<p>Hello all. Here's my situation.. I'm a junior from California but California is the last place I want to go to college. Of course I have a list of ideal "reach" or "major reach" colleges, but I need to come up with some good safeties, and I don't want them to be anywhere but the east coast. </p>
<p>Well, to abbreviate my stats, I have a few very solid, unique extracurriculars, 900 hours of community service, well above a 4.0, but not so great SAT scores. (Anticipating about a 2000 or 2020 maybe next time). </p>
<p>Basically I need to become informed about some good fall back plans in the east coast (big cities, NYC preferably) because I can't seem to get my mind off places like Barnard, NYU, Smith, Columbia, Brown, Northwestern... etc.</p>
<p>Northwestern is near Chicago, and Northeastern is right in Boston, by the way. In Boston, you should have little trouble with BU, Northeastern, Suffolk. New York City- NYU, Fordham, Eugene Lang (New School University), Manhattan. Smith sounds like a match, but it is a long way from Boston. Washington, DC- yes, definitely look at George Washington and American University. U Maryland College Park is very close to Washington, also. In general, I would avoid schools that are outside the cities, though. You will not have the urban environment, and you will not get to the city as often as you anticipate. College Park is five or six miles from the city. Goucher is a good school, and has exchange programs with Johns Hopkins. It is really close to Baltimore, so may be worth looking at. Towson is also an active city with a lot going on.</p>