Some to consider given her interests, academic profile, and search criteria:
Tufts
Vassar
Washington University of St. Louis
Emory
Wellesley
Pomona
Amherst
Brown
Swarthmore
Haverford
Smith
Carleton
Macalester
Bryn Mawr
Rice
@Reva66 My daughter’s stats are similar to your daughter’s, and like your daughter, she is laid back and shies away from ultra competitiveness, and wants an urban campus. These are her choices: Lewis and Clark in Portland, OR; Macalester in St Paul, MN, Willamette in Salem, OR, U of San Francisco. We live in the midwest, but she ruled out most of the midwest LAC’s like Carleton, Grinnell, Beloit, and Lawrence because the towns they are in are too small.
I’d look at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Weather would not be a problem there, your daughter’s stats are right on. We’ve found it to be very supportive and our daughter who sounds similar to yours loves it there. Not urban, but not rural either.
Ty all so much!
Lots of lovely suggestions above, especially in post #40, but virtually all of those schools are reaches for this student. Her SAT is 1430. Right now, she cannot assume she will improve her score so substantially. Of course, it’s great if she does. The average score at 50% for Vassar is 1470, at Tufts it’s 1490, at Carleton it’s 1480. All the schools listed in that post are above or near these schools. She is on target for William & Mary which averages at 1420, but it’s insanely difficult to get into because of the mandatory in-state quota. Even more difficult for an international. All those schools, as an international needing aid, will be reaches.
By all means look at those schools, but she will need match and safety schools and should be considering those until her score goes up. Not trying to be negative, but I wouldn’t want to see this girl be terribly disappointed.
Yes Lindagf, when she gets her SAT results, will have a better idea. Definitely need a mix of schools, including safeties.
Do you take the sat ranges from college niche?
I just google them, but often use college data. Prep Scholar is a useful site too. College niche is primarily student sourced, so it is not likely to be totally accurate. To easily look at most colleges in the country, use the website college data. It complies mountains of statistical data and organizes it well. You can get virtually all the info you need, such as admission rates, demographics, financial aid, etc…
I love Prepscholar… had made a sat table from it, also has other useful tips. Never heard of college data, will check it out. Many thanks!
As a follow-up to my post #40, by no means would I suggest that this student’s ENTIRE college list be built of schools on that list of suggested schools. They were merely suggested schools that may fall into Reach or Match range. The student, like any student, would need a BALANCED list of schools, not solely made up of schools on that list.
Here’s another suggestion:
Sarah Lawrence
I would agree with a few points already made here:
- I don't think Dartmouth would be a good fit, for the reasons mentioned.
- Coming from India to the NE is a shock for a lot of people because there's not a lot of daylight, and it's really, really cold. I grew up in Boston, and I live in Atlanta now, and my husband has coworkers who just dread going up there in the winter because it's very tough to deal with it. If she's never worn a puffy jacket, duck boots, and layers of long underwear, a cold climate could be really brutal for her to acclimate to.
- Consider some schools in the south. Many of the urban areas have a very sizeable Indian contingent (the school where we live is about 30% Indian/Asian), and she'll find some good cultural touchstones in many areas. My daughter regularly participates in Holi festivals with her friends, and does a lot of other cultural events with them like Divali.
I’d recommend Emory because it’s 20% asian, 20% international, and here are the stats:
Admitted First-Year Class (25th – 75th percentile)
Average GPA: 3.71 – 3.97 (unweighted)
SAT critical reading: 660-750
SAT math: 670-770
SAT writing: 670-770
SAT total: 2030–2270
ACT: 31-34
It’s located in a very good area of Atlanta, with easy access to a lot of fantastic cultural events.
I’d also recommend Rice-I really wish my older D had applied there, I think it would have been a good fit for her personality (smart but not grindy, diverse interests), but she didn’t like Houston because it was too hot and swampy (it is pretty intense weather-wise).
Generally speaking, students with test scores below the 50th perecentile tend to fall into the categories of athletes, URMs, legacies, low SES, and first generation to college. Without fitting into any of those categories, this student needs to aim for colleges where her grades and test scores put her comfortably above the 50th percentile and ideally above the 75th. The exception would be test-optional colleges, and quite a few suggested are.
Bates, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Wesleyan are all great test optional choices that should be considered if this student has amazing grades but doesn’t get the test score she is hoping for.
There are plenty of students from India and other warmer climates who do just fine in northern schools. Unless the student has experienced it before and specifically states that she doesn’t like such weather, I wouldn’t limit a list based on weather.
^^True, but it’s worth finding out before you put down a deposit. I turn into a cranky potato in cold, dark climates.
Thanks, everyone! This forum is amazing… (motherofdragons - ‘cranky potato’? Love the expression, can’t stop laughing!)
Yes, won’t limit based on weather but she plans to speak to a couple of friends who have gone to the east coast. And do her own research.
lindagaf, yes, 75th percentile and above will be good, must surely have a mix. Waiting for Feb 23 when the SAT results will be out. (Am one nervous Nellie now, but not showing it to kiddo. Poor baby has enough on her plate with her course rigour).
Post the results, will take a call, considering all your inputs also. The final list will be kid’s to approve, she has to be there for 4 years. I am like the administrative assistant, doing the background research and preparing shortlists! 
@reva66 I cannot speak to fit of specific schools, but your mention of “not aggressive” caught my attention. I found this to be true of my child, as well. Although he has great stats, he ultimately applied to less prestigious, yet still high quality schools. Sometimes called “hidden gems”. He was turned off by the competitive feel of the highly selective schools that we visited or researched. Also, good stats are not enough. The resume, leadership potential, recommendations, and supplemental essays that are part of many highly selective schools’ applications also have to be outstanding. He is not a big self promoter, so the supplementals in some applications were a deal killer in a many cases.
Thanks for sharing. Where did he go to college finally?
I’m putting my vote in for Macalester as well. Very strong International focus, great location, smart but collaborative environment. My daughter had a fantastic visit, loved everything about it, applied ED2 with excellent grades and rigor but somewhat low SATs and got in with merit aid. The only things that don’t fit your requirements exactly are that housing is only guaranteed the first two years, although juniors and seniors can live on campus too, and off campus housing seems to be widely available in the area immediately surrounding the school. And yes, the winters are very cold!
Yes, sounds like a great college! Thanks for sharing.
Hello again, second Sat attempt score is 1420 
Has done better in English and Mia has better in the essay but gone down in math. (Last time was 1430)
Super scoring takes it to 1480. I am not asking or suggesting she re do it but she is thinking of it… CB has reduced the number of international exams so earliests he can now do it is in oct, has her sat subject tests in June and her school exams in may.
In your experience, do all colleges super score? Any inputs would be most welcome.