Looking for "Match" college suggestions

College Search & Selection
1

<p>D's profile: 16 year old rising senior</p>

<p>PSAT 227 Selection index CR 79 M 70 W 78 in Ohio<br>
SAT 800 Reading, 680 Math, 770 Writing. essay 10.<br>
Last years ACT composite 33, E-35 M-31 S-33 R-34 writing 7 (retaking next month.)
SAT II US history 750, taking Chemistry, Lit, and Math II this year.</p>

<p>7th grade year
Honors Algebra Northwestern C.T.D. A+</p>

<p>8th grade
Honors Biology A A
Geometry A A
Honors World History A A
Latin I A B
9 Honors English through credit flex A</p>

<p>9th/10th combined
10 Honors English A A
Honors Chem A A
Apush A A 5 on AP exam
Honors Algebra II A A</p>

<p>Dual Enrollment at Kent State University
World History II A 100 level
The Roman achievement A<br>
7 Ideas (intro physics) A 100 level</p>

<p>11th
AP Chem B ? (too close to call hoping for A)
Ap Psych A A
Health A
Econ A</p>

<p>Dual Enrollment
College writing II A 200 level
Latin I A 200 level
Algebra for Calc A 100 level
Science experience both semesters A A (RA in Psych lab)
Intro to Shakespeare A 200 level
American Politics A 100 level
English words from Classical Elements A 100 level</p>

<p>Fall
Senior year ( All dual enrollment )
Great Books 200 level
Intro to Conflict Management 100 level
Quantitative Methods in Psychology 200 level
Intro to Statistics 100 level
Roman History (crosslisted undergrad/grad level) 400/500 level
Science Experience</p>

<p>Spring (tentative schedule)
Fairy Tales (honors English seminar with favorite prof) 300 level
Research Methods in Psych 300 level
Intuitive Calculus 100 level
Macro economics 100 level
Latin II 200 level
Science Experience</p>

<p>Likely NMSF
Deans list K.S.U.
4.0 college GPA
3.9 HS GPA UW
Top 10 in State Public Forum Debate
Latin club officer
Captain of event in debate
2x All State youth choir line leader
Sings in semi-professional choir
Active in drama club and high school plays and community theater
Maxima Cum Laude national Latin exam
State Science fair "Award of Excellence" American Psychological Assn.
President high school Book Club
Significant contributor to National Science Foundation Botany project
Preparing psych paper for publication
Member National Society for Collegiate Scholars
Member International Thespian society
National Forensic League degree of Special Distinction</p>

<p>She is considering Georgetown SFS and Cornell Human Ecology as well as Brown, Williams, and Amherst.all of those are so very selective she realizes there are no guarantees She will apply to KSU and U of Oklahoma honors as safeties. That said, I have no idea what might be a good match school for her ?</p>

<p>Her essays should be very good (she was selected as a TASP finalist) and Rec letters from the college professors she knows best are stellar.</p>

<p>She is a humanities junkie and wants to major somewhere in the Psych / Poli Sci / International Relations area most likely a dual degree or interdisciplinary approach She is planning to continue on to graduate studies and a possible career in the public sector or academia. Her research interests involve Meta-Cognition and its application to learning. </p>

<p>Any thoughts about appropriate match schools ?</p>

2

<p>The problem with a student like this (if you can consider it that) is that her match schools are mostly reaches. Some to consider that have somewhat better admission %ages would be Oberlin, Macalester, Grinnell. Do you need financial aid? Obviously OU will give good merit based on being NMF. </p>

3

<p>Matches (but reaches due to high selectivity): Kenyon, Hamilton, Macalester, the 7Sisters +Scripps (Barnard, Bryn Mawr, and Scripps are like the women’s branch of a larger co-ed campus: Barnard with Columbia, BMC with Haverford, and Scripps with the Claremont colleges), Oberlin, Davidson, Carleton; still academic matches but more match-like selectivity: Occidental, Pitzer, Grinnell, Connecticut College,
Safeties: St Olaf (her singing would matter to them <em>a lot</em> and she’d get a chance to since in a world-class choir + Great Conversation program would likely appeal to her); Wooster, Earlham, American, New College of Florida, most British universities (they select based on test scores only), St Mary’s of MD.</p>

<p>Based on her interests, also include Princeton (H&Y if she wishes), UChicago, Columbia (if not Barnard), Tufts.</p>

<p>She should read the descriptions in various college guides, join their Facebook Pages, fill out the “'request info” form then email admissions and ask to be put in contact with current students with her interests.</p>

<p>

There are better schools for a NMF who’s a Humanities junkie. Check out the thread on the Financial Aid Forum.</p>

4

<p>Have you figured out the cost constraints and communicated them clearly to her yet? Be sure to run net price calculators to check financial aid estimates.</p>

<p>You do not want to be like the parents and students who got blindsided by unexpectedly high net prices in April of senior year, putting them in various dilemmas.</p>

5

<p>Thank you all for the suggestions. Financial aid would figure significantly as we are a middle class family with one kid at ONU in the pharmacy program, so the collegiate vacuum hose is already settled in our pockets. She is being very fiscally responsible and has run NPC’s on all schools. Sadly that disqualified some otherwise wonderful schools.</p>

<p>Macalester seems very intruiging. We have been to Oberlin but were concerned when admissions officers were unsure how to place a kid with so much college We love the college, D’s choir director is a professor at the conservatory, however, the idea of retaking intro English and history was disconcerting.</p>

<p>Kent is on the safety list for three reasons.the first is that with all of her p.s.e.o. and ap credits she would have almost 90 credit hours and enter as a senior. So (at the cost of a true undergrad experience) she could study abroad and double major in 2 years. Grad school at 19 makes me uneasy. Second her lab work is with a prolific,caring, and talented professor. A great teacher who truly “wrote the book”, on metacognition, internationally known, editor of many journals. She is a little more interested in the implementation and real world effects of the research rather than theory alone. She fills a unique role in the lab. Last she has built some outstanding relationships with a number of professors ( most of whom want her to attend a LAC ) Faculty and administration have given her extraordinary opportunities. She realizes at any other college she will be " just another new student" That said, we all know a more rigorous academic environment would be better.</p>

6

<p>@MYOS1634 I am passing the list to D. St. Olaf may be very intruiging to her.</p>

<p>Sincere thanks to @ ucbalumnus, @MYOS1634 and @Erin’s Dad </p>

7

<p>If you’re not familiar with the PBS Christmas special, type “St Olaf choir” in youtube. :)</p>

<p>With these scores, she’d definitely qualify for merit, but actual winning of the most prestigious scholarships means being able to articulate why you really like the school and why it’d be a good fit, and express interest early.
It’s a school that Warriordaughter, another poster with your daughter’s stats, seriously considered. (She ended up choosing a lower-ranked school with better fit - for LACs, fit is very important. For example, liking music would probably be important at St Olaf).</p>

<p>You may also want to see Josh Radnor’s film “Liberal Arts”, which was shot at Kenyon (and speaks about Kenyon, more or less).</p>

<p>Overall, your daughter’s scores will make many schools outside the top 30 suspicious that they’re her safety, and no school wants to be seen as a safety (especially as it may decrease yield to admit an applicant who only sees the school as a safety and will pick any other school if given the chance). Therefore, it’s crucial for the high-stats kid to “play the interest game” and email admissions, ask for information, contact professors/coaches/music directors, if possible visit (if you can’t visit but did all of the above, you’re in the clear.) Otherwise, the school may get “Tufts syndrome” and turn down a kid they judge too qualified to be seriously interested.</p>

8

<p>Being that your daughter already has focused research interests and faculty mentors, the best strategy may be for her to talk with her professors about colleges they would recommend. They are likely more knowledgeable about research coming from schools in their fields than posters on this board will be.</p>

<p>Re: liberal arts colleges. As MYOS said, fit is extremely important. If it is possible, I would recommend visiting as many of the LACs on your D’s list as possible, so she can get a feel for whether the social and academic environments will meet her needs.</p>

9

<p>Our high school is a feeder for St. Olaf, and honestly it is a safety for this student, not a match. Carelton would be a high match, maybe Haverford, Wesleyan, Smith. Maybe Emory or Tufts.</p>

10

<p>^Intparent: I agree, that’s why I put it as a safety too :smiley: *
However it sounds like a good fit and she’d definitely qualify for a Buntrock, even if she didn’t win it she’d still be assured of a merit scholarship.</p>

<p>*

</p>

11

<p>University of Michigan should be a match, perhaps even a safety. Not that it matters, because Michigan is as good as it gets for state universities. Only Berkeley, UCLA, University of Virginia, and UNC-Chapel Hill can compare.</p>

<p>How about Johns Hopkins? Also I agree about the Claremont Colleges (Pitzer, Scripps, Claremont McKenna, and Pomona). Seems like at least one of those Claremont schools would be a good fit.</p>

12

<p>If price isn’t an issue, I would definitely second the top state public schools, like the poster above me suggested. Michigan is especially great.</p>

<p>Also seconding most liberal arts colleges. I think Carleton and Hamilton are good matches, and also Grinnell (which is very good when it comes to merit based aid).</p>

<p>The seven sisters are fantastic (do ask her to consider Wellesley, the application fee is free…!). Also Barnard (Columbia) and Bryn Mawr (Haverford) are great, too, and she can apply to Columbia and Haverford as well.</p>

13

<p>Minnesota perhaps? Relatively low out-of-state list price, and has been reported to give merit scholarships to out-of-state students.</p>

<p>Among liberal arts colleges, two public ones, Truman State and Minnesota - Morris, have low out-of-state list prices. Truman State has automatic-for-stats and competitive merit scholarships as well.</p>

14

<p>The OP’s academic interests are diverse. She is interested in a wide variety of colleges. She hasn’t specified preferences for region, setting, climate, school size, atmosphere, etc. So, it’s hard to recommend specific colleges as good “match” possibilities.</p>

<p>If she wants a LAC, many in the US News 20-50 range (or so) would be worth a look. She might want to focus on LACs in that range that have consortium or other partner relationships with other schools, which would broaden the range of course offerings. These include Barnard (part of Columbia University), Smith, Bryn Mawr, and Pitzer. Macalester may allow students to take University of Minnesota courses (check it out). I like LACs, but without any such partnership, some of them might be limiting for a student arriving with many college credits (and specialized interests in a field like psychology).</p>

<p>The University of Rochester and Case Western Reserve University are small universities that often are recommended as good “match” choices for top students. Rochester seems to have a strong program in Brain and Cognitive Science. The NRC gives it high ratings in its graduate psychology program assessments (<a href=“NRC Rankings Overview: Psychology”>https://chronicle.com/article/NRC-Rankings-Overview-/124708/&lt;/a&gt;).</p>

<p>Among larger research universities, UCLA has an especially strong psychology department. It should be a realistic admission match. However, most state universities are not very generous with need-based aid for out-of-state students. OOS sticker prices at UCLA, Berkeley and Michigan now top $50K. Wisconsin is much more reasonable (< $40K). Minnesota is even cheaper.</p>

15

<p>Also check out the University of Chicago. It is a reach for nearly anyone these days. However, it offers LAC-like class sizes (with the exception of intro/intermediate classes in a few high-demand areas), yet more courses than a LAC would. It has strong psychology and political science/international relations programs. Its Common Core program integrates Great Books into the curriculum. Chicago always has been very keen on interdisciplinary programs (check out Computational Neuroscience, Fundamentals: Issues and Texts, Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, International Studies, and “Big Problems”). Historically, many Chicago alumni go into the public sector and academia. It has excellent need-based aid as well as merit scholarships. One possible downside would be the large number of required Core courses (which would make it hard to graduate in less than 4 years, if that’s what the OP’s D wants to do.) </p>

16

<p>@MYOS1634‌ There are very few schools on the NMF list of automatic scholarships which are superior to the University of Oklahoma in the humanities, particularly for someone interested in appliedpolitical science (David L. Boren, an extremely influential governor, US Senator, and current OU president has a lot to do with this). The University is extremely important to broader Oklahoma policy. However, the current political climate of Oklahoma, makes it a toxic place for implementation of progressive ideas outside of the Norman/ downtown OKC area. </p>

<p>To the OP, here are some suggestions:
-Emory (Apply to the scholars program which has a slight preference for NMFs <a href=“Welcome to Emory College.”>Welcome to Emory College.)
-University of Rochester
-Reed
-Occidental
-Fordham (very urban environment, basically the opposite of Williams. Also offers a good NMF scholarship)
-Colorado College (highly selective, operates on the One Course at a Time model)
-University of Richmond
-Rhodes College
-Tulane
-Boston College
-Bard (maybe)
-Wake Forest
-Whitman (could be a good backup to Williams)</p>

<p>Other reaches
-Haverford
-Claremont Consortia
-Vassar
-Wesleyan
-Tufts</p>

17

<p>Might look at Holy Cross top25 LAC 1 hour from Boston. Holy Cross offers merit scholarships for those interestedin the Classics/Latin. </p>

18

<p>^I knew of the Boren scholarships and the NSEP initiative, of course, but I’d never linked them to the UO.
On the NMF list, which are good for humanities students in your opinion? You’re right that they’re few and far between. From my point of view, it’s hard to
Still, I don’t think Oklahoma (even if Norman is a nice college town and the university has a forward-thinking president) is the best place for a humanities junkie. </p>

<p>Truman State and MN-Morris would both be safeties, and are much “safer” than St Olaf (to the point of being “too safe”), while not providing as good of a fit. UMN would be another “safer safety” if need be. However, they’d be better than KSU: She won’t just be in research with the professor and she should be able to explore her academic interests in several areas. Right now she’s already taking honors classes 2 years ahead - the KSU honors program isn’t likely to provide enough stimulation and, more importantly, allow her to develop her skills to the level she should. (Honors College admission at KSU is 1210 on the SAT CR+M, which isn’t bad, but isn’t anywhere near what OP’s student is capable of.) I’m sure OP’s daughter could take grad courses at KSU and yet it wouldn’t take her where a degree from many of the schools suggested above would. She’ll be able to work on research with other specialists and I’m sure the professors at KSU, if they’re honest with her, will advise her to apply to other schools. I agree she should ask the professor she’s working with which professors s/he would recommend she work with, then apply to these schools; the professor should write directly to the professors in question, outside the admission cycle, to explain OP’s daughter’s potential as a researcher. Finally, peer environment is key. Being around kids just like her, perhaps not as gifted in some areas but more gifted in others, will do a world of good to OP’s daughter. Suddenly she’ll be among her peers and for a kid who’s been an outlier her whole life, that will feel extremely good. Rushing through college is kind of pointless: there’s development and growth that takes place, not just academic, but personal. I wouldn’t recommend starting grad school at age 19, even if one is a brillant researcher. Taking time to explore interests, establishing connections between subjects but also with peers, going abroad, doing study away (such as the semester in Washington), developing research for someone then participating in big projects, internships, all participate in the experience. For instance, at a good LAC, even a student such as OP’s daughter would take the Freshman Seminar (typically an interdisciplinary course presenting important issues, based on reading and discussion - I’m not talking about the 1-credit “how to take notes” type of class some colleges have.) Even if she has the writing skills already, it would be a stimulating experience to grapple with the interconnectedness of topics and fields among her peers, for instance. </p>

19

<p>

</p>

<p>You can’t just lump them all as reaches, they are five independent colleges with five separate admissions processes. Although they share a common campus (like Lego blocks fit together), they are distinctly different. For this student I would say:</p>

<p>Pitzer - low match/safety
Scripps - match (and they give great merit aid, possibly a very good choice for this student – not only in its own right, but with the ability to cross register at all the Claremont colleges)
Claremont McKenna - Low reach
Pomona - Reach
Harvey Mudd - Not appropriate fit for this student, STEM focused</p>

<p>Since financial aid matters, OOS publics like Michigan are going to be off the table (except maybe Minnesota, which has fairly low OOS tuition).</p>

20

<p>D says “thank you very much for taking the time to post” She is taking to heart the need to show interest in all of the schools she will apply to including her low match and safety schools. Visits will be a challenge but we hope to check out most of the East coast schools. Before our first set of visits UPenn was very high on the list. after sitting in on a disappointing capstone distributive justice class (The prof was good but the students generally not too prepared or caring) and touring campus we both felt it wasn’t a great fit. hopefully we can get this pile of potentials down to a managable number to move forward with. </p>