<p>Help!
I've assembled my college list, but I've realized that I don't really have anything resembling a safety school.</p>
<p>My Stats Are:</p>
<p>Middle-class (need some meaty FA) biracial male</p>
<p>4.66 weighted GPA, 3.96 unweighted
Top 10% of Class
SAT 1: 2070, but retook recently and am guessing my score went up to around 2200
SAT II: Literature-800, US History-740
National Merit Scholar Semifinalist
NHS Member
Northeastern University Book Award winner</p>
<p>Best Buddies Club (a students with disabilities rights thing, 9-12) current school chapter Vice President
Seinfeld Club founder and president (12)
Community Outreach Club (similar to Key Club) member (9-12)</p>
<p>About 400 hours of community service:
Fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (10-12)
Assembling craft kits for kids in long-term hospital care (10-12)</p>
<p>Track and Field (9-12)
Varsity Cross Country (9-12, current Team Captain)</p>
<p>Essays tie together all of my activites/interests, strong recommendations</p>
<p>My Schools Are:
Wesleyan University
Yale University
Brown University
Haverford College
Dartmouth College
Washington U. in St. Louis
UC Berkeley
UCLA</p>
<p>I'd love a strong, humanities-centric liberal arts education with a fair amount of breadth. And I know I want to write...
Any suggestions?</p>
<p>With those statistics and a good personal statement I doubt you'll have any problems getting into at least the UCs. Obviously all of those schools reject a lot of qualified applicants but I seriously doubt all of them would.
Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks both of you!
I was thinking UCSD, but I was worried that it was lacking in the non-science/business areas.
I'm sure that couldn't be entirely true. Does anybody know?</p>
<p>Some safeties could be Gettysburg, Bard, Goucher, University of Rochester, Ohio Wesleyan. Carnegie Mellon is good for the liberal arts and writing, and while it isn't a safety for many people, I would call it pretty safe for you. You didn't mention where you live, but the honors program at your state university would be a good backup as well.</p>
<p>I like your list. My advice is to play the safety game a little differently- have a few more "matches" to catch you just in case over a bunch of safeties. I recommend adding Northwestern and Pomona (slight reaches), maybe Carleton/ Middlebury (matches), and Colgate (safe match).</p>
<p>For the most part, I agree with Slipper1234. But the reality of this year's competition for the top 40 or so schools suggests that a more humbling approach is safer & wiser. For example, Kenyon College should be a safety/match for you. If the admissions folks suspect that Kenyon is not your first choice, you will most likely receive a rejection letter--even though the school needs more male students. Same with respect to WashUStL.
Assuming that you are a California resident, I think that you should apply to multiple UCs in addition to UCLA & UCal-Berkeley. These then would be your safeties. Also a school like Northwestern is a high reach for you RD, but within reach ED.
Swarthmore is more like Wesleyan, Yale & Brown than is Haverford.
Consider Oberlin & Grinnell. Vassar may also suit you (although I am guessing based on your choices of Wesleyan, Yale & Brown).
Regarding UCSD, which is well respected for science, the class sizes may be too large for writing & discussion based courses.
What is the section-by-section breakout of your actual SAT I scores? I ask because your stats put you in the running at most schools, but you need to use the extra impact generated by an ED application carefully.</p>
<p>If your top 3 choices are: Wesleyan, Yale & Brown. Then you should consider Swarthmore, Oberlin, Grinnell, Vassar, Dickinson, Macalester & Kenyon, as well as Columbia University. This, of course, assumes that you want a liberal to very liberal campus culture.</p>
<p>Grinnell has good merit aid and would be fairly safe. My d really liked Wheaton (MA) and that would probably be pretty much a slam-dunk for you (being a guy is a good thing there:)</p>
<p>while I can't suggest specific schools for you, I would advise putting a LOT of work into finding a safety. This year is projected to be the peak in the number of HS graduates. And every year more kids apply to the top schools. While I'm not discounting at all your chances to get in, a safety should be a school that offers what you want and that you'd be happy to attend if it comes to that. Sit down and spend some time thinking about what attracts you to the schools you've chosen. Then not only will you be able to ask a more focused question, you'll be quicker to recognize the right school(s) when you see them.</p>
<p>In addition to mikemac's advice on careful selection of your safety school(s), be sure that there is at least one financial safety on your list. This school is one that you can pay for without the "meaty FA" you mention in your original post. It probably will be a home-state public university, or for the first two years, a local community college.</p>
<p>You can get a good education where ever you go. Most of what you learn is up to you.</p>