Looking for safeties and matches.

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello there! This is a junior from Joisey who's looking for schools she has a better chance at getting into. My main problems are that my classes aren't the absolute hardest and I lack extracurricular and community service because I was out sick for much of last year. That said, I worked hard to keep up while I was out and managed to ace almost all of my classes and exams. </p>

<p>As of last year, my weighted GPA is 4.4; unweighted, it's 3.92. I'm in the top 10% of my class. This year I am taking English 11 HH, Physics H, AP US History II, AP French Language, and Trig/Calc HH (prerequisite to AP Calc), while self-studying AP Psych for the fun of it. Next year I intend to take AP Language and Composition, AP European History (that, or Macroeconomics HH), AP Chemistry, AP French Literature, and some form of AP Calculus. </p>

<p>I am the secretary for French Honor Society. Though I lack positions beyond that, I'm hoping to gain some position in Amnesty International--I'm already the unofficial artistic director. I also participate in French Club (natch) and Key Club. I'm a decent enough artist--I was nominated for the 2010 Congressional Art Competition--so I may be able to use an art supplement. </p>

<p>On the matter of standardized tests, I've been taking practice SATs and getting ~2080 on them (~760 writing, ~680 reading, ~640 math). I intend to take the SAT IIs in math (not sure which one), French, US History, and possibly literature. </p>

<p>Onto the colleges! The school must have under 10,000 students, a good program in the sciences (I'm into biochem), a nice college town (preferably not a big, bustling city), and a school newspaper. I don't mind fraternities or sororities, but I'd prefer schools where they're not everywhere, all the time. Lastly, the school must be coed. </p>

<p>That said, what sorts of schools should I look into? What would be a good match, and what would be a good safety?</p>

2

<p>Cost constraints? A safety must be certainly affordable as well as definite for admission (community colleges typically satisfy both; in-state state universities likely include some candidates).</p>

3

<p>How about finances and geographical preferences?</p>

4

<p>Oh! Forgot about that. My mom and dad make a nice income, so cost isn’t an issue. ^^; They’ve been saving for a while, too.</p>

<p>Geographical preferences: Midwest (specifically Ohio, Wisconsin, and Illinois), Northeast (all of New England and the Mid-Atlantic except for New Jersey), Virginia, and Oregon. Canadian schools might be a possibility.</p>

5

<p>How about just a little over the Oregon border? Whitman College meets all your criteria and Walla Walla, WA is the greatest small town you’ve never heard of. You’ll find happy students there.</p>

6

<p>Whitman’s a great suggestion. Here are a few other suggestions that you might enjoy researching on PrincetonReview.com:</p>

<p>Bucknell
Denison
Earlham
Trinity (CT)
William & Mary
Dickinson
Miami of Ohio
Richmond</p>

<p>A limit of 10,000 students will rule out most Canadian universities.</p>

7

<p>I’d take a look at some of the LACs if you want a strong community spirit in a college towns - Grinnell, Oberlin and Kenyon in the midwest for example. Grinnell is particularly excellent in the sciences - no intro science courses larger than 24 students, no distribution requirements, beautiful facilities and wonderful faculty mentoring. (S is a biochem major there.) No frats or sororities either.</p>

8

<p>I’d also look at the women’s colleges (assuming you are). Bryn Mawr and Smith are both strong in the sciences and in/near fun towns.</p>

9

<p>I would add U Dayton (potential merit aid) and Lewis and Clark in Portland OR.</p>

10

<p>Be careful with private schools that consider “level of interest” in the admissions criteria. Such schools may reject those who appear to be using them as safeties in order to keep their yield rates high.</p>

11

<p>ummm . . try using a search engine with the parameters you listed and of the schools that it spits our let us know which colleges appealed and why . . . for whatever reason; it’s hard to get form 2400 schools down to 6-10 :-)</p>

<p>then we can find others that are similar . . .<br>
[College</a> Search - Find colleges and universities by major, location, type, more.](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>

<p>or look through the book “Colleges That Change Lives” and let us know</p>

12

<p>Whitman, Dickinson, Oberlin, W&M, Grinnell, Kenyon, L&C, and Bryn Mawr all look fantastic! They’re definitely on my list. =D Oberlin’s probably my dream school at this point, haha. </p>

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<p>Good point. I was mostly going for safeties (and matches, too) because my previous list was made up of schools I could never get into: Johns Hopkins, Wesleyan, Amherst, Tufts, etc. (That said, JHU doesn’t fit the requirements anyhow. >>) I just have this little fear of being rejected from every school I apply to. Most of the ones I listed above do interest me, though–especially the first few. I’m just trying to be a little more cautious.</p>

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<p>How about Kenyon or Muskingum?</p>

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<p>Quick thing–would Tufts be a reach for me? I visited it and fell in love, but…I have a feeling my courseload isn’t rigorous enough. Not that it’s not hard (it’s challenging and time-consuming), but it’s not the absolute hardest available. That, and I’m lacking in extracurriculars beyond French Club, Key Club, Amnesty International, and artistic hobbies. :\ I can write a mean essay, methinks, but I’m not sure how much that would make up for everything else.</p>

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<p>Are you planning on retaking your SATs? While they are good for many fine colleges, your V+ M score is a little low for Tufts and for an OOS applicant to William and Mary.</p>

16

<p>They’re just scores from practice tests. I’m not taking the SAT for real until January. And I agree, they could use work. So far–at least, on the practice tests–I’ve been getting 660 at most in math and, in one fleeting success, 720 in reading. The problem’s that I keep rushing through the tests, since I’m not timing myself properly. :&lt;/p>

<p>I’m thinking of taking the ACT, too. I did a practice test from “The Real ACT” and ended up with a 32 composite (M 30, E 33, R 35, S 28). With some practice, I think I could bring it up a point or two.</p>

17

<p>^OK, that’s good. FWIW my D scored higher on the real SAT than on the practice tests; she also scored higher than her PSAT predicted (over 100 points). Apparently that’s not uncommon.</p>

<p>Lehigh is a school that fit your original criteria.</p>