<p>I need a safety on the East or West coast. Ideally, I’d like a school:</p>
<li>that’s near a city;</li>
<li> has great dorms (singles for freshmen), a/c if it gets hot;</li>
<li> is decent academically, especially in math and/or bio.</li>
</ol>
<p>My stats are OK: NMSF, 2350 SAT, 5 APs. And my extra curriculas are pretty good. Still, I realize that getting into top tier schools these days is a crap shoot (especially if you aren’t a recruited athlete, legacy or URM). So, while I intend to apply to some of the usual hotties, I do need some safeties. Hence this posting. Help me out, please!</p>
<p>UWash
UCSD
Boston College (not so much with math, but good bio)
NYU (ehh not the greatest programs in what you want though)
CMU
Michigan (not on the east coast, but it would be a safety and its very good at math)</p>
<p>Thanks. Ok, this is gonna sound picky, but, here's my reaction:</p>
<ol>
<li> UWash is sort of a pr-whore school; lilke it sends everyone an invite to apply;</li>
<li> Boston College - so Catholic (and I'm not);</li>
<li> NYU -- so expensive/over-priced/rip-off</li>
<li> CMU - ugly campus, but a possible</li>
<li> Michigan -- dorms are gross</li>
<li> UCSD -- definitely a possible, though campus is a bit souless, don'tcha think?</li>
</ol>
<p>So, good try, and much appreciated. Anyone else out there want to give me some ideas, p-u-h-lease?</p>
<p>You do know i mean UWash as in the state school, not WUSTL?</p>
<p>BC is not really that catholic, you will never notice that its catholic unless you want to. Im going there next year, and I am not religious at all. I agree about NYU, and ive never seen UMich's dorms, i just know theyre very good at math</p>
<p>Oh, I did think you meant WUSTL. Sorry. Have never even thought of UWASH, so I guess I'll check it out.
As for BC -- everyone I know who's gone there is super Catholic, and I'm pretty atheistic, so I don't think it would be a good social mix for me: cynical atheist meets parochial school preps!
UMich is very familiar to me, and it just does not appeal: shabby college town, cinderblock dorms, yuck
Finding a safety is tougher than I thought it would be. Do you know anything about U. of Miami?</p>
<p>it would be a safety for you, and i think they have pretty good bio but not exactly sure. ive heard mixed reviews about the campus, dont know anything about the dorms. </p>
<p>actually a very good friend of mine who is coming to BC with me is jewish, and many people i met are apathetic when it comes to religion.</p>
<p>Some of the UC's (I'd say you have a shot at Berkeley or UCLA)
Tulane (Although New Orleans may not be the "city" you're looking for)
George Washington
Boston University (It's really popular right now)
Villanova</p>
<p>All of those are near a major city and are pretty well-respected. I can't speak for the quality of the dorms, though.</p>
<p>Have you considered liberal arts colleges? There's a lot of really good ones out there, and looking into them opens up a lot of opportunities.</p>
<p>Honestly, the few stats you mentioned are really impressive. I don't think you have a whole lot to worry about. But it's smart of you to realize that the college process is a crapshoot and you need to have some viable safeties in mind.</p>
<p>U of South Carolina. You are in, and could get a full ride in the McNair Scholars program. With your SAT score and a top 10% class rank, you would automatically get $4,000 per year, plus automatic in-state tuition.</p>
<p>We are considering it since it will basically save enough in 4 years to pay for one year of grad school. It is not a top ranked university, but it's in a decent college town, not too cold in the winter, and a party school from what I hear (if you are into that).</p>
<p>This is all very helpful, thanks again. But I'd still like a few more suggestions, if possible. My reactions to the above suggestions are (I write this to give readers an idea of obvious personal issues I probably won't be able to overcome in the next year!):
1. Oberlin: why do I think that everyone who applies here is more than a little weird/socially mal-adjusted?
2. Scripps: all girls (but I like guys).
3. CMC: I love the 5 colleges, but CMC seems a bit too full of self-promoting politician wannabes.
4. Vassar: too many girls.
5. Middlebury: possible, but perhaps too isolated? Too preppy?
6. Rochester: depressing rust belt.
7. Tufts: do I wanna be in a second tier college in a town where there are 2 top tier places? Ditto BU
8. Lehigh: too isolated, and wasn't there some gruesome murder there? Like they admit students with a criminal past?
9. Tulane: would have considered it, but don't like what I'm hearing about New Orleans.
10. GW: definite possibility: thanks Lisa G for that one. Though, come to think of it, it does play second fiddle to Jesuit Georgetown....
11. University of South Carolina: I'll think about this one. It's like out of left field and unpredictable. Cool.
12. Villanova: I'm not an african-american track star. </p>
<p>Don't give up on me, please. These suggestions provide great food for thought. Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>you seem to key in on a negative feature of any school offered without taking into account some of the great plusses of some of these schools, so I think it would be hard to offer suggestions.</p>
<p>You're right. I tend not to gloss over negatives. Money is tight, so the last thing I want to do is to end up at a place that's not the right "fit." Wish I were the sort of person who could go anywhere and be happy, but, alas, that ain't gonna happen, so I might as well be honest with myself. I do see the positives: for example, I would love the musical events at Oberlin, and Scripps' dorms are reputed to be awesome. But, and I think you'd agree with me here, one has to telescope out, look at the big picture, and weigh all the variables. Some people enjoy living in bunks beds, 2-4 to a non a/c rooms in, say, the Carolinas, but I know I wouldn't. So why pretend otherwise? What would be the point? I asked my question because, living up North, and not having visisted every state, I don't know all that's out there. I've read a lot, and talked to a fair number of people, but this board is great for information trawling. So, instead of getting all defensive and pouty (gee, does it really matter if I don't LOVE every suggestion), throw some more schools out there.</p>
<p>Okay, seeing as its my state, what about some of the Virginia colleges like W&M, UVA, VT, and JMU? Just a suggestion, as I love my state. :) W&M and UVA would not be safeties, probably reaches/high matches, but JMU and VT might be. (I'm not a VA native, btw, I came out-of-state to UVA and now I never want to go home!)</p>
<p>What about Vanderbilt? It is in a city (Nashville--very charming, nice atmosphere, lots to do), is very well-respected academically, and I know it has a lot of single dorms for freshmen (that was a big turn-off to me, though; why would you want to socially isolate yourself before you've even met anyone?). Again, not a safety, though. I kind of suck at suggesting safeties...</p>