Safety schools

College Search & Selection
1

I’ve been having some trouble finding match and safety schools that are the kind of school I’m looking for, so if anyone has any suggestions based on my stats and such that’d be great!

I really like small liberal arts schools, such as Bowdoin, Colby, Middlebury, Williams etc. but I know my chances at those schools are very small, so I’m looking for colleges I would actually get into where I would have a similar experience. Right now I am looking to major in biology and/or math (maybe psych instead) so schools with strong programs in those areas with, ideally, less than 10k students are what I would like. Though I am planning on applying for financial aid, tuition is not a big factor.

My class size is around 110ish and I am somewhere near the top. I haven’t received my complete transcript yet so I’m not sure what my exact rank is.
School has very few APs and honors, around 7 or 8 APs and even fewer honors classes, so I haven’t had the chance to take many advanced courses, but by the end of next year I will have taken all APs offered other than physics C.
I got 4s on both biology and U.S. history and a 2 on physics (sad face)
Overall GPA is around a 96 due to not so stellar grades in freshman and sophomore year (93 and 92 overall averages respectively) though that is unweighted. This past year I had a 97.9, and it would have been a 4.52 weighted and on a 4.0 scale.

I got a 33 composite with 36 english, 27 math, 34 reading, 33 science, and 32 combined english and writing. Hopefully by actually studying the second time around I’ll get to a 34 or 35. Planning on taking the biology and math 2 SAT subject tests in october. Not going to take the SAT I

This upcoming year I will be taking AP psychology, AP microeconomics, AP government, AP chem, AP calc AB, advanced writing (1/2 year), mythology (1/2 year), and independent study spanish and german. I’ll also be doing a program at the local hospital where I’ll be learning about sciences related to the medical field (bio, anatomy, physiology etc) and doing rotations in various parts of the hospital with doctors and nurses. That will be for half the school day every day. It’s a fairly rigorous program that I had to apply to so I thought perhaps I could write about it somewhere in the common application.

I do a fair amount of extracurricular activities and they are all things that I enjoy doing and am not just doing to boost my app so I’m not worried about that area.

For my common app essay I’ll be writing about my life and upbringing as a Tibetan refugee. Getting recommendations from my math and biology teachers, as well as an outside rec from the director of a summer camp for Tibetan children that I have been going to for 7 years and am now a counselor at.

Apologies for the super long post! I wasn’t sure what was relevant. Thank you in advance for any help.

2

Take a look at the midwestern LACs. They are not quite as selective (look at Section C of the Common Data Set for your chances at each school), and some offer merit aid for someone with your scores. The merit is to increase the level of diversity. But the are every bit as strong academically as those you listed. A bit less preppy - but that’s a matter of personal taste and fit.

Grinnell, Oberlin, Macalester and Carleton are among the most selective of this group. Grinnell is especially strong in the sciences and offers generous merit aid to someone with your stats. Amazing sports facilities. Oberlin is a bit more ‘granola’ and has a terrific music culture because of the conservatory. Macalester might be a fit for someone who wants a more urban environment than Grinnell or Oberlin provide and also offer generous merit. Slightly less selective would be Beloit, Lawrence, Hendrix, St. Olafs, etc…

3

Go to any of the college match websites (like collegeboard.com) and enter the search criteria above. Your stats are good enough that you should easily get into schools with selectivity of %50 or more.

When I went to that site I got 80 matches for new england. (smaller schools, private, 50% or greater selectivity).

4

N’s mom thanks for the suggestions! I will look into those schools. I was interested in macalester and carleton but for whatever reason my dad is convinced that I’d be miserable in the midwest haha. Mitchklong I did use many search engines but I don’t know how I’d go about seeing which schools have good programs in the areas I’m interested in in a timely manner. Thank you though! I’ll try that route again

5

For you as “safety” schools I would recommend Dickinson, Bucknell, Gettysburg , Connecticut College and Lafayette. These are not classic safety schools but you should get in I think easily, most for sure.

Regarding your paragraph #2, if you add Hamilton, Colgate and Bates to that list you will get in some. The classes are small and they have quirky admissions and if you are a white female its even harder but I can’t see you being shut out of all 7 schools. The acceptance rates in regular decision are sub 20% in all cases but one has to hit your way.

6

Thanks, I will look into those! That seems like a great strategy as I’d be happy to go to any of those schools. I actually visited Bates yesterday, I hope your son/daughter has a great time there (if I’m interpreting your username correctly).

7

I don’t think Dickinson is a safety, but it is a solid match. Macalester & St. Olaf would also be matches.

8

Tell you Dad that I used to consider the midwest ‘flyover country’ and couldn’t imagine why my kid would want to go to school there. We visited a few schools and what a surprise! Not only did he love it - but I was pleasantly surprised too. Turns out that the midwest is no where near as parochial as I’d feared (yes, I admit it - bad stereotypes). People were incredibly polite and considerate compared to the major metro areas on the coast where I’d lived most of my life. The landscapes were beautiful in their own way. There was more diversity than I’d expected too. The only real negative to the midwest is the S fell in love with a girl from St. Louis, married her and plans to spend his life there…

9

Perhaps the following may be suitable as safeties or low matches? These are public LAC-type schools with relatively low list prices for out-of-state students:

Truman State College
University of Minnesota - Morris
New College of Florida
University of North Carolina - Asheville
State University of New York - Geneseo

Of course, each school should be checked for the offerings in the subjects you may major in, since smaller schools may have very small departments with few offerings in some subjects.

10

@intparent Dickinson has a 44% acceptance rate and the OP’s 33 ACT is well in the top 25% so mathematically it is a safety.

11

@exsortion Thanks, he is excited to start.

12

However, it lists “level of applicant’s interest” as “very important”, according to http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1155 . So the “overqualified” applicant presumably has to convince Dickinson that it is one of his/her top choices, not a last choice “safety”. See http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1626043-ways-to-show-a-high-level-of-applicants-interest.html for a discussion on how to show interest.

13

Yes, Dickinson will protect their yield. They rejected a classmate of my D’s with strong qualifications when she applied at the last minute. I’d say it is a low match, but the OP would want to show interest. Which I think is worth doing, one of my kids attended and had a great experience.