When I checked these colleges’ websites I found Reed’s SAT scores to be the third highest (just after Hamilton and tied with Middlebury) among this group (post #6). But the overriding point (#18) is that Reed deemphasizes stats in comparison to many other colleges. A Reed Magazine article implies a weighting of 20% to “grades, class rank, and standardized tests.” (Another 20% goes to course rigour, an overlapping criterion.) In terms of a numerical prediction of acceptance, Reed may be a wildcard.
Nevertheless, the OP does appear to be academically qualified for Reed.
(Reed College Magazine, 2008; Reed College: Many Apply. Few are Chosen.)
American and Dickinson consider “level of applicant’s interest” to be “very important”, so be wary of using them as “safeties” if your stats are seemingly “overqualified” for them. Presumably, they want to see that they are among your top choices, not your last choice “safeties”, so you need to play the “interest” game well with them.
Reed considers “level of applicant’s interest” to be “important”.
Thank you everyone for your replies! It’s been very helpful in figuring out what schools fit where in terms of acceptance, so now I can concentrate on seeing which fit me personally.
Ok this is my current college list:
Reaches:
-Middlebury
-UChicago (EA)
-JHU
-Georgetown (EA)
(yes I know that these are extremely competitive, and are probably mega-reaches, but all are great for my major, so I’m just gonna see what happens, although for UChicago I don’t know if it’d be better to wait for RD bc of my GPA?)
Matches:
-Emory
-Hamilton
-Colby
-U of Rochester
-Macalester
-William & Mary
-Colorado College
-Reed
-Carleton
Safeties:
-American (although, it’s in the top ten for IR, so I’d be happy to go)
-Dickinson
-U of Denver?
My application would look like:
-White female from MA
-GPA: 3.76 (4.5W)
-SAT: 2160 (800-CR, 590-M, 770-W)
-ACT: 32 (31-English, 27-math, 36-reading, 32-science, 29-writing)
-good ECs
-Hooks: first gen college student (using definition of first to graduate from college)
Safeties are problematic because you don’t have a financial safety.
Mom2Collegekids must be off her game, because she hasn’t mentioned it yet, but you now qualify for an automatic full tuition scholarship at the University of Alabama. Make that one of your applications just in case. It’s a no brainer!
UMass is a trivial application also since you are applying to Common App schools EA. There is no essay in the supplement. Just be aware that the full-tuition scholarship you will receive to UMass only covers like $1714. It doesn’t cover the roughly $10K in fees.
^^^^ #26 People say this all the time, but I don’t get it - just pay a visit or show some interest, and then what’s the problem? I agree that if you just shoot an application off with no other activity, that might hurt you, but if you can do something that “demonstrates interest” you are fine.
If your admission depends on a holistic thing like “level of interest”, it’s not really a safety. A safety is a school where a properly filled out application will gain an admission and where the student is willing and able to attend if other options don’t come through.
Any school where admission has been attained is a safety. That’s why a strategy of getting into a safety EA or rolling is so useful.
@ucbalumnus@NickFlynn@ClassicRockerDad I’m planning on visiting American, and probably Dickinson too over the summer (probably late summer). Will that be enough to show interest to make them good safeties? If not, do you guys know of any schools that would be good safeties? (Besides the ones already suggested like UAlabama and UMass Amherst)
Ok so after some reflection, I’ve come up with some other characteristics I’d want in a college. My original post was about my own personality, but I feel like these will be helpful as well:
-preferably a school that isn’t very preppy/snobby
-intellectually curious students
-small to medium sized
-has a good campus feel
-has some school spirit (not so much rah rah football! But just school spirit as in students are proud and appreciative of their school, and aren’t always complaining)
-decent/good food
-grassy or tree-y (even if it’s in a city or something, just has like a nice quad area and nice buildings)
-has a good reputation (not really talking about oh this school’s ranked 20, and this school’s 25, but rather- is it respected by its peers, grad schools, and future employers?), also good reputation in my major (international relations/studies)
-good selection of languages
-good/great study abroad programs
-does it snow there? (Not as important, but I do love skiing so this is a want/bonus rather than a need, although most schools have winter breaks so when I go home I’ll go skiing anyway)
Out of the colleges on my list (post #24), are there any that I should remove based on the criteria above? Are there any that I haven’t considered yet that seem like good fits? I don’t need them to have all the characteristics above, but just a decent amount of them.
