I am a student with a 3.48, 1440 SAT, and a budget around 30-35k total/year. I’m interested in psychology, but I would like to have options for exploring other majors and career paths. So far, I’m interested in SUNY New Paltz, Clark, American, and Goucher. I would like to go to a college with anywhere between 2k-12k students, hopefully with easy access to an urban area and more of a quirky/liberal vibe. I’m applying to my instate public as a safety, but I really don’t want to go unless nothing else works out financially. With EA deadlines coming in a few weeks,are there any more schools I should be looking at?
Run some net price calculators. It’s entirely conceivable that a family making <100k a year could qualify for substantial financial aid at a high tuition college. At the top of the “larger liberal arts college” list would be Wesleyan (3000), Colgate (2900), Vassar (2400), Wellesley (for women - 2500) and Barnard (also for women - 2600). With the exception of Colgate, all are well within striking distance of urban areas.
Clark and American and your other choices are great matches for you! Brandeis and U of Rochester might be reasonable reaches for you. Other matches for you might be Muhlenberg, or Wheaton in Massachusetts.
Goucher should be pretty generous with $ for you.
Thanks for the help!! I was looking into Brandeis because it fills a lot of my boxes, but I’m not sure if it would be too much of a reach given the high average GPA. Is it still worth it?
^I don’t know, but I think it is a ‘reasonable reach’ for you, not a place where you won’t stand any chance at all. It is worth it because you will never know unless you apply. If you have taken challenging classes and are in the top ten percent of your class, your odds will be better than if otherwise. I also wonder if you will get the aid you need from Brandeis, which, while pretty generous, does not promise to meet the full need of very student and gives very limited amounts of merit aid. So, I would say, try for it (why not?), but make sure you have good alternatives, which it sounds like you do. I think you have an excellent chance at Clark, American, Goucher, and New Paltz, all great colleges.