<p>I just checked the Common Data Sets. Level of applicant interest is not considered for Williams or Amherst. That said, they aren’t really any easier to get into than the Ivies. If you are looking for matches or safeties, they aren’t really going to be appropriate.</p>
<p>@intparent I wonder how much you can rely on the CDS saying that a LAC doesn’t consider Level of Applicant Interest. For example, my D has an application pending to Pomona. The Pomona CDS says Level of Applicant Interest is not considered. But the Pomona portion of the Common App asks the applicant to detail his/her contacts with the school, including on campus visits, interviews, and visits at your high school. If they really don’t consider applicant interest, why do they ask the applicant to specify their contacts?</p>
<p>PS: I just went and looked at the Common App. Amherst doesn’t ask for any contacts but Williams gives you an opportunity to specify contacts. </p>
<p>They may be fishing for alumni relationships. The interview is a separate line item, too, and maybe they want to make sure they take the interview into account if the student had one. And if they came to your high school… maybe they want to ask the rep who went there if they met/noticed your kid and what they thought. </p>
<p>@tk21769 I should have said match about Mac mia culpa. </p>
<p>@Corinthian - oh snap! I had no idea Pitzer had gotten so competitive.</p>
<p>Pitzer is an oddity. It has that super-low admit rate, but the freshman profile shows that its students have the lowest average test scores of all the Claremonts. This may be because it’s test-optional. But plenty of other schools are test-optional and I don’t know that they have this kind of result.</p>
<p>Barnard, Sarah Lawrence, Wesleyan, Swarthmore. </p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence is limited in CS, math, and chemistry (see <a href=“Disciplines and Programs of Study | Sarah Lawrence College”>http://www.slc.edu/catalogue/</a> ), so it would not be a good fit for a student whose main interest and probable major is one of these. Its focus is on history, literature, psychology, writing, and visual and performing arts.</p>
<p>@dustypig, that’s what I was thinking, since it was test-optional. Also, Pitzer’s acceptance rate even just a few years ago wasn’t that low compared to the other Claremonts if I recall correctly. Ah well.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t test optional produce higher avg scores?</p>
<p>^ I would think so since only people with higher test scores would submit them.</p>
<p>How important is it that you stay in the East? Are West Coast schools okay? If so, I’m biased, but Reed would be a good choice. Great science program, outstanding in humanities, very intellectual and not grade reliant. Not a safety for anyone, though, but it’s not ridiculously selective either (~25-35%).</p>