Urban Safety Schools?

College Search & Selection
1

Hi,
Sorry to bother you all, but I’m having trouble finding an urban safety school. My gpa is about an 89 (my school does it that way), which translates to about a 3.56-3.6. My best ACT score is a 32 (E: 36 M: 29 R: 34 S: 30) with a 34 superscored (E: 36 M: 31 R: 34 S: 34). I love big cities like Chicago and New York (NYU’s my second favorite school), so I really want to go to an urban school. However, all of my potential safety schools are more suburban, such as UVM. Would The University of Washington qualify as a safety for me? By the way, I want to be an english major. Thanks for your time!

My top three schools, if you’re wondering, are UMich, NYU, and McGill (I plan on applying to all three).

Here’s my entire list (I’d love some feedback):

Michigan
NYU
McGill
Northeastern
BU
Emerson
UVM
UT-Austin
Tulane
Washington
Wisconsin-Madison
Reed
Occidental
Colorado College

2

Check out Temple in Philadelphia and Emerson College in Boston (depending on exactly what you want to do as an English major).

3

UMich isn’t in an urban area. A safety is affordable, too. What is your budget?

4

I don’t have a budget. I probably won’t need financial aid (I hate myself for writing that, because I hate to sound so pretentious and spoiled).

5

What about Ohio State? And for a LAC (since you have Reed and Colorado College on your list) Lewis and Clark.

6

I hate ohio state. I grew up as a huge Michigan fan and won’t even consider ohio state. Sorry about that - it’s just the way I am. But the other suggestions that you gave are intriguing. Is LAC is more or less urban than Reed?

7

A number of the Jesuit colleges could fit the bill as the majority are urban. You can go through the list and pick out a few that are academic matches/safetys and fit what you want geographically. http://www.ajcunet.edu/institutions/

Also perhaps Temple and Drexel in Phila, Goucher in Baltimore.

8

As an English major Temple would be better than Drexel and cheaper.

9

$70 k a year for an English Major?

Do you plan on attending graduate school?

10

I don’t plan on attending graduate school, if that was a serious question.

11

Agree with @happy1 and would add DePaul in Chicago and Duquesne in Pittsburgh (both are Catholic but not Jesuit) although I don’t know about the strength of their English Departments. Also, how about Pitt? Application is already out and they have rolling admissions so you’d have an answer quickly.

12

Reed is on one side of the Willamette River running through Portland and L&C is on the other side (on the same side as the downtown).

13

Maybe Fordham

14

Wisconsin for an out of state student with a 3.5 and a 32 is a match, could go either way, with no significant financial aid to an OOS student. A great small city, capitol, lots going on in terms of music etc. Will be less than cost of full pay at a private.

What is your home state?

15

I’m from new york

16

DePaul in Chicago and Portland State in Portland. Both very urban schools.

17

If you’re considering McGill, look at the University of Toronto - St George campus. It’s right in the heart of North America’s 4th largest city, but with a beautiful campus. It should be a safety.

18

Canadian schools have a different system. Check it out, but I understand that you need to declare up front.

Santa Clara
If you’re female, then Mills in CA–cross registration with Berkeley
Willamette University
Rhodes College
UT Austin
U Minnesota
UI Bloomington–I’ve heard v good things about the writing program by current students, and the city is remarkably nice, plus the campus is known for being very attractive. It’s one of those seriously overlooked colleges IMHO.

19

University of Denver

20

Reed is a safety for no one, since grades + test scores + rank together comprise only 20% of admission criteria.

Both Lewis and Clark and Reed are in Portland, but both feel suburban, not urban like Columbia or NYU.