Liberal Arts College Search

College Search & Selection
1

Hi! I’m a junior in high school beginning the college search, and I’m getting a little nervous because I have a very “in the middle” GPA where I can’t really get into top tier schools, but should be able to get into 2nd tier LACs easily. I need help finding some more match schools!

Female, White, not in need of major financial aid, from NY

GPA (Unweighted) - 3.85 (93 avg)

ACT - 31 (tested early)
36 in Reading
34 in English
26 in Math (I know)
29 in Science

SAT II - World History, 740
(will take Lit)

APs - AP Human Geography: 4
AP World History: 4
(both self-study)

Course Load In School: (my high school offers no honors/ap to underclassmen besides honors math, which I wasn’t capable of taking)
-8th Grade (on HS Transcript) Accelerated Algebra I, Accelerated Earth Science, French I
-Freshman Year: Theater Arts, Chorus, Biology, World History I, Geometry, English 9, PE, French II
-Sophomore Year: Self-Studied AP Human Geo and AP world, took Chorus for credit outside of school, Anthropology, Intro to Psychology, Chemistry, Algebra II/Trig, World History II, English 10, Health, PE, and French III
-Junior Year: English 11 Honors, AP Environmental Science, Pre-calculus, French IV Honors, SUPA (Dual Credit with Syracuse University) American History, Science Research, Self-studying AP Comp Gov, PE, taking Chorus for credit outside of school, digital photography

Extracurriculars
-Founder and editor-in-chief of Stop the Silence, Stop the Stigma, a website where musicians and other creative people are interviewed about mental health to propel an active and inclusive conversation on the topic
-100 hours of community service, volunteer tutor and peer mentor with the special education department
-Singer-songwriter with a single on Spotify
-Secretary of Academic Challenge/Quiz Bowl Team
-Treasurer of Hexadecimal Society of America
-Secretary of Do Something Club, a charity outreach club
-Intern at a local music venue
-Involved with school and local theater
-Helps with a middle school geography education program
-Member of select choir (10th grade-present)

Crazy Reach - Brown

Reaches - Wesleyan, Swarthmore, Vassar, Bates, Pitzer, Pomona, Carleton, Bates

Matches: Skidmore (top choice), Bard, Macalester, Occidental, Connecticut College (which I didn’t really like)

Safeties: Whitman, UVM, SUNY New Paltz, Beloit

Thanks!!!

2

This is already more schools than you should apply to. What is your planned major?

3

Off topic, but how did a 93 become a 3.85? What formula did you use. My D goes to school with grades that go up to 100 too. Thanks

4

I agree with @intparent that you already have more than enough schools. Take Conn College off the list if you don’t like it.

5

First off you can retake the ACT or try the new SAT. Second work on keeping your GPA on an upward trend. Third, @intparent is right that you don’t need 17 schools. Fourth, consider applying early to your top choice but recognize that Brown, Swarthmore, Pomona and Carleton probably are going to pass on you given that you aren’t an URM, athlete, NMF, ‘hooked’ or valedictorian. Your other reaches seem like good choices for ED (I don’t have personal experience applying to those.) Add Reed? Whitman isn’t a safety as top Pacific Northwest kids go there. Don’t apply to Conn College if you don’t like it. Have you thought about Dickinson (marketed much like Macalester), Gettysburg, Bucknell and Allegheny? With your music background St. Olaf is an excellent choice. Oxy is another great choice you listed- maybe then Loyola Marymount is also one to consider?

6

I think the OP may be just what some of these colleges are looking for. I like the self-motivation to self study APs, that high ACT score in Eng, the interesting ECs. I can’t imagine every single kid at Carleton or Pomona is an “URM, athlete, NMF,“hooked” or valedictotrian” or are they? Don’t they need singer/songwriters, volunteers, etc?

7

My worry is too many reaches, not enough matches.

8

@citymama9, without higher test scores. Pomona is very unlikely for this student. The students who get in with 31s are hooked. Probably true at Carleton and Swat as well.

9

I think you are not giving yourself enough credit. Your GPA is strong and a 31 on the ACT places you in the 96 percentile of testers,
When you say your school does not offer APs until Jr yr, is that because your school is considered very rigorous and so regular classes are quite challenging or do they just not offer them? How many APs are available in JR/SR yr?
Those are the types of things colleges on your list will be evaluating. I would urge you to take Physics and Calculus your senior yr.

For now, I will assume your high school is strong - so based on that, I do think you have a reasonable chance at Bates & Vassar and you may want to consider applying ED to one of those. Brown, Swat, Pomona are probably out of reach.
You look good for Skidmore. If you are looking for more safeties, perhaps Hobart or Dickinson are worth a look. Trinity in Ct could be a match

10

What are you looking for in a school?

11

Whitman is more of a match than a safety.

I agree that Dickinson would be a match/safety for you with a decent chance of merit aid. Also Muhlenberg in the match/safety category + merit possibility - very strong in musical theater.

I am not familiar with SUNY-New Paltz, but you might want to look at SUNY-Geneseo as a possible substitute. Many posters here say it has more of a liberal arts feel.

I strongly urge you to narrow down your list to no more than 10 schools. My kid applied to 9 and it was exhausting. Double that would have put her (and me) over the edge.

Do you have a preference for small town/suburban/urban? You have some of each on your list.

Finally, have you visited the schools within driving distance? That might help you to narrow your list. For example, my kid really loved Vassar but didn’t care for Wesleyan.

Good luck - you are a very strong student but reaches are unpredictable for everyone. If one of your reaches becomes a strong first choice, you might want to consider applying ED, given that cost is not an issue.

12

Consider St Lawrence, Dickinson, Denison to expand the match categories. Over the next 9 months, spend some to shrink the reach list. If one rises to the top, then consider ED1, finances permitting. Pomona, Swat, Wes, Carleton are tough admits no matter what.

With Beloit on the list as a safety, what about some other schools like Centre or Kalamazoo? A little unusual not to see some of the Ohio schools like Kenyon on a list which includes Vassar, Wes, Pomona etc., though Kenyon acceptance rate keeps shrinking.

The comment about “not needing major financial aid” makes me, as a parent, a little nervous. Suggest OP gets some clear info from family about financial parameters, including a sense of whether, and how much, merit aid is significant factor.

13

Your list looks basically fine to me. If anything I would take out Conn College and try to find another match school you do like (perhaps Dickinson), cull down your reach schools as there are a lot of them, and if you want to add in another safety or so maybe Clark and/or Goucher would work.

14

@mamaedefamilia @ClarinetDad16 My high school is quite strong - I believe we’re in the top 100 nationwide. I’m looking to be a psych&anthro double major and want a school with a strong arts and music program, preferably no frats, a somewhat “crunchy” or artsy vibe, a school that is politically liberal and has good psych and anthro programs. I loved Skidmore - I may even end up applying ED there. Both of my parents went to Dickinson, and I definitely want to visit, but I know it has frats and sororities. I visited Union when I saw Skidmore, and the frats there were super loud at 11 in the morning and seemed to dominate the social scene, which I did not like.

@wisteria100 If I take Calculus, would it have to be AP Calc? I’m not a good math student at all and planned to take regular level Statistics next year. Also, would I have to take AP Physics? I planned to take AP Bio next year instead and I’m scared that my schedule won’t look rigorous without an AP science.

15

Also - I’m interested in Scripps as well - would this be a match or a reach for me? It seems somewhere in between the two.

16

@not2disappear If you take APBio that’s a good alternative to Physics and shows rigor. Take regular calc if you can, doesn’t have to be AP. Any type of Calc signals rigor. But if you are really set on Skidmore you may not need it and stats would be fine. For some of your reach schools calc is the better option

17

Well if you like crunchy granola/artsy and no Greek life, Oberlin and Reed might be worth investigating further.

18

OP, my kid attended Dickinson and did not participate in Greek life at all. It is not dominant on campus. You should give it a visit.

19

@mamaedefamilia About that - I don’t know if Bard, (which I’m visiting next week) Oberlin, and Reed are maybe a little too crunchy? How would you rank Oberlin, Bard and Reed in terms of crunchiness?

20

Is Skidmore your top choice of all the schools? If one of your reaches is not your top choice (and there’s no reason it should be), I’d ED to Skidmore and be done with it, hopefully :slight_smile: No sense in stressing out with all the applications and essays necessary to apply to so many schools. But…be sure that finances are not an issue first. If they are, you need to include financial aid as a factor in your list.

I agree about taking ConCollege off your list if you don’t like it. You should probably get rid of those tippy top reaches too unless they are favorites, not because they are prestigious. Vassar and Bates are two reaches my D applied to with stats just a bit higher and she was rejected at Vassar and waitlisted at Bates. She is now at Skidmore and when we talked about her original list, she thinks it should have been a front-runner all along, instead of what we considered at the time a safety.