Target/Safety Schools

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello,
I was referred to this site by a friend, and it appears to be very helpful in the "list" formation process. I am looking for target/safety schools with a liberal arts focus. I'm clueless in terms of my major. In accordance with my parent-enforced location restrictions, any school on the east coast as far south as Maryland and as far north as Massachusetts should be fine. Thank you for your help!</p>

<p>Female Long Island, NY
Private Jewish Orthodox High School; I have a double curriculum. My school is seven years old are very competitive. We send many grads to top schools.</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 97.00
GPA - Weighted: I don't know how this works??
Class Size: 75</p>

<p>SAT I Math: 720
SAT I Critical Reading: 700
SAT I Writing: 800
SAT II U.S. History: 690
SAT II Chemistry: 670
(ANY SUGGESTIONS ON RETAKES WOULD BE HIGHLY APPRECIATED! BUT KEEP IN MIND I HAVE A VERY BIG DEBATE TOURNAMENT AT THE END OF OCTOBER AND HAVE LITTLE TIME TO STUDY, SO I WILL PROBABLY ONLY HAVE TIME FOR ONE SAT DAY IN EARLY OCTOBER.)</p>

<p>Debate Team 4 years (senior - captain)
Model Congress 4 years (senior - advisor)
Newspaper 3 years (senior - associate editor)
Creative writing club 3 years
College Bowl 2 years
Anti-Bias Task Force 2 years
Latin Club 1 year
Art Club 1 year
Yearbook English literature committee (likely editor)</p>

<p>National Honor Society President (I actually have plans for a NHS Renaissance this year...previously, my school did not use it at all.)</p>

<p>Yeshiva University Eimatai Leadership Conference (3 day program)</p>

<p>Youth leader for weekly synagogue youth groups (paid job - I've been doing this since I was in eighth grade)</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work: Volunteer administrative work in thrift store to finance weddings for brides who could not afford (15 hours)
Work in a Waltham, MA housing project (15 hours)
Shadow mentally disabled children (should come out to around 30 hours total, plus many more in the months before I apply)</p>

<p>NHS - 3 years
Principal's Honor Roll - 1 year (freshman)
In-School science fair winner (freshman) participated in Long Island Science Congress but did not win anything</p>

<p>Published letter to the editor in the New York Times - June 2007
Published twice in Fresh Ink, a supplement to the Jewish Week, a commonly read U.S. Jewish newspaper - June 2006, January 2007</p>

<p>College Summer programs: Genesis at Brandeis University - July 2006</p>

<p>Thank you for your help!</p>

2

<p>You can get into nowhere. Rebecca, don't worry you have like a bazillion SAT and you did every EC there is in your school. I am so honored to be your first post, so here I go. </p>

<p>Maryland Gemstone-One of the top programs in America, really look into this.
Amherst- Perfect for you, Mrs. Liberal
Brandeis- You love it, and it would be a solid safety for you(and I'm sure you'd get some merit aid there).
Wellesley- I don't know how you feel about women's colleges, but this is the top of it's kind in the country
Smith- Another great women's school, and you could probably get some merit aid(also, Katherine goes there if it matters at all to you).
Nassau Kommunity Kollege-Just Kidding :-)</p>

<p>Good luck Rebecca!</p>

3

<p>Okay, so you said that you don't know what you want to major in. That's perfectly fine. Lots of students change their major more than once in college. That means that it's really important to ask prospective colleges what happens if you decide to change major. Will the credits go with you to your next major, or will you have wasted lots of time and money? When do you have to declare your major? What majors are offered? You want to go to a school that offers a wide variety of majors. Also, what do students at that school major in? For example, if 80% of a school's graduates major in only one subject, what does that tell you about the school? </p>

<p>I don't have recommendations for target/safety schools, sorry. But you should think about the above questions and also think about things like do you want small or large classes, a sense of community, how much of a social scene, what type of student body, and stuff like that. People who ask for suggestions for a list should make this more of a priority than their extracurriculars, because listing what you're looking for helps indicate what you want.</p>

4

<p>With stats like yours, Brandeis should be a low match. You'd also have a decent shot at Barnard.</p>

<p>But as for actual safeties, try:
-Smith, Sarah Lawrence, Hampshire, and Skidmore if you want a liberal / free-thinking atmosphere.
-Connecticut College and Marist if you want a more traditional atmosphere.</p>

<p>You shouldn't need to retake the SAT. Your current scores are already at or above the 75% for all of the safeties I mentioned.</p>

5

<p>Amherst would probably be a high match, BL. I wouldn't say that it's a safety for anyone....</p>

6

<p>Thanks for your suggestions dchow. I didn't even consider what would happen if I decided to change majors.</p>

<p>Anyway, in terms of the school itself...
I definitely want small classes, a strong sense of community, and a diverse student body. Those three factors are very important to me. I also don't want to go to school in the middle of nowhere; I'd like to be able to be a <60 minute public transportation ride from a city. I also like the idea of community service and activism opportunities.</p>

7

<p>If diversity is important to you, add Mount Holyoke to the list. It usually ranks pretty high for diversity.</p>

8

<p>Do you have a list of reach schools yet? If so, it would be useful to see what they are, so that we could better judge what you're looking for (even for someone who loves LACs, there's a differeance between someone whose top choice is Welseyan, and someone whose top choice is Williams, most of the time). </p>

<p>But anyway, some schools that come to mind that would probably be low matches or, in most cases, safties (I also think all of world changer's suggestions are good): Bryn Mawr, Dickinson, Hamilton, Goucher</p>