Thoughts on current list, plus a couple more schools

Hi all! The time has come to really finalize my college list so I can get working on supplements. I’m crazy busy from late August to early November and I’m aiming to apply EA or rolling to as many schools as possible, so the earlier I can get stuff done the better. I was wondering if you might be able to take a look at my current list and let me know if it’s balanced enough? I’ve been thinking it’s in a pretty good place, but my GC says this last year was really competitive, and I wanted a couple more eyes on it. If it is in good shape, I’m also looking to add a couple more schools, either matches or reaches. Thanks in advance for all your help!

Here are my stats:
GPA (UW) - 3.96 (2 B+ in honors math)
GPA (W) - 4.30 (most likely puts me somewhere in the top 5% of my class, maybe even better)
SAT - 1530 (770 M, 760 CR+W)
1 AP so far (Euro, don’t have score yet), taking 4 next year (Lit, Calc AB, French, Chem)
Pretty normal ECs, but clear dedication and leadership
I’m instate for NJ

Not 100% sure about major. I’ve been tossing around a bunch of ideas. Maybe healthcare, maybe business, maybe English education. I know, I’m all over the place.

Current List:
TCNJ
Pitt
Penn State
Ohio State
Delaware
Saint Mary’s College (Notre Dame)
University of Richmond
College of William & Mary
Villanova
Boston College
Notre Dame
Haverford

Thank you again!

Should specify that I’m looking East Coast through Midwest, and VA is as far south as I’d prefer. Thanks!!

Excellent. I like it. Great choices.

As long as the schools all appear affordable, the list looks good to me. I’d make it a point to apply early to any schools that have non-binding EA or rolling admissions – if you get into a college or two by December it takes a lot of pressure off the process.

Why St. Mary’s College rather than Notre Dame ? Just as a safety ? Can’t you apply to both ?

St Mary’s has the reputation of being a very special community for young women, and offers programs that are not available at ND (education, some pre-professional programs like speech pathology etc.). For the right student, it can be the “best of both worlds” – small, supportive, single sex community, with the opportunity to participate in clubs, events (and game weekends) at ND. Students can apply to both, and we know some students who chose St Mary’s over ND because, among other factors, the focus on empowering women.

@Midwestmomofboys @Publisher I’ll actually be applying to both. Sorry if that wasn’t clear. I love both schools. I like that SMC is on the smaller side and identifies itself as an LAC, but the prestige of ND can’t be beat. I’ll wait to see where I get in before I worry too hard about which I’d pick.

If anyone has any suggestions for a couple more schools, I’d appreciate that. Thank you for all your replies!!

If you are interested in strong communities for women, you might want to consider Banard. It is a great community and you will be able be connected to the Colombia community, and to my understanding be able to graduate with the same degree.

You have 12 already, are you sure you want more?

I’m curious about your choice of Pitt, Penn State, Delaware, and Ohio State. IMHO those schools occupy the same lane and you should get into all 4, so are you sure you want to apply to all of them? If you apply non binding early, you should have a response back before RD application is due for the others. Or are you trying to compare financial awards? These are all schools that will present you with lots of opportunities.

Then you have 3 hard to get into Catholic schools - Villanova, BC, Notre Dame. And 1 easier to get into, women’s Catholic school - Saint Mary’s. If you want to add here, what about Holy Cross? Or are you interested in adding another women’s college option?

Then University of Richmond and William &Mary, both great Southern schools.

I couldn’t figure out where Haverford fit in.

And TCNJ is your in-state financial safety.

Did you look at Muhlenberg, Lehigh & Lafayette? Barnard? What schools did you look at and reject?

have you thought of adding bryn mawr and/or washington and lee? the latter appeals to a specific type of student, but you have uofrichmond on your list, so i figured i would suggest it. the former is riiiight next to haverford (which kind of sticks out to me because it is by far the most different and smallest school on your list). i also agree with looking into muhlenberg, lehigh, lafayette, and barnard. what about wellesley? smith?

The existing list has more schools in Pennsylvania than from anywhere else. Other possibilities in PA might include:

  • Lehigh. Small university, actually has more students from NJ than from PA, wide variety of options for both liberal arts and business (good for interdisciplinary combinations), strong alumni community and career placement. Also Lafayette and Bucknell, in same athletic league as Lehigh, but smaller and more liberal arts oriented.
  • Bryn Mawr. Women's college, very closely connected to Haverford, students can get housing and declare majors on either campus. Women who apply to Haverford commonly apply to Bryn Mawr as well; if you like the Bi-College community, why not get two chances for admission and financial aid instead of just one?

Expensive OOS publics…what are your parents saying about paying for these schools, or the others?

Have you run the NPC on all of them?
If you like smaller, LAC-like schools, what about st Mary’s of Maryland and SUNY Geneseo?
For Catholic colleges, what about Fordham? Holy Cross?
For women’s colleges, what about Bryn Mawr since you like Haverford?

@melvin123 The competitive nature of admissions has really freaked me out. I guess I was thinking the more safety schools the better. Thanks for all your recommendations. I’ll admit that I’m not 100% sure where Haverford comes in either. I toured the tri-co and Villanova back in February, and I just really loved the atmosphere there. I wasn’t a fan of Swat or BMC, though. BMC was just

Sorry, posted too soon. BMC was just too out there for my tastes (and my parents). The campus was beautiful, but as we walked under a bridge of some sort there was a string of bras and underwear and people were walking around in costumes and it wasn’t really my vibe.

@mom2collegekids finances aren’t a major concern, but I understand where you’re coming from. At all but PSU, I was under the impression I would be competitive for merit aid. Is that not the case? I know PSU is bad for merit, so I may take it off.

Thank you all for your help! I really appreciate it!

@ladidee applying early to some of the schools will give you some insight and will allow you to decrease your list. I’m a parent of the class of 2018 and I know that some of the kids who applied to Pitt and Delaware this year received their admissions decisions in mid-Fall, but the financial part of it took longer to come in. If you are doing all 4 to compare financial offers, this could be a good strategy. But I really wouldn’t do more than 12 applications because of how much time this takes to do a good one and how busy you’ll be in the Fall.

@ladidee Just an example re finances, Notre Dame offers very few merit scholarships. I believe to @ 2% of students. Of those merit scholarships offered, a bunch of them still require financial need as a qualifier. Several others have qualifiers like a specific city/state/country of residence, one is even restricted to a certain high school. Lastly, others are limited to certain majors. There aren’t a lot that are based solely on merit. I’m not saying you’re not as competitive as other high-qualified students, I just wanted to point out that merit money there is very limited.

https://meritscholarships.nd.edu/scholarships/

By your own admission, your choice of major/career aspirations are all over the map. Despite your comment about finances not being an issue, “time is money.” In other words, if you decide to change majors at any point, you may not graduate in 4 years because you’ll need to pick up additional courses in the new major. Be sure that any school you pick offers you the flexibility to change majors without incurring too much additional time and money. As an English teacher myself, I find your possible career path as an English educator to be laudable; however, is an undergrad degree in education at Boston College or Notre Dame, both fine institutions, worth the cost?

My brother in law an nd grad was very complementary about the young women at smc. He also said many finish at Nd and either way are definately part of the broader community there.

would replace Delaware with TCNJ better school, more one on one attention. and less $$$$