If your impression of these campuses is based on your basic college tour, tours are not at all representative of actually attending any college. If you think any of the schools might be an option you would consider, visit again and meet with the dept. If it isn’t too late (it might be bc many schools are heading into their last week or two of classes prior to finals), you could ask to sit in on some classes. When you contact the dept, you could ask them if they could put you in touch with a current student. You can look and see if there are any academic clubs and contact them.
Then don’t go to college.
BTW, you don’t seem to have heard: You have/had almost no shot at Barnard.
Also, your reasoning makes little sense. You say that you are afraid that you wouldn’t stand out at a bigger school but do you really think that you would stand out at a place like Barnard which would be chock full of students more brilliant than you?
Anyway, your life is your life to live. You really can choose to be miserable or not. I gather that you haven’t traveled the world much? There are kids in this world far smarter than you who would give a limb to have the educational opportunities you have but due to sheer luck of birth are in a country and economic situation where that is simply impossible. You’re privileged enough to turn down some terrific educational opportunities because of feels yet do not know it.
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@Almostout2k19 This comment reflects a need to investigate depts far more than what you currently think you know, “They were also a safety college for me. I would be paying more for a safety than I would pay at a more challenging school. And I know that sounds harsh, but I worked really hard in high school and I’d like a school that reflects my hard work.”
To give a personal example, my ds graduated from high school having completed 5 in-major physics and 5 in-majort math courses through dual enrolling at a local U. He attended a school ranked around 130. (He took 300 and 400 level physics courses his freshman yr.) He received a great physics education at both his UG university and the U where he dual enrolled, neither known at all for physics. Physics is a pretty standardized curriculum across Us with most using the same text. Students like him are sitting in lower ranked classrooms across the country b/c that is where they can afford to attend, want to attend, or need to attend due personal reasons.
Who knows, I could’ve gotten to Barnard. You know nothing about me besides the stats I have posted on this forum, and like we all know college admissions isn’t only about the numbers. And unless you’re an admissions counselor, you can’t give me a definitive answer.
I never said my colleges weren’t good, they just don’t suit me. I’m sure many people would like to attend them, but I’m not them. I learned a lot about myself this school year to know what environments I thrive and sink in.
Basically, you have decided to not attend college next yr. So you need to decide what you are going to instead.
We have come to know quite a bit about you from your postings.
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My family are all atheists as well, but my D20 is looking at a number of religious schools. They seem to be in a nice wide band in the middle for kids who don’t want to or can’t reach for the top schools. She is carefully researching how religious they are and what it means for life there. Some have been crossed off as too oppressively religious for her, or too conservative for her, but a few remain at the top of her list- and she’s pretty uncomfortable with religion. I think you should look deeper into what ways religion would even effect you at the schools like Villanova and Fordham.
UF has climbed the rankings, big school but bet with dorms, clubs can feel smaller. Fordham is in the city and Villanova is near the city. Rutgers and Penn State many kids like, sports, school spirit, clubs, dance marathons. Some great choices. Can you visit any this week or next?
Villanova is also ranked as one of the most conservative schools, so I don’t think they’d really like it if I didn’t follow their religion. Fordham is more liberal from what I here, so it seems like a better option
I’ve visited Villanova, Fordham, Penn State, and Ithaca. I’m from Pennsylvania so traveling to Florida will be difficult to fit into my schedule, but I’m taking virtual tours
It seems you have three choices - go to a college you were accepted to, don’t go to college, or go to community college. During my son’s application process this year, I realized that my son will very likely be happy in college regardless of which college he attends. He is ready for the independence and the opportunity to focus on his interests. While you would choose a different set of colleges today, you might be happy at any of the colleges where you were accepted just because they will likely be better than high school.
Again…Barnard is a reach for you. It has a 14% acceptance rate and your stats place you slightly above the 25%. As I mentioned before, the transfer acceptance rate is about 22%.
Take the year off and apply to some lower ranked LACs where you would fit in both socially and academically. That school is not Barnard.
You might want to consider something else. For some people, things that are out of reach can seem so much more attractive than those easily accessible. You’ve heard the “grass is always greener…” and “I’d not belong to any club with standards so low they’d let me join”. Our brains can play tricks on us (cognitive bias). That’s what fuels indecision. Every time we choose an alternative the other seems to have more pros and the one we select seems to have more cons. It might be that any school you get an offer to attend will sink in your eyes. If so, the solution is obvious. Choose the one that sucks the least.
@lostaccount - I think you’ve nailed it.
OP, I think what you’re experiencing is common.You just need to decide if you really want to take a gap year and make sure you do something worthwhile. Also, understand that if you plan to apply to more reach schools in a year there is a high possibility you won’t get in.
If you pick the school you dislike the least, try not to go in with a negative mindset - give it a chance. If you hate it, transfer. Or go to CC for two years, knock out the required courses and then go somewhere more fitting.
@Almostout2k19 Penn State (I assume main campus), Rutgers and UF are flagships with rigorous STEM programs, and the undergrads that stay in those major usually have higher stats than the average stats of the entire university. Even higher than you, most likely. (I am a math professor so I am pretty clued in to this kind of stuff.) But these were too big for you. I am a bit puzzled - I can understand the in state flagship, why apply to 3 large flagships when you want a smaller environment?
What’s wrong with Ithaca, Fordham or MHO? There too, the STEM majors will have higher stats. Looks like Fordham may the best fit for you now since you want to be near a bigger place. There are students of many faiths attending there. While there are religious universities, including some Catholic ones, that very much stress the religious culture, I don’t think Fordham is one of them. They are from the Jesuit tradition, and tend to be more on the intellectual, liberal side. That said, you would need to be tolerant of others and their faiths, even if you choose not to believe. But that would be true wherever you went to college.
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I’m wondering about the guidance you had. I’m not familiar with a number of schools on your list, but there is no way Fordham or Villanova (and I suspect some of the others) were “safeties” with your stats. Matches, yes. I agree Barnard is a reach - as was already noted, your SAT score is barely 25th percentile there.
I do also agree it’s not worth your parents spending tens of thousands of dollars on a college you have decided that, for one reason or another, you will hate and that is not “good enough” for you. My first suggestion would be for you to read the results threads here on CC for the schools that you think you should have applied to, and compare your own - but I am guessing you would just become fixated on the rare person with lower stats (like the 1170 SAT person you know) who got into these colleges, without understanding the hooks that got them in, and that the confirmation bias would just reinforce your current mindset. So … my actual suggestion is decline all of them, and find something that will both be useful and earn you income or at least provide your room and board (as some volunteer opportunities do) while you take your gap year. Then apply to the schools you think you should have gotten into, but please again apply to a decent range of matches and safeties. If you do something useful and validating in your gap year it will hopefully add something to your applications and improve your chances of acceptances. Do be prepared for what you will do if after all that, you still end up with your only acceptances at matches and safeties.
When I was picking colleges I didn’t take a few things such as size into consideration. I think I underestimated the size. All these schools are popular in my school, so I chose them without the heavy research. I have family that went to Mount Holyoke, so that’s how I’m very familiar with them. I never even knew the LAC rankings existed until recently. I just paid attention to national rankings
Do you like Mount Holyoke?
If I could do over again, I would’ve just applied to LAC’s. Like I said before, it’s the size of the colleges I really don’t like rather than the rankings.
It’s the one that seems to suit me best, I just don’t like the location.