<p>What are some good liberal arts safeties in the northeast and chicago?? I want to major in Art history and minor in classics.</p>
<p>Safties depends on grades and SATs, as well as ECs. Example: Someone with a 1600 of 1600 and a 4.0 of 4.0 might call Conn College a safety, but someone with a 1100 and a 3.2 of 4.0 might call Conn College a reach...</p>
<p>These are my stats (updated from last week):</p>
<p>Rank: 82/967 top 10%
Weighted GPA: 5.02
Unweighted: 3.74
ACT: 28
SAT: 1240</p>
<p>NE: Bennington, Goucher, Hampshire; CHI: Lake Forest</p>
<p>Holy Cross has a well regarded classics department. To get in you must be in top 10% of class and SAT optional. 40 miles west of Boston. Oldest Jesuit (and Catholic) school in New England.</p>
<p>Looking at your stats I would say the following LAC's would be good safeties for you:
Smith (MA),Mt. Holyoke (MA), College of Holy Cross (MA), Lafeyette (PA), Trinity (CT), Franklin & Marshall (PA), Union (NY), Skidmore (NY), St Lawrence (NY), Drew (NY), Allegheny (PA), Lake Forest (IL)</p>
<p>If you look at their rankings in US News and World Report you will find all of these to be ranked in the top 100 LAC's nationwide with students whose SAT scores 25th-75th percentile are in line with their school showing to be a clear safety for you.</p>
<p>Good luck in your college shopping!</p>
<p>My son has a 1240 and he was told st lawrence and goucher were reaches. Maybe it's his GPA? Which is just a little under 88.</p>
<p>I don't think Skibird's list is a safety list. I'd call those middles and middle/reaches.</p>
<p>Smith is a very selective school; off the top of my head, I think it's somewhere in the mid- to low-teens, on the USWNR list.</p>
<p>Drew and Allegheny are the only definite safeties that I see, but I don't know anything about a few of those schools. I had a 1250, and sadly a 2.8GPA, but I got into those schools. There is no doubt in my mind that an actually intelligent person, such as yourself, could get in.</p>
<p>Not to discourage you from applying anywhere though. I recommend Trinity especially, haha. I might also suggest Connecticut College and Bard College in NY.</p>
<p>If by Chicago you mean the city and suburbs, I can't help much. If you mean the general vicinity of Chicago (within a few hundred miles), I recommend looking at Kalamazoo College, in Kalamazoo, Michigan (not quite a slam-dunk safety), Cornell College, in Mount Vernon, Iowa (also a reasonably safe match), and Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana (pretty solidly in safety territory). There are plenty of other safeties that I wouldn't recommend as highly. These are good ones.</p>
<p>With the mismatch between your GPA and test scores, I would suggest that you look carefully at SAT optional colleges like Bard, Bates, Connecticut, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg,Hamilton, Muhlenberg and Union. I don't know if I would call them safeties, maybe reasonable matches. Allegheny, Drew, Clark and Goucher would be safeties in the northeast. In addition, Beloit College (about about hour and a half from Chicago) is a wonderful college that would be a reasonable safety.</p>
<p>Bantamboy, Did you have a hook to get into those schools? I thought Trinity was pretty tough to get into.</p>
<p>curlygirl61: Goucher is not a reach for your son, based on the posted info., as this school is actively seeking male students and his #s are fine for Goucher. Maybe there is another factor that your son's high school counselor is considering. St. Lawrence University had the largest increase in applications last year (46%) of any top 100 school in the nation and, possibly, of any school. This surge in applications followed the prior year's record numbers. To the OP: Consider Sewanee- The University of the South, Lake Forest College, Beloit College & Kalamazoo College. P.S. Stats in USNews are two years old and may not be as reliable as in the past since last year saw a record # of applicants which will be surpassed this year.</p>
<p>lavita, I think you need to address the disparity between your gpa/rank (very high) and your scores (relatively low). Some people are just not good test takers -- for variety of reasons -- and this should be highlighted in your application perhaps by your counselor or a recommender.</p>
<p>I'm sure you've thought of this, but I would also mention that there are several schools where scores are optional.</p>
<p>For art history I'd look at Smith, Bryn Mawr, Hamilton, Conn College, Skidmore, Sara Lawrence, Kenyon.</p>
<p>Don't forget Knox College in Galesburg IL. I'd choose it over Lake Forest, Drew, Mul.; but it might fit your bill for art. Hampshire for art and you could get some good classics from the Amh, Mt H, Sm UMass consortium.</p>
<p>Make sure you understand the school's policy when they say SAT's are optional. Below is Hamilton's policy. SAT might be optional but you still need to submit some type of test scores. </p>
<p>Our applicants are best served by being provided with a variety of ways to meet our standardized test requirement. They include: </p>
<p>The SAT Reasoning Test; OR</p>
<p>The American College Testing assessment test (ACT); OR </p>
<p>Three exams of your choice, which must include a quantitative test, a verbal or writing test, and a third test of student's choice. The following tests satisfy Hamilton's quantitative and verbal/writing requirements:</p>
<p>Acceptable Quantitative Tests: SAT Math; SAT Subject Tests in Math, Chemistry, or Physics; AP Computer Science, Chemistry, Economics, Math, or Physics; IB Chemistry, Computing Studies, Economics, Math, Physics, or Physical and Chemical Systems</p>
<p>Acceptable Verbal/Writing Tests: SAT Critical Reading; SAT Writing; ACT Writing; AP English Language and Composition; IB Language (A1, A2, or B English); TOEFL Exam (for International students ONLY)</p>
<p>Note: If you would like to submit all of your testing to Hamilton, we will choose the best scores for you.</p>