<p>White/Male
SAT: 1560(CR+M), 2300(CR+M+W)
SATII: Coming in Oct.
Rank: 1(or2)/600~
17+ AP classes (4/5's)
3.8UW/7.01W (weird weighting system)
EC's: Mostly standard strong; president of a few clubs, JROTC corps commander, organized some community service projects, published an academic essay, and I've won some fairly prestigious awards, but I did not cure cancer like most of the HYP students seem to have done.</p>
<p>Anyway, like everyone else, I already know where I want to apply for reaches, but I'm having trouble with my safeties/matches/slight reaches.</p>
<p>Some things I'm looking for:
-I prefer a liberal arts education
-<5000 undergrads
-a nice mountain setting with lots of outdoor activities would be nice
-a strong science and political science department
-a small teacher/student ratio (I want some individual attention)
-decent research opportunities
-a fun-loving and laid back student body
-a fairly prestigious name attached (I'm looking to go to grad school).</p>
<p>I live in Florida, but I don't really like any of the in state schools. So far I've been looking at Amherst/Williams, but I'm obviously hesitant to label them slight reaches. Some others I had in mind: UVA, Davidson, Duke.. I haven't visited them so I can't really say for sure. Thanks.</p>
<p>Congrats with your acheivements!
Schools that fit your description in the LAC would be:</p>
<p>Wesleyan, Bucknell, Middlebury, Oberlin, Pomona, Williams for Northeast schools.
You might want to look into Tufts and Johns Hopkins if you want name recognition or Darmouth.</p>
<p>Prestige won't get you in to grad school--good grades, GRE scores where applicable, and great professor recommendations in your field will make the difference. Of course it won't hurt to come from a top-20 school, but I think the name recognition that will count most will come from within the graduate programs you are applying to--that is, if one of its senior people went to grad school with one of your professors or knows that person from professional meetings or reputation, that will be key. (You might be surprised to know how many really prominent academics did not go to especially prestigious colleges but rather to state universities or small and/or regional schools where they excelled.)</p>
<p>That is not to say your proposed list of schools isn't very good for your described interests--it is. But consider your GPA as 3.8--college either won't weight at all or will weight according to their own formula. Dartmouth is a good reach idea--as are all the schools you listed. What about Colgate as a match or very near reach? It isn't in the mountains but it is certainly beautiful rural area, fun-loving and has excellent faculty and facilities. (Besides, most of the schools your named aren't exactly in the mountains, jsut near them, or in generally beautiful areas that aren't flat.)</p>
<p>Prestige and safety sounds like a contradiction in terms.
Colorado College in Colorado Springs at the base of Pikes Peak is probably a safety.
UVM, not an LAC, but definitely in the mountains and a safety.
The Maine LACs (Bates, Bowdoin, Colby) are not in the mountains, but have great access to the outdoors and good sciences. Bowdoin might be a slight reach only because of its low admittance rate, Bates and Colby would be matches.</p>