Hi, I’m a junior at a private school in the northeast. I’m mostly looking for schools similar to Brandeis, BU, and Hamilton in admissions challenge. My guidance counselor recommended Brandeis, Wellesley, BC, Wesleyan, Hamilton, and Swarthmore as target schools for me; she also recommended Skidmore, Syracuse (seriously looking at and love), and Dickinson as “likely schools.” Reach schools are the Ivies - I wouldn’t expect to get into any of them quite honestly. My family could really benefit from scholarships but we won’t qualify for financial aid. I’m only looking at schools in New England and NY for family reasons.
Here is a profile of me as a student.
Female
3.9 unweighted GPA
4.35 weighted GPA
31 ACT (planning to take again as a senior) with 11 essay
taking all APs and honors this year, no prior APs but all honors previously
APs this year are Mandarin, Music Theory, Lang, and USH
Chinese Language NHS President
Music NHS member
a capella choir section leader
principal pianist of school orchestra/band
winner of multiple local piano competitions
played at Carnegie Hall as a winner of a bigger competition
in a student classical music trio
founder of a music service nonprofit
accompanist of a special needs choir
(piano stuff applies to me for all my years of high school)
semi-finalist and honorable mentions for poetry contests, including Princeton’s
Scholastic Art and Writing silver key
blog contributor for UNICEF and HuffPost
founder of student-run art blog for students in my state
published in multiple literary journals for poetry
(writing stuff started summer before junior year)
dad is a Harvard alum
I am really interested in liberal arts schools with an artsy vibe. My best grades are in Mandarin, Music Theory, and Lang - I’m considering studying music business/industry (Syracuse has a ton of great programs), business, and English but I’m keeping an open mind. Any help is truly appreciated - I feel like I’m behind in the college search!
PS I toured Brandeis and BU and really liked both!
NESCAC schools (within a certain range) and maybe Vassar would seem to be among those colleges potentially appropriate for you. Just make sure their curricular factors match your academic interests.
some schools have merit (BU for example), some don’t (Wellesley for sure - only need-based). So plan accordingly. Be sure to find safeties (that means you’re above the 75% mark score-wise and they admit > 50% of students - AND you know you can afford it). Use collegedata.com to investigate all this, including the kind of aid your schools provide and how easy it is to get (for example, BC only awards merit to <2% of students; Skidmore and Swarthmore are < 1%; whereas Syracuse awards merit to >14% of freshmen; Dickinson is >18%)
Here’s an old link that makes it easier to find schools that are generally better for merit. it’s not current but still helpful. Some schools with this reputation are U of Miami, Tulane and USC (def not a small school - but neither is Syracuse). You can sort by % or by avg amount. Both are instructive. Since you’re interested in Wellesley - Mt Holyoke is an LAC that gives decent merit to a fair number of folks. But your 31 would probably need to go up a bit to be competitive for merit at selective schools like that. If you got into Tulane you’d have a fair shot at merit with your 31 (but admission there is a little bit of a crapshoot - they REALLY value ‘level of interest’).
I don’t usually reply to these because I don’t feel qualified, but your profile screamed “Vassar” to me:
“Vassar maintains a large collection of instruments, including over 65 Steinway grand pianos, seven pipe organs, six harpsichords, the Darlington Collection of early keyboard instruments, and a miscellany of non-Western instruments.”
There is no lack of artsy liberal arts schools in the Northeast. Wesleyan, Haverford, and Swarthmore may be reach schools. Colgate, Colby, Union, Franklin and Marshall, Bates, Smith, and Mount Holyoke may be more doable. You have a good chance at Muhlenberg and Bennington.