic safeties. I like UPitt because my D is going there in the fall. Your stats will get you some, perhaps 15K or more. Tulane is another school that would bring you a lot of money; don’t know if it will be enough because Tulane is one of the 64K schools. Also those schools with automatic tuition scholarships like Barrett Honors at ASU and UAlabama. There are also a bunch of small LACs that offer good merit, and there are schools with real low COAs. Check these out:</p>
<p>It sounds like your parents will pay all costs, but will they pay all costs for a safety? Many parents will pay more for a reach/match, but dont want to pay that much for a safety. What have your parents said?</p>
<p>@jkeil911 Thank you for the links. Very helpful. I think I’m gonna look into UPitt and UIUC honors programs more. Do you know if you have to apply specifically for the honors college when you apply or if they just consider you automatically if you are qualified?</p>
<p>What about the University of Michigan honors college? </p>
<p>I’m trying to decide if the honors college within a large university would be a good fit for me or if I should just go with one of the less-selective LACs I mentioned in my first post…</p>
<p>You will be an academic outlier at the high end of an admissions safety school.</p>
<p>At a small school, there may be few other students of comparable academic ability and motivation. At a big school, the percentage of such other students may be small, but the absolute number will be larger. So it may be that a large school would make for a better safety than a small school, if you can find a cohort of similarly motivated students, and/or the school offers suitable honors or other rigorous courses for such students like you.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus good points. I’m going to look at the smaller schools I mentioned in more depth and decide if I can really see myself at any of them.</p>
<p>In the meantime, if anyone could recommend any universities with good honors programs that would be great. Ideally I’m looking for a program where all the honors kids would be housed together to sort of “shrink” the size of the school, if you will.</p>
<p>And idk if anyone can really consider Michigan a safety…so maybe that’s not the best option for me. Ideally I’d be looking for somewhere with an acceptance rate of 40% or higher. Money is not an issue</p>
<p>So I’m thinking I’ll apply to Pitt ASAP just to see what happens, and then decide between Occidental and Skidmore later on. Couple questions:
Can I apply now? Can’t find anything online about when they start accepting applications, I just see a deadline.<br>
Will not submitting teacher recs hurt my scholarship chances? If so I will wait to get those from teachers.
It asks which campus Id like to live on I think…if I’m planning on living in the honors college housing what should I put?
Also, I’m completely undecided on a major but they ask for one so should I just guess?..</p>
<p>There may be some merit to this line of reasoning, although I’m not sure it stands up completely to the evidence of academic outcomes. Small liberal arts colleges tend to significantly out-perform large research universities in per capita PhD production, including in STEM fields. This is true even of some LACs that are less selective than Macalester or Kenyon (such as Allegheny, Lawrence or Earlham), and even when compared to the most selective public research universities (such as Berkeley or Michigan). I wouldn’t expect this to happen if large absolute numbers of relatively high-stats students created an environment that motivated students better to pursue and achieve these outcomes.</p>
<p>There are pros and cons of both large and small schools. Certainly, a large school can offer more courses, including more very advanced and specialized courses in many fields.</p>
<p>We have friends whose ds just graduated from Wooster. His undergrad experience was top-notch in hands on research and the support he received for achieving his goals. For a “lesser employable field,” archeology, he had continual internships internationally and made connections amg to researchers. He had job offers at graduation! Not many archeology majors can report that.</p>
<p>You have terrific stats, no financial concerns and two great top choices. </p>
<p>What would it take for you to do sleepover “due diligence” visits to both Carleton and WUSTL this fall so that you can safely choose one to do ED. I think you’ll be admitted ED, so you likely won’t need a safety. </p>
<p>These visits are very different from the pre-application visits where you are taking it all in and deciding if you want to apply. The standard for a school being your top choice is higher. You need to visit as though you’ve been admitted and get your detailed questions answered, meet students, attend classes and imagine yourself as a student there. You must conclude the second visit with a top choice to commit to. </p>
<p>As far as safeties for a high stats kid, my D1 used University of Wisconsin because it was beautiful, it had a easy application, and she applied in September and was admitted in October. It was a sure safety with zero chance that she wouldn’t be admitted. It was the only large school she applied to, but it seemed like a place where she would meet many other academically talented students. She was admitted to her top two choices EA and just graduated. </p>
<p>Pitt Honors is no doubt a safety and also has the rolling admissions. </p>
<p>Another potentially safe option for you might be Tulane which has EA, and really should admit you. </p>
<p>In terms of LACs, Beloit, Lawrence and Kalamazoo all have EA and should be safe. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, I would call now to schedule your overnights to Carleton and WUSTL. </p>
<p>I honestly don’t see you at Skidmore. I think it’s a big step down. </p>
<p>Oxford College of Emory would likely admit you. Oxford College is a two year exurban LAC where upon completion of the program students continue to Emory University, a school which is extremely similar to Wash U. </p>
<p>Lewis & Clark could also be used as a safety, especially if you’re considering both Occidental and Skidmore. </p>
<p>Wake Forest University might be a match and appropriate for someone looking into smaller research universities. </p>
<p>Is Stanford off your list? If not, I think you should follow the plan I outlined in the other thread and apply to Pitt in September (ask for your recommendations NOW if you haven’t already) and UIUC by Nov 1st, plus Stanford SCEA. Note that SCEA allows you to apply to publics, and is non-binding.</p>
<p>The big universities tend to attract more pre-professional students whose goals are more likely something other than PhD study (e.g. employment after studying a pre-professional major that is typically not offered at LACs). So this student self-selection effect is likely a significant bias in PhD production rates. There can also be the differential effect of recruiting at big versus small schools – if a student sees a lot of employers coming to the career center (more likely at big schools), and hears from other students about good post-graduation job opportunities for bachelor’s degree graduates, s/he may be swayed that direction instead of PhD study.</p>
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<p>The large numbers of highly academically motivated students in absolute terms at big universities may themselves go on to PhD study, but they may not represent that big a percentage of students at those universities to make for a high PhD matriculation and graduation rate.</p>
<p>@Consolation no, Stanford is not off the list, I was just naming two of my top schools that aren’t that much of a reach haha. I’m planning on doing what you recommended, but not sure I want to apply to UIUC…it seems huge and there’s no specific honors college that’s set off to make it seem any smaller…</p>
<p>For Pitt it asks what campus I want to live on…I’m assuming I don’t want to stay on one of the regional ones (honors housing in on the main Pittsburgh campus, correct?)
Also they want me to pick a major but I have no idea so should I just pick one that sounds interesting? lol</p>