<p>Hi everyone, this is my first post! I'm a current MA high school junior looking to add some colleges in the northeast to my list. My stats are 1930 SAT (first time taking) a 3.9 W GPA and around a 3.7/3.6 UW GPA (school doesn't calculate). I've taken many honors classes and will have taken 3 APs by the end of senior year. I'd like to stay in the northeast but I'm not completely opposed to venturing a little farther. I generally like medium sized liberal arts schools with about 3000-10000 students. Not sure what I'm going to major in, but possibly computer science, bio, or business. I'm pretty sure I do not want a completely urban campus. I love schools with big sports teams because I love the sense of school spirit and unity that comes along with them, but this is would simply be a perk, not a priority.</p>
<p>Schools I'm interested so far in are:
Reaches- Lehigh, Villanova
Match- Providence College, Fairfield, Northeastern, BU
Safety- Quinnipiac, Stonehill, UMass Amherst</p>
<p>Right now my top school is Providence. I feel like it fits almost all of my criteria and I just love it. I would appreciate it if you could let me know of any schools that you think are good matches for me that I'd be interested in. Thanks so much!</p>
<p>Just a word of warning… PA is very different from New England, so if you want that vibe, you may not get it in PA, which is more similar to DE, MD, VA, OH, and NJ.</p>
<p>First of all, the politics are very different, being a swing state, instead of solidly blue. It has two very large cities (Philadelphia and Pittsburgh). Philadelphia is a big city, similar to many in New England, except for a little bit better weather and, while liberal, a slightly less granola feel. Pittsburgh is very Midwestern, and was the seat of coal and steel production. It is a working class city that has more of a Midwestern feel than the Northeast. The rest of Pennsylvania (from central Chester County to suburban Pittsburgh) is sometimes referred to as “Pennsyltucky”, as the culture is more Southern than anything. The old slogan is that you have Philadelphia in the east (which is similar to other mid-Atlantic cities, such as DC, Baltimore, and NYC), Pittsburgh in the west (which is very Midwestern), and Alabama in the middle.</p>
<p>Now, I have never been to New England, but have traveled extensively in the mid-Atlantic and South, so I hope that this helps.</p>
<p>Villanova should be in the match category and BU/NEU should be in the reaches category.
Have you run the Net Price Calculcators on each college website?
Lafayette and Bucknell are similar to Villanova and Lehigh. Gettysburg, too (and they would meet 100% need, which none of your current picks do, so that cost may be an issue if your parents can’t pay full freight).
Look into Dickinson (great for science and great management major). </p>
<p>@SurvivorFan thanks so much for the info I’ll definitely have to look into that some more and possibly reevaluate. I definitely like the “feel” of New England, so I’ll need visit and hopefully get an idea if PA would still be right for me.</p>
<p>The rest of Pennsylvania (from central Chester County to suburban Pittsburgh) is sometimes referred to as “Pennsyltucky”, as the culture is more Southern than anything.</p>
<p>As someone from Pittsburgh, I resent that. :P</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 I guess coming from MA and having so many people from my school attend BU and NEU, I assumed they would be in my match range but thanks for the feedback. I’ve looked into Bucknell, Lafayette, and Dickinson a bit before but haven’t done that much research so I’ll have to do some more research. Do you have any more suggestions for schools in New England?</p>
<p>What about Wheaton and Clark, both in MA? (Clark is quite urban in all meanings of the word though).
Not in New England but in NYS, St Lawrence, Skidmore, Union, Clarkson, Ithaca, Syracuse, Hartwick, plus in New England proper Quinnipiac (safety), Connecticut College (reach), St Michael’s (low match)?</p>
<p>@jkeil911 I wanted to add those so I’d have a little variation in my options, but I can’t picture myself really going to either BU or Northeastern. Lehigh and Providence I like because they have an actual campus but inside a city, which I don’t mind. If I were to go all the way to PA though I’d definitely want a school that fits most of my criteria, but thanks for the suggestion!</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 Clark and Wheaton are a little smaller than I’d like but they both have gorgeous campuses from what I can see online so I’ll check them out. I’m definitely interested in Syracuse, Ithaca, Quinnipiac, and St. Michael’s. Little worried about the cold weather in NY and VT, but it can’t be much worse than MA (I hope!).</p>