Unique Dilemma -Tier 3 semi-safety schools in the Northeast? I am conflicted!

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I was homeschooled for the final three years of highschool. I have strong SAT scores and an eclectic and rigorous transcript. I am primarily interested in philosophy and religion, but have spanning interests and am quite fascinated by many of the hard sciences as well. Psychology, sociology, anthropology too are par for the course. I like cognitive science, neuroscience, and certain subdisciplines of biology. A lot goes into my decision making process and analysis but ultimately there are a few clinchers; I have disqualified a number of schools based on lackluster philosophy and religion departments.</p>

<p>Here is what I have so far - I am only considering schools in the Northeast:</p>

<p>Tier 1 (Admission rates 9-17%)
Brown University
Princeton University
Swarthmore College
Williams? Not sure, haven't decided between this and Swarthmore yet - I do know I'll probably only choose three within this category, and Swarthmore has a stronger philosophy department than most other liberal arts programs (stronger by my own assessment, that is).</p>

<p>Tier 2 (Admission rates 27-34%)
Bates College
College of the Holy Cross (GREAT philosophy and religion program)
One other - deciding between NESCAC options, these range from 20~% to 33~% admissions rates. (Wesleyan, Haverford, CT College, Hamilton, this type of place [some of these might be regarded tier 1.5 or so])</p>

<p>**Tier 3 (Admission rates 38-58~%)
NOT SURE YET<img src="LAC's%20preferred%20but%20obviously%20other%20options%20are%20considered" alt="/b"></p>

<p>Safety school:
University of Vermont
Possibly a school in the University of Maine system. USM, maybe.</p>

<p>As you can see, I am missing a category of colleges. I am totally open to suggestions of schools in my area - as I previously stated, I value philosophy and religion programs - a school with no religious studies department is totally out of the picture, and a school with a philosophy faculty of 4 is pretty much disqualified as well. Sadly, many liberal arts schools have mediocre or minimal staffing in these fields.</p>

<p>A school which is not so failsafe as UVM (or another public school with 70+% acceptance) but still a bit easier to get into than those like Bates. I am most likely not going to apply ED to anywhere so as to keep my options open. I'm relatively confident in my abilities but one can never be too sure and I want my bases covered.</p>

<p>I'm aiming to apply to anywhere from 8-11 but am not rigid regarding this - I have no problem applying to a whole bunch to give me a wide selection.</p>

<p>I might as well mention my combined family income in case it factors into someone's contribution: 80,000 total. Maybe 70,000 - not sure what'll be entered onto the forms, but around there. So yes, cost is certainly an issue but I'm fine with loans and will work around it if the place I truly want to attend doesn't offer me as much as I'd like.</p>

<p>Any other advice is certainly welcomed. I live in Maine. I am far more interested in intellectual and academic immersion than a social and party scene and am choosing the colleges based primarily on an overall assessment of their faculty in various programs, certain aspects of student reviews and my own research (out of books, sites, aggregator sites), and how I feel I'd mesh in with the specific institutional structure and the general style of education when it comes to requirements and imposed curriculum and the like.</p>

<p>Thanks muchly for the input!</p>

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<p>“A school which is not so failsafe as UVM”</p>

<p>If you think that UVM is not perfectly safe for you academically, you need to look around for something that is. You also should make sure that school is perfectly safe for you financially (you would only need FAFSA-based federally determined financial aid in order to attend). I expect that one of the public schools in Maine would fit the bill. Yes, they may not have the philosophy major you are looking for, but you could get your general ed. requirements out of the way and then possibly transfer somewhere else.</p>

<p>Have you taken a look at the [Association</a> of Jesuit Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://www.ajcunet.edu/]Association”>http://www.ajcunet.edu/) list yet? You may find some decent options for yourself there for academic safeties with philosophy and religion departments. </p>

<p>“I’m fine with loans and will work around it if the place I truly want to attend doesn’t offer me as much as I’d like.”</p>

<p>Sit your parents down and run the FAFSA and CSS Profile calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>How Much Will College Cost – BigFuture | College Board) Don’t forget to run their loan repayment calculators as well. Find out from your parents just exactly how much debt they think it is reasonable for a philosophy/religion major to take on. Their ideas may be quite different from yours.</p>

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<p>I think dubbyah is looking for suggestions for schools that fall in between Bates and UVM in selectivity. it looks like UVM is tier 4, and tier 3 is what is missing for dubbyah.</p>

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<p>BTW, Wesleyan and Haverford had admit rates of 22% this year… but I wouldn’t use admissions rates as the primary indicator of selectivity anyway.</p>

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<p>You might take a look at Hobart and William Smith and St. Michael’s College. Their philosophy/religion departments appear to be large enough, but I don’t know about the quality and strength of the faculty.</p>

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<p>Franklin & Marshall has a strong Philosophy, Psychology and Anthropology Department. They offer Religious Studies as a major but I don’t know much about that program. F&M’s curriculum is pretty broad allowing you to sample many different courses and a lot of students double major. I am not sure if they would fit as a Tier 2 or Tier 3 in your list. I love your choice of Holy Cross, great fit.</p>

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<p>Thanks a lot for all the suggestions so far! Looking into all of these.</p>

<p>I also am 99% adding Trinity to my list, stumbled across that last night - it’s 43% admissions rate and has decent departments in a number of fields I’m interested in, looks in the ballpark of what I’m wanting. Supposedly good with financial aid. </p>

<p>I’m not sure I’d major in philosophy or religion - if I did I’d probably double major and at least minor along side a more (financially? career oriented?) pragmatic degree.</p>

<p>@Happymom, I did mean that UVM was a safety school for me, I am quite confident of getting in. I know admissions acceptance rate is not the sole indicator of selectivity, but UVM seems to be at about 75%~ in that regard. That Jesuit site is a good resource!</p>

<p>Hobart & Williams Smith and F&M are exactly along the lines of what I was looking for!</p>

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<p>I’m inclined to recommend my school, Temple University, because we have a very solid philosophy program, and an ever-growing number of students from New England (I have a few friends from Maine). I dont think our religion department is as strong, but we have more than four faculty. Our acceptance rate was 60% last year, and I’m sure you’d get in, as we’re always trying to increase our out of state population.</p>

<p>[Department</a> of Philosophy at Temple University](<a href=“http://www.temple.edu/philosophy/]Department”>http://www.temple.edu/philosophy/)</p>

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<p>How about Fairfield? It’s actually one of my top choices, it’s Roman Catholic. Although, if you’re just going to base selectivity off the percent of applicants accepted you probably wouldn’t like it very much.</p>

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<p>Additions, anyone?</p>