Yes, it is definitely true that applicants assume they will spend far more time off campus than they actually end up spending. They are in class, studying, doing with friends, doing ECs, etc. You are placing WAY too much emphasis on what other teenagers think. In a year, they’ll barely remember where anyone else went. And some of them will not end up staying at these colleges that you somehow fantasize are better than the choices you’ve got.
I think you should seriously consider Mount Holyoke. It’s a very good school and it’s the size that you are searching for. You can go into Boston and you could also consider doing a semester abroad in a city. Ithaca and Penn State honors are also good options, as the honors programs will give you the much smaller sense of community that you desire. I agree that you are putting way too much emphasis on what other HS students are thinking.
If, after a year, you are miserable…you could transfer. I don’t think you should begin college with the thought of transferring, and I also don’t think you would be happy doing a gap year. I think you would apply to many reach schools and would ultimately be disappointed with your lack of acceptances to “better” schools.
I would choose one of your amazing options and really rock it. Your success will depend on you, and what you take advantage of while in college. You have some great acceptances…now go take advantage of them.
For the love of God (or not, since you are an atheist), you aren’t letting your classmates down. Unless you take affirmative steps to connect, you’ll barely even see them again. And a cross to bear is generally an intentional act that causes harm to others that you repent or regret, not the opportunity to study at a well-regarded 4-year college. As others have mentioned, you can’t just look at stats and decide that a school isn’t rigorous. I guarantee you the top kids at Penn State (and others on your list), are quite brilliant. To the extent you want to challenge yourself, join the Honors program, get involved in research, take the toughest courseload, pursue a minor outside your wheelhouse. And as others have said, you can make a large school smaller by selecting a major, pursuing s focus within that major, and joining clubs and activities that provide you a smaller cohort.
Or you can mourn some idealized LAC to which you were never admitted. I’m irked st you only because you really don’t understand how much of the college experience is in your hands, wherever you go. Major, particular classes and professors, clubs and activities, travel abroad, research, service trips, and attending sports events, plays, speakers, hiking trips, sushi runs, etc. My sons out of nowhere are doing improv, swimming, and writing for the school paper and having an amazing academic experience at a public ivy (UVA). I hope you realize how much control you actually have over the next for years and have an equally excellent experience.
Right, who are you letting down, exactly, and how?
Are there people depending on you to put food on the table and put a roof over their head and you’re failing them?
You do realize that, really, nobody (outside of you and your immediate family) really cares where you go to college, right (and if they do, besides simply being happy for you, it’s usually for their on selfish motives)?
I think a gap year with working is the best decision for you at this point. You do not seem ready for the Nextel step of adulting and a year away from the high school peers working with real people will likely give you some much needed perspective.
A few observations. You are in PA but did not visit Villanova or Penn State to get a feel for them? You have the Internet but didn’t realize that Villanova had crosses on buildings or was religious. You state that they are all basically $35,000 yr and that your parents can afford them all but there is no way Villanova is $35,000 year with your stats. Maybe you are misreading as it is more like 35k a semester. I find it hard to believe that others came down to that target price as well. Is this a case that you can only afford one or two schools on your list and so you will find fault with all of the others? Have you honestly looked at the cost of attendance and are you certain your parents can afford these schools? I can’t imagine having the money for Villanova and living in state but not taking the time to tour.
Finally, when you are in the bubble of your school you start to compare yourself with others around you while forgetting the sheer numbers of other amazing students out there. Your stats are excellent and you worked hard. You should be very proud of all that you have achieved so far. The reality check is if you would take the top 20 students at all of the US high schools you would be in a pool of over 100,000 students…not the 20 from your school. This does not include home schooled or international students. Now at hundreds of schools, your test scores and GPA would not put you in the top 100 students. For reference, my DD from PA was ranked in the 30s in her school with a 4.79w/3.94 uw GPA and a 34 ACT with 10 APs. Your SAT score is awesome and puts you in the 89% of test takers but that still means there are over 190,000 SAT takers who scored as good or better. This does not include those that took the ACT instead. You are a competitive student for thousands of universities but I think looking at the numbers you are extremely lucky to be sitting on the acceptances that you have in hand. So many PA students were sent to commonwealth campuses instead of university park at Penn State this year -students with stats much higher then yours. Your rank and test scores put between 100,000-200,000 students next to you or ahead of you for spots at those top 30-50 schools you’re looking at…not the 21 kids at your school. There is so much more to applications than just stats but this gives you a starting point. I imagine you would have told us if you were a recruited athlete, national level ECs, or had some other factor that will shrink that peer pool. Take the gap year and work. Take a stab at admissions again next year and you might get lucky. Or, embrace the amazing opportunity that you have been given and find the school that fits the best and make the most of it.
OK, you’ve vented and gotten lots of great opinions.
It’s April 22. May 1 is a week from Wednesday.
It’s time to decide what you’re going to do.
If you think you really need to apply to more competitive schools, find some that are still accepting apps and get going-- today.
If for whatever reason that doesn’t sound like a good idea, then either decide between the excellent choices you have or take a gap year. Or go to community college for a year, take Gen Ed’s, and re-apply next year.
But here’s the thing: most people are just about as happy as they choose to be. So make your decision, and decide to be happy about it. Playing “Shoulda-Coulda-Woulda” will merely make you-- and everyone around you-- miserable.
It’s not just the SAT score, it’s the AP scores that made Barnard or of reach.
Penn State was a match. UTampa is a safety.
MoHo was a reach and legacy certainly helped you, especially this year when 70+% were turned down - go read the results thread.
You got into Mount Holyoke (one of the Seven Sisters) and Penn State Schreyer (one of the best honors colleges in the nation). Ithaca would also seem a pretty good fit and you got honors there to boot (your classmate with low-ish scores probably got in test optional, on the strength of his/her essays, and probably didn’t get honors). All three are in thriving college towns, which as the name implies have more for college students than urban centers (because what do you care about kindergartens, senior centers, insurance company headquarters, over-21 bars/pubs, etc?)
Deposit at the one you dislike the least and plan your gap year.
Apply to CityYear - in NYC or Philly. It’s selective, and the more you wait the more selective it gets.
Have a plan C because CityYear is not guaranteed at all. It’s as hard to get into as college.
You could also try and study abroad at a high school in Costa Rica, Spain, France, Germany, Japan…
I think she said she visited Villanova, Fordham, Ithica and Penn State.
Penn State was definitely not a safety if I got into their honors college. They have over a 50% acceptance rate and an avg. SAT in the 1200s.
I mean match
Good luck with your decision! Let us know what happens on May 1.
Penn State honors is one of the best out there. Whether it’s a match or not is irrelevant. What matters is what you take advantage of and the resume that you build while you are there. It seems to me that much of this is based on your perception of prestige.
There will be incredibly smart and talented students at all of the schools on your list. You are a strong student ( congrats!) but you will come across many who are stronger. Keep that in mind.
Good luck with your decision. The four years go by fast and what is most important is the quality of your time there.
Yes, that makes sense. Quibble with the particulars of the postings trying to give you helpful advice rather than listening to the advice itself. You’ve received some sympathy and a generous amount of spot-on advice. The reality is that you were admitted to a number of schools that are terrific places to begin one’s academic career. You should be trying to determine which school’s vibe is best for you by reading the schools’ papers, checking out their lists of clubs and activities, meeting potential friends and classmates from the admitted students’ Facebook page, scanning the course catalogs for departments in which you are interested, and reading student top tens and best lists (Top Ten experiences at xxx, Top 10 things about xxx, best professors at xxx, best classes at xxx). If you do all this and no school stands out as at least acceptable, your mindset just isn’t in the right place to begin and appreciate the undergraduate experience.
The more I see this poster respond, the more I think a year away from the influence of current classmates and a year to (hopefully) gain the maturity required to make a reasoned college decision might be worthwhile. Preferably somewhere that will give proper perspective to the kind of choices OP has, and may or may not have in the next round if this is the route taken. The results might be exactly the same, but at least the poster will have hopefully gained valuable experience, and will stop beating herself up for not choosing a “better” college that she “could” have got into because now she will know for sure.
OP, what do your parents think about spending so much money on a school you’re determined to hate?
@Almostout2k19
Actually, these numbers vary a LOT by college and campus. I assume you were admitted to UP for Fall: their BOTTOM SAT score for Fall AND SUMMER (ie., average including summer session admits) is 1250. It’s much higher (1400s) for some colleges and lower for others (Agriculture, Education). It’s definitely higher for Fall. Since stats are almost everything for admission, it means Penn State is a match UNLESS you applied to College of Agriculture or College of Education OR applied for Summer session, in which case it was a safety indeed.
The process for Schreyer is different: it’s based on your essays, essentially, plus course rigor and a teacher’s recommendation. You got in because you’re a good, thoughtful writer, you have course rigor, and your teacher had positive things to say that made you a good match for Schreyer.
https://www.shc.psu.edu/parents/statistics.cfm
Many students in Schreyer are just below the line of Ivy Admissions in terms of accomplishments. The 25-75 SAT range is 1350-1490 (=25% are in the 1500+ range), the 25-75 GPA range is 4.0- 4.3.
You won’t lack for academic challenges and there’ll be plenty of academic peers.
You don’t have to attend - it’s a huge campus and it’s not for everyone. But being admitted to Schreyer is very prestigious throughout the East Coast/Midatlantic region, don’t discount that - so if you worry about peers, just tell them “I’m hesitating between Schreyer and a gap year abroad” and it’ll get the nasty gossips off your back while the nice ones will congratulate you.
And then, decide what’s right for you, without their voice in your head.
I do think that a gap year would be best at this point as you’d likely be miserable if you force yourself to attend one of the colleges on your list, not because of the colleges themselves but because they don’t match how you see yourself at this point.
Apply to CityYear, to YFU/CIEE Abroad, or find a 40-hour a week job while taking EdX/Coursera classes on fun stuff, craft a new list of colleges after reading the Fiske guide carefully, apply ED somewhere, and do keep us updated. 
I don’t think this has been stated already, but if this student takes a gap yr, retaking the SAT/ACT to get a score closer to 1500+ should be an obvious goal since the only schools deemed worthy are those where those scores are going to be required vs. the OP’s 1350 which are low for any top ranked school. (That is assuming that scores taken after high school graduation are submittable. That I have no idea about, but a 1350 is not going to be competitive for top ranked schools.)
@Almostout2k19 Wow, you are never going to be happy until you stop trying to compare yourself to others. Let go of that kind of nonsense. Trying to pick a school based on what others are judging about those schools is ridiculous. Is this their decision on what school to pick? No, it is yours. A week after you are at school you are not even going to think about this. You are going to be experiencing way too many new things. Going to an elite school is not going to make you are better person or successful. That is all up to you.
And what will the cliquey kids say at Thanksgiving when the OP is at home still studying for the SAT?
@CheddarcheeseMN LOL! As a parent, I have always believed the natural consequences of decisions are life’s best teacher. 
When nothing else reforms hubris, life will.
A. Gap Year
B. Transfer Next Year
C. Attend a community college for free (why waste money when you don’t care about your choices?) then transfer in a year or two.
- Pick one you hate least, you may end up liking it.
- Harvard Extension School?