I’m currently a senior set to graduate in California. My reach schools currently are Stanford, Pomona, and Amherst. I have a couple of safeties (Oberlin, UCB and Reed) but I haven’t visited any of them and I would really like to explore my options but I have no idea where to start :-S I’d prefer to stay in CA but I already have schools picked out in CA so any other state is alright too. I don’t mind women’s schools but co-ed is preferred. I just want a really good school with strong academics and wonderful professors with decent financial aid, other factors don’t really matter to me.
In terms of stats, I have a 2310 SAT and 3.8 GPA (It’s lower because I’ve attended two different schools with different grading scales, under the usual 90+ = 4.0 scale my GPA should be 4.0). In terms of ECs I have leadership in theater backstage, choir and literary magazine, do some tutoring and volunteering at animal shelters, and have taken some college courses. I’ve also independently organized a TEDx conference at my school last year.
Any help is so appreciated! I have most of my list done but I don’t want to put down any old school and find out I don’t like it later on.
Consider Kenyon and St. Olaf.
Remember, most smaller schools want to see demonstrated interest, especially important at schools that you are looking at as safeties (Oberlin, Reed).
Can you afford the safety schools you’ve already listed? Part of being a safety is affordability. And Reed isn’t a safety. One D had similar stats to you and was waitlisted. Your stats only count 25% for admission according to an old CCer who knew the school well. Just about any school on this list would be a safety: http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
It does not look like your supposed “safeties” are actually safeties for admission (and then you need to check their net price calculators to see if they are affordable).
You need to visit your safeties… it is at least as important as visiting reaches. Finding safeties should not be a last minute exercise. It can be hard to find one you will be truly happy at, so it takes time and energy. Reaches are easy to find… safeties, not as easy. A lot of LACs take interest into account, too. If you didn’t visit, they may think they are your safety, and wait list or even reject you to protect their yield.
And UCB is a “safety”? I don’t think you understand safety very well. UCB is probably a match for you, as you are in-state. You have no safeties at this point.
St. Olaf
Ohio Wesleyan University
Lewis & Clark College
Belmont Abbey College
Willamette, other UCs, Occidental . . .
Look at Chapman and Scripps for safeties–both are pretty good with aid and for Chapman in particular your stats would get you in. (I know Scripps is a women’s college but you’d be part of the Claremont Colleges group and I’ve heard there are co-ed cross enrollment opportunities w/ the other schools). What UCs and CSUs are you applying to? Any CSU would be a true safety–you’d 100% get in and they are pretty affordable (esp. if you picked the one nearest your home and commuted). UCLA and UCB would be reaches in the sense they’re ridiculously difficult to get into, even for stellar CA applicants, but I imagine you’d get into any of the other UCs with little problem.
Yeah, Oberlin, Berkeley, and Reed are not safeties. Scripps is not a safety either. It’s more of a match.
Occidental is safeish for you, I’d say; other small CA schools that are pretty safe for you would be Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara University, Mills College (women’s), and University of San Francisco.
Other small West Coast LACs that would be safeties for you would be Lewis & Clark College (Portland), Willamette University (in Salem, OR, I think), University of Puget Sounds (in Tacoma, WA), and Seattle University. Whitman College (in Walla Walla, WA) would be a pretty safe bet for you as well.
Others that are further afield, but pretty safe, are Lawrence University in WI (an excellent school with an 80% acceptance rate), Kalamazoo in MI, Earlham in IN, Agnes Scott in GA (women’s), Berry College in GA, Rhodes College in TN, Guilford College in NC, Furman University in SC, Elon University in NC, College of Wooster and Kenyon College in OH, Ursinus, Allegheny, Muhlenberg, and Juniata Colleges (all in PA), Goucher College (in MD), Bard College, Marist College, and Hobart & William Smith Colleges (all in NY), Clark University (MA), and Hampshire (in MA - with the bonus that it is in the Five Colleges with Amherst, so you could take classes there). Gettysburg would also be pretty safe. Lafayette and Bucknell would be safe-ish, I think - you’d definitely be in the top ranges of the applicants there, but not so far ahead that they’re a done deal.