More Match Schools

College Search & Selection
1

In effort of finalizing my college list, I am in desperate need of more match schools.

SAT: 1440 (730 writing, 710 math) took once with no tutoring, do not plan on taking again because I do not have time to study.
GPA: 4.17 (my school doesn’t offer very many AP’s, and you can’t take them until junior year. So grades 9-10 I had a 4.0, grade 11 I had 4.3 and a 4.5)
EC’s:
-Varsity Track (4 years, 2 year captain)
-Varsity Cross Country (Captain)
-Part time job (1.5 years)
-School Newspaper (editor in chief)
-ASB (2 years, president)
-Daraja Club (supports a girls school in Kenya)
-PALS club president (helps disabled students at my high school bond with others.)
-Helping support my family (definitely not an EC, but it takes up a lot of my time. Coming from a low income household, a lot of my pay check goes toward my mom and paying things like rent and insurance. I feel the need to add because it’s a reason I am not able to more things like insane community service hours.)

Hooks? (not too sure what falls under this):
-TASP (going this summer, summer program)
-First generation
-Has experienced a lot of adversity that I plan on talking about in my essays.
Another thing: Firstsemester of my sophomore year I moved to eastern europe because my uncle got sick and that is where all my family lives. I went to a Czech school and had all my classes in Czech.

My list so far:
Brown
Tufts
U Penn
Duke
Vanderbilt
UCLA
Emory
Tulane
UC Berkeley
Lehigh
UCSB
UCSC
University of San Diego

Right now I would think Tulane, Lehigh and UCSB are matches. I think Emory is more of a low reach. UCSC and university of San Diego are my safeties, with the rest being reaches. I am inclined to applying to more schools, and am not too sure I want to necessarily take any reaches off my list. I am also pretty sure I will be applying to quest bridge.

What I am looking for: medium sized, not a rural setting, great academics, small class sizes preferably, good community, lively social scene, not high stress.

2

What do you want to study?
Are you male or female? (And if female would you consider single-gender schools?)
Do you want to run track and/or XC in college? Are you recruitable, and if so D1 or D3?

3

I want my major to fall within the humanities route. Either political science, international relations, or something of the sort. I am female and am open to single-gender schools as long as they have some interaction with other schools. I don’t really want to run in college. Some DIII schools have shown interest, but none that I like too much. I do not plan on going through a recruiting process.

4

Scripps would be a match, and it’s very academically blended with the Claremont Consortium, so you’d have guys in essentially all of your classes except for the 3-semester humanities core and freshman writing. It’s small in its own right but the consortium has nearly 7K students altogether on fully-adjacent campuses. (You could consider Pitzer, CMC, and Pomona as well; but Pitzer would be a low reach and Pomona and CMC would be reaches.) Also, the student newspaper, The Student Life, is joint for the 5C’s and is a great publication if you want to keep doing student journalism.

On the east coast, Mt. Holyoke would be a low-match, in the 5-college consortium with UMass/Amherst/Hampshire/Smith. Smith would be a more competitive match. (Amherst would be a reach, and Hampshire doesn’t meet full need and is more “alternative” than you’re looking for anyway.)

Additional match schools that meet full demonstrated financial need and are mid-sized, not rural:
University of Richmond
Macalester College (on the smaller end of mid-sized but great urban setting in St. Paul)

Lastly, a couple of safeties that meet full need: Whitman College is small-ish and rural-ish, but Walla Walla is a nice town and Whitman is a wonderful LAC that meets full need. Occidental also meets full need, and is in urban/suburban LA, although it is definitely small (without the “ish”). Both of these have around a 50% acceptance rate, so maybe I should call them low-match/safeties, but your chances of getting in are pretty solid, and both would be wonderful academically for your areas of interest, and have the intellectual but not over-stressed vibe that you’re seeking.

University of San Diego is a really nice school, but they only meet 71% of need on average. And the UC’s will also have a higher out-of-pocket than private colleges and universities that meet full need. So I’d encourage you to really think about adding Whitman and/or Oxy as safeties that are likely to give you better financial aid than UCSC and USD. (Not saying you shouldn’t apply to USD and the UC’s, of course; just cover your bases with better financial safeties too.)

Lastly… The nice thing about DIII athletics is that you aren’t obligated like you are with D1. Athletics could help get you into schools where the decision might otherwise go either way, and you could let the sport go after a season (or technically even sooner, but let’s say one season for the sake of sportsmanship) if you weren’t enjoying it.

Scripps (joint athletics with CMC and Mudd), Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Macalester, Whitman, and Oxy are all DIII schools. (Richmond is D1)

5

Good advice. I would suggest that Tulane is a bit more selective than UCSB and Lehigh. But all excellent.

6

Thank you for the advice! I will definitely take a look at those schools. I am curious though, is it likely I would receive full financial aid at UC’s? that’s really important to me.

7

If you are not a CA resident, the UC’s will not be affordable since they offer little to no financial aid to OOS/International applicants so expect to pay $65K/year to attend, unless I am misinterpreting your information.

8

Oh sorry yes I am a caliofrnia resident.

9

If you are a CA resident, then UCSB could be considered a Match, UCSC close to a safety and UCLA/UCB will be tough but possible.

Best of luck.

10

I had the same question regarding your residency. UCs are very expensive and aid is limited for OOS students. As an East Coaster, I don’t know much about in-state aid.

You are fully qualified for any school on your list. AND most fully qualified applicants will be denied admission at most of them. It’s just supply and demand. An example: we visited a tip-top LAC. They said 70% of applicants were fully qualified, and they thought they would succeed academically and otherwise at the school. It accepted 14% of applicants. So 4 in 5 applicants that the school thought fully qualified could not be accommodated. Duke, Vandy, etc. are lower than 14% in RD. You are a reasonable applicant at all of them, just tough numbers.

So I think making sure you have a safety that is affordable is important. Someone wrote that USD only meets 71% of need. Great school; I assume you’d likely be admitted; but it might not be affordable in the end. Tulane has gotten much more competitive in recent years, and I’d be inclined to put it in the reach category in RD for almost everyone.

It’s great you have 3 UCs on your list. They seem like great bets. Could you add one, not Berkeley, to be sure you have an in-state option? Quest

You’d be a tremendous applicant at so many schools. Where can you get enough aid? I like the Mount Holyoke idea. Here is a link to info on the Five College Consortium. Also one for Wellesley, which has a stunning campus in a near-in suburb of Boston. Students can take classes at MIT, and students often socialize with MIT/Harvard students. W does claim to meet full financial need.

https://www.fivecolleges.edu

http://www.wellesley.edu/sfs/understandaid

Holy Cross has outstanding academics, including in your areas of interest, and claims to meet full financial need. What if you run the NPC for MH, W, and HC. W might still be low reach, but the other two would probably be matches, given your strong academic record. Good luck!

11

I could add UC Davis, I don’t really like any of the other UC’s. I have done the EFC and it said I would have to pay 0 dollars for tuition, but of course, schools use the EFC differently. If I add UC Davis and Scripps to my list, do I need any more matches? What about safeties?

12

@malaalenase , the UC’s will give you full financial aid by their definition. It just isn’t as generous as what you’d get at the private colleges that meet full need, especially the ones that offer no-loan packages.

If you look at the chart here http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/paying-for-uc/how-aid-works/estimate-your-aid/index.html you’ll see that the 10K-ish “student contribution” doesn’t really go away in any scenario. Indeed, you will pay zero dollars for tuition; but UC’s won’t help as much with your room/board/expenses as the generous privates will.

People make this work, of course, but you sound like you’re not even that enamored of the UC schools, so it doesn’t sound like you’d be tempted to stretch financially for a UC if you had a more generous financial aid offers from private colleges; and if you choose your colleges well, that is more than likely to happen. So… make a particular effort to give the match and safety schools that have been suggested here a fair chance before you decide against them.

TTG is right that you should add Holy Cross - I missed that one. (And women’s college wise, maybe Wellesley too, and for that matter Barnard, but both of those would add to your “reach” list rather than strengthening your list of matches.)

For a true in-state financial safety, apply to the Honors College at CSULA and/or the University Honors Program at CSULB. You should get true full-ride aid there.

Before you rule anything out, run all of the Net Price Calculators for all of the schools we’ve suggested and the schools on your original list. Every school’s formula is different, and there may be some that aren’t as generous as you expect. There’s no point wasting your time on applications for schools that will surprise you with stingy aid offers, when the relative generosity or stinginess can be assessed up-front. (Here’s Lehigh’s calculator, just as a place to start, as I’m suspicious this could be one of the less generous ones. https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/lehigh ) Make a Google Sheet and put the numbers you get for all of the schools into it. Then see where you are.

13

If you like tulane too take a look at smu - tons of merit aid available and financial aid. Lots of kids from all over the country.