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<p>Unfortunately, UIUC has just canceled its EA program. Even those who apply by the priority deadline will not hear back until February 13 (priority deadline is still there but only used to establish preference for honors programs). Huge bummer for kids who planned on haven’t their match/safety acceptance in the bag before regular apps are due. :(</p>
<p>This was mentioned on their blog, and I confirmed it with a phone call to admissions… </p>
<p>If you want a good safety with students interested in academics and no Greek Life would be St Olaf. Better than Wheaton, same town as Carleton (cross registration possible but not easy since Carleton is on the quarter system and St Olaf on the semester system). Strong in science and math.</p>
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Dartmouth doesn’t sound like a good fit based on what you said before.
But most of all, make sure to visit your matches and safeties if they’re not large state schools because no school wants to have to fear they’re your safety. So, spend time visiting them and contacting them, “playing the interest game”. </p>
<p>Between Amherst, Williams, and Bowdoin, I think Bowdoin is more “laid-back” than the other two. So perhaps you can eliminate one from this trio. But they are all very good LACs.</p>
<p>What is your reason for shortening your college list? Too many supplements to write? Cost of applications?
I am not 100% sure on this, but Colby has no application fee. I think Grinnell has no application fee AND no supplements. </p>
<p>The admissions criteria are VERY different between the two. Bowdoin is test optional, much easier for the OP to get accepted into. Amherst and Williams swap around for the top couple of LACs in the country, very difficult admissions. The three are not comparable.</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 you know what? I visited St Olaf like a week ago when I visited Carleton and really liked it. Idk why I didn’t list that as a safety school…good idea though. So scratch Wheaton and add St Olaf</p>
<p>Yes, I think St. Olaf would be a very good low match/safety for you.</p>
<p>@student197 That’s the impression I had of those three as well. I would probably eliminate Williams of those three, however I will be visiting Williams and Amherst this summer so I guess I can decide which to eliminate after the visit.</p>
<p>And I want to narrow down the list to limit the number of supplements I have to write…not to sound lazy or anything…lol</p>
<p>If Grinnell (or any other one on the list) doesn’t require supplements then I will for sure apply</p>
<p>@intparent from what I’ve read Amherst and Williams seem relatively comparable, with Bowdoin being more laid-back (and easier to get in). Bowdoin seems like the best choice to me of those three having not visited any of them yet</p>
<p>Well, Bowdoin is a match of sorts for you. And the other two are reaches. They are reaches for just about everyone, very selective. </p>
<p>@kmart19 this is a strange thread, you seem pretty educated about the process and the schools, but I have a hard time reconciling your enthusiasm for both Carleton and Vanderbilt, much less CMC. They are all three great schools, but very different culturally. Maybe you are just attracted to academically rigorous schools and don’t care about the “feel” of the campus and student body?</p>
<p>You have received very good advice on this thread. I would just like to comment on your list by sort of grouping them.</p>
<p>These schools are all relatively similar LACs with very liberal student bodies (Brown has a large LAC sort of feel to it)</p>
<p>Brown
Carleton College
Grinnell
Bowdoin
Pomona</p>
<p>This is a cluster of mid sized apolitical research universities.</p>
<p>Stanford
Washington University in St. Louis
Vanderbilt</p>
<p>These schools are middle-to-conservative-leaning LACs (again, Dartmouth has a large LAC feel to it)</p>
<p>Williams
Amherst
Dartmouth
Claremont Mckenna</p>
<p>There are no safeties in there. Grinnell, Vanderbilt, Bowdoin, Carleton and maybe WUSTL are varying degrees of match/high match schools. The rest are reaches that I would say you have a good chance for, except Stanford which is really a lottery ticket situation unless you have a hook or two. If I’m not mistaken Grinnell is the only one with an acceptance rate over 15%.</p>
<p>So it’s hard to tell you what to pare down. If you told me you liked Carleton (and I hadn’t read the rest of this thread) I would say drop CMC, WUSTL, Vandy and Stanford. Amherst, Dartmouth, and CMC don’t really fit the Carleton mold. Williams I could maybe see fitting in, but it’s still a stretch.</p>
<p>Moving on, sounds like you may have settled on UIUC as a safety.</p>
<p>Colby would also be a good safety if you are looking for more of a LAC. University of Rochester might be a good safety/low match if you like the university feel.</p>
<p>Wheaton College (safety)</p>
<p>This one… idk. The number of cross-applicants between Wheaton (IL) and any of the LACs in this list must be incredibly small. I’m hoping you chose it because of proximity to home, because anyone seriously considering it would not be happy at the Grinnell/Carleton/Brown type of schools you have also chosen.</p>
<p>I understand the temptation to lump all of these great schools together and hope that you have some great choices come acceptance season, but I think you should really be focusing on the type of experience you want to have for the next four years. This is not a life-and-death decision by any stretch, but I would hope after visiting a number of these different types of schools you could decide on the LAC vs Uni split.</p>
<p>I don’t consider Williams to be “middle-to-conservative leaning”. Possibly somewhat apolitical, and not far to the left, but I wouldn’t group them with Amherst, Dartmouth, or CMC in that regard. Maybe the Purple Cows stand alone. :)</p>
<p>I think ormdad’s political lists are way off, at least as regards Williams, Dartmouth, and Bowdoin, and probably Amherst also. </p>
<p>I also think that posters here are underestimating the difficulty of getting into Bowdoin RD. Last year, IIRC, their overall acceptance rate was under 15%, and they have two rounds of ED, which would indicate that it would be even lower RD.</p>
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<p>There is absolutely no reason to assume that a student ought to make this choice, and most definitely not at application time. Plenty of kids like specific LACs and universities for different reasons, and would be happy at either. Wait and see where you get in, and then choose.</p>
<p>Since the OP evinced no interest in religion, I assumed that he was considering Wheaton in Massachusetts.</p>
<p>The problem with being a high stats kid is that most of your matches are also reaches. :)</p>
<p>BTW, I think St. Olaf would be a great safety for you.</p>
<p>He said Wheaton in IL at one point when asked… one reason I think we are confused, his choices definitely run a wide range of types of student bodies.</p>
<p>kmart, could you please clarify which schools you’ve already visited? </p>
<p>Once you visit the LACs in the Northeast the nuances of differentiation will become more apparent. There’s a great deal of cultural overlap among Amherst, Williams, Pomona, Carleton, Grinnell and Bowdoin (and not that you need anymore choices, but you could add Macalester, Middlebury and Hamilton to that group as well). Some are more politically active (though all lean left) , some more sporty and/or outdoorsy, some are near cities, some in small towns, some rural, but in academics and student body they are more alike than different.</p>
<p>Dartmouth is similar in flavor to Amherst/Williams, but because of its size and Greek presence, could be grouped with WUSTL, Vanderbilt and W&M. </p>
<p>If after visiting you have a clear preference between medium sized universities and small LACs, then you could choose either the Dartmouth/Vanderbilt group or the Amherst/Williams group. If you want to apply to some of both, then try to identify your top picks, then find others that “most like,”</p>
<p>Brown and CMC seem to me to be heading in other directions: Brown because it is more liberal, CMC because it is more preprofessional.</p>
<p>St. Olaf seems like a good safety, but if you want to focus on the Northeast, then perhaps you could substitute Skidmore or Conn College. I believe Colby is a little more selective, but I’m too lazy to look it up.</p>
<p>@Consolation exactly. Maybe I’m different from other applicants but there are things that I like about the mid-size universities that I’ve visited and things I’ve liked about the LACs. I’ve seen trade-offs and pros/cons of each and on top of this each school is very different (with some mid-sized unis being able to act as an LAC, etc.)</p>
<p>I was referring to Wheaton College in IL as a safety because it’s close to home and many kids from my high school end up going there, but I’ve changed my mind and like you mentioned St Olaf seems like a much better fit, so that and possibly U of Illinois will be by safety schools. </p>
<p>@momrath yes let me clarify where I’ve visited and where I haven’t. If I’ve visited and they’re still on the list, that means I want to apply and liked the college, so maybe this can help you guys see a pattern. Although like it’s been said…I’m kind of all over the place.</p>
<p>Have Visited and Liked…
Stanford
Wash U
William and Mary
Carleton
St Olaf
Carleton</p>
<p>Have Not Visited but Sound Interesting/Good to me…
CMC
Pomona
Dartmouth
Amherst
Bowdoin
Williams
Grinnell
Brown</p>
<p>Will Visit:
Brown
Dartmouth
Amherst
Williams</p>
<p>There are also a bunch of schools that I’ve visited and thought that they were great schools but I did not like them as much as the others that I have visited and therefore I removed from my list. Idk if this is helpful but they include:
U Chicago
Northwestern
Davidson
Duke
Wake Forest
there’s probably some more I’m forgetting…</p>
<p>Also I am not leaning northeast at all, there just happen to be a lot of great schools out that way that I’m interested in haha</p>
<p>Also, random question, but which college would be most similar to Carleton: CMC or Pomona? I’m assuming Pomona? I’m trying to decide if I should bother applying to CMC. Don’t think I’ll be able to visit either before application deadline</p>
<p>The point to remember is that CMC is preprofessional. Just from reading your posts here, you do not sound like the type of individual who would be very happy around hyper-ambitious kids fantasizing over internships and dollar bills 24/7. You’re also undeclared and looking for a laid-back atmosphere. For that reason, I think that Pomona would be an excellent fit for you.</p>
<p>Pomona is perhaps the most well-rounded school within the consortium and definitely has a more “LACy” feel when compared to the others. For the academically excellent student who isn’t particularly interested in specializing but still wants to have the benefits of the consortium, Pomona is the way to go.</p>
<p>And for the record, CMC is marked with the conservative stereotype because we’re pretty close to 50/50 (thanks to exceptionally strong econ/gov departments) wheres ~90% of college campuses in the country are predominantly left. Personally, I consider myself liberal and value the mixture of opinions.</p>
<p>OP, it seems the list has grown since you first posted it. I sense we haven’t been much help in narrowing it. We did however help with the safety.</p>
<p>This is because you came to us with such excellent stats, no preference for major, region, price range, etc., and a really good list in hand. It may be that we have been all the help we can be right now. You have an embarrassment of choices and a blank check to visit colleges, and until you decide there’s something more particular you want in a college or you visit a college that really grabs you… Perhaps checking back with us in the fall would be helpful.</p>
<p>In the interim, why don’t you start to write your essays. I liked your ECs and would like to learn more about them. I’d particularly like to hear what you make of that experience with launching an experiment to the space station. That’s the only thing you’ve talked about in this thread in which your emotional heartbeat jumped, so why not start writing about that experience and try to figure out how to articulate to a stranger what was exciting about doing that. </p>