Touring northeast colleges

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi :) Over spring break I'm looking at some liberal arts colleges in the northeast. I'm trying to decide where to visit. Here's my list of ones I'm thinking about:
-Wesleyan (reach)
-Vassar (reach)
-Bard (match)
-Bennington (safety)
-Sarah Lawrence (safety?)</p>

<p>My UW GPA will be about a 3.5 (with a bad freshman year but a huge huge huge upward trend. also, I go to a top 50 USNWR competitive public high school). I'll have about a 2200 SAT. </p>

<p>I'm looking for a school with an intellectual rather than preprofessional atmosphere and extremely smart students that love learning. I wouldn't mind rigorous academics. I prefer a close-knit atmosphere with friendly students. I'd like the campus to be very liberal, LGBT friendly and have good vegan food. I'm not really interested in an urban school. I'd also love a classically beautiful campus, although that isn't a big factor :) I'm not sure what I want to study, but I'm leaning toward environmental studies.</p>

<p>Any schools I should visit? I don't mind if they're safeties, reaches, etc. More matches would be nice. I'd also consider larger schools if any fit me. My dad and I are probably flying in and out of NYC. Right now, Reed is my top choice outside of the northeast, if that gives any idea of what I like. :)</p>

2

<p>Connecticut College? It was on my list among with many of the others you mentioned. Smith if you’re female and ok with a women’s college.</p>

3

<p>There are many colleges that could fit your criteria. </p>

<p>In NY: Hamilton, Union, maybe even University of Rochester and Colgate, possibly St. Lawrence. </p>

<p>In CT: Connecticut College, Trinity. </p>

<p>In Mass: Williams and Amherst, Brandeis.</p>

4

<p>Swarthmore and Bowdoin are good.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for these suggestions! Which of these would be safeties, matches, reaches, etc.? (Sorry, I have a hard time judging admission with my stats!)
I like Brandeis, Swarthmore, and maybe Smith (although I don’t know if I’m okay with a women’s college) and Amherst. I can tell that the top LACs will be a huge reach with my GPA, though…I don’t know if I want to visit the huge reaches if I don’t even have a chance of getting in.</p>

6

<p>Mt Holyoke (MA) Women
Wheaton College (MA) </p>

<p>Have you discussed affordability with your parents? `Have you run the Net Price Calculators on each college’s financial aid web pages? </p>

<p>If you need financial aid, Bard, Bennington & Sarah Lawrence will not meet 100% of your need. Sarah Lawrence is now over 60k/year. But if your family will be full pay and you are not eligible for financial aid, then you might want to look at schools that will give you merit aid.</p>

7

<p>Yeah, those tours are mostly just to look around, because they seem interesting. I definitely have some financial safeties on my list (the UC system, and maybe a couple of CSUs). I’m a bit hesitant to try for merit aid, as one thing I’m looking for in a school is a very driven and high-achieving student body that challenges me. Basically, I’d rather be in the bottom of the student pool rather than the top. It’s frustrating though, because my GPA (due to freshman and a bit of sophomore year) is relatively low and there’s a very slim chance I would be accepted to somewhere like Vassar or Wesleyan. I’ll definitely make sure to run some calculators, thanks!</p>

8

<p>Are there any liberal arts schools meeting full need I should look at, or are they all out of my reach?</p>

9

<p>Your SAT score is terrific, but you’re right that your GPA could be a problem at some of these schools. The good news: some schools will discount your freshman grades if your grades overall show a strong upward trajectory. That said, schools like Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, and Bowdoin are definite reaches. Conn College is probably a pretty good match. You might also consider Skidmore. </p>

<p>I’d also urge you take a close look at some of the women’s colleges, especially Smith, Mt. Holyoke, and Bryn Mawr, but I’d throw in Wellesley as well even though it’s a bit reachier and to my mind has more of a pre-professional feel, which you say you want to avoid. These schools all have gorgeous campuses, very strong academics, and academically motivated students. They’re also definitely “intellectual,” liberal, and LGBT-friendly, and they’re what I call “admissions bargains,” with higher acceptance rates than one might otherwise expect for schools of their quality because as women’s colleges they’re automatically excluding half the potential applicant pool, and on top of that many women these days don’t want to attend a women’s college. It might be wise to have at least one or two of them on your list, at least as a back-up in the event you don’t get into a co-ed school that you want. I believe the schools I mentioned all meet 100% of need as well, though Smith is not fully need-blind in admissions (i.e., with a limited FA budget they will consider financial need for the last X% of the class, once the available FA funds are used up); not sure about the others on that score.</p>

10

<p>Schools that claim they meet 100% of need from USNWR’s February 2012:</p>

<p>Amherst College MA 2, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Barnard College NY 33, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Bates College ME 21, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing IL Unranked
Boston College MA 31, National Universities
Bowdoin College ME 6, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Brown University RI 15, National Universities
Bryn Mawr College PA 25, National Liberal Arts Colleges
California Institute of Technology CA 5, National Universities
Carleton College MN 6, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Claremont McKenna College CA 9, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Colby College ME 21, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Colgate University NY 21, National Liberal Arts Colleges
College of the Holy Cross MA 29, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Columbia University NY 4, National Universities
Cornell University NY 15, National Universities
Dartmouth College NH 11, National Universities
Davidson College NC 11, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Duke University NC 10, National Universities
Emory University GA 20, National Universities
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering MA Unranked
Georgetown University DC 21, National Universities
Gettysburg College PA 47, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Grinnell College IA 19, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Hamilton College NY 17, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Harvard University MA 1, National Universities
Harvey Mudd College CA 18, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Haverford College PA 10, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Macalester College MN 25, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA 5, National Universities
Middlebury College VT 5, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Mount Holyoke College MA 29, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Northwestern University IL 12, National Universities
Oberlin College OH 24, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Occidental College CA 37, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Pitzer College CA 42, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Pomona College CA 4, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Princeton University NJ 1, National Universities
Rice University TX 17, National Universities
Scripps College CA 29, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Smith College MA 19, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Southern Arkansas University AR RNP, Regional Universities (South)
St. Olaf College MN 53, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Stanford University CA 5, National Universities
Swarthmore College PA 3, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Thomas Aquinas College CA 71, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Trinity College CT 37, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Tufts University MA 29, National Universities
Vanderbilt University TN 17, National Universities
University of Chicago IL 5, National Universities
University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill NC 29, National Universities
University of Pennsylvania PA 5, National Universities
University of Richmond VA 27, National Liberal Arts Colleges
University of Southern California CA 23, National Universities
University of Virginia VA 25, National Universities
Vassar College NY 14, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Washington and Lee University VA 12, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Washington University in St. Louis MO 14, National Universities
Wellesley College MA 6, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Wesleyan University CT 12, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Williams College MA 1, National Liberal Arts Colleges
Yale University CT 3, National Universities </p>

<p>Remember, there are not that many schools that claim to meet 100% of your need or full need schools. The schools determine your need with the FAFSA & CSS PROFILE (for schools that require the CSS PROFILE)</p>

11

<p>Thanks so much for the list! So right now, I’m thinking about touring Vassar, Wesleyan, Bryn Mawr (and possibly the other colleges in the consortium while we’re there), Smith (or possibly some Boston area schools), maybe either Connecticut College or Skidmore, maybe Bard…are there any I’m missing? Should I visit any larger schools while I’m there? the only large school I’ve visited is Berkeley, since I live near it, and I didn’t like it, although that might just be Berkeley.</p>

<p>I’m not going to be needing an insanely huge amount of aid, but we definitely wouldn’t be able to afford the sticker price on the expensive privates. I do want to have some schools on my list that meet 100% of need :slight_smile: (they’re all so selective, though!)</p>

12

<p>These aren’t east coast, but have you looked into the Claremont Colleges?</p>

13

<p>If you have the time, don’t forget to try to have some fun up there. I went up north to visit colleges last spring break with my dad (I’d never been anywhere else really in the US), and while we limited the number of schools (we did one/day in the mornings, driving in the afternoon/evening), we made some really fantastic memories visiting Philly, DC monuments, Boston Freedom trail, etc when we drove through the big NE cities.</p>

14

<p>I have looked into the Claremont colleges. I think I like Pitzer and Pomona (yeah, huge reach, haha).</p>

<p>I definitely will try to have fun :slight_smile: I’ll be seeing NYC for the first time, so that’ll be really great!</p>