@ivyorbust27 wrote:
Your budget is a fairly significant restraint. Were any of the of the 4 schools you were accepted to affordable? What is your EFC? Run NPCs on all schools on your new list.
Regarding your counselor rec that was somehow messed up—you may not be able to get another one—have you spoken with your GC about this?
For schools, what about University of Richmond? Vassar? Bard? St. Olaf? Trinity College?
I missed that you were from Oregon. Did you consider at any of the LACs on the West Coast? Occidental in LA may be a good fit and would be a match. The Claremont Consortium Colleges for a reach. What about Reed in Portland?
@momofsenior1 really? I thought it was huge. It’s about 500 acres or around 3 Boston Universities haha. The directions were one thing, my main problem was the 15-20 minute walk from the campus center to my dorm lol. I didn’t have a great time there but I felt that was the best fit out of the ones I visited.
Perspective :). My daughter’s campus is 2,500 acres. A 15-20 minute walk is considered close. Helps with the freshmen 15!
So, you would prefer a more condensed campus, not necessarily smaller in student population.
@Mwfan1921 I can’t really phrase my budget quite right but yes, they were all affordable. And I will look into those places!
@momofsenior1 those are all really good choices! Oregon is beautiful but I think Reed might be a touch too close for me. I don’t know much about Occidental but will for sure look into it, and I am definitely going to apply to a Claremont school.
@momofsenior1 yes that is the way to phrase it! I really liked the amount of people at columbia.
How about Brandeis? More students but 1/2 the acreage of Wellesley, and closer to Boston? Probably would be a match for you with your stats.
Fordham?
Hmm, okay, I don’t think you are going to get everything on your list (urban, traditional campus, liberal arts vibe, not in the midwest or south), pretty selective, that you haven’t already either ruled out yourself or been rejected from.
But if you relax one of the above, what about: Wash U (St Louis); NYU; Boston College. Or if you like the more LAC vibe, I agree with Vassar, Wesleyan, maybe Reed if you like quirky.
My list would focus around meets full need or solid aid private schools.
With another year of activities and application/essays you’ll have some great options.
I’ll list the names that jump out at me for you. Based on your unreal statistics and
a chance to refine your application.
Imho of these choices.
-Great, great academics.
-Smart and energetic students.
-Beautiful, but not overwhelming campuses and some urban access. Great facilities and student support.
-Known for either excellent student activities or school spirit type sports in some cases.
High Reach
Wash U Rice JHU Northwestern Duke Vanderbilt
pure lacs Pomona swat haverford
Ivy just because. Dartmouth Cornell
Reach
USC CMU Emory and Emory oxford. Boston College
Pure lacs- not all urban but lots to like Hamilton Vassar Barnard, cmc, Bates (awesome Portland Maine close by) Occidental
High Match
Villanova UMiami Tulane Wake Forest Santa Clara Rochester Case Western Fordham Brandeis Lehigh Lafayette Bucknell
Pure lacs- conn College Colgate bryn mawr Richmond holy cross. My Holyoke
Safeties.
UOregon U San Diego LMaryland American Marquette Providence College Elon Fairfield Quinnipiac Temple
LACs. Eckerd Flagler Washington & Jefferson Depauw Muhlenberg Hobart
Taking college courses after high school graduation may disqualify you from applying as frosh at many colleges. Check each college of interest before doing so.
Do you like any of the public universities in Oregon? Or any WUE schools (e.g. University of Hawaii)?
So this is a list of colleges you should not apply to next time around. Either you did not like them, or they were not affordable (the four you got into), or they rejected you (meaning that it is very unlikely that you will get admitted the next time around).
@ucbalumnus I’m just going to take edx (?) classes, not college classes. and for my other list, I will probably still apply to some of them; not many, but some of those schools are dream schools and it really can’t hurt.
Oh also about Oregon schools, I am very much looking to leave Oregon! The schools here are great but not my thing.
Am I the only one who thinks turning down Mac w/o a visit is a big mistake? It’s campus is only 53 acres big and seems to check a lot of the OP’s other boxes, too.
Normally, I would 100 percent agree
However, not everyone can swing it on short notice. And if not top of her list, I can understand.
Quite frankly college at 16 is not ideal. I actually agree with getting a year of physical and emotional maturity is good thing for the long term. No knock on how fine a school Mac is fwiw.
@ivyorbust27 It might have cross posted but I gave you some different ideas a few posts back.
The more I think about this situation, the more I do encourage OP to reconsider Macalester, as suggested in #32. It ticks many boxes on her list of criteria.
While I agree that going to college at the age of 16 may be too young, OP does not seem to have a well considered GAP year plan. Taking MOOC courses is not going to cut it with regard to seeing success in a second round of applications. I encourage OP to fully develop a GAP year plan before letting Macalester go in the next 12 days or so. Also, OP should start a separate thread if she wants GAP year ideas that will increase, not decrease, her admission chances on the second go round.
If you can only pay 1/3 of the costs then finances are a concern. The most expensive schools are ~$70k. One-third of that is ~$23k. That’s a healthy budget, but not huge.
Ask your parents how much they can pay without borrowing. Don’t guess. Do you know your EFC? If it’s high but your parents can’t pay it then take schools with need based aid off your list. They won’t make up the difference.
I agree that Macalester would tick most of your boxes. It’s really too bad you didn’t visit.
You could always defer from Macalester if you really want a gap year (perhaps plan a year abroad in high school rather than edx/work?)
Reapply to only one or two colleges but, really, focus on other colleges.
What’s your budget? It DOES matter if you got into a university and can’t afford to go.
Hi everybody— I’m seeing a lot of similar concerns so I’m going to do it all in one go.
Budget— really not something I would like to talk about on here. I’ve discussed it thoroughly with my parents. You guys can leave it up to us.
Gap Year— there are really almost no options out there for a 16-year-old student without $15k in loose cash to drop on an exchange program. I would love to be proven wrong on this though!!
I think this may shock and upset some, but I turned down the Mac offer a few days ago. For better or for worse, it’s water under the bridge
@Mwfan1921 I did start a thread on that a while back and would love some comments on it 
Situation: stellar academics. HS grad at 16. Portland, OR. Business or Eng. Applied to a robust number of varied colleges but did not get into the Ivies.
IMHO: 16 is young for college, and the scant data here makes me think you may have seemed young (plus the guidance counselor snafe) to the admissions committees. Pure speculation on my part but that might explain why on the surface someone with your scores/GPA didn’t get admitted. FWIW, this Washington Post article should help you realize it’s not you but just the process it seems: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/04/17/high-schoolers-are-inviting-thousands-strangers-watch-they-get-into-college-get-rejected/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1cbee10b575e
You said you wanted access to a city but then didn’t like BU or NEU so…maybe drop that as a criteria? Or consider the appeal of a town and gown location. Business or engineering in a liberal arts college…makes me wonder why? Those aren’t mutually exclusive but not exactly hand in glove either.
Your username is Ivy or Bust - maybe we acknowledge what that indicates? Cornell Engineering would have been a solid choice. Cornell also has a tech center in NYC (not sure how often undergrads make it down there). But your username also makes me suspect many of the schools on your list would not have been “prestigious” enough regardless of the admissions decisions. For you (your parents) maybe it really was Ivy (plus Stanford) or nothing. That’s fine, but I think it’s best to acknowledge that factor or dig deep and think about why - and then once you’ve identified underlying reasons, maybe reassess and see what other options open up.
Why did MIT not make your list?
Your gap year, which I gather is what you’re doing: less concern about what would make you a “better” applicant next year, and more about what you want to do. Intellectually, it’s apparent you can do whatever you want including nuclear physics and rocket science and brain surgery. At 16, you can’t be expected to know definitely what and why you want to do anything with your life, but going through the process of introspection, and learning to do so every now and then, will be YUGE.