In need of safeties!

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hi everyone! I'm a rising senior and have spent the past week or two finalizing my list of colleges I'd like to visit before applications in the fall. I went through and determined which ones I thought were reaches, matches, & safeties and ended up with only one or two safeties, so I need to find a few more options. </p>

<p>I'll try to keep this short since I'm just looking for a few suggestions to use as starting points...</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9 or 4.0 UW, 4.0+W (I'm not entirely sure of my school's scale)
Rank: top 1.5% in a class of >500
SAT: 2190 (690M, 700CR, 800W). I'll be taking it again in Oct to try and improve M+CR.
APs: awaiting scores for Psych, U.S. History, Bio, & Eng Lang; taking Euro, Stats, Eng Lit, and Gov't senior year
Intended major: double major in Political Science & Classics
Other: a few ECs, a couple leadership positions, Varsity Scholar, etc. I've taken all honors/AP courses whenever possible.</p>

<p>I'm looking for any possible safeties anywhere in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic. I want schools on the smaller side.. not TOO small, but definitely not huge. I'd prefer LACs, but I'm open to universities as well. Also, it sounds superficial, but I'd like the campus to be somewhat nice-looking... I don't want to live in a place that I can't stand to look at everyday. Other than that, I'm good with pretty much anything! </p>

<p>If it helps, some of the reach schools I'm looking at are UChicago, W&M, Middlebury, Northwestern, Oberlin, WUSTL, and Northwestern. Any comparable safety schools would be great. Thanks to anyone who can give me some suggestions!</p>

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<p>Hamilton College (NY)
Colgate University (NY)
Hobart & William Smith (NY)
Union College (NY)
St. Lawrence University (NY)
Connecticut College (NY)
Wheaton College (MA)
Skidmore College (NY)
Vassar College (NY) </p>

<p>See if you like any of these.</p>

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<p>Wow, thank you for the quick reply! I actually had Vassar on my list already as a match/possible reach. I’ll take some time to look at all the rest and see if any seem right for me. :)</p>

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<p>How about Boston College, Villanova, Fordham, Franklin & Marshall, GW/American/Catholic U? I am not sure that BC is actually a safety school, but based on other BC posters’ stats here, you should get in there. You also have a good shot at Wesleyan, although it is a highly competitive school. Lastly, if you like Oberlin, you should also check out Case Western and Kenyon, although I know little about these schools. There are also some good LACs in PA, such as Gettysburg, Muhlenberg, etc. If you are male, some of the LACs with high female percentages, such as Vassar, would be good choices. Lastly, given your interest in Classics, check out St John’s in Annapolis. Good luck, Jackuk</p>

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<p>Vassar, Hamilton & Colgate I would consider in the category of match (for your stats a good match) not a safety. These schools are on par with Middlebury etc.</p>

<p>Consider as a safety, based upon your stats:
Holy Cross (Ma)
Muhlenburg ¶
Fairfield (CT)
Union (NY) - as mentioned in prior post
Skidmore (NY) as mentioned in prior post</p>

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<p>Remember, a safety is not a safety if you’re not sure that you’ll have all costs covered.</p>

<p>Do you know how much your parents will pay?</p>

<p>If you need financial aid, do you know FOR SURE that you will qualify for the amount you need?</p>

<p>For instance, if a school expects your family to pay - say $30k per year - but your family can only pay $10k per year - then it can’t be a safety.</p>

<p>Do you know if these safeties will meet that need (if you have determined need)? </p>

<p>Most safeties do NOT meet need, so if your parents won’t pay full freight, then you need to pick safeties that you know FOR SURE will be affordable thru ASSURED grants (like Pell), ASSURED merit scholarships, small fed student loans, and/or family funds.</p>

<p>However, if your family will pay full freight for wherever you go, then super!!! :)</p>

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<p>Not a safety, but you should look at Bowdoin. Try Colby, Hamilton, Vassar, and Colgate as well. </p>

<p>Sent from my iPhone using CC</p>

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<p>Oops, Connecticut College is in Connecticut, sorry about that!</p>

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<p>@Jackuk: thanks for all of the suggestions!! I appreciate it. Like Vassar, BC was on my list as a match/possible reach… I also had GW on my list as a match. It’s good to know I’m looking in the right direction! I’ve heard of all the rest, so I’ll take a closer look at them soon. I’ve gotten a lot of stuff in the mail from St. Johns and I’m not entirely sure the generalized curriculum is right for me, but I do think it’s an interesting school… I’ll keep it in mind just in case. Thank you again for the response!</p>

<p>@ccmom33409: Thank you so much! I’ll take a look at the new options in addition to the ones you seconded. Also, thanks for your opinion on Vassar/Hamilton/Colgate… part of the trouble I’ve had in finding safeties has been determining whether a school is a match or a safety (since I don’t want to over OR underestimate myself), so it’s great to have some objective opinions.</p>

<p>@mom2collegekids: Thank you for the response! I don’t want to share any financial information on here, but rest assured I am taking all financial aid concerns into account when conducting my college search. Once I compile a list of safeties (based on my stats), I’m going to go through and find which ones are generous with both financial and merit aid and then see which ones seem the most promising. </p>

<p>@Hatshepsut: Thanks a bunch! I’ll take a look at Bowdoin. It seems like Hamilton/Vassar/Colgate are the most common suggestions so far so I’ll definitely research them a bit more as well.</p>

<p>@SLUMOM: No worries! :)</p>

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<p>If you are looking for merit aid, definitely check out Catholic U and Villanova. My niece was offered a full tuition plus a place in the Honors Program at CU (which includes an internship at the House of Lords) but turned it down for a 1/2 scholarship at Villanova, which she loves. For what it’s worth, CU is a bit of an underrated school and has a great politics dept. My three brothers and I all attended CU and all 4 of us have become very successful in 4 very different fields.</p>

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<p>Holy Cross would be a great choice-very strong classics department that offers a few merit based scholarships. HC has a very nice campus and is only 1 hour from Boston. Holy Cross also has one of the best alumni networks with 3 Supreme Court affiliations(1 alum, 1 spouse) 1 US Senator, 3-4 Congressmen, Obama’s speechwriter, and Chris Mattews.</p>

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<p>*Once I compile a list of safeties (based on my stats), I’m going to go through and find which ones are generous with both financial and merit aid and then see which ones seem the most promising. *</p>

<p>You don’t need to disclose private family income info. The fact that you wrote the above suggests to me that you do want/need financial aid and/or merit scholarships. That’s fine. </p>

<p>However, if aid/merit is wanted or needed, that really needs to be stated, because there’s no point in compiling lists that include schools that won’t work. Or, potentially leaving off schools that WILL work. You may end up with a list where no schools work. See what I mean?? </p>

<p>And…just because a school is known to be generous with FA, that doesn’t mean that it would be “generous” to you if the school thinks your family has a high enough income/assets to pay most/all of the costs. Stanford is known to be SUPER generous with aid, yet my nephew got hardly ANYTHING from Stanford and got NOTHING from MIT or Columbia (which also give very good FA). </p>

<p>So, without disclosing personal info, do you think that you want/need large merit scholarships? Do you think you’d qualify for FA?</p>

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<p>@Jackuk: Thank you again!! It’s good to know CU has a great politics program, especially in addition to its great location (I know it’s in D.C. but that’s pretty much all I know about it). I’m much more familiar with Villanova, but I’ll be sure to look into both of them!</p>

<p>@par72: Thanks for the suggestion! I really appreciate the extra info about the strong classics dept & the alumni network. I love the Boston area as well so I’ll definitely check it out!</p>

<p>@mom2collegekids: Thanks again for your input! But of course what I wrote suggests that I want/need financial and/or merit aid… the same could be said for anyone. I’ve been sharing my list with my parents and they know how much they’re willing to pay and they’re taking that into account. I’m asking for a general list of schools so I can explore all possibilities… that way, even if I end up with a whole lot of schools that don’t work, there will still be a few that do. I see what you mean about there being no point in compiling lists that include schools that won’t work, but I don’t necessarily think it’s wrong to compile a list first and eliminate choices based on financial issues later. I think it’s beneficial to start with a big list and then narrow it down… it makes it easier to compare schools side by side and determine which ones have the best overall value. That being said, I do appreciate your concern and you’ve definitely brought up a lot of great points that I’ll be thinking about later on. :)</p>

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>Oh good! :)</p>

<p>Just be sure to include a few schools that you know FOR SURE that you’ll get some large merit scholarships…just for back ups. :)</p>

<p>*I’m looking for any possible safeties anywhere in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic. I want schools on the smaller side… not TOO small, but definitely not huge. I’d prefer LACs, but I’m open to universities as well.</p>

<p>SAT: 2190 (690M, 700CR, 800W)
*</p>

<p>Hopefully, someone can suggest a smallish sized school in the NE that would FOR SURE give you a large merit scholarship. :)</p>

<p>Sign up for the Sept ACT as well…you may do better on that. :slight_smile: some say that the Math on the ACT is less “tricky”. :)</p>

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<p>Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to do that! At the end of the day, I’m looking for safeties that are a good fit for me in all aspects, including financial… even if a school would for sure give me a large merit scholarship, it still has to be right for me in a number of other areas. I’m on the lookout. :)</p>

<p>I’ve considered taking the Sept. ACT… I’ve got a little over a month left to register so I’ll be thinking about it a lot in the coming weeks. I’ve never thought the SAT math was “tricky” though so that wouldn’t be my reason for taking it. Yes, my SAT math score is the lowest out of the three sections and it’s not as high as I’d like for it to be, but I’m just stronger in the other two areas, that’s all. :slight_smile: It definitely can’t hurt to take the ACT just in case I do better, but I’d like to improve my SAT score anyway regardless of how I do on the ACT. Thanks for the suggestion!</p>