Opinions about my college list

College Search & Selection
1

Hello,

I would appreciate some outside insight about my list of colleges to apply to, and any recommendations of schools to add.

About me:
-Graduated high school this June and currently taking a gap year, planning to start college in the fall of 2019
-Went to a small public arts school and studied creative writing
-Home state: Maryland
-1390 superscored SAT (1380 in one sitting)
-I can’t find my final transcript, but my GPA ended up being something like 4.15 W/3.9 UW
-Class rank: 6/66
-ECs: Editor of school literary magazine (3 years), founder and president of Key Club (2 years), NHS (member 2 years and historian 1 year), currently interning with a grassroots organization
-Budget: 20-25k after aid (EFC last year was about $21k)
-What I want out of a college: Urban or suburban setting; mid-Atlantic region; liberal/progressive environment; preferably small or medium but I would be willing to go to a large school
-Likely majors: global/international studies, peace studies, journalism, social work

Colleges I’m definitely applying to:
-UMBC (perfect location; several majors I like; I like the quite/nerdy vibe)
-Chatham University (good location; not many majors but they do have a global studies program that looks good; according to the NPC it will be affordable)
-Temple University (good location; lots of appealing majors; will likely be the most expensive school on my list)
-UMCP (not crazy about it but I want several affordable options; not many majors that appeal to me; perfect location)

Colleges I’m considering:
-St. Mary’s College of Maryland (affordable; good choices of majors; terrible location)
-American University (great location; lots of majors I like. However, I don’t want to apply ED since I can’t guarantee it will be affordable. I guess I could apply everywhere else EA, see what happens, and decide closer to the time if I want to apply RD?)

Any schools I should cross off? Any to move from the considering list to the definitely list? Any new schools I should consider? Thank you all so much!

2

“I like the quite/nerdy vibe”

quiet*

3

Juniata College; Dickinson College. Neither are located in very big cities, but they might still merit a look from you.

I don’t know how the money would work out for you at those places.

4

I would second Dickinson. Very big on international studies, languages, and sustainability. Also seems to have a pretty good writing program. It’s in a nice (though pretty small) town in PA, about a half hour from the small city of Harrisburg. So not that exciting a location, but not that isolated. They don’t promise to meet full need, but they say they recently have for everyone they accepted.

Muhlenberg in Allentown PA seems to have a pretty big international studies program, where peace studies can be one of the focuses. They seem fairly artsy otherwise. From my experience with their NPC, their aid might be sufficiently good.

If you want to look much farther, Occidental is in a suburban part of LA, is big on international studies, and says they meet full need. The University of Denver is not all that big a school, has an international relations school, and might be affordable.

If you’re willing to consider a women’s school, Bryn Mawr has an international studies major, is near a city, and allows you to take classes at Haverford (easily), Swarthmore, or Penn.

I don’t see any real reaches on your list. You could try an application or two at a school like Tufts or possibly a top 30 liberal arts college that is good in some of the fields you are interested in and will probably have good financial aid.

You also might consider taking the SAT again. Getting a 1400 in a single setting could help.