Reach/Match/Safety and General Suggestions

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey everybody, I'm sort of new here. Anyway, could anyone please help me group my list of prospective schools into reaches, matches, and safeties? My stats are the tiniest bit inconsistant, and I'm having a bit of trouble with it. Also, I'm open to suggestions as to which schools I should add/drop from my list.
Schools:
Bowdoin
Brown (obviously a huge reach, but I really love it)
Bryn Mawr
Clark U.
Haverford
Lewis and Clark
Marlboro
Mount Holyoke
New College of Florida
Oberlin
Reed
Smith
Wesleyan (ditto Brown)
Williams (ditto Wesleyan)</p>

<p>Okay, now for the stats:
SAT I: 740 V, 740 M, 660 W
Haven't taken any SAT II's yet
ACT: Composite: 34, English: 36, Reading: 35, Science: 34, Math: 29
I haven't decided whether or not to retake my SAT I and ACT yet. I'm not looking for perfection, but I know I can do better on the SAT's writing section and the ACT's math section.
GPA: ~3.6 unweighted at a top prep school (it should be higher, but I've had a lot of fairly major health problems that keep me out of school for large chunks of time)
My school doesn't weight GPA's or rank students, but I'm definitely near the top of my class.
EC's: 4-year starter on varsity basketball team; equestrian competitions; student gov't - junior class rep, will be student body president/senior class president; honor council - will be president; NHS; WYSE Academic team - several first and second place finishes in English and biology; Model UN; Sec of SADD; VP of Habitat for Humanity; Pres of Enviromental Club; Soph/Jun/Sen rep in Ambassadors Club; member of Interact Club; founder and organizer of afterschool tutoring program for underprivleged grammar/middle school students; founder and organizer of annual American Cancer Society fundraiser; winner of several writing competitions, various academic and community service awards; TA to English teacher; member of multiple choruses, school and community theater; peer tutor (both in academic subjects and in ceramics); unpaid intern at clinic; paid part-time job since summer after freshman year; small catering biz on the side;~500 hours of free child care to cancer patients; will have studied 5 different languages by graduation; active memebr of People to People Student Ambassadors Program; delegate in the National Youth Leadership Program on Medicine; will have taken 1 course at Beliot College and 2 at Brown by graduation</p>

<p>Sorry, I realize that's really wordy.</p>

<p>I want to be a physican double specializing in psychiatry and pediatrics (possibly pediatric oncology), but as an undergrad would like to major in psychology, or cognitive/neuroscience and linguisitcs.</p>

<p>Things that are important to me in a college:
really strong psych and/or cognitive science and linguistics dept.
strong general science program
great languages/literatures departments
excellent study abroad program
small(no more than 6,000 students) college in the East is preferrable
accepting, liberal student body actively involved in comm. service
good financial aid (I know, I'm at a prep school, but I'm there on scholarship)
very challenging but non-competitive atmopshere (if that makes sense)
campus that is safe but not too isolated with lots of activity
also, I don't drink, so I don't want alcohol to be a HUGE factor
good local music scene a plus
decent campus newspaper
small class size and few-to-no TAs
little-to-no Greek system
generally decent quality of life
freedom in steering the directon of my studies (not a huge core curriculum)
quirkyness is a plus</p>

2

<p>(imitating Ben Stein in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off")
Anyone? Anyone?</p>

3

<p>REACH
Brown
Williams</p>

<p>MATCH
Bowdoin
Haverford
Oberlin
Wesleyan</p>

<p>SAFETY
Bryn Mawr
Clark U.
Lewis and Clark
Marlboro
Mount Holyoke
New College of Florida
Reed
Smith</p>

4

<p>Thank you, collegehelp. Any other opinions/comments/suggestions?</p>

5

<p>REACH
Williams- biggest reach
Brown
Wesleyan- reach</p>

<p>REACH/MATCH
Haverford</p>

<p>MATCH
Bowdoin- match
Mount Holyoke- match
Oberlin- match
Reed- match
Smith- match</p>

<p>MATCH/SAFETY
Bryn Mawr- match/safety</p>

<p>SAFETY
Clark U.- safety
Lewis and Clark- safety
Marlboro- safety
New College of Florida- safety</p>

6

<p>May I ask what school you're from, sounds like I might know...</p>

7

<p>I know this must sound really juvenile, but I'd rather not say. If you'd like to guess, I'll PM you to tell you if you are right.</p>

8

<p>Have you considered Goucher? They have an equestrian program, as well as good sciences, and would be very generous with grants, given your stats.</p>

9

<p>Well there are really only 4 schools that can be called the top prep schools: Andover, Exeter, St. Paul's and Deerfield, so take a guess.</p>

10

<p>Id say:</p>

<p>Reach:
Brown
Williams</p>

<p>Reach/Match:
Bowdoin
Haverford
Wesleyan</p>

<p>Match
Smith
Reed
Oberlin
Holyoke
Bryn Myr</p>

<p>Safety
Clark
Lewis and Clark
New College
Marlboro</p>

11

<p>Isn't Phillips higher than Exeter? People say top prep school and they're going to something like...Hotchkiss, which I would say is a top prep school...</p>

12

<p>Their are tiers, and Hotchkiss is the second tier behind the 4 top schools.</p>

13

<p>Brown is a reach for a 34 on the ACT?!</p>

<p>Their ACT range is 28-31, that puts her in the top 25%! Well, her GPA isn't a 3.8-4.0 though.</p>

14

<p>If you like equestrian, you'll love Smith, where you're absolutely a match. Look at Sweet Briar for a safety if you want to compete in college -- they have the top program in the country.</p>

15

<p>Thanks for the response, beginning. You're the only person that spends this much time helping people both at PrincetonReview and here. I love to ride competitively , but I'm not sure if I'd want to do it as an intercollegiate type thing. Plus, I've had to cut back lately because I have pretty severe arthritis, and posting's really hard on my knees, the general jostling-about is bad for my back, my hands lock up on the reins, et alia. It makes up sad. But apparently Smith has a good, more low-key recreational-type program.</p>

16

<p>yodelleaheywho: Thanks. :) I'm homebound right now, so this gives me something to do that's at least somewhat productive, I hope. Scary how many posts I have, though...</p>

<p>I hear you on the arthritis. Smith's program is definitely more low-key, so it's a good one to have on your list.</p>

17

<p>I disagree with the other posters. Brown and Williams are only a slight reach for you (make your essays as nice as your stats, and you're into both). The rest are safety schools. Congratulations!</p>

18

<p>Yodel, your grades and scores put you in the running for all the colleges on your list. I think you probably know the selectivity of each. 14’s a bit too many so I’d limit your less selectives to two that you’d really like to go to. Bowdoin, Haverford, Oberlin, Reed and Wesleyan are all high/match or match/match – it really doesn’t matter which. </p>

<p>Although you really don’t need any more suggestions I’d take a look at Amherst and Hamilton.</p>

<p>Since Williams is the school that I know the most about I’ll comment further. Williams fulfills most but not all of your wishlist. Good track record for medical school, but not so strong in language/linguistics (okay for a double major, though). They especially like athletically inclined kids and there’s an active equestrian club.</p>

<p>GREAT TO VERY GOOD FOR:
really strong psych and/or cognitive science dept.
strong general science program
great lliterature department
excellent study abroad program
small college in the East
accepting, liberal student body
good financial aid
very challenging but non-competitive atmosphere (if that makes sense) [Yes, it does]
campus that is safe . . . with lots of activity
also, I don't drink, so I don't want alcohol to be a HUGE factor
good local music scene a plus [on campus]
decent campus newspaper
small class size and few-to-no TAs
little-to-no Greek system
generally decent quality of life
freedom in steering the directon of my studies (not a huge core curriculum) [loose distribution requirements]
quirkyness is a plus</p>

<p>LESS SO FOR:
really strong linguistics dept.
great language departments
student body actively involved in comm. service
campus that is . . . not too isolated decent campus newspaper</p>

<p>PS, Sorry to hear about your arthritis. I’m several decades older than you so my mild case is nothing out of the ordinary, but I can imagine how painful and debilitating it must be for a young person. That you manage to be physically active in spite of your affliction is a testimony to your tenacity. Good luck to you.</p>

19

<p>Thank you for the kind words, momrath. Also, I really appreciate your input about Williams. I'm hopefully visiting there as well as Wesleyan, Smith, and Mt. Holyoke in about a week, and I'm excited to finally see these places that I've been reading about forever.</p>

20

<p>If you're going to be visiting Wesleyan, how about Trinity?</p>