<p>Why don’t you think St Olaf is a safety?</p>
<p>It definitely is a safety but I’m just saying with acceptance around 50% it’s not exactly a slam-dunk and since my list is so top-heavy I want to have options if I’m rejected by everyone lol</p>
<p>@tk21769:</p>
<p>If large absolute numbers of high-stats kids push each other to succeed, you would see large absolute numbers of students going to get PhDs, which is indeed what you see happen from good public research universities. You would still see a smaller <em>percentage</em> because big state schools have large numbers of students in pre-professional programs (unlike any LAC) with no interest in getting a PhD (and also large numbers of the unmotivated/untalented, etc.).</p>
<p>UMich has a residential college, right? Aren’t average stats at UMich around those of St. Olaf, etc.?</p>
<p>Have you visited St Olaf and ‘shown the love’? Find out as much as you can and put your best foot forward. Do they offer all the academic majors that would be a possibility for you there? Are you a legacy at St Olaf, or do you know students already there?</p>
<p>Good luck with your process. You sound like a very solid student.</p>
<p>Keep visiting campuses and exploring your potential academic pursuits. It may be you figure out an intended major before you attend college - that can help with your selection process later in HS senior year.</p>
<p>Pitt’s Honors College: </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.honorscollege.pitt.edu”>http://www.honorscollege.pitt.edu</a></p>
<p>I’ll say this about the Honors College, but check out the website. It has a new dorm called Sutherland that’s on the north end of campus (right next to the frats) at the top of the hill Pitt is on (everything in the city is on a hill except where some sports stadiums are). Sutherland’s very nice and somewhat self-contained in terms of shopping emergencies, a couple of places to eat, networked printers on your way out the door to class. Another family member goes to Pitt and she is extremely happy with it. She says the Honors College is what you make of it. If you want honors courses, they’re there for you. If you want advising about study abroad or national scholarships like the Boren or Fulbright, they have Honors advisors to help you get these scholarships. If you want to go to professional school or study abroad, they have honors advisors for that. If you want a summer or school year research pop, they can help with that. The College from my point of view as an academic is very supportive of its students but isn’t controlling. Students seem to use it cafeteria style.</p>
<p>Pitt’s campus I haven’t seen. The Cathedral of Learning is this very large building that dominates the campus and houses the Honors office and a whole bunch of other admin offices and classes. Some floors of the Cathedral are dedicated to certain nationalities; my D got a kick out of this, but didn’t say why. The campus is downtown, with major city streets running through it. Everything you need off-campus is just across the street. The city itself I have been to and it is a really nice city with excellent professional and college sports teams, good museums like the Warhol and the Museum of Natural History. The ethnic food is good in a mediterranean/eastern european way. Many large corporations have their national headquarters in Pitt surprisingly. The weather is PA weather (I’m from Philly); it has winters of midwest gray; there’s real accumulating snow, adequate rain, some wind, and some hot weeks during the summer, so you will need sun screen or gore-tex or its equivalent some days. The humidity is not quite as bad as philly’s because of the hillsides, but down by the three huge rivers that come together in Pitt it’s plenty humid. The neighborhood Pitt is in, Oakland, is sort of urban middle/working-class town homes.</p>
<p>The Dietrich School of A&S has strong Italian and Linguistics, and an independent, long-standing Neuroscience department. I hope this helps.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It is totally reasonable to genuinely prefer those two schools (Carleton and WUSTL) over Stanford, which was effectively what you initially said. </p>
<p>However, if Stanford is your first choice, then of course you can’t do ED at either Carleton or WUSTL and your chances for Carleton and WUSTL are reduced. I would still what you can to decide your preferences before the ED deadline because there is a huge advantage to applying ED. There is less of an advantage if any applying SCEA to Stanford, and you may end up losing all three schools by doing that. Still, if Stanford is your first choice, you shouldn’t apply ED to another school. </p>
<p>@SOSConcern yep, I have visited St Olaf and I really liked it. I’m not a legacy but I think I’ve shown enough interest that I’m 99% sure I’ll make it in.</p>
<p>@jkeil911 hey, thanks for the info. Sounds like a really nice system in a really nice school. Also, I’ve been to Pittsburgh and I love it there. It was definitely way cooler than I expected it to be. I will apply as soon as I get teacher recs (they’re optional but recommended).</p>
<p>@ClassicRockerDad I would say that Stanford is tied with those two at the top. I don’t want to to ED because I really don’t have a clear #1 and don’t want to be forced to go somewhere when I have other great options. I’m hoping I’ll get into at least one of those 3 RD (and I’ll probably do the SCEA for Stanford, although I’m not sure that really helps my chances of getting in</p>
<p>You might look at Trinity College in Connecticut. Good academics, serious students, higher acceptance rate due, I think to its less desirable location in a somewhat gritty urban neighborhood. The good news is that they have a campus in Rome. Also Dickinson in PA.</p>
<p>You would likely get a full scholarship from Ursinus College in PA. I know a young woman who got 1/2 need and 1/2 merit from them with a 12 on the ACT. That is a great safety to have. Also, have you looked at Muhlenberg? She got 1/2 of the COA covered through need and 1/4 covered through merit as well. </p>
<p>All the schools you’ve listed seem well within your reach with such great stats.
I would also suggest you take a look at UMichigan</p>
<p>I’m a big fan of St. Olaf. They send a ton of students on to professional schools and the students truly seem to be happy there. D1 had St. Olaf as her #1 but when the financial aid came back she decided on Lawrence. It’s very similar to St. Olaf. Lots of students go on to prestigious grad schools. They give great financial aid. We weren’t as impressed with Carelton and Macalester. Just didn’t like the “feel” at either.</p>
<p>You should have no trouble getting into Tulane, and will probably qualify for a merit scholarship. I think your chances are excellent at Occidental, also - my son got in with significantly lower stats than yours. </p>
<p>@woogzmama is Oxy as rigorous as I hear it is? Someone told me only 5% of their students get a 3.5 or better…that doesn’t sound particularly appealing…</p>
<p>Be careful with Tulane as a safety. Specifically, be sure to show a high level of interest in the school, rather than making it obvious that it is your last choice safety. Note that Tulane offers both EA and SCEA, where SCEA is a way of showing a high level of interest.</p>
<p>@kmart19 - I don’t know anything about their grading, but I can’t imagine that it would hurt you to come from a college known for academic rigor. </p>
<p>I would not consider Umich to be a safety for the OP. The middle 50 percentile ACT range is 30-33 for admitted students. That range would be slightly higher for OOS students. I would say the OP has a solid chance at getting into to UofM, but the chance is not high enough to be classified as a safety. UofM turns down a ton of OOS students with high ACT scores and GPAs.</p>