WashU has an active Chabad/Hillel. You should consider it as a potential candidate school.
Your EFC means nothing without your parents on board. Make sure you are all on the same page.
Your numbers put you within striking distance of the most selective schools, but it’s still no sure thing. The hard part about college search is finding a few schools that will certainly take you that will best fit your needs and wants. Those are the schools about which you and your parents need to discuss.
Its easy to be all aboard for HPYMSC. Break the family accounts to pay for them. Whatever it takes. But what about if you don’t get into those schools? Would your parents prefer a free ride to State U or a lesser known school, or will they pay full no matter what? I’ve seen parents (and grandparents) gung ho to pay for Harvard, not as eager to pay full for Haverford, and reluctant to pay for Hartwick.
Depends upon whether you are interested in creative writing, journalism or writing for film & television.
Also, Emory University has a very strong Jewish community.
I have no inside information about what’s going to happen with Hampshire College, but documentary filmmaker Ken Burns is an extremely devoted alum who has recently taken on leadership of fundraising and other strategic efforts to re-establish Hampshire’s viable future. I can imagine a scenario in which a student like you could become a truly valued part of this endeavor. Hampshire is pretty far out of the educational box—especially right now—but it’s always been a great place for all sorts of brilliant free spirits. And you could do a lot worse than to partner with Ken Burns.
Also in the Pioneer Valley (we call it “Western Massachusetts”), you may want to look at both Smith and Amherst colleges. Both are strong in literary areas, and Amherst has been working hard to become a more diverse institution. This is a great area to be LGBT, and considering that it’s Massachusetts and not a city it’s more Jewish than you’d expect. I can’t speak about college life in particular, but in the larger Jewish communities in Amerst and Northampton, you’ll find a lot of folks who are both lgbtq and religious.
I think given Hampshire’s uncertainty and the OP’s high stats, that serms an unlikely choice. But if they want a more offbeat experience, consider Reed. They refuse to play the ranking game, and are actually a very strong school. Not sure about Hillel, but that could be checked out.
It’s your preference and decision but it’s not necessary to find more of the same. College is a time to experience something new, expand your horizon, meet new people. No?
University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Hampshire College of Liberal Arts .
The first fully integrated LAC within a flagship university. Direct access to all that r1 University offers and a full on lac alternative.
Penn, Columbia, Cornell, Emory are probably all good fits academically, socially, and religiously.
@intparent I ran the net price calculators on certain schools and it looks like i can afford most of them. I’ve been affiliated with Kenyon but I don’t think they have any jewish community.
Reed seems like an interesting choice, but I don’t think it would be a great fit
@Hamurtle I’m not sure about washU. I think I’ll have to visit.
@Riversider I don’t entirely understand what you’re getting at. I want a Jewish community and a good fit for college
@ljberkow getting into any of those colleges would be nice, but most of them have v low acceptance rates and seem like reaches.
I can’t speak to the size, but I think your impression of Jewish life at LACs is mistaken. https://www.kenyon.edu/student-life/spiritual-religious-life/hillel/
@wistfulwords I’m only suggesting it’s healthy to step out of our religious cocoons once in a while. College is a great time to do that. Just sayin. You know better what you need.
Although @Publisher mentioned Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, OP didn’t mention wanting to be a journalist, just wanting a good writing program. If OP meant creative writing, then Northwestern is still a good option, but Weinberg school rather than Medill. There’s also a strong film program, though that’s in the School of Communications (Weinberg students can take some of those classes).
Brandeis as a likely seems like a good plan. Emory also sounds like a good option.
thanks to everyone so much!
here are the schools I’ll look into that everyone so graciously recommended:
Barnard
Brandeis
Cornell
Columbia
Oberlin
USC Film
Emory
Kenyon
John Hopkins
Penn
Vassar
WashU
Wesleyan
Yale
Northwestern
is there anyplace missing where I might be a good fit?
You might also consider appropriate choices from these colleges which emphasize writing across their curricula:
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/writing-programs
@wistfulwords I’m happy to chat with you! Hopkins is definitely more STEM oriented just in general. But the humanities departments here are for the most part really great. It’s not uncommon for STEM majors or premeds to take a humanities class, love it, and wind up switching to a humanities major. The majority of students are STEM, but social sciences and humanities students are definitely here, too.
I wanted a school that focused on writing as a separate discipline than English literature. The Writing Seminars major is essentially a creative writing major, with a primary focus on fiction and poetry. But there are science writing, journalism, non-fiction, theater, and film writing courses as well.
I’m not sure what Jewish community you’re looking for. I checked out a number of the schools you’re considering, also with Jewish life as a top priority. I’d add University of Maryland, College Park to the list. Its Jewish life is huge. Plus it’s got a College of Journalism (I don’t know much about it, just that it exists).
Great list. But also super reach level even with your impressive baseline profile. It’s a good start for sure but expand it, really.
For less difficult admits relative to most of those on your tentative list, look into Sarah Lawrence, Bard, Skidmore.
Sounds like Michigan might be an excellent fit for you.
@privatebanker I already have an idea of few safety schools, but most of them don’t require the common app (the UC’s flagship system, coalition app) so I don’t want to list them there.
@merc81 I don’t think Bard or Skidmore have a jewish community, but I’ll look into sarah lawrence
@rjkofnovi I think so too. will add to list
after talking it over with my parents, these are the schools we’re going to visit/start paying interest to
Barnard
Brandeis
Brown
Cornell
Columbia
USC Film
Emory
Kenyon
John Hopkins
Penn
Vassar
Wesleyan
Yale and maybe other ivies
Northwestern
Umich
the UCs
UMD - College Park
Rutgers
Drexel
Cal State system
I don’t think my parents are too into the whole LAC idea. They’re willing to take chances on one or two, but they feel a little wary about the whole not super secure jewish community. Also, my dad said that WashU is comparable to USC and that I could choose to apply to one or the other, but not both. I mean I’d like to try both, but it’s obviously my parents’ final decision.