Suggestions for reaches, matches, and safeties?

College Search & Selection
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You definitely don’t have to wait for D3 schools to reach out to you; most have Prospective Athlete questionnaires that you can submit on their websites.

Just for example, since I’m familiar with the Claremont Colleges…
Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, and Scripps share an athletic program: https://www.cmsathletics.org/sports/wten/recruitquestionnaire
and Pomona and Pitzer share another: http://www.sagehens.com/sports/wten/RecruitQuestionnaire

As for the Claremonts specifically, Claremont McKenna is a tippy-top Econ school; and foreign languages, which are shared among all the colleges, are top-notch. Pomona would be excellent for you academically but doesn’t offer merit. Scripps has good math/econ in its own right as well as ample cross-registration opportunities with the other schools, but CMC’s Econ department is the exception - those courses are generally not open to other Consortium students. (Mudd is a STEM-specialty LAC and wouldn’t be the right fit for you.) CMC, Pitzer, and Scripps all have merit scholarships - Scripps has the most (up to half-tuition) but CMC has some generous ones too. Pitzer, I believe, has only smaller merit awards unless there’s something I’m not aware of. Instrumental music wise, Pomona has its own ensembles, and the other four schools have a joint music program.

The academic level of D3 schools runs the gamut. There are some that rightfully wouldn’t be on your radar at all, and some that are too elite to offer any merit, but definitely quite a few in the target zone in between. (Scripps and CMC being two good examples, with wonderful tennis weather!)

There’s not much, if any overlap between marching band programs and D3 athletics, because typically having a band on the field is a D1 attribute. (Maybe other people can point out exceptions?)

But in the good-schools-with-a-serious-marching-band category, look at USC (good merit potential, and there’s club tennis if their D1 team is out of reach http://www.trojantennisclub.com/ ), Northwestern (I don’t think they give merit though?), and U of Miami (you could probably get significant merit there, and academically it wouldn’t be a bad school for your interests). All of these have conservatory-level music instruction and concert band opportunities as well, of course.

Another top school for you to look at would be U of Rochester. Phenomenal music (Eastman Conservatory is part of the University and there are ample opportunities for non-majors), D3 tennis (nice indoor facility, which is obviously needed because Rochester is crazy-cold), top-tier academics with an open curriculum that makes interdisciplinary/cross-disciplinary pursuits easy, and great merit aid potential. In addition to the expected math + econ offerings, this certificate might be of interest: http://www.rochester.edu/college/msc/certificates/mathmodel.html

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Other D3’s in the “strong academics but still offer merit” category would include UChicago (merit is super competitive but more likely if they want you for athletics), Emory, WashU, Grinnell, Whitman, Kenyon, Skidmore, and Sewanee (worth a look if you like Vandy/TN - strong in econ).

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I’m going to jump on the “look into Rochester” bandwagon here. For some reason, it’s not a school that gets much attention in the Midwest. My daughter often has to explain that she goes to school in NY rather than Minnesota. We almost didn’t visit when she was in high school, but once we did it rocketed (over schools like NU, Vandy, and WUSTL) to first place on her list. She’ll be a senior there next year.

It’s a great school for students with a wide range of interests and a desire to continue exploring them. Its academics are top-notch, and I think you’d find peers with interests and attitudes similar to your own. And it offers both substantial merit and generous financial aid. (my daughter had similar stats to yours and Rochester offered a merit aid package that made it quite affordable.) They encourage study abroad and make it financially-attainable for all students.

Math and economics are strong departments, but you would not be locked into those if you changed your mind. Music is also a focus there. Students can take lessons at Eastman and there are great opportunities for nonmusic majors, with performance ensembles that range from symphony orchestra to ensembles that perform in musical styles that include, among others, jazz, rock, or West African drumming. Many high-school athletes continue their sports on varsity and club teams.

Students tend to be academically oriented, but they don’t take things too seriously and tend to be a bit quirky and proud of that quirkiness. (The Quidditch team won the world cup last year, a campus point of pride, and acapella performances are as well-attended and cheered as football games.)

Edited to add: And it’s cold, but not that much different from Iowa. (We’re in Chicago and it’s pretty much the same as here.)

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Congrats on your hard work and success in HS!

I agree with @privatebanker about staying away from teacher rec from the teacher with your two lowest grades.

I suggest adding UNC to your list both as they offer merit and are less expensive than many other schools of equal quality, even for OOS students

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Thanks @EllieMom I’ll definitely look into Rochester!

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@prezbucky has a really good list for you. My only expectation modification is to swing Wake and Boston College with Tufts USC and Emory group. They are more difficult currently to gain admissions to than the others in the match group. Only my opinion. And who really knows anyway.

This is Based on this years personal experience and some of he stats coming out. BCs admission rate is higher at 27 percent but the quality of the pool is high. Some folks don’t like their merit policy common core and religious affiliation. So it eliminates a lot of tire kickers and most of the pool is competitive.

But to each his own. You would be a great addition to any.

But all of the schools mentioned are superior places of higher learning.

And really good fits for you

For aid. BC only gives out 15 merits a year and they are invitation only application and interview process type. But if you win it’s a four year free ride level award. But it’s awarded after admission and before the rd round. So you would have to apply Restricted early action. It’s not ed though.

But BC does meet 100 percent of need as they define it. Which includes home equity.

I’m not sure of wake’s merit programs.

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Seconding URochester, Brandeis, and Scripps. Adding Bryn Mawr and St Olaf (the latter especially for math and music).

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I would just like to thank everyone on this thread for taking the time to be so incredibly helpful and make thoughtful recommendations. I appreciate it more than you realize, the college search is daunting sometimes!

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@privatebanker

I’ve been chewing over my post a bit and want to modify it by putting Emory and Tufts up on the Low Reach line and then probably Wake and BC (as you mentioned) on the High Match line.

…for what that’s worth, which probably isn’t much. hehe

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@prezbucky not that I don’t trust you, but can I ask what made you change those few?

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Sure:

  • Emory's admit rate (Emory College) was 18.5% this year -- lower for RD.
  • Tufts' admit rate is around 15%, also lower for RD.

My Low Reach chance range is 15-25%. Now, your stats are above average, so based solely on stats you’d have an above-average chance of getting in, probably – but you’re looking at a starting point in the teens at both schools.

Regarding BC and Wake, I’m taking privatebanker’s word for it, though BC’s admit rate (27%, lower in RD) probably makes it a borderline high match/match for you, given your awesome stats. Wake was at 25% last year, prolly a bit lower this year. (my High Match range is 25-40% and Match is 40-60%). I did not check all schools’ 2022 stats. I’m going off previous experience. You can typically find last year’s admissions stats at just about any school in their Common Data Set.

For all of these, we can only “chance” based on what we know, chiefly: their admit rates (overall and by round, if we can get those stats…), the average GPA and test score stats of admits/entrants, your stats and how they compare, and whether any hooks are in play (and then try to guess how much hooks move the needle…). The limitations of trying to do this are immense: we don’t know how they would view the qualitative portions of your app, we don’t know what exactly they need in their class and whether you fill a need, and we don’t know if they’ll pick up on the vibe you emit generally. Some things just aren’t knowable to anyone but the adcoms reading your app, designing the class they want, etc. You could get into Harvard but not Tulane, Yale but not Wake… and never really know why. We’re just arranging them in terms of selectivity based on the information we do have.

To me, the purpose of putting these schools in these groupings is to help you put together a balanced app list comprising reaches, matches, and safeties (at least one!), if you desire a balanced app list. The only thing you must do is apply to at least one safety. What I think you should do on top of that is to only apply to affordable schools that fit your preferences.

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Thank you so much @prezbucky ! And thanks for your original list, I investigated all of the schools you mentioned and they all seem like great fits for me!