Hi y’all! I want to quickly preface this by saying that this is not a last-minute plea for ideas from a person who’s put no thought into her college process. I’m merely struggling with finalizing a currently very top-heavy list and would love some input from anyone who’s willing to share.
My favorite environment, as I’ve cobbled together from various visits/friends/virtual tours, is medium sized (4,000-8,000 undergrad ideal), Eastern, a curriculum that leans toward open (I’m a Brown ED deferral), options for outdoor activity (bonus points for women’s rowing team) and in or near a major city. I’ve of course already applied to several schools, but am struggling to balance my list in terms of safeties and matches. Any ideas for me? My current list is as follows:
Huge Reach:
Brown (deferred ED, so insanely unlikely)
Dartmouth
Duke
Slightly Less Huge Reach:
JHU (definitely not BME)
WUSTL
Tufts
Williams
High Match/Low Reach:
Northeastern
Colby
UNC-Chapel Hill (out-of-state)
Match:
Tulane
Safety (these are both financially safe as I’m in-state with Zell):
UGA (honors program, already admitted)
GSU (admitted, honors)
My very quick objective stats:
ACT: 35 (36 E, 30 M, 36 R, 36 S)
SAT 2: Biology-E 700, Literature 800
GPA: 96/100 unweighted
14 AP courses, 2 college courses before graduation
White female, not FA qualifying, Atlanta, GA public school
William and Mary (6500 undergrads); University of Richmond; and Rochester. To me, William and Mary, Rochester, and Tufts are more or less VA, NY, and MA versions of a mid-size national university. A smaller LAC option might be Rhodes College in Memphis. Good luck!
@TTG I’ve been on the fence about W&M–assumed it added yet another low reach to the list. These are all great ideas! I hadn’t considered Richmond and definitely need to look into it further. Thanks so much for the feedback!
I concur that University of Richmond would be a great match/safety school for you. A lot of great opportunities both academically and socially. Beautiful campus, greets division 1 sports, in a fun city, all while being a top ranked school! I loved my experience at Richmond
The University of Rochester matches all of your preferences on paper, though the aspects that define a “major city” may be somewhat personal.
Among LACs, Amherst, Hamilton and Smith offer among the most flexible curricula, and might be worth researching for that component of your criteria, as well as for their proximity to natural areas. Amherst would be a reach, not a match, however.
All of the above schools offer women’s rowing, I believe.
Yes, Richmond has a beautiful campus in a nice suburban area near downtown. Richmond (RVA) has really become a “hot” city in recent years, and has become much more popular with students and young professionals. The nightlife district, The Fan, is terrific.
@saraheliza862, you mentioned crew - are you looking to row in college as it’s a Varsity sport at many of the LAC’s, which means it could be an admissions tip if you’ve reached out to coaches.
Here’s last Spring’s D3 Top-15 Rankings - I think all will require outreach to coaches to row.
Rankings - CRCA/US Rowing Coaches
Last Updated - May 17, 2017
CRCA/US Rowing Coaches
RANK TEAM TOTAL VOTES PRIOR RANKING
1 Bates (10) 150 1
2 Williams 138 4
3 Ithaca 128 3
4 Wellesley 118 6
5 Tufts 108 7
6 Wesleyan 94 2
7 Pacific Lutheran 92 5
8 RIT 84 8
9 WPI 70 10
10 Hamilton 58 9
11 Colby 40 14
12 Lewis and Clark 34 12t
13 Washington 32 11
14 William Smith 28 15
15 Smith 18 12t
@merc81 It’s funny–I thought so too (re Wesleyan), toured it, and felt so immediately uncomfortable and out of place. Conn College is one I haven’t looked into in much depth and perhaps should! Just curious, though–wouldn’t either of those (esp Wesleyan) be considered a reach?
@Chembiodad I am looking to row in college, but would have to walk on. I’m probably underinformed about all this, but I was under the impression that that would be an option at several of the schools on my list?
@saraheliza862, probably best to fill out the recruiting questionnaires at some of the schools to find out if you can try-out later or need to be recruited.
If its D1, they will definitely recruit the full roster, and as you can see several of the NESCAC teams are very strong so they may not need walk-ons, meaning they also recruit / fill the roster through admissions. Our DD runs XC/track at Hamilton College and the roster was recruited through admissions.
Other than not being near big cites, Hamilton College really seems like a great fit;
One of our DD’s, who also attends Hamilton, applied to Wesleyan and was Waitlisted and offered a “summer melt” WL spot, but she pulled her WL spot as it never felt right for her either - great school, just not for her,
Hamilton students are really smart (Middle 50% testing ranges for accepted students: New SAT: 1420-1510. Old SAT: 1430-1540, ACT Composite: 32-34), diverse, and caring, the faculty is very supportive, and the alumni are amazing as evidenced by one of the largest LAC endowments, totaling $1 Billion,
Hamilton has an open curriculum, is known for its emphasis on writing, and has a very strong reputation in most fields,
Hamilton;s campus is gorgeous with a mix of 130 historic and modern bldgs., it totals 1300 acres with beautiful glens/trails on campus, its only an hour from the Adirondack Mountains with 46 4000’ mountain peaks and amazing lakes/ rivers that Hamilton’s Outing Club takes advantage of - a lot!
@saraheliza862 : Schools that appear to be reaches can be high matches for very strong applicants. This could be the case for you at Wesleyan, though of course if you would like to be conservative, you should regard it as a reach. With sincere demonstrated interest, Connecticut College might be a low match. However, if you didn’t like Wesleyan, I wouldn’t think you would like CC either. I might have suggested Vassar, but again, I’d think it’s too similar to Wesleyan to appeal to you.
Agree with @merc81 on classifications as our DD’s had a similar profile as yourself - 35 ACT, SAT2’s - both got 750 on Bio E & one got 800 on Math II with the other 800 on USH, both had 3.8 UW/ 4.3 W GPA with 6-8 AP’s (AP Scholar with Distinction).
So, while you may profile in the top-25%, as an ORM (Caucasian, Female from a large metro area) you are fighting against a lower acceptance rate than others - at Brown, where our DD was Deferred and then Denied, the Female acceptance rate is 40% lower than for a Male, 6% vs 10%.
My d had a close friend who rowed for University of Rochester. Also the daughter of my supervisor was a walk-on for rowing at Rutgers. She had played varsity volleyball and travel volleyball in high school but couldn’t make the team at Rutgers. She ultimately didn’t continue with rowing but she loved the perks of being a college athlete at Rutgers, able to have a car with good parking spot on campus, athlete’s gym with tutors and homework center providing assistance.
Tufts seems to tick off quite a few categories for you. I would take a lot of care with their supplementals - they care deeply about “fit.” What about Case Western?
@bookmama22, agree the team environment is a really special thing - at the NESCAC schools its really strong as many of the sports have Nationally ranked teams. Usually, the NESCAC practice facilities, fields and separate gym are great; I don’t think they have tutors in D3 - but teammates definitely eat together!
@Chembiodad I absolutely see those schools as reaches–I actually think merc81 way saying the opposite! Yes, I’m, for lack of a better descriptor, a very demographically boring applicant. I really appreciate all the rowing info and will look into it further (although I’m almost surely too late in the game for recruitment).
@Momtothreegirls I looked back into Tufts on a whim a few weeks ago (after having ruled it out my sophomore year solely based on the name–I couldn’t say Tufts without giggling) and was blown away by how much I liked it upon review! It does add another reach to the list, but I feel as if it’s a wonderful fit for me & hope they’ll feel the same way.