<p>I know I'm a very new poster, but I've lurked a bit and people seem very knowledgeable and helpful here and while I've availed myself of many different search tools, I'm having a hard time finding the lower range of schools I wanna apply too. To give you an idea of what I'm looking for, I want a small to mid-size liberal arts college that is strong all around, because I have strong interests in both the humanities and sciences. An engineering program would also be ideal (as I'm trying to keep that open as an option) but not required. Location isn't a priority, but the closer to Maryland (where i live) the better, and across the country is too far for me (I eliminated Pomona by this criteria, for example). As of now, I have a good list, but they're all very selective, and while I have excellent grades, tests and academic rigor, my extracurricular experience is lacking for a lot of reasons and admission isn't a sure bet with any of them, so i could really use some suggestions on safety schools that are less selective. Anyway, here's what i have so far, again, any comments or suggestions would be absolutely appreciated.</p>
<p>Definitely Applying:
Amherst College
Dartmouth College
Bowdoin College
Swarthmore College
University of Pennsylvania
Wesleyan University
Georgetown University</p>
<p>I'm also considering University of Maryland as a safety choice but it's really not my thing.</p>
<p>Need to visit (but considering, feel free to offer opinions on these)
Williams College
College of William and Mary
Northwestern University
Carnegie Mellon University
Tufts University
University of Notre Dame
Hamilton College
Davidson College
Wellesley College
Villanova University
Colgate University
Lafayette College</p>
<p>Hi! How are your grades? (GPA, SAT score, EC’s)</p>
<p>Are you looking for anything in particular in a school (rural/urban, big school/small school, party school/down-to-earth school) besides an engineering program?</p>
<p>My unweighted GPA is somewhere in the 3.9-4.0 range (one B) and my weighted is somewhere between 4.5 and 4.75. My SAT I was a 2120 (CR 680 M 710 W 720) and my ACT was a low 35. I’ve fived all my AP courses, which include Calculus BC, Physics C, World History and US History. I haven’t taken my SAT II’s yet. I’m not totally sure what EC’s mean but I think it’s Extracurriculars? I did indoor and outdoor track last year but won’t be able to do it this year, I did academic team last year and I’ve helped out in a non-official way with student government for the past two years. No volunteer work, and not much prospects for this coming year except going into honor society, continuing academic team, serving as webmaster for Senior executive committee and maybe some volunteer work if I can make time. I’m taking courses at hood college next year and that’s gonna take up a lot. Oh, and i’m a rising senior if you hadn’t guessed, i go to an excellent public high school.</p>
<p>As far as basic school criteria, I don’t really care about urban or rural, as long as the campus still feels like the center of the social life, i’d prefer under 10,000 students, but anything within that range is fine, I don’t want to be partying all the time, but I’d like it to be available, and other than that just a wide range of programs, I’m very undecided about my major and I want a school where i can figure that out.</p>
<p>I’d suggest (only because I don’t have your grades but I know people who do/did)</p>
<p>CoW&M
Tufts
Notre Dame
Northwestern (only if you’re prepared for the 50/50 chance of rejection, they’re extremely selective. out of the 9 people I know that applied to NW last year, only one got in and ALL of them had straight A+s in advanced classes, were on teams and did a lot of volunteering.)</p>
<p>I’d suggest doing a little more volunteering or find an internship.
You’ll just have more to add to your apps.</p>
<p>^those schools have a range of majors/minors and they’ll allow you to figure out what you want to do.</p>
<p>You have a very realistic outlook on your chances at the schools you’ve listed. RPI & Clarkson are two upstate Ny schools that seem to fit. Both are known for engineering. RPI is more selective than Clarkson but not as selective as the colleges you’ve mentioned.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, it’s good to know CofW&M has a good national reputation, as I hear about it living in MD and have to wonder if i’d hear about it living elsewhere, thanks for the engineering schools as well, I’ve been forced to mostly consider that as a graduate option but I have a feeling i might be much better off if I can go into it junior and senior year if I find that it’s the right fit.</p>
<p>Given the schools you are definitely applying to, I’m surprized I didn’t see Colby and Bates (in ME-definitely matches), Vassar (a match if you are a guy), Haverford (match/reach), and St. Mary’s College of Maryland (the public LAC-a safety). No engineering, however, at any of these schools-although I believe some have 3/2 programs.</p>
<p>You have no idea how much i appreciate this, there are a lot of holes in my knowledge and borrowing from a community really should have a happened a while back. I’m relying a lot on those 3-2 engineering programs and graduate engineering advisors which are present at basically all of those schools. Anyway, I was looking into the schools you suggested and I’m curious why you added the guy qualifier for Vassar, they appear to be coeducational to me, is that the case?</p>
<p>Vassar is coed, but it has many more girls than guys, so it is more difficult for girls to get in (college wants to even ratio & will be more forgiving with guys’ applications). So it may be a match if you’re a guy, but a reach if you’re a girl.</p>
<p>So, the only college I really know well on your list is W&M, and it’s a great school; tons of my friends are going, and it was my second choice. There’s a good mix of nerdy/preppy/artsy/frat and a ton of activities. It’s definitely very campus-based (nothing else to do in the 'Burg) and there’s just about any major you could think of; great for undecideds. It was just a little too big for my taste. However, since you’re out of state & have few ECs, I wouldn’t count on it as a safety.</p>
<p>Excellent AP scores! Your verbal score is a little low for schools like Amherst and Williams. Are you re-taking it? You may have to think through how important the engineering option is for you because many LACs won’t have it. Smith is usually mentioned for engineering, though. I agree with the Colby suggestion and would add Hamilton. Also were Pennsylvania LAC’s on your list? Bucknell and Lehigh, for example. One of them—I forget which!—is known for engineering.</p>
<p>Vassar sounds like a good idea to me then, I do happen to be a guy. I’m definitely visiting CofW&M soon, I’ll have to see what I think and how I feel about it when I see it, but it sounds right up my alley.</p>
<p>I can probably do better on the Verbal and the SAT in general, but I was actually gonna ignore that mostly and submit my ACTs as my primary test because of that 35 9which I’m relatively sure I can’t bump up to a 36), is that a bad idea? Most schools proclaim that they have no preference but I don’t know how true that is. I hadn’t looked into bucknell but I visited Lehigh and had a really terrible experience in which the freshman dorm they showed us smelled strongly of mold and the classroom we entered smelled like urine, it was very strange and I was left very conflicted about a school i had initially had a strong interest in.</p>
<p>I’ve done quick reviews of the colleges you’ve all recommended so far and sorted them based on my interest level, just to recap.</p>
<p>Not considering further:
RPI (while strong in the sciences, I really have a strong interest in history and other humanities that can’t be met here)</p>
<p>Considering as safety (or low-match) schools:
Clarkson University (need to look into it more, but this school appears to have a more options in the humanities while having very strong science and engineering program)
Bucknell university (a bit wary because of my lehigh experience, but i want to consider it because of its engineering program)</p>
<p>Considering as matches (mostly just LACs I overlooked in my search, not sure where where a lot of these fall on the match/reach spectrum, but I don’t think any of them are high reach? feel free to correct and inform)
Colby
Bates
Vassar
Hamilton
Haverford</p>
<p>Thanks for replying to my thread. I thought I would leave me advice in return </p>
<p>If it helps at all, I visited College of William and Mary and James Madison University this month. I also interviewed at William and Mary. Out of the two, I definitely like William and Mary, but JMU was nice as well and decent academically. </p>
<p>William and Mary (which I believe you mentioned) has a gorgeous campus, and the students there seem to truly love their experience. Some of the buildings are on the older side (in terms of wear and tear), but overall, the facility is nice. The campus itself is sizeable but not overwhelming. In other words, you could walk from one end to the other in 10-15 minutes. </p>
<p>Let me know if you have any further questions :)</p>
<p>I’m actually now visiting William and Mary tomorrow, mainly because it’s relatively close and I’ve now heard so much good about it, so i’ll let you know if there’s anything else I wanna know about after that. I might look more into JMU, because it does seem nice based on the website, but much less rigorous that so much of what I’m looking at. Anyway, thanks so much, I appreciate it!</p>
<p>I would suggest submitting the ACT only. A 35 is a great score, no need to repeat. Take the SAT IIs though. Have a look at University of Rochester.</p>
<p>While you are researching LACs, you could look a little further south. Check out Davidson (match/reach-NC) and Rhodes (TN). I know Davidson is somewhat more conservative than the rest. Can’t speak to the culture at Rhodes.</p>
<p>should i still self-report my SAT I on the common app, or just leave it blank? And University of Rochester looks like a very good fit as a high safety, I’ll have to do more research.</p>
<p>I am planning a trip to Davidson, but Rhodes is just a bit too far from where I live, my family isn’t very well-off and I’d really prefer travel to be easy.</p>
<p>I was going to suggest University of Rochester, too.</p>
<p>(If you want to be an engineer, do not go to an LAC with the intention of leaving after three years for two years somewhere else. Ask the college how many people have left after three years to do the two in engineering in each of the last five years. I bet you will find out that almost no one actually does this.)</p>
<p>At Case Western, it is relatively easy to switch into or out of an engineering major. You might consider Case.</p>
<p>The truth is, I don’t necessarily WANT to be an engineer, I would just really like to have it as an option, so that if i really am drawn to that as a vocation, I have a way of making it work, thus the 3-2 programs and the schools with graduate engineering advisors. I’m still very conflicted about all this, maybe I’ll fire of some e-mails to the advisors at the schools I’m applying to without engineering and get some more specific information.</p>
and there’s just about any major you could think of; great for undecideds. It was just a little too big for my taste. However, since you’re out of state & have few ECs, I wouldn’t count on it as a safety.</p>