Hi! I’m working on my college applications, and right now I don’t really have any good safety schools. I applied ED to Dartmouth and plan to apply RD to Bowdoin, Bates, BC, Holy Cross, and Williams. I prefer smaller, liberal arts colleges, could anyone help recommend some schools that I could look into as a safety? I plan to major in chemistry, but I also want to be involved in arts and music programs. Also, I prefer schools in New England btw.
Here are my stats:
GPA - Weighted: 4.65, Unweighted 3.96
ACT - 35
SAT - 1510 (770 Reading/Writing, 740 Math)
SAT II - 700 Chem, 770 Math II
Rank: Top 5%, official rankings of valedictorian/salutatorian have not been released yet
Course Rigor: Only honors & AP Courses, I took 3 APs my junior year and am taking 4 this year.
AP Chem - 4 // APUSH - 4 // AP Lang & Comp - 4
Awards: Harvard Book Award, Social Justice Award from University of Rochester, National Merit Qualifier, AP Scholar, as well as principal’s list honor roll all four years and a few academic awards for having the highest grade in some of my classes, such as Chemistry or APUSH
Extracurriculars:
Concert Choir and audition-only Select Choir, we compete nationally and have performed at Carnegie Hall. In this choir I am a designated section leader, so I have a responsibility and leadership role there.
Heavily involved in theater, received nomination for recent performance from the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild last year.
In a local band through my music school which perform at community events and fundraisers
U.Mass Amherst is the obvious safety. UVM would also be a safety, and you will probably get a presidential merit scholarship there which will help a bit with the price.
The problem that I see with the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is that your stats are so much higher than would be needed to get accepted there. We ran into the exact same issue with our youngest, who with similar stats wanted a small school (we are also from New England). Her safeties ended up being small universities in eastern Canada. With your stats (or hers) every university in Canada would be a safety (skipping the few that teach in French).
Colby appears in an online article (as does Bowdoin from your list), “15 Best Value Small Colleges for a Chemistry Degree,” and might represent a less challenging admit than a few of the other schools on your list. Though outside of New England, Hamilton offers an appealing balance across sciences and fine arts, and could be another school to consider.
@DadTwoGirls I am considering UVM for a safety, since I know a few people who go there and they enjoy it a lot. Any recommendations for Canadian schools?
If you like LACs, as your list indicates, Canadian schools might not be for you. They aren’t as… nurturing, I guess is the word I’d use.
I second Dickinson or F&M as options. You’d likely get merit at Dickinson (F&M does not give merit). Dickinson has an EA round with applications due on 12/1 – they like EA applicants because it shows interest, and that you aren’t just tossing in an application at the last minute. Dickinson was my D1’s “safety”, and she ended up deciding to attend because she liked it as well as the higher ranked schools she got into and got merit.
Another vote for St. Olaf, even though it is outside your geographic range – solid in chem and excellent music opportunities.
It may be fairly close to home, but what about Mount Holyoke? You’d get good merit aid there, too.
@Massmomtothree thank you ! I’ll definitely look into Providence and I requested an interview for Holy Cross today haha. I am also definitely looking into Colby!
They do have a “Why Dickinson?” essay. Be sure to peruse the website carefully to find majors, activities, things about campus, etc. that are a good fit for you.
Though further afield, the moderately selective Denison matches the character of your current mix in some ways. Also in Ohio, Kenyon could be a great choice for fine arts in combination with chemistry.
Kenyon is always a little dicey for Caucasian girls from the east coast. Even with great stats, it might not be a safety, especially for a student who hasn’t visited. Just saying… low match, probably. But they do have a lovely fine arts building – D2 was quite taken with it when we visited.
That seems valid. I know of a particularly high-stats student, in this case male, who was waitlisted at Kenyon. It’s worth noting as well that his dearth of expressed interest did not seem to be a detriment at the over-two-dozen other schools to which he applied.
If Kenyon is a student’s affordable first choice, it may be worth applying ED, particularly if “overqualified” and concerned about yield protection rejection/waitlist outcomes (ED is the strongest signal of interest there is).
The OP is looking for safeties. There are some great suggestions here, but many are as or more selective than those on the list. OP, make sure you look carefully at that.