This is a good list, definitely don’t add anything. At this point, try to narrow the list down to however many schools she is planning to apply to. Take tours, attend virtual sessions, and try to figure out which schools are the best fit.
I’ve heard that Vassar is very good at getting students into top law schools, if that is important to her.
Some more SLACs that you might want to consider include Drew University in Madison, NJ; Allegheny College in Meadville, PA; St. Mary’s College of Maryland in St. Mary’s City, MD; Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA; Washington College in Chestertown, MD.
Generally, you might also want to take a look at the website for Colleges That Change Lives, here, https://ctcl.org/ .
Thank you for your advice. Yes she is Latina, and I know that might work in her favor. She took the SAT twice, first one was 1350, and after much work, sweat and some tears she brought it to 1490 (improved math in 100 points, she really sucks at it!!), so i think is basically as good as it gets, she doesn’t want to put any more work into it.
Regarding Georgetown, they are one of the few universities that want to see every single test score there is, not too keen in that “test optional” covid option, and they make it very clear, they do not superscore and her 1490 is in the lower end of the accepted students. so I think is a long shot, Plus, as much as she wants to go there, i know my daughter, she will do much better in a smaller school with smaller classes, with more sense of community, in a big school she could get lost.
Money… that one is tough. We do not qualify for any financial aid but we are in no way millionaires so paying 300k for college is a little steep considering she has plans for law school, so some merit scholarship will be great. But then again she is our only one and we want to make sure she goes wherever she will be happy.
Columbia and Fordham, they are definitely on MY LIST!!! i would like her to stay close. and SUNYs she wants to visit Geneseo and maybe New Paltz.
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Yes, apparently they are, and she is in love with Vassar and I think she will have no problems being accepted. We went for a tour (self guided) and it is a gorgeous campus, surrounding town not to hot, but she’ll be close to home. I am concerned that the population of the school seems to be more on the “artsy, hippie” side (saw plenty of tattoos, piercings, colorful hair), my daughter is more of a traditional kind (she wears cashmere and oxfords!!!), but i am sure she will find her crowd.
If considered by Georgetown’s SAT range for attending students (1380–1530), your daughter’s score would place her at significantly above average. In this respect, Georgetown appears only to match top LACs. Nonetheless, your point regarding superscoring seems to represent a fair distinction.
Her SAT of 1490 is actually slightly above the average of accepted students for Georgetown. And I would bet that her SAT, if ranked against that of accepted URM’s, would be well above average. Nothing to be ashamed of, a 1490, and I get it that she has done the work, and is finished with the SAT.
If your daughter’s goal is law school, she may want to consider the competition at the school she chooses. Law schools look at GPAs and LSATs. Her LSAT will probably be, percentile, at about where her English score was on the SAT. She wants to choose a school where she is going to get a fantastic GPA. That may not be the most highly selective LAC or Ivy.
If you might be interested in comparative selectivity, note that U.S. News (in its print edition) includes selectivity ranks in its listings. Below you can view the positions for the top 22 LACs by this measure, for example:
︎1. Pomona
︎2. Harvey Mudd
︎2. Haverford
︎4. Amherst
︎5. Hamilton
︎5. Swarthmore
︎5. Williams
︎8. Barnard
︎8. Bowdoin
︎10. Washington & Lee
︎11. Wellesley
︎12. Colorado College
︎12. Smith
︎12. Vassar
︎15. Carleton
︎16. Colby
︎17. Colgate
︎17. Davidson
︎19. Claremont McKenna
︎19. Grinnell
︎19. Middlebury
19. Wesleyan
In comparison, Georgetown places 19th in its category, which roughly corresponds to the Hamilton/Swarthmore/Williams slot of the LACs.
Georgetown may be rather stingy with merit. It may be better to concentrate on GW and American, if DC is a target location for your daughter. If law school is the end-game, look for a combination of the best undergrad deal she can get/best academic fit.
Smaller schools with merit possibilities:
Kenyon - not overly artsy, we know someone who did English & Polisci there, now at Law school, well ranked
Denison - good merit aid possibility, nice kids, good mix of sporty to artsy and in between
Oberlin - for her social activism
Susquehanna - nice kids, great merit
Mulenberg - as above, more artsy vibe perhaps
Dickinson - as above, not so artsy
Ursinus - great merit, outside Philly, lower ranked than others
Juniata - great merit, more rural, lower ranked
Franklin & Marshall - decent merit, more preppy
Union - see poster above
Skidmore - some merit, mix of kids
Clark U- diverse mix of kids, great merit
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I’m seriously considering F&M, Skidmore, Conn College (top choice) and Trinity but don’t have the chance to visit so if I could get your feed back and opinion (vibe of these schools) that u got on the visit at these schools it would be amazing thank you so much!
Neither GW nor AU are especially generous. If you can get an affordable package out of GW, the main benefit of GW is that it is the only school from which you can do internships every term. But: it is not the LAC experience your daughter is looking for.
If she wants law school and politics, the first metric is $$: graduating debt free is really, really key. Internships (which will be unpaid or barely paid) are the key to getting the (very poorly paid) entry level jobs. Want to intern on The Hill? be prepared to work for the handful of reps who pay their interns (AOC pays $15/hr; the others pay rather less- & try living in DC on that), or else work for free; either way you will need help to support yourself in DC. It is getting (very very slightly) better- but it is the nature of the beast.
All of which translates to: find LACs that will want her stats enough to give enough merit that she doesn’t have to borrow.
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Franklin and Marshall doesn’t give merit aid; need-based only.
https://www.fandm.edu/financial-aid/our-committment-to-need-based-aid
I didn’t want to hijack OP’s thread so I will be sending you a PM.
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I think both Colby College and Barnard would be worth a second look. And it is farther than she wanted to go, but I think she might like Carleton.
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For brief, subjective comments on a few of these schools, see reply #6: Struggling with D21's List. ED & ED2: Amherst, Hamilton, Wellesley, Vassar.
Neither Colby nor Barnard does merit aid, which this family would prefer to soften the full-pay hit.
Less “quirky” than Vassar but schools with smart, engaged kids and merit money could include: Dickinson, Kenyon, Denison, Bryn Mawr, Mt Holyoke, Conn Coll (merit money is new). Skidmore gives merit money sparingly, I think it is limited to special arts scholarships.
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Boston College is actually not a LAC. At 9,000 undergraduates, it’s actually bigger than than Yale and Brown, especially after you add grad students.
For Brown and Yale proxies that are much smaller and less of a crapshoot to get into, I’d consider Wesleyan, Trinity, Smith, and maybe Amherst, if this year’s uptick in applications turns out to be a fluke. Each one inhabits a classic, green swept campus a stone’s throw from an attractive downtown; a combination of intimate surroundings and connectivity to the outside world.
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Trinity is not “a stone’s throw from an attractive downtown”, at least if you’re talking about Trinity in Hartford. Wonderful as the school may be, the reality is that it is located in a high crime, underclass area in a high crime, underclass city. Yes, if one is interested in getting involved in CT state politics, Hartford is the CT state capitol, but that’s about it. I have PLENTY of experience taking public transportation all over NYC through the worst of the crime of the mid to late '70s, and living in the worst high-crime slums of Philly from the late '70s thru the early 90s, and I would most definitely NOT want my kid setting foot of Trinity’s campus. The campus itself is safe, but the area around it is not. Taking an uber as a group from the gates of the college to clubs, the main street restaurants, the new Convention Center shopping/dining destination area, sure. Walking off campus, especially after dark, but even during the day? No way.
Wesleyan, Smith, and Amherst are all located very short walk or immediately adjacent to interesting little towns, with downtown areas more like a village - a few streets of shops and restaurants. Safer to very safe.
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Re-reading your original post in which you said that your daughter loves Vassar, Yale, and Brown, I just thought I’d mention that Wesleyan is often referred to as “the mini-Brown” and is at times suggested as an alternate to both Brown and Yale. It also has a reputation for student activism, so she shouldn’t have much trouble connecting with like-minded students there.
For a girl who wants to change the world, Wesleyan’s Patricelli Center for Student Entreprenneurship is a unique resource for students and alumnae interested in creating businesses, programs, or organizations that advance the public good. It offers workshops, training and networking as well as student grants.