Would she consider another state’s flagship (and would you be okay with the OOS tuition?) A school like UMass-Amherst isn’t a safety for an east coast kid, but if might very well be for your daughter.
Oh, and I second the SImmons recommendation. It’s a definite safety for her, and strong in premed. If she’s willing to look at women’s colleges in general, Mount Holyoke is another good choice. Both of these are small schools, but she’d most likely get in.
What about something in Chicago? And if she wants urban, Mount Holyoke won’t do.
In 2003, or kid got rejected from UMD CP with a 1380 SAT and a 3.4 GPA.
I wouldn’t view it as a safety…but maybe close.
University of Denver could be a good safety-ish option for her to consider, and Denver is relatively easy to travel to while offering the fun of a bigger city (and abundant outdoor activities in the region). The climate is also relatively easy to adjust to for a California kid. There are also numerous solid Catholic schools in the mid-sized range that are safety-ish ideas, such as DePaul or Loyola Chicago, St Louis University, and Creighton. I wouldn’t consider Santa Clara or LMU as safeties, but they’re good options in state. Also consider looking at Texas schools. Trinity University is a well-regarded school with the great perk of being in lovely San Antonio, and schools like SMU or TCU have the bigger-school vibe in a big city as well.
I agree with @SDCounty3Mom regarding Santa Clara and LMU no longer being safeties. I know LMU had record breaking applicants this year (what school didn’t, frankly) and many science majors, who had higher stats, were denied.
Santa Clara doesn’t really match OPs criteria-not located in a large city, but a suburb of San Jose, although San Francisco is an hour away by train. And for a religious school it’s relatively tolerant, but I never recalled a strong LGBT presence. Finally if OP’s daughter wants a really large school, Santa Clara is not it.
I might suggest WashU, since the school has a strong Biology/pre-med emphasis. St. Louis is relatively liberal compared to most of Missouri and according to my son the school has a pretty strong LGBT presence (he has 3 classmates who are female->male).
I’m surprised that the University of Washington is not on the list. Seattle is a near match for what the OP’s daughter is looking for. Fairly liberal city, good social scene, decent public transportation options. UW has a highly rated medical school as well.
I would take another ACT or an SAT since a 33 will be slightly low especially if Ivies are on the list.
SF State might be lower than you are really aiming but it does tick most of her boxes, plus in-state tuition.
If you end up looking around PA/MD/VA/NC, you may want to consider George Washington University.
It’s urban (DC), great medical school, change majors with great options available, 40% acceptance rate. Based on your stated criteria, once you are south of Penn/MD, that would be one of the best options.
VA/NC have great schools but they all wouldn’t meet the criteria you mentioned. GWU would. Vanderbilt a little smaller and very difficult to get accepted. Duke fits some of the criteria, but also difficult to be accepted and GWU’s DC location better.
My daughter did the opposite. Went East Coast to West Coast. From VA and now at University of Southern California. She loves USC’s campus. She was in Pasadena yesterday and just got off the Expo from Santa Monica today.
Definitely look at those Chicago schools. Both Loyola and DePaul have two campuses…one more traditional but still in the city and one downtown.
Even though both are Catholic they are very progressive and open to all…DePaul really emphasizes this.
If BU is her number one ED would be the way. This year RD at BU was crazy…check out the thread here on CC …decisions were out 3/17 so if you start it at that point you will have a good idea.
@NEPatsGirl --here’s a table that shows what has happened to Barnard admit rates over the years - https://barnard.edu/sites/default/files/adm2_fy_admissionstable_10.17.17.pdf
There has been a precipitious drop over the past three years. My daughter was admitted in 2016 when admit rate was 27% – and I do think that as long as the admit rate was >25% the admissions would have been a little more predictable - but still never that safety that the OP is looking for.
@JDCaliMom - I think that Boston U. is a very reasonable choice for ED and your daughter is highly likely to be admitted with her stats. My daughter was admitted to Barnard years ago, and waitlisted at BU, but her “why Boston” answer on the app was about as “meh” as you can get… so I think that’s just one more reason why students can’t take “match” schools for granted. But applying ED is the strongest signal a student can give that they are coming.
Do you need financial aid?
The OP wrote…
Hope they know how much some of these schools actually cost…NYU and BU at $70,000 a year full pay are pretty pricey.
My youngest D had the following safeties-(We live in CA too) CSU Long Beach, University of Arizona, Cal Poly Pamona and University of Utah. She was accepted to all. Will be most likely be going to Cal Berkeley in the fall. She was accepted to the above as well as Cal Poly SLO , Santa Clara, UCSD, and Illinois Institute of Technology. Denied UCLA, USC, Wash U, John Hopkins. She will be studying engineering. 4.0 UW, 4.8 W #16/670. ASB President, varsity athlete 3 years, mathletes 4 years, and hundreds of volunteer hours. It’s crazy competitive out there.
My oldest D had stats similar to your D. She graduates at the end of the week from University of Redlands. Absolutely a fabulous school. A true gem that people are just now starting to discover. I would check that one out of you are looking for a non engineering focus safety. They have a strong LGBTQ community presence as well. D majored in biology with a minor in chem. She had internships all 3 summers (paid) , research opportunities and studied abroad fall of her Jr year. My D loves it there. Good Luck!
@AVcalimomof3, my older daughter went to Redlands. She loved it, too. I had never heard of it before she applied, from home (then) in Wisconsin.
What about University of San Francisco?
Obviously we don’t want to spend just for the sake of spending but yes, we are in a position to pay for whatever including some grad school for our kids. It’s kind of a long story but we double funded 529s because inlaws were putting $$ in 529s too but we didn’t want to rely on anyone else and now we have a lot saved.
re: PNW – DD does not like the feel of PNW. We have relatives and also have traveled for various things like weddings, conferences, just vacation to Vancouver BC, Seattle, and Portland and she doesn’t like the feel. I think sometimes people can’t put their finger on why a particular type of city is it for them but they just know.
One of the things she loves so much about BU is something that a lot of folks don’t like which is how it feels really city-like, like at some points are you on BU campus or just in the city?
UMass Amherst offered a fly out to her and she’s thinking about it. They came to her school.
The only reason I asked about financial aid is because BU does not guarantee to meet full need of all students, although it does leverage aid and gives preferential packaging to some students. If its Net Price Calculator asks for GPA or test scores, that may be factored in. BU is more transparent about its aid practices than most colleges; you should be able to get a sense of where you stand from info on its web site. These days families can have very high EFC’s and still be eligible for some need based aid, because college costs are even higher and still climbing.
Also, BU does offer merit aid but its web site indicates that merit awards will not be announced until April, even though you would need to commit in December if admitted ED. I think your daughter may ver well be eligible for a $20K annual Presidential scholarship with her high stats-- if she is NMSF then I think that may be automatic.
Be aware that BU requires additional essays to apply for the Trustees’ scholarship – I think you should encourage her to do so simply because it will strengthen her application overall. I do think that your daughter is highly likely to be admitted to BU if she applies ED in any case-- and I’d imagine that the Trustee’s scholarship probably goes to students who are totally amazing … but no harm in applyilng.
But given the BU seems to be clear first choice and you have funds available, then no need to compare offers and the advantages of the early admission probably outweigh any potential disadvantages. It will make for a stress-free senior year if she is admitted with the possibility of a nice surprise in April – and of course your daughter can also apply for outside scholarships. Her volunteerism may make her a good candidate for scholarship awards from various service agencies.
My daughter liked the same thing your daughter likes about BU’s campus. However, based on experience, “I like your buildings” is NOT a good topic for the “why this college” part of the application – though I think your daughter might be able to related the urban location to her strong commitment to volunteering within the local community. “Why this college” on any college app really needs to get across what the student is bringing to the campus. My daughter had been misled by a gc to see BU as a safety and really didn’t put in the effort needed, but not a problem since her top choices were Barnard & NYU in any case. (Because unlike yours, my daughter is not fond of Boston… she was pretty much set on NYC, where she has remained to this day).
Keep us posted on how things are going @JDCaliMom. I will look forward to finding out where she ends up, and if BU is her top choice that will be super exciting for her to be accepted there!
