female iowa junior
27 ACT, retaking for a 30+
W 3.67/UW 3.91 (with upward trend, hopefully 4+ by end of the year)
Lots of EC’s mostly music and art based
Rigorous class load, hopefully AP scholar this year
Unsure of a major but I am interested in international relations and physics
Reaches (schools I’ve fallen in love with): Reed, Macalester, UChicago, Bowdoin, Northwestern, Colorado College, Pomona, Tufts, Berkeley
Any suggestions of match schools for me? I like the holistic approach of liberal arts but I am open for ideas!
There are lots of LAC’s in Ohio, many of which would seem to be in either match or safety range and many of which offer good merit aid. Take a look at Kenyon and Oberlin at the higher end and then schools like Denison, Wooster, and Ohio Wesleyan as schools where you might get good merit aid.
Look at Dickinson and Lawrence University as matches/safeties. Both give merit aid.
Warmer weather LACs: Rhodes, Hendrix, Trinity (TX), Occidental, Rollins, Sewanee, Centre, Elon, Agnes Scott.
Grinnell, right in your home state!
New College of Florida, Goucher, Wheaton (MA, NOT IL), Whitman, Willamette, Pitzer, Occidental, Connecticut College would be matches and realistic reaches for you . . . Eckerd, Whittier, and Guilford are potential safeties with the likelihood of generous aid packages. Most of the colleges on your list are extreme reaches, with very low likelihoods for your stats. Bowdoin is test-optional, but is brutally selective for that very reason (they were the first college to go that route, forty years ago), and your GPA probably isn’t competitive there. Colorado is a reach, but they offer some flexibility for test reports. Pitzer is highly selective, but holistic and test-optional. I don’t see any chance for you at Pomona. From your list, I’d say Reed is a big reach and Macalester a reach, with the others out of reach. Consider what you love about the colleges on your list, and then explore less-selective alternatives. UC Davis might stand in for Berkeley; Pitt for Northwestern; American or Fordham for Chicago; Bennington or Skidmore for Bowdoin; Lehigh for Tufts; etc., etc.
You might still have a chance to go to the school you love if you got a state or national award.
Here are my three Depauw (Safety), Sewanee (Match), and Davidson (Reach).
Depauw:
Great Liberal Arts school in Indiana that has a great social scene yet still takes academics seriously. The people are all amazing and they offer merit/financial aid very generously.
Sewanee:
Very great for people who want to be away from industrialization. It’s located in the mountainous area of Tennesseee and is nationally known for having one of the most beautiful campuses. The people there are also very wonderful as almost any student there would have spend hours having long conversations with you about some of the most interesting concepts with most taking a very liberal views of most issues. The only con is that you’re about 45 minutes away from essentially anything. The financial and merit aid here though is also very generous.
Davidson (Where I’m going!):
The best school int he southeastern region hands down. The academics here are no joke but manageable and since the class sizes average less than 14 people no one really slips through the cracks so failing is fairly difficult. The social scene is also amazing with Greek life being present but not excessive. And then I could go on all day about their amazing honor code that allows take home test, self scheduled final exams, and get this students leave there dorms unlocked on the regular. Also the financial/merit aid here can not be beat. For example, my need based package and merit based package, without loans, made my cost of attendance 0 no that is not a type. That’s amazing for school with a cost of attendance at $63,000 per year. The best part for me though is that it’s in a nice suburban community with a big city, Charlette, being only 19 minutes away so great connections for potential jobs after graduation.