<p>I’d think your SATs would get you into New Paltz and it is a good financial safety. My S’s friend is very happy there and it does seem to have that liberal vibe you want.</p>
<p>Turntabler, my daughter is at Sarah Lawrence and receives gift aid that covers her tuition. They have been very generous and my daughter loves the school.</p>
<p>@hmh3515, how did she get such a large amount of aid?</p>
<p>I see Sarah Lawrence doesn’t accept any standardized testing…as someone who did pretty well on the SAT/SAT II, does that hurt my chances?</p>
<p>Also, I’ve seen some great schools, but very little mention of safeties. So, to bring this thread back to its original topic, can anyone name some liberal arts safeties?</p>
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<p>Be aware that Sarah Lawrence College has a very limited number of subjects that it has a good selection of courses in. Fortunately for you, literature (in English), writing, and history are three of them. But psychology is the only social studies subject besides history that it has a good selection of courses in, although it does have a small selection of courses in economics, environmental studies, geography, political science, and sociology for students looking for breadth. Its emphasis is actually visual and performing arts.</p>
<p>[Undergraduate</a> Catalogue](<a href=“Disciplines and Programs of Study | Sarah Lawrence College”>Disciplines and Programs of Study | Sarah Lawrence College)</p>
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<p>University of Minnesota, Morris (a ~2,000 student public LAC) may be a safety for some students with high enough stats (common data set lists SAT middle 50% ranges as CR 500-650, M 500-650, W 470-630; GPA ranges not listed, but 33% in top tenth, 59% in top quarter, and 92% in top half of high school class). Unlike many private schools, it does not consider “level of interest” in admissions. Cost of attendance is about $22,000 per year; there is no out-of-state tuition surcharge.</p>
<p>But it is obviously not on the east coast.</p>
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I think I’ve read at least two dozen of your posts along those lines over the last month or two – including one earlier in this thread (post #3). Interestingly, every time it’s worded slightly differently. Surely it’s easier just to copy and paste!</p>
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Juniata and Susquehanna are good for your interests, and you’d be a decent contender for merit scholarships at both. </p>
<p>Neither school offers the “liberal/hippie/alternative” vibe you’re looking for, though.</p>
<p>You can use collegeboard.com to do your research. When you look up a college it will show the rank of students (if reported) and the average gpa in the ‘at a glance’ tab, as well as the admission rate. Take that with a grain of salt as it may be self selecting. There is also a tab for SAT mis 50% data. All you have to do is pick one in the area you want where your stats are far, far above everyone else’s and where you will show enough interest to know it is a serious application. That is a safety. All else are safety/match or match or reach. Be sure to look up these stats on each of the Colleges That Change Lives.</p>
<p>For example, Hampshire College mentioned a couple of times and sounds ideal for you, accept rate of 71% has an 58% of the class came from top 25%.</p>
<p>27% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
20% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74</p>
<p>Middle 50% of
First-Year Students Percent Who
Submitted Scores
SAT Critical Reading: 600 - 700 79%
SAT Math: 550 - 660 79%
SAT Writing: 580 - 680 </p>
<p>So I guess that’s a match or safety/match, but you have a great chance. collegeboard also lists the items the school says are most important:</p>
<p>Very important admission factors:
Character/Personal Qualities
Application Essay</p>
<p>Important admission factors:
Extracurricular Activities
Recommendations
Rigor of secondary school record
Talent/Ability
Level of Applicant’s Interest</p>
<p>Considered:
Alumni Relation
Class Rank
Interview
Racial/Ethnic Status
Standardized Test Scores
Volunteer Work
Work Experience
Academic GPA
A note about the college’s admission requirements: Criteria include desire to do rigorous independent work, school record, academic writing samples, recommendations, school and community activities. </p>
<p>Are you female?</p>
<p>About travel. Your focus will be on the school community, not on zipping home whenever. COA includes trips home. But my daughter always saved extra money by: making some or all of her own food, moving off campus Jr year, just 2 blocks away, borrowing textbooks, buying a 2 yr old refurbished Dell from their online outlet store.</p>
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<p>Quite a few schools mentioned above are “safe” relative to Bard. Marlboro, College of the Atlantic, Warren Wilson, and Eugene Lang are all much less selective than Bard. All have the crunchy/alt/hippie vibe you want. All seem to have pretty good academics, too. Many schools on the Colleges That Change Lives list are much less selective than Bard (though they don’t necessarily have that same vibe.)</p>
<p>It would be hard to identify a true admission and financial safety without compromising your other criteria. Most LACs are private schools. That usually means expensive and at least nominally “selective”. Among the few public LACs or smaller public universities, several (William & Mary, St. Mary’s College of Md, New College FL, SUNY Geneseo) are honors colleges or similarly selective. UNC Asheville might qualify if you’re a NC resident; if you’re OOS, I don’t know.</p>
<p>Oh, then there’s Antioch. How is it none of us mentioned Antioch? Antioch is sort of the mother of all hippie schools. It recently re-opened after shutting down for a few years. As I recall, they were offering free tuition to their first returning class. Plus, their program mixes paid employment with academics.</p>
<p>^ The only drawback is they are not currently accredited.</p>
<p>Sewanee? Fits all your criteria but is conservative.</p>
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<p>That’s because SLC is probably the most inappropriately recommended school on these forums (lots of people seem to recommend it without checking whether its specialized curriculum matches the student’s intended areas of study).</p>
<p>One other warning about Antioch, aside from not yet being accredited (yikes), is that they claim to offer more programs than they really do. They are currently sending students to take some courses at Wittenberg College which isn’t easy for students that don’t have transportation (it’s 25 minutes to Springfield from Yellow Springs and no public transportation available). </p>
<p>Also, they were not able to open their dining hall this year. It has a mold “issue”. The new students have been given a meal plan voucher to use in the restaurants in the town, but that does not sound ideal for a student. They are giving out big amounts of tuition scholarships (11 full rides w/ incoming class), so for some students it’s worth it to not have a dining hall and to keep a car at school in order to take the necessary classes. But, I just wanted to mention this. My mom is an Antioch alumni, so I’d love to see it get really going, but it’s not really “there” yet.</p>
<p>The other hippie schools that I’d suggest as safeties are two 2nd tiers: Humboldt State (30K oos), and Evergreen (same cost oos). I see that Warren Wilson, New School have already been mentioned. Bard at Simon’s Rock is another option and many leave there after two years and head to Bard.</p>
<p>editing bc I now see that you don’t want to leave east coast. Warren Wilson is probably your best bet for affordability. I second Ms. M’s advice that you have many more options for LAC’s in midwest that would be more inclined to offer you some merit aid on top of need-based aid.</p>
<p>@UCB: I think you’re being a little unfair to Sarah Lawrence. It’s a small LAC, and as such, subject to the same curriculum limitations as many other small LACs. Why single it out? I also don’t think it’s any more “pre-professional” than lots of other LACs who send kids to business, law and medical school. </p>
<p>What makes SLC unique is not the courses it offers, but the close relationship you get with the professors and the opportunity to do a lot of independent study. In that respect, SCL probably offers more depth than the course catalogue will show.</p>
<p>Sure, if your goal is to do cutting edge research in a physics lab, then SCL is not the school for you, but caveat emptor. It’s up to the OP to research whether any of these suggestions will have what he wants.</p>
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<p>Actually, I don’t have any gripe about SLC itself. It is more about how people recommend it without thinking about whether its curricular offerings are suitable for the student. I have seen people recommend SLC to a student considering majoring in a science, which is as strange as recommending Harvey Mudd to a prospective Italian Literature major.</p>
<p>Other LACs seem to also be inappropriately recommended some of the time, though less often than SLC.</p>
<p>Point taken. OP didn’t post an intended major, but judging from is SAT scores and SAT II choices and, SLC seems like a perfectly reasonable suggestion in this case.</p>
<p>Yeah, SLC looks very nice, and I am interested in writing or journalism in some form. The only issue would be if I didn’t get much money, but they generally seem to be pretty good about that. It’s probably my second choice right now after Bard. The only thing I’m worried about is the fact that the SAT actually represents me somewhat better than my grades, and SLC doesn’t accept it at all. It seems like it would be more logical to make it optional.</p>
<p>I’m also getting pretty excited about Hampshire, which seems to fit all my criteria and have a decent acceptance rate, as well as Bennington. My reaches are Vassar (90% sure I’m not getting in), Hamilton and Colby.</p>
<p>Oh, and I’m pretty set on going to a school that leans liberal, and certainly would not go to one that leans conservative.</p>
<p>Also, anyone know why it is I see so many negative experiences at Lang? It seems like a cool school, but people don’t seem to enjoy their time there.</p>
<p>Are you male or female? That plays into your competitiveness, particularly at the schools that are known to be “artsy,” which is what most of your schools are. I’m glad you consider Vassar a reach, because I’d put it at a stretch. </p>
<p>While I agree that there are alot of midwestern schools that fit your criteria, IMO you don’t sound like a candidate for merit aid at Grinnell or Macalester. If you don’t want to travel to the midwest, then that’s moot.</p>
<p>I think you’ve actually got a good list of schools, both with what you started, and with the suggestions here.</p>
<p>Male! I think that’s helpful, correct?</p>
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<p>I agree, but turntabler appears to be eligible for need-based aid. The big hurdle with Grinnell or Macalester (Bard, Colby, etc.) will be getting in. If that happens, I’d expect them to offer more generous need-based aid than less selective schools (SLC, Bennington, etc.)</p>
<p>Eugene Lang? I get the impression it is not terribly well run. It’s a new college, surrounded by some of the most expensive real estate in the world; it is not well resourced in terms of library, dorms, athletic and other facilities. Some if not all first year students get shunted off to cramped, expensive apartment buildings around lower Manhattan. Then they tend to move off to Brooklyn or other less-expensive (for NYC) areas. This does not make for the kind of community you’d usually expect from a LAC. On the plus side, it does seem to have some good faculty … and of course, all the advantages of Greenwich Village.</p>