-New SAT: 1500 composite // ACT 35 composite, 21 writing (!!!)
-SAT Subject tests: math 2 (800), physics (760)
-GPA: 4.0/4.0 unweighted (meaning all A’s and A+'s)
will have 10 AP’s total, AP tests so far all 5’s except one 4
mediocre common app essay, strong teacher recs, Leadership in a decent amount of clubs, good amount of extracurriculars and community activities
need financial aid, low income, but not 1st gen.
tentative college list:
Three in state safeties (and one out of state) that I’ve already gotten into with scholarships
Brown University
Columbia University
Northwestern University
Macalester College
Tufts University
Pomona
Vassar
U Chicago
Wash U in St Louis
Might add one or two (definitely not all!) of the following (may not even add any of these, I’m still deciding):
Stanford, princeton, yale, cornell
NYU
Carleton college
Wesleyan college
What I’m looking for:
Location: coasts or midwest, not south
Proximity to urban areas. suburban or rural campus ok if close to an urban area
Size: small or medium sized (less than 20,000)
Major: psychology, development studies/global development/international studies, public health, cog sci?
Collaborative not competitive
More liberal arts oriented (not necessarily an LAC but just less career focused) because clearly I don’t know what I want to major in, also a college where you don’t have to apply to a specific school within the college
My top choices are Brown, Tufts, and Macalester. What should I add/take off my list (especially from my maybe list?)??
Also, my list has a lot of reaches and not enough matches - what should I do for that?? (I’ve got my safeties down though)
Thanks for reading this, guys! any help is appreciated!!
my list has a lot of reaches and not enough matches - what should I do for that?? (I’ve got my safeties down though)
[/QUOTE]
The problem is that if you don’t get into your reaches (or you get in but they don’t give you enough aid), then you’ll have to go to your safeties. If you’re happy with your safeties, then fine. Otherwise, add matches.
Macalester and Vassar are matches. The rest of your “tentative” list are reaches (with Tufts probably being the easiest). But at least 1 of your top 3 choices is a match and that’s good. Make sure Macalaster meets full need.
You have plenty of reaches so there’s no point in adding Stanford, Princeton or Yale - plus you probably won’t get into any of those. Cornell, maybe, but it doesn’t really fit your description anyway. Forget NYU - you’ll probably get in but they’re not good with aid.
I suggest you add a couple of matches that meet full need: Reed, Grinnell, Union, Boston College, Colgate. Reed fits your description nicely.
“- need financial aid, low income, but not 1st gen.”
Run the Net Price Calculators for every place on your list. You need to know whether or not they are likely to be affordable. If they won’t be, cross them off the list. Remember, they get to decide how much aid to offer you, so even if they give you what they think will be enough, it might not be. You need to have a clear understanding of what you can afford so that the unaffordable offers can go straight to the re-cycle bin next April.
Carleton is need aware so it’s more of a reach if you need significant financial aid. Terrific school and your stats are good so it’s worth a shot if you really love the school…but if you’re trying to decide on one more school from your “might add…” list, I’d go with Wesleyan and/or Cornell.
For another match…maybe Colby? I’d put Reed and Grinnell as low reaches just because of their recent selectivity but I agree that OP sounds like a good fit for both. Grinnell doesn’t meet the “ok if close to an urban area” criteria but then neither do Cornell or Colby.
Cornell also requires you apply to a specific school which OP didn’t want but CAS would offer a wide array of choices so it shouldn’t be an issue.
@insanedreamer@happymomof1@Otterma so far i’ve taken princeton, nyu, carleton, and wesleyan off the list from your suggestions and also my own research. Any further ideas about adding stanford (or yale/cornell)?? I’m also considering taking off northwestern, columbia, or u chicago - opinions?
If you really want to go to Stanford, sure apply. But look at it like buying a ticket for the lottery.
Cornell you have more of a shot at than Stanford, Yale, Columbia or Chicago. So I’d say apply there unless you really want to go to one of the others. All these reach schools are good and hard to get into, so just choose 3-4 that you really like (for whatever reasons - a lot of it is subjective - the courses they offer, the location, the type of studetns, etc.) and apply for those. If it was me, I’d pick Chicago, Brown, Pomona and maybe Tufts as my reaches. But that’s just personal preference. I’d pick Reed, BC, Grinnell, Vassar, and maybe Colgate as matches. Again, you could easily swap these out for others based on personal prefs.
I think adding Cornell is a very good move. You’d be in the top 25% ACT-wise for Northwestern so if you really like the school it’s reasonable to keep it.
@insanedreamer - Macalester absolutely meets full need and OP will likely get decent merit aid included in that.
Would someone who likes Boston College and Colgate really like Reed and Grinnell??From what I have heard BC and Colgate have a pre-professional vibe and Reed and Grinnell are havens for intellectuals
@citymama9 Yeah, BC might not be the best fit - I was mostly thinking of its urban location. Colgate on the other hand apparently strong in polsci, IR, psychology, has connections to the NIH public health. But definitely a different crowd than Reed.
Don’t know if you’re still looking for more matches, but if you are I think you are I think Brandeis would be a really good fit. While it’s technically a small university, it definitely has a liberal arts vibe and a very collaborative atmosphere. It’s right next to Boston and I’ve also heard really good things about the psych program! Having visited both, I felt like it had a lot in common with Macalester.