<p>If there is, than I want to find mine. I'm not a senior yet (junior), but any help would be appreciated!</p>
<p>I'm looking for a private, residential college/university strong in the sciences, especially biology. A beautiful green campus near or in an urban environment would be lovely. A nice library would be a plus. The size of the school is not too important to me.</p>
<p>Here are my stats:</p>
<ul>
<li>Asian Female in beautiful CA</li>
<li>GPA: 3.5 UW/3.8 W</li>
<li>SAT (Practice) 630 M, 700 CR, 700 W (2030/2400)</li>
<li>Class Rank: 70/445 (Top 15%)</li>
<li>Good ECs, Lots of Creative Writing Awards</li>
</ul>
<p>So far, the closest thing I have to a Dream Safety is the University of San Francisco.</p>
<p>Definition of a dream safety:
a college you know that you can get into, but is also one of your favorites as well as one you feel you can afford. </p>
<p>Most people seem to identify reaches as their favorites.</p>
<p>Some very good New England LAC's-Trinity, Holy Cross, and Colby. Holy Cross like more selective Bowdoin is SAT optional. Unlike most LAC's that are in remote locations-Bucknell and Colgate, HC is only 1 hour from Boston.</p>
<p>My D is at University of San Diego, a dream saftey and is very happy there after just completing her first semester. They also have a good honors college and great scholarships and finaid.</p>
<p>I think a dream safety would be much more possible if:</p>
<p>a) to be a dream for you, the school doesn't have to be prestigous and have high academic standards to get in. Instead, other things the college has would make it a "dream" for you to attend
b) You have a legacy/parent working at the college or special hook at a really good school that makes you a lock to attend it. Not a true safety I guess but it works</p>
<p>As for you, if you don't mind cold/snowy weather, University of Rochester looks good although its not really a safety so I don't know. For California safeties, other privates like Loyola Marymount, U of San Diego, U of Redlands, Chapman U and Santa Clara U all seem like safeties.</p>
<p>A dream school is one you really, really want to go to. People, particularly on this site, have a tendency to think you should only want to go to the best school that you can get into, unless there's some cost factor involved. Is there such a thing as a dream safety? Well, if you're going to make up the category of safety, then sure, why not? things like saftey, and match are just judgement calls on how likely it is you will get in. They should not necessarily designate where you finally end up going.</p>
<p>Check out the Claremont Colleges and Occidental. Although they aren't "safeties" for most people, all that matters is if you like them, get in, and if you end up going there.</p>
<p>RWT, Your safety (or sure bet school) may not be your dream school but it should help you sleep at night while you're waiting for your dream school to come through! :) </p>
<p>Finding reasonably good safeties is hard work. Everyone loves the highly selectives; they're easy to identify. To find a safety that fulfills most -- probably not all -- of the criteria on your wishlist takes some effort. You should be prepared to put a lot of work into it, including visiting, as it's a trial and error process. </p>
<p>For what you're looking for there are lots of choices; however, as an Asian you may do better considering non-urban environments where being Asian would be a plus factor. A few schools that come to mind are Skidmore, Smith, and Kenyon, all strong in creative writing. None is urban, but Skidmore and Smith are located in lively towns.</p>
<p>Rhodes College in Memphis - small school, urban environment, strong biology department with internship/research opportunities at St. Jude's hopsital. Memphis is something of an airline hub -Fed Ex is based there, remember Castaway?, so travel back to CA should be easy. You would get extra points for geographic and ethnic diversity - and they have good merit aid. I'm assuming your SATs will rise some with practice, but your GPA is a little low for their most prestigious scholarships, but they have a number of smaller merit awards that you might well be in the running for.</p>
<p>Brandeis U admits fairly many Asians, it's near Boston, outstanding in biology--suburban but not overly grassy or lovely--not a safety but a good choice for realistic reach if you can raise SATs /GPA a bit .</p>
<p>Mount Holyoke is not urban --2 hours from Boston--has a lovely campus and is outstanding in science for women, also has a gorgeous, comfortable Hogwarts-style library--also not safe but realistic reach and does not require SATs
--women's college means not competing with male applicants for admission!</p>
<p>Allegheny near Pittsburgh has a good reputation for sciences too. That could be a safety. Also look at Muhlenberg central Pennsylvania/ Drew in Madision NJ--easy commute to NYC. Drew has an attractive , grassy, suburban campus.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for all the advice and definitions guys! I agree; a dream safety doesn't have to be prestigious as long as you love it. I'll do my best to continue my search for my dream safety. Thanks again for the advice so far. =3</p>
<p>Even though your stats are excellent, I would suggest Lake Forest College. It's a great safety, you are probably guaranteed in with numbers like yours, but it's right outside of Chicago, it has a gorgeous campus, you'd definitely get money, and the students have a great acceptance rates at medical schools. It's pretty small though. Good luck!</p>
<p>Bucknell comes to mind, you have something to offer Rhodes and Furman..geographic and ethnic diversity they seek and they both do great things with grad school acceptances. Dickinson in Pennsylvania. St. Johns in Annapolis. Many LACs would be interested in you and don't forget the intimacy and training offered with full professor lab teachers in small colleges sometimes pays off big time for that fancy grad school admission. Grinnell.</p>