Given that she enjoys arts/theatre for ECs, you might look at Skidmore for a safety. My D is a STEM student there (was also a safety for her) and they have treated her very well, both financially and in academic advising. They are trying to build their STEM departments and by all accounts are looking for students to help propel that goal. Their arts/theatre/drama programs are excellent and its a nice mix of students.
Definitely consider Skidmore for the reasons above. Maybe not safety but low match?
Although I’ve heard good things about Ursinus from a friend whose kid attended, and my kid had a generally positive visit there, I honestly think your daughter’s stats are high enough that she’d be a bit of a ringer in their applicant pool. For what it’s worth, my kid (whose stats were not as strong as your daughter’s) never applied, and they are STILL (in late July) sending him emails encouraging him to apply for this fall.
@sibeall @NEPatsGirl @porcupine98 Thank you for all your thoughts.
@porcupine98 makes a point I have been concerned about. Our oldest went to Barnard, did very well but did not like it for a number of reasons. She transferred to Skidmore–her safety transfer school that gradually rose on her list. Her Skidmore FA packet took forever and she later learned that they were trying to make it the best they could offer. She was a NMF, but did not have D#2’s GPA or AP scores were a bit lower.
A friend who was a prof, now admin, at Skidmore told us that she never would have been accepted at Skidmore as a freshman. Too clearly a safety school ap and an acceptance would have hurt their yield. This is the concern I have about some of the schools. I’m a Lawrence alum, so that might work.
Any thoughts on this point would be helpful. Many thanks.
@aron, that’s a legitimate concern for a school like Skidmore. It’s absolutely worth adding to the mix if it makes sense for her interests, but she’d need to express her genuine interest very clearly and strongly.
We never got around to visiting Lawrence, but really liked everything we learned about it both at the CTCL road show and from correspondence with the school during the application process. My sense is that it’s an excellent school that has some trouble with draw due to location, so is a bit less fussy about being perceived as a safety than a school like Skidmore. And they have non-binding EA, which makes a lovely holiday gift for nervous families.
I’ll third Sewanee as a Southern alternative to Kenyon. Though Lafayette is perhaps a bit more pre-professional in orientation, it is still a strong LAC that would qualify as a safety/match.