<p>Hi. I'm a rising senior and trying to figure out some schools that would be Target or Safety schools. Any recommendations are appreciated. </p>
<p>College Wants:
-Intended Major: English Literature (with Creative Writing Focus)
-Classes: Undergrad focus, open curriculum
-Location: Intellectually, Creatively, and Culturally Stimulating
-->West, Mid West, Mid Atlantic, and New England areas
-Setting: Suburban/Urban
-Size: Doesn't matter as long as I can have small classes (<20) and a direct relationship with my professors
-Beliefs: Liberal, LGBT Friendly (preferably no religious affiliation)
-Diversity: Racial diversity is not as important to me as having a student population with different ideals and origins.
-Networking: Good publishing/author alumni network, Internships in Writing Field</p>
<p>Personal Info:
-Female/ Southern CA
-African American
-Daughter of Lesbian Parents
-GPA: 4.0 UW/ ~4.40 W
-ACT: 29 (I'm retaking it in Sept)
-Cross Country Captain (4 years in sport)
-Track and Field Captain (Varsity: 3 Years/ 4 Years in sport)
-Vocal Music: Soprano Section Leader in Chamber Singers and Vocal Jazz I (4 Years in choir)
-Founder of a vocal trio (The iTones) that volunteers and performs at local retirement homes (2013-Present)
-Three time Gold Medalist (Original Essay, Vocal Classical, and Vocal Contemporary Music) in city-wide competition for the NAACP ACT-SO
--Finalist for the national NAACP ACT-SO (Orlando, FL: 2013/ Las Vegas: 2014)</p>
<p>safeties must be absolutely affordable, absolutely some place one will get into, absolutely some place one will attend if all else fails, and, of course, have one’s major.</p>
<p>I wanted to make you aware of this program, too, OP:</p>
<p>Sign up at <a href=“New Students | Apply | Undergraduate Admissions | UC Riverside”>https://vcsaweb.ucr.edu/gap/index.aspx</a> during July to make UCR a 100% sure thing safety (you would then have to include UCR in your UC application in November). No cost or obligation now – you can then take your time to decide whether UCR would be a suitable school for you. Given your criteria, it may not be that good a fit for you, but signing up now improves your safety situation if you do decide that it is suitable upon further investigation (and if it is not suitable, it does not cost anything).</p>
<p>But, as noted above, your cost constraints are important in determining what schools can be safeties.</p>
<p>Very few schools are open curriculum, if you mean no breadth requirements. Brown, Amherst, Evergreen State, and perhaps Hamilton are among the few examples. Some commonly cited examples like Grinnell and Rochester do effectively have breadth requirements.</p>
<p>Class sizes may be available by looking in each college’s schedule of classes.</p>
<p>I’d recommend Barnard, Sarah Lawrence, Eugene Lang/New School, New College of Florida, and Goucher. Reed sounds perfect for you in most respects, but they do have a core curriculum.Rhodes might be a low-match or safety for you, also.</p>
<p>From a “vibe” standpoint I would add Wesleyan, Smith, Vassar and Hampshire. Being AA and coming from the west coast will help you admission-wise at all of these schools. But you won’t know if many of these are reaches or matches until you retake the ACT or take the SAT–and have a class rank (if your school ranks). Good luck!</p>
<p>If your ACT stays around 30, I’d recommend Lawrence U in WI. It’s popular with east and west coast students because of the trimester schedule with a winter break from Thanksgiving through New Year’s. The net price calculator was very accurate for my D1. They give great financial aid and it’s common to double major there. </p>
<p>The only safety I can think of is Beloit in WI. Maybe also Earlham in IL.</p>
<p>For matches, I’ll second Vassar- open curriculum, great English dept, with a strong alumni network in NYCs publishing industry. Very LGBT* friendly. If you can get your ACT up to 31 I think it’s a match.</p>
<p>Kenyon likes to portray itself as the “writers” school. It is not as liberal as Vassar but certainly not conservative and you might feel comfortable there. It is predominantly white and middle class though. Academically you are a match here.</p>
<p>Hamilton College has a great writing program and an open curriculum. It is all relative, but I’ve read that Hamilton is one of the most conservative of the “good new england LACs”, so maybe not a perfect match culturally. Probably still just slightly left of center. Hamilton might be an academic match if you can increase ACT. </p>
<p>Everyone else’s suggestions are good also. Oberlin in particular (do you hope to continue singing in college?). But in general I think that most top-30 LACs will have strong English departments.</p>
<p>Pomona is a reach for everyone but if you can get the ACT up in the 32-33 range you would be a strong candidate.</p>
<p>You have a great GPA, a great mix of ECs and if you can get your ACT up I think you will have a good chance at low reach schools that are a good match for your interests. Good luck!</p>
<p>@AnnieBeats, Brandeis’ middle 50 is 28-32. It seems to me a) 29 falls between 28-32, and b) if you think for a moment that Brandeis wouldn’t snap up this applicant you haven’t been paying attention. </p>
<p>I can see your point about Vanderbilt, however, since their middle 50 is 32-34 and the general cutoff looked like 33 this year. I don’t think it would be 33 for this applicant, but I can see why you think she’s not a match.</p>
<p>@AnnieBeats 25% testing scores are just one component of a “match” and this particular candidate has lots of other advantages in her favor, most importantly a high GPA and great ECs. Throw in URM and two moms and certain types of schools (the ones with great English Departments) will be happy to overlook “low” ACT scores IMHO.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus sorry, “very flexible curriculum” with easily met distribution requirements. Vassar is considered by most a (lower-case) open curriculum.</p>
<p>Hamilton College sounds like an almost perfect place for you. They have an open curriculum and a strong focus on English along with small classes and close interaction with professors. Hamilton is definitely not a safety; it would be more of a high match for you right now. Improving your ACT score should help some, though! </p>
<p>If you apply EDI or II to Emory, it’s at most a match for you. The only requirements it doesn’t seem to fulfill are the geographic location and open curriculum although it’s fairly easy to fulfill the curricular requirements while pursing your actual academic interests. Also gives good financial aid if it’s a concern for you. </p>
<p>Consider also Pitzer, Lewis & Clark, University of Southern California, Occidental, University of Miami, Hampshire College, Smith College, UC Santa Cruz, UCLA, Macalaster, and Skidmore.</p>