We are certainly understanding that the super reaches are a long shot. I thought she had a good shot at the women’s schools. There are so many colleges in New England that we haven’t really thought about looking further.
I believe 223 was the cutoff this year for MA. It can always change a point or so in either direction. But its a great score. There are a LOT of GREAT and GENEROUS schools outside the NE. If you widen your net you may have other great , financially affordable schools. Not all schools are full need met schools, and you could be gapped or hit with loans as a notable part of a FA package.
Yes, if Smith has Engineering, and she likes it, keep it.
If she doesn’t want to be 3000 miles away, that nixes Mudd and Caltech.
If she loves STEM, you could still replace Wellesley with MIT.
To help us help you find a few more matches, we need to know more about her preferences:
Environment:
- Location
- Weather
- Campus size
- Urban, suburban or rural setting?
Academics:
- Majors (assuming STEM but confirmation will help)
- Class sizes
- Intellectual or pre-professional vibe? Balanced?
- Curriculum: open, core, or standard distribution requirements?
- Research/internship opportunities
- Academic calendar (semester, trimester, quarter)
Social vibe:
- Greek/party scene
- Clubs
- Sports scene
- Things to do off campus
If she wants small, engineering and is uber bright (and if you want another reach) add Swarthmore. Less “elite”? Lehigh, Bucknell. Lots of options.
MIT is on the list. She doesn’t have a lot of preferences yet. New England, maybe branching out to New York, Pennsylvania. Small-Medium size. Doesn’t love the city but would be ok with a contained campus. Weather- doesn’t really matter. Academics- Computer Science, maybe biology minor. Likes the open curriculum idea. She’s not too concerned about the social vibes. (I actually like the women’s colleges for her because of the great social connections).
Mostly, I’m wondering if there are financial safeties with over a 40/50% acceptance rate that I should consider.
Presumably you will need 100% of need met. You should look at lists of schools that promise that. Schools say they meet full need and could be matches include Bryn Mawr, Conn College, Franklin & Marshall, Holy Cross, Trinity, Lafayette, and Union. Depending on stats, those could be from low to high match, I’d think. There are reachier schools with full need that haven’t been mentioned (Vassar, Hamilton, others), though if you add a reach you may want to drop one, as your D already has enough. One thing: I have no idea how good the above schools are in Computer Science and biology,
Financial safeties will be hard, as I don’t think any of the schools on full need met list are likely to be safeties. Maybe add an alternate UMass campus?
Rensselaer Polytechnic might be likely to give her good merit aid and if she does get 1520+ SAT, would be a safety for her depending on how you define it. Very strong CS programs and in the past they have given preference to women since their student body skewed male.
For flexible curricula, look to Amherst, Hamilton, Smith and Brown.
For an indication of student dedication to CS within a liberal arts context, these sites would be worth reviewing:
https://my.hamilton.edu/news/story/comp-sci-department-hosts-college-computing-conference
Congratulations to your daughter on her accomplishments thusfar!
Although few of us on CC are admissions counselors (I certainly am not)— just parents, students, and alumni, and none of us have a crystal ball to foretell anyone’s chances, your daughter’s list seems a reasonable start to me.
Reaches (for everyone, not just your daughter): Amherst, Brown, MIT, Williams
Low reach or high match: Wellesley
Matches: Mount Holyoke, Smith, WPI
Safety: U Mass Amherst
I find that posters on CC sometimes name schools as reaches than I would think of as being in the match category. Honestly, I don’t know if they are overly cautious or I am overly optimistic! At least in my own child’s case, my judgment was not too far off, because he got admitted to his first choice early decision. In your case, here are the reasons I think two of your daughter’s schools are admission matches, not reaches. (I do not have enough knowledge to comment on financial issues, just admissions.)
Source: 2017 Princeton Review:
Mount Holyoke: 50% of applicants accepted, SAT R: 620-730, M: 610-735
WPI: 49% of applicants accepted, SAT R: 570-680, M: 640-740
Some posters here have given some terrific suggestions for additional matches as well. To their fine lists, I would add Skidmore, which also has a merit scholarship for high math/science kids and sounds like a college your daughter might like. Lafayette, which someone named above, also has good merit scholarship possibility. Maybe she might also like Brandeis?
TheGreyKing- This site does sometimes get me worried that I’m too optimistic. I ranked the schools similarly to you. Just ran the NPC for Brandeis and looks like it is worth taking a visit. We’ve talked about some of the PA schools. The list just starts to get long and I feel like we have to narrow it to around 10. This whole process can be overwhelming. Thankfully, she’s not really thinking much about it yet. Just doing her thing. Her thing has her on track so I’m letting her be.
Bryn Mawr (mentioned upthread) is nice per se, but sweetening the deal is that they claim to meet full need and are part of the Quaker Consortium with UPenn (the Ivy), Haverford and Swarthmore. This gives her access to a great many course options, many more than she would have at a single LAC. It’s suburban but pretty, within a mile of Haverford, a few more miles of Swat, and maybe 20-30 minutes from Penn and Philadelphia. It might be a high match or even a match for her if her stats are what they appear they’ll be. I believe she could actually take her major at Haverford, which is considered strong in the sciences.
Finding high-FA safeties is not the easiest task, but if you look at LACs ranked below about 70 (USNews ranking) and universities ranked below about 80 that offer strong need-based or merit aid, you may find some good options. Regardless of rank, some public schools that offer strong merit aid include the U of Alabama, U of Pittsburgh, U of Oklahoma and Ole Miss. Most of those are not in your desired geographic area, but they could be cost possibilities.
In terms of “chances” and calling a school a reach, match or safety:
- Generally, I think if your stats are about average compared to last year’s admits (check the common data set for the school), your chances are roughly the same as the admit rate. Applying early improves your chances everywhere but MIT and Georgetown. Hooks improve chances, as do great ECs, essays, etc – but it’s hard to judge the strength of the qualitative aspects of an app. A simple way is to compare stats to admitted stats and to use the admit rate as a starting point.
And i’d rather be conservative than liberal in this – better to underestimate your chances than to overestimate them. Sure, her stats will probably be better than most who are rejected, but the selective schools also reject some high-stat applicants.
if your D is considering Williams and Amherst, she should consider Bates and Colby; both easier from an admissions point of view. close enough to Mass.
Look into Union and Case Western for meets full need and strong in STEM
@citymama9 Case does NOT promise to meet full need.
My bad - they began this year! https://case.edu/admission/admission/tuition-aid
You know, not necessarily. My kid who got into Mudd took Math II and Literature. She should take what she is strongest in. The OP mentioned Spanish or Bio. My kids found Bio difficult to score high on (so many kids take it!!) and Spanish may draw a lot of native speakers. Just consider carefully what she is most likely to do well in.
Which is why I suggested she drop some other reach, like Amherst. Literally there may not be a better school for a kid of this type (girl in particular) than Mudd. Worth the travel to be with your people.
Someone mentioned RIT. While they would probably be an academic safety, my bet is not a financial safety.
Have you looked at University of Rochester? I think they meet full need and you mentioned open curriculum. They also aren’t huge.
Mudders are a special breed. Love Mudd (and love to wear my HM t-shirt to see if anyone is familiar with the school) but its not clear the OPs daughter is really that geeky (for lack of a better word) and wants to go across country, since most of the schools identified are very regional. If one wants an easier to get into, focused engineering school, Rose Hulman is worth a look.
When we looked at Colby two years ago, the CS program was not very strong. They may have upgraded the program but what I saw might not have been a good fit for someone like the OP’s daughter who is already has a strong start in CS. Bio program was great.
If she’s willing to consider the midwest, take a look at Grinnell. Less reachy than Amherst or Brown with terrific programs in both CS and biology. Open curriculum and meets full need.
OP- will your dau look outside a 150-200 mile radius?