I HAVE NO SAFTIES whatsoever. Save meee!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Gah, it's true. My only saftey is a school I absolultely would never go to. :( Junior, btw.</p>

<p>GPA: ~3.36UW/3.9W (GAR, this is what KILLS me! SOPHMORE YEAR, begone! upward trend. It's not gonna go any higher then this, IF I maintain my current grades haha...)
RANK: School doesn't rank, but don't think I'm in top 10% either :[
SAT: 2230 (770M 760V 700CR)
SATII: (taking these at the end of this year... probably 600s~700s. hopefully.) CHEM / MATH IIC / PHYSICS / BIOLOGY ...
ASIAN FEMALE - going to major in biochem/biophysics, something premed-related. Also an artist (going to submit portfolio)
LOCATION: MA; competitive public high school</p>

<p>ECs:
- Student Leadership Council (10-12)
- Red Cross Club (11-12) leader
- MOST leader, community service walks (11-12)
- Mock Trial (11-12)
- Intern @ Regional Lit Magazine (2 hrs/week, 40+ hrs)
- PALS (11-12) - tutoring bright middle school students
- Ultimate Frisbee (10-12) (should I even include this? you can tell I'm not very sporty, this is the only thing I do, but still time consuming!)
(yeah, most of these are community service-orientated haha...)</p>

<p>JUNIOR/SENIOR SCHEDULE:
- AP Chemistry, AP Euro, Physics, Humanities, Precal, French IV
- AP Calculus AB/BC (haven't decided), AP English, AP French, AP Physics (probable), Portfolio, Bioethics, Econ</p>

<p>ER, otherwise I'm pretty much the average, run-of-the-mill candidate =[ I can't think of anything that will distinguise me from others. </p>

<p>PROSPECTIVE LIST:
Tufts University (my DREAM.)
Dartmouth (I'm applying here just because I love it, not because I can get in, lol.)
Brandeis University
Boston University / Boston College
UMass Amherst (my only saftey.)
Syracuse
UConn (somewhat of a saftey, but eh...)</p>

<p>I NEED OTHER SAFTIES and MATCH schools, seeing as my list is just... eh. Mostly schools I could never get into. I'd like schools in New England (MA, NH, CT, RI... etc)? Schools I could GET INTO, haha? Sometimes I feel like I could get into NOwhere, judging from the posts on this forum ._.;</p>

<p>Thanks ;)</p>

2

<p>Forget the posts on the forum. </p>

<p>As for your current list:</p>

<p>Tufts University (my DREAM.): Slight Reach
Dartmouth: Super Super Super Super (did I say super) Reach
Brandeis University: Slight Reach/ High Match
Boston University: Safety
Boston College: Slight Reach
UMass Amherst: Super Safety
Syracuse: Safety
UConn: Super Safety</p>

<p>You are totally fine in the safety category, you need more matches! Have you thought of liberal arts schools like Hamilton, Bates, etc as matches? You might actually ditch some safeties and add some slight reaches too, places like Bowdoin, Vassar.</p>

3

<p>Hm, how is Hamilton with the premed scene? And Bates, I've looked into - that's another school I'm mulling. As for the plethora of safties I have... this board just convinces me that I never have enough safties, hah. </p>

<p>Anyways, thanks for the suggestion! What other SLIGHT reach / HIGH matches do you advise? Vassar and Bowdoin, I'm going to consider / talk with my GC about :]</p>

4

<p>You should also check out Middlebury (reach), Colgate (slight Reach/ high match), and Colby (high match). Don't worry so much about safeties, the worst thing is to not have enough matches!!</p>

<p>All the top 25 liberal arts schools are pretty strong for pre-med, they are great in terms of personal attention and placement, plus I think you'll enjoy them much more!</p>

5

<p>Hm, do you know where I could acquire this list of top 25 LACs? =]</p>

6

<p>Hanae, Some ideas for match/safety schools that are strong in visual arts are as follows: Hamilton, Skidmore, Kenyon, Conn College, Vassar and Weselyan. (Editing to add Smith!) All of these have respectable science departments. </p>

<p>If you're interested in Tufts' joint program with the Boston MFA then be sure to investigate thoroughly as this requires two separate acceptances.</p>

<p>Williams (which is very selective) is a great combination of excellent science plus excellent art. Your GPA is on the low side for Williams but they do actively favor artists and your Asian status would be a plus.</p>

<p>You should think about submitting an arts package that includes slides, an instructor's reccommendation (in addition to your academic recs), and a resume with a brief statement, courses taken and grades, achievements and awards. Most colleges have specific instructions on their websites on how to submit slides (some accept digital format). If this is your hook, you need to make a strong presentation.</p>

7

<p>I think as an artist you'd love Vassar, apply there for sure!</p>

8

<p>Holy Cross, Colgate, Bucknell.</p>

9

<p>Trinity has a feel similar to other 'urban' schools on your list.</p>

10

<p>Whoa, thanksss! You guys are the BEST, haha... my current list!</p>

<p>*Tufts University
Dartmouth
*Brandeis University
*Boston University
*Boston College
*UMass
*Syracuse
*UConn
*Vassar
Williams
*Weselyan
Grinnell
*Bates
Bowdoin
Skidmore
*Trinity College
Holy Cross</p>

<p>Hahahahaa... going to have SO much fun doing those apps next year! Well, that's just the list of schools I hope I'll have time to visit! *'d ones are ones I'm def considering =] Any other suggestions? </p>

<p>And also momrath... do you know if there's a standard, proffesional format to submitting art portfolios? Do you HAVE to include 3d/2d/different mediums? I've looked at a few school websites, but they have nothing about submitting portfolios...</p>

11

<p>Hanae, I assume by portfolio you mean slides. Here are a few examples of instructions for submitting supplemental material which will give you a general idea. Next year when you’ve narrowed down your list I’d suggest you call the individual colleges and for more information if they do not provide instructions on their websites. </p>

<p>Williams
<a href="http://www.williams.edu/admission/apply_appinstructions.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.williams.edu/admission/apply_appinstructions.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Wesleyan
<a href="http://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/applying/supplemental_materials.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.wesleyan.edu/admission/applying/supplemental_materials.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Amherst (scroll down it’s on page 21)
<a href="http://www.amherst.edu/admission/process/firstyearapp0506.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.amherst.edu/admission/process/firstyearapp0506.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>If you can afford it, go with a professional photographer. Artworks of any media are difficult to capture on film. If you do end up taking the slides yourself, make sure you have good lighting. Take many options of each work. If you have a slide projector, view them on a large scale for shadows, finger prints, focus etc.</p>

<p>The slide selection should include a wide range of media, drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, printmaking, whatever you have done. Remember the objective is to show that you are serious, talented, teachable and will contribute to the department, not to get a show at MoMA. Drawings should be from life and are VERY important. We were told that colleges especially like self portraits. Include works that show technical expertise as well as creativity. Off beat works are acceptable. </p>

<p>I very much liked the idea of the total arts package. My son assembled all of the following and clipped them together. They were mailed with the application.</p>

<p>A. Slides
In plastic slide folders. All numbered and labeled with his name. Some schools are specific on the required labels.</p>

<p>B. List (inventory) of slides
Number, Title, Date, Size, Medium</p>

<p>C. Arts Resume
A brief personal statement, about a paragraph. Something along the line of what art means to me plus a list of media and technical expertise.
A list of all high school art classes and grades
Scores of related tests (for my son it was IB)
Awards and accomplishments
Summer programs and activities
Participation in shows, exhibitions
Exceptional projects – for example, my son wrote his IB thesis on an architectural topic</p>

<p>D. Recommendation from an art teacher/professional</p>

<p>E. Short essay
My son chose another EC for his short essay on “the activity that meant the most to you”. If you choose to write about art or any art related activities, the essay could go in the arts package as well.</p>

<p>Good luck on your visits. Of the schools on your list my son visited and really liked Wesleyan, Skidmore and obviously Williams. He didn’t visit Vassar, but probably should have. Not on your list but also good for art are Smith, Kenyon, Conn College and Hamilton. I wouldn’t recommend Trinity’s art department. The program at Tufts is a joint venture with the Boston MFA which seems a little unwieldy to me. The others I’ve not investigated.</p>

12

<p>WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>

<p>I love how she asked for a safety and you guys list (Huge Reach)Wesleyan, Williams (Huge Reach), Vassar (Reach), Hamilton (Match/Reach), Bowdoin (Reach), and Bates (Match at best). </p>

<p>I'd say right now UMASS is still your only safety and if you don't want UMASS then we still have problem.</p>

<p>I'd say for safeties look at:
Hampshire College (near Amherst)
Simmons College (Boston)
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Roger Williams University
Bennington College</p>

<p>Now in terms of reaches, Wellesley has one of the best pre-med programs in New England.</p>

13

<p>Schools are looking pretty good. Tufts would be more of a reach and Syracuse would also be more of a reach as they are cutting back admissions next year (they let way too many people in this year and need to make up for it). You should at least get into some of the colleges on your list, however.</p>

14

<p>momrath: THANK YOU SO MUCH. You have NO idea how helpful your post was! :) <em>saved it</em> I'm definitely going to be sending in a portfolio... still not 100% sure on the slides part (am I going to have to get 50 pages of slides of the same thing? considering my hefty college list.) but I'll ask my art instructor who I've been working with for a few years =] And the Tufts/MFA joint-degree... I don't want a BA in the visual arts, haha. I LOVE drawing... I just don't want to major in it ;)</p>

<p>Cre8tive1 - Haha, yes... I'm really scared I won't get in anywhere, and I definitely don't want to go to UMass, even though I'll have 4 years of free tuition there (MCAS scores were good) :( Thank you for the other safties, I'll check those out as well!</p>

<p>Cuse0507 - Yeah, if I somehow manage to wangle my way into Tufts, I'll be EXTREMELY happy... but I've prepared myself for the rejection, lol. And thanks, I hope I do get into one of my top choices! :)</p>

15

<p>Hanae, You're welcome. Just to be clear: the portfolio IS slides (or in a few cases a DVD). Colleges don't evaluate actual artwork unless you make a specific appointment with a professor to do so.</p>

<p>Once you have a couple of dozen good slides it's fairly easy to duplicate them. By the time you apply a year from now your list will have expanded and contracted several times. You should end up with 8-12 applications.</p>

<p>As far as safeties go, I don't want to make too fine a point of whether a school is a safe-match or a matchy-safety but I think if you characterize yourself as an Asian/female in sciences/artist you will have a good shot at Skidmore, Hamilton, Conn College, Kenyon and Smith. </p>

<p>If you don't want to go to to UMass (or any other college) it is not a true safety. Accept that you'll need to spend a lot of time visiting and researching safeties; they are out there but it's a process of elimination. Try to find schools where Asians are not over-represented.</p>

<p>Also, will you need financial aid -- either needbased or merit? This is a factor that may affect your list as well.</p>

16

<p>Well I have made it my job to research schools for the past 2 years, I'll go through your list, most of your schools are reaches with out a doubt, the fact is your gpa kills you and these days that's all that counts...
Tufts University- REACH
Dartmouth-REACH
Brandeis University-High Target/Reach
Boston University-High Target
Boston College-Reach
UMass-Safety
Syracuse-Target/Safe
UConn-Target/Safe
Vassar-Reach
Williams-REACH
Weselyan-REACH
Grinnell- I have no idea
Bates-Reach
Bowdoin-Reach
Skidmore-Target
Trinity College-Reach
Holy Cross-Target</p>

<p>sorry to be so brutal but think this is not always an intelligence thing, they can get kids with everything you have who also have a 4.0, I feel your pain though.</p>

<p>Look at Bennington, Hampshire, Geneseo, UVT those are safeties...</p>

17

<p>momrath: Thanks, again! I don't think my family income qualifies for needbase financial, haha (I live in Andover... typical preppy "white kid" snob town) but merit aid is always welcome :]</p>

<p>JB12790: More then half of my list are reaches... aiii, I'm scared! I really wish I hadn't screwed up my sophmore year, and I don't have any extenuating circumstances either. Even BU is a high target? My GC labeled it as a high saftey, hmm... probably because it accepts ~15+ kids from my school each year, though. GPAs are so frustrating! :( I'll check out those safties, but if worst comes to worst I guess I'll be okay at UMass... (hey, free tuition!)</p>

18

<p>Hanae, It's still early in the game for you and you'll add and subtract a lot of names before you're done. Your past GPA is something that you can't change. Focus on getting good grades in the next year. Schools like to see an upward trend. Your scores and rank are good. If your family's prepared to pay full tuition, your choices widen considerably.</p>

<p>You need a strategy, not just a list. My advice is to go against the grain and look for colleges where being an Asian female interested in both science and art is a plus. At the colleges I listed Asians are URMS. They also actively recruit kids with strong art backgrounds. Both Tufts and Dartmouth have an excess of extremely talented Asian applicants and your arts EC won't count for much. Thus while all are reaches, Williams and Wesleyan are reasonable reaches; Tufts and Dartmouth are unlikely. </p>

<p>Same thing for all the urban schools on your list. They get plenty of Asians and can be picky on statistics. To standout from the pack you should consider some of the more remotely located colleges and some all female schools. If this doesn't appeal to you then the next step is to stay urban and coed but to drop down a tier in selectivity. As I said, you have a long time to work on this. Don't despair, just do some analytic research.</p>