Schools Similar to These?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello everyone! I'm a rising senior and this is my first post on CC, but I've been lurking on and off for a while.</p>

<p>Anyway, I'm just starting to finalize my list and I want to make sure that I'm not overlooking anything. The schools I have so far are:</p>

<p>Brandeis University
Brown University
University of Rochester
Tufts University
Vassar College
Yale University</p>

<p>I've also applied to the University of Pittsburgh, a school which I consider a safety - I should qualify for the Honors College (I'll find out the results of that in a couple of weeks, but I'm feeling pretty confident). </p>

<p>With that said, I'm trying to make sure that I haven't overlooked or prematurely ruled out any college/university in my search so far (for example, I had crossed off Vassar completely last year, but upon looking again it's now high on my list).</p>

<p>I'm looking for a smaller/medium university or a larger liberal arts college but I'm somewhat flexible on size, although a focus on undergraduates is relatively important to me. I'd really like for the school to be in the Northeast, and preferably around some kind of city or large town. The atmosphere of the school is pretty important to me. I like to consider myself somewhat artsy and intellectual, but not in a flashy way. I'm also into "social justice" and I'm very liberal. I'm an atheist. The school must be LGBT friendly (I'm an ally but I don't think I could deal with an atmosphere where all people aren't treated equally). I come from an affluent, mostly-white town, so I'd love to go to a school with a lot of ethnic and socioeconomic diversity (with actual interaction between people of different backgrounds). </p>

<p>Hopefully I will be a QuestBridge finalist (single parent, income <$35k), but I do not think I'm looking to match - I'm including this tidbit for financial aid context. For merit aid, here are some of my stats: top 5% unweighted (97/100, slight upward trend), 1510/2270, 34 (all one sitting so far, but should increase to 2300+ and 35 by November). </p>

<p>That ended up being longer than I had anticipated so thanks for reading and for your suggestions! Please let me know if I've excluded anything that would be important here. Thanks again!</p>

2

<p>I’m not sure you can afford UPitt which would not make it a safety. Why not add Alabama for its full tuition scholarship? What is your home state?</p>

3

<p>Thanks for your response! My home state is New York; I forgot to mention that I’m also considering Geneseo (or maybe Binghamton, pending visits). I’m hoping that I’d get some merit aid at Pitt, but I’ve heard that they’re sometimes shaky on that which contributed to my applying really early. Anyway, Alabama is a great school but it’s just not for me, for a few reasons. </p>

4

<p>UPitt does have good merit money, even for OOS students. There’s full tuition and full rides for people somewhere around your hoped-for scores. But your chances of getting a full ride Chancellors is slim. I’ve learned from CC and a year of research that in recent years, Pitt’s invited 65-70 students for interviews and handed out about a dozen full rides. The rest usually got full tuition. There are add’l full tuition merit awards, too, apparently. A couple of years ago, the avg CR + M of the full tuition students was 1513. This year it was significantly higher, it appears, because of the increased apps from high scorers Pitt has rec’d. Having some research experience or special ECs might help.</p>

<p>Question is if your family could afford Pitt’s COA minus the 27K in tuition: about 16K/yr plus 2-3 percent increases each year. This is a bloated number perhaps as it includes $3300 in personal expenses incl. clothing. It doesn’t include transportation. So with 5500 in loans you can take out, help from the feds, your savings, work during the summer, etc. could you make up the 14-16K, OP? </p>

<p>Even if Pitt can be an affordable safety, you might consider a second safety you can afford, perhaps one of those nice NY state schools. they are pretty affordable, esp with the aid you’ll get. If you can nail down the safeties, having a bunch of reaches like Brown, Yale, and Tufts and some matches that can be fickle with FA like Brandeis, URoc. I don’t know what Vassar’s FA is about. </p>

5

<p>Geneseo and Binghamton are both great safeties that offer really good aid for in-state (Binghamton’s aid is perhaps better–it is known as the “best bargain school”). Vassar sounds like a really great fit for you and was the first school I thought of when I read what you were looking for, so I’m glad to see it’s already on your list. </p>

6

<p>Thank you, jkeil911, for a very thorough and informative response! I’m saving up some money (not much) from a job that I’m working this summer, so I may as well put that to use and apply to a SUNY - I think Geneseo would be a better fit than Binghamton. Also, Vassar’s financial aid should meet my needs, should I be admitted. </p>

<p>Now that I’ve got some financial stuff worked out, can anyone suggest schools to look into? I’ve previously considered Case Western Reserve but I’m hesitant about the atmosphere and rumored focus on sciences and engineering - I’m a prospective sociology major. </p>

7

<p>Thanks Ranza123!! I recently kind of reevaluated my search process and was glad to add Vassar to the list. </p>

8

<p>Here are some more you may want to look into based on everything you’ve said: Amherst, Wesleyan, Smith, Skidmore, Mount Holyoke, Barnard, Bard</p>

9

<p>If your hoped-for stats arrive, there might be enough FA also at Cornell, Chicago, UPenn, Duke, Arizona, Northwestern, and Michigan. BTW, Binghamton is supposed to have pretty good sociology, and it could well be a safety.</p>

10

<p>Thanks again, folks! It may also be worth noting that I am a male.</p>

11

<p>Oh whoops, then take Mount Holyoke, Smith, and Barnard off the list I gave you!</p>

12

<p>Would Haverford be a good choice? It seems small, but maybe with Bryn Mawr size wouldn’t be too big a problem. </p>

13

<p>It is very small, which I personally like in a college, but you may want to visit some small colleges to see if that’s right for you. It is only 10 miles from Philadelphia, however, so that may be a plus for you. I’d say it’s definitely worth looking into. </p>

14

<p>Haverford shares courses and students with Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore, and I think Penn also offers some cross-registration. I know from personal experience that Quaker Haverford has an interest in promoting students with bios like yours, and Haverford and Swat are both QB schools (as well as Penn). None of the three consortium schools is racially diverse, but then most elite schools have this problem. Haverford and Swat can also be more politically and intellectually homogeneous than many other elite schools. I love all of the schools in the consortium, but they are politically liberal and suffer from a certain amount of group think. Another way to say this is that there is definitely a Haverford student.</p>

15

<p>Sounds interesting! Anything else notable to look into?</p>

16

<p>well, there is the Gourman Report on sociology depts. See post #2 in this url:</p>

<p><a href=“Top Undergrad school for Sociology - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/382157-top-undergrad-school-for-sociology.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>There is some unhappiness with Gourman on CC.</p>