I’m currently a junior living in New York State, just outside Buffalo. While starting my college list, I noticed that all the safety schools on it are close to home. I was wondering if anyone could suggeset some safeties farther from where I live. If I only get into my safety schools, I still want to have the option of staying home or going away. Thaks!
I’m a full IB diploma student.
I’m taking/ have taken 6 IB classes and 6 AP classes. All my classes this year are either AP or IB.
I go to the top public high school in the state.
I’m a first generation college student
ECs:
Dance for 13 years - ranked 12th in the region
Band for 7 years -I’ve been in my school’s high school band since 6th grade (5 years)
Mock Trial/ Pre Law club
Key Club
Great, so your parents have said that they will pay $60k+ per year for ANY school? If so, super!!!
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when a college looks at your GPA do they see 4 separate GPAs from all four years or do they see one GPA based off all your classes from grades 9-12? I’m asking because freshman and part of sophomore year my grades were awful
My 3.8 is unweighted
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Curious…if Frosh/soph grades were “awful”, how do you now have a 3.8 unweighted GPA? That seems impossible.
Safety: Lewis and Clark College (Oregon) – they’d like your EC’s a lot and would be forgiving of your mediocre SAT. And your GPA is good (enough) for them, I think. (My son just applied there this year; but I’m not a pro, just a parent.)
And Loyola marymount (west LA, coastal, private -- beautiful location but don't need great SATs, and good program for pre-law schoolers.) Expensive, but perhaps it seems you don't mind cost.
Just keep in mind that you can dorm in a college even if it is close to where you are from. My S went to college under a half hour away and stayed on campus and it worked out great. We had a discussion upfront and we (parents) agreed to never just stop in on him and he (student) agreed to not use home as a crutch and he rarely came home other than school vacations.
Guilford is in a lovely area and has access to a range of schools for cross registration.
Agnes Scott if you’re female, cross reg at Emory
Mills if you’re female, cross reg at Berkeley
Another CTCL school that’s gorgeous is St. Mary’s of CA. Offers so much.
Earlham is a wonderful school with a lot of heart and a big campus
Hendrix is a great little school in the south.
If you like colleges with no grades and you design your major, look into New College of Florida and Hampshire. Hampshire is part of the 5-col consortium with free transport around the campuses. Also consider Marlboro and Bennington for small schools that encourage you to design your own path. In Canada (with the automatic discount because of Candian dollar) look at Quest University. It’s in an amazing setting, offers a great education with the block method of taking one class at a time.
I’m also from the east coast and I seriously looked at two safeties far away although I didn’t apply to them in the end because my dad wouldn’t pay for a safety far away from home. The one was LMU which was already mentioned. If you like a big school, CU Boulder is a great safety school. Really nice place too.
@mom2collegekids actually, I’m fortunate enough to have a 3rd party who is willing to pay for my education as long as I maintain my grades! I actually checked my schools portal recently and my freshman year grades weren’t as bad as I remembered! Freshman year was about a 3.5 (I know still not great but better than I thought). And sophomore was 3.2 (not my greatest year lol) but I currently have a 3.93 and if I keep that GPA for the rest of the year my guidance counselor told me she expects me to have a 3.8 overall. (Honestly, I’m not too sure on the calculations but I’m trusting her and hoping that she knows what she’s doing)
Depaul in chicago would be a good safety school if you want an urban environment. Indiana University if you want the traditional college experience. Look at University of Minnesota too.
@mom2collegekids@Fishnlines29 my intended major is business administration, I would prefer a big sports school but it’s not a deciding factor, cold weather won’t bother me as I’m pretty used to harsh winters. I haven’t gone on any college tours yet so I’m not too sure about anything as far as size or location. However, I think I might want a big school near a big city. Having a campus is also important to me.
If you apply before November 30, both UMN Twin Cities (very large and urban, big sports scene) and Penn State University Park (College Town, very large, big sports scene) would be safeties, because GPA is 2/3 of the decision along with course rigor.
Other possibilities could include UDel (College town, large, less crazy-sports-scene), Temple (very urban, large, big basketball), Appalachian State (medium large, Mountains, football), UNC-W (beach, medium large, soccer/basketball), Florida International University (Large, urban, honors college likely).
Indiana University, in Bloomington (about 45 minutes from Indianapolis), has a very strong Business school, with direct admissions for high gpa/test scores – not sure of the OP would be a direct admit with those test scores, but possible. Big basketball, great school spirit, weather not as brutal as some other parts of the midwest. Greek life is a bigger deal for female students than male, but it is still a factor in campus life, regardless (my kid’s friends say).
University of Wisconsin could be another possible – great school spirit, urban, but not huge, overwhelming city life. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities is also great school, “real” city/urban experience. Winter in both will be much harsher.
Math is normally a strong suit of mine but maybe I misunderstand. How does a 3.5 for a year, a 3.2 for a year, and a 3.93 for a year become a 3.8 GPA? To get to a 3.8 GPA you would need a 4.7 your Junior year (assuming the same number of credits each year).
Since you’ve stated that your GPA is unweighted and school doesn’t weigh grades, it’s likely impossible that your GPA would be a 3.8 cumulative after junior year.
More likely (and this is just done quickly in my head, so may be off a bit), it would be around a 3.6.