Safety Schools for High Level Student

College Search & Selection
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<p>I live in Massachusetts, about 15 miles west of Boston and I want a college with about 6000-12000 people that isn't too urban and has lots of green space and fields and areas to hang out in the grass and isn't too close to home (so I don't really want Boston schools)</p>

<p>SATs 730 CR, 720 M, 700 W
SAT 2 Biology 770
ACTs 34 (34 E, 34 M, 33 R, 36 S)
APs by graduation: USH, Lang, Chem, Bio, Physics, BC Calc, maybe Lit</p>

<p>My favorite school so far was Northwestern because I like the school spirit, location, campus, and academics, but I also want to apply to WashU, Vanderbilt, and Penn and I think I want to do a premed track, maybe neuroscience. </p>

<p>I am trying to find some safety schools that I would like, and are still pretty good schools. I have thought of Emory, but I don't know if I will love it there. Also UMass because it will be almost free, but that's a bit close and isn't an amazing school. UMD is also a possibility, but again, isn't an amazing school and is a little big. </p>

<p>Anyone have any ideas?</p>

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<p>Syracuse? Pitt? Wake Forest and Lehigh might be a little smaller than you’d like, but would probably fit your other specifications. William and Mary? </p>

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<p>Emory would be a match, not a safety. </p>

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<p>I am not sure that William and Mary would be a safety for OOS… a match, probably.</p>

<p>Also in VA look at James Madison… I think OOS it could quite possibly be a safety/ high march (if I am using that term correctly)… University of VA, probably a Match from OOS. </p>

<p>American University in DC has a pretty campus with green space. </p>

<p>Possibly Elon in NC… although this has more of a LAC feel. </p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Since when?</p>

<p>I don’t see your unweighted gpa anywhere in this thread. If that’s because it’s weak, you may find that UMDCP is a reach.</p>

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<p>Budget constraints? Need for financial aid, merit scholarships?
GPA or class rank?</p>

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<p>University of Richmond?</p>

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<p>You want what you consider to be an amazing school (and your post makes it seem to be based on perceived prestige) but you want it to be a safety… See the dichotomy there?</p>

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<p>A safety has to be affordable, which means you have to know that all costs are covered. safeties dont give great need-based aid. some give great merit.</p>

<p>ask your parents how much they’ll pay.</p>

<p>lol…if a safety were perceived as prestigious then suddenly it would get a lot of apps…and voila…no longer easy to get into.</p>

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<p>^^correct about safeties, you can’t really advise until you understand what the financial constraints are. Check into CWRU in Cleveland. A beautiful campus, 4000 undergrads (about 5000 grad students), a very good reputation and academically minded students, and they give strong merit scholarships (still not cheap). I wouldn’t consider it a safety, but rather a strong match. They are becomeing more selective (I believe they accepted about 39% of applicants last year) but you would be a strong candidate. The Cleveland Clinic is within the university circle although I don’t know how that affects pre-med.</p>

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<p><a href=“Before you ask which colleges to apply to, please consider - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1621234-before-you-ask-which-colleges-to-apply-to-please-consider-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>We are from Mass also. </p>

<p>It’s not easy to find a great safety that size. Some good examples would be University of Vermont and University of Delaware. Vermont has Early Action. It’s a good 4 hours from Boston. Both of these schools have nice honors programs. Vermont has so many students from the Boston area, it ought to be renamed University of Masschustts at Burlington, Vermont. </p>

<p>Miami University in Ohio is an undergraduate, liberal arts university, something along the lines of William and Mary, but much easier to get into. They also have an honors program. </p>

<p>You should be hearing about the University of Alabama which will award you a full tuition scholarship based on that ACT. </p>

<p>If you’re willing to go bigger, and want a lot of strong academic peers, assuming that your grades are commensurate with your test scores, then Wisconsin is an ideal safety because it’s simply gorgeous, is very highly regarded academically - much more so than the others I’ve mentioned - and it has rolling admissions meaning if you apply in early September, you can get a decision by the end of October, and have one in the bag before any EA/ED applications are due. </p>

<p>My older daughter who was an academic star used it as her safety. The essays were easy and you’re probably in the automatic admit pile. </p>

<p>Some other possibilities are Binghamton, which is the most selective SUNY, and Tulane, which has early action. </p>

<p>Though these might not seem like safeties, but your admission is very likely. If you apply early, you can get a decision mid December and still have time to apply to another safety in the unlikely event that you don’t get in. </p>

<p>From the experience of both of my kids, I can’t emphasize enough how nice it is to have an admission to a school that you like in the bag early so that you can relax and focus on your reaches and matches. </p>

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<p>Emory is not a safety. It’s nt a safety for anyone because of how selective it is. UMD is a great school. It may not be your top choice, but it’s still a quality school. Don’t make the mistake of just choosing well known schools. The well known school isn’t always the best school. And besides, all you have us were test scores. That’s only part of the picture. You need to be clear on how active you are outside of the classroom and what your GPA is. There are tons of brilliant kids who don’t do squat outside of the classroom. And tons of average students who get into top schools because of their participation in their community and extra actives.</p>

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<p>Yes kiara, ec’s do count, but average kids don’t get into top schools without stellar numbers. I think you have distorted idea of what schools you can get into AND afford. Get real with yourself. Btw, attacking parents on this board is just stupid…all of us have kids that have gone through the college app process, many of us at IVY or IVY level schools. We KNOW the process…you would be silly not to listen to the advice. I know you have not mentioned this but don’t think your URM status will skate you through for merit or admissions, your scores are too low even for a URM boost for your reach schools. I wish you the best but I am afraid you are not willing to listen to good advice and you will have quite the shock when your adnission decisins come in. Best of luck.</p>

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<p>,btw, your post title is misleading…your stats are not that of of a high level student. </p>

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<p>Lol only on CollegeConfidential would a student who did better than 99%+ of test takers not be considered high stats.
<a href=“ACT Test Scores | ACT Scoring | ACT”>ACT Test Scores | ACT Scoring | ACT;

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<p>I think GAMom thinks this is Kiara’s thread.</p>

<p>the OP does have high stats.</p>

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<p>OP DOES have high stats :slight_smile:
Safety for you = schools with admission rates above 40% but with high-quality programs (ex: NCF, Wooster, Rhodes would be three very different types of colleges that would be absolute safeties if they’re affordable after running the NPCs and if you demonstrate interest yet the academic level of engagement is very high.)</p>

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<p>". Don’t make the mistake of just choosing well known schools. The well known school isn’t always the best school."</p>

<p>True.</p>

<p>“tons of average students who get into top schools because of their participation in their community and extra actives.”</p>

<p>Not true. With rejection rates at greater than 90%, that just isn’t true. Please site the reference that says there are tons of average students in top schools because of their ECs. This is simply not true.</p>

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<p>^it depends how you define “top school”. In some places, it’s any university and LAC ranked in the top 50 or top 100, whereas on CC it’s a handful of schools (some o_O posters even exclude Cornell :p)</p>