aurelie426

I'm a junior, and in the process of putting together the list of colleges I'm going to be applying to next year. Right now I have Williams, Amherst, Brown, Colgate, Macalester, Carleton, Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, and Lewis & Clark.

Does anyone have any suggestions for safeties, or other match schools I could take a look at?

If it'll help here's some info about me: I got 750M 750CR 680W my first SAT, and 720M 740 CR 740W my second SAT. I have pretty decent ec's, though they're not great. I don't have many awards, and I have had one leadership position last year (president of French club), though I've done a fair amount of community service. My essays, though, should be pretty good, as well as my recommendations.

tachen95

I'm not really sure about safeties, but if you're into small liberal arts schools, I would recommend taking a look at Swarthmore and William and Mary. Princeton is also pretty liberal artsy if that's your thing.

Pootie

Looks like a good list. Since you have Lewis & Clark on there, Willamette and/or University of Puget Sound would be safety schools to consider (and their applications are easy).

Middlebury is a match/reach that you may wish to add.

anniezz

What kind of school are you interested in? Geographic preferences? Areas of study?

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UM32194

Take a look at Vassar!

orangemom12

Wesleyan, Conn Coll, Union, Haverford, Denison

Waverly

Trinity, Colgate, St. Olaf, Grinnell.

aurelie426

aniezz, I'm mostly looking at liberal arts schools, I want to go over to the East Coast, preferably the New England area for college, and I'm undecided right now as to my major, but it's probably going to be something in the social sciences or humanities.

I'll take a look into Willamette thanks!

And orangemom- I heard that Haverford was basically a reach school for mostly everyone and that it's really hard to get into? Or might it actually work for match/safety??

momrath

aurelie, what is your GPA? That will be the most important factor in admissions. Rank is also considered as is rigor of course load.

In addition to the above (and your scores) the most selective colleges will expect you to be accomplished in some extracurricular areas. Awards and leadership positions are good, but the point is to be intensely involved in whatever it is that interests you.

You have a good list, but whether these are extreme reaches or matches really depends on your grades and ECs. I would add Middlebury, Hamilton and Kenyon.

A good safety would be one of the women's colleges: Smith or Holyoke.

Another thing to think about is finances. . .

aurelie426

I have a 4.0 unweighted, and I don't know about my class rank because my school doesn't compute them until November senior year. I'm also taking 4 AP classes this year (including econ, which will be 2 tests- micro and macro), I took 1 last year, and I'm taking 5 next year.


My ECs are:
French club (member freshmen and junior year, president sophomore year)

National Honors Society (junior year and running for secretary for senior year)

Peer Tutor (sophomore, junior, senior years)

Tennis (JV third singles freshmen year, first singles sophomore year, Varsity fourth singles junior year, club off season)

Arts Museum Teen Docent (docent freshmen year, docent and mentor sophomore year, mentor junior year)


Would those count as strong ECs? I also did flute and was in a flute orchestra my sophomore year but I quit that towards the end of my sophomore year when tennis required more of a time commitment, so I'm probably not going to put that on my application.

Finances would also be an issue, but from what I've looked at only the very top schools guarantee full aid, so I'm going to leave that and hope things come together well when time comes for me to choose between schools at which I'm accepted.

Could I also get some suggestions as to how many schools I should apply to? I think I'm going to apply to Willamette as my other safety, and I'll definitely look up Vassar, Middlebury, Hamilton and Kenyon. I've looked at Smith and Holyoke, but upon reflection realized that I don't really want to go to a women's college.

tk21769

Are finances an issue because you have a low Expected Family Contribution, or because your family is unable (or reluctant) to meet the EFC? The latter is the case for many middle class families. If it's the case with yours, then you'd be ill-advised to just hope things come together. You may need a strategy that pursues merit aid to narrow the gap between what you can afford and the full cost, or else less expensive schools, or both. Of the schools you've mentioned, only L&C offers significant amounts of merit aid. The others are generous with need-based aid, but only according to their definitions of "need" (which won't necessarily be yours). On the other hand, LACs that do offer significant merit aid typically are not need-blind, full-need schools.

The bottom line is that you need at least one true admission and financial safety.

momrath

aurelie, Before you do anything else you need to get a grip on your financial situation. Do NOT just hope for the best.

To continue what TK advised: There are two kinds of aid -- need and merit. Ask your parents to use a financial calculator to determine how much need based aid you would be eligible for. If that works for you then you can proceed with an open list.

If, however, you require merit aid, your list will be very different. Most of the selective schools on your list only offer need based aid. They can be very generous, but only if you qualify.

At this point I wouldn't worry about whether a school is need blind or if it meets full need. Concentrate on understanding your estimated family contribution. There is some variance from school to school, but the EFC will at least tell you if you can afford a need based school.

Your ECs are just okay for the most selectives. Tennis is good. Are you willing or able to play at college level? If yes, you should be contacting coaches.

Perhaps in the next few months and over the summer you could intensify and expand your involvement with the art museum? Might be a good time to dust off that flute.

SLUMOM

You might want to look around and use some of these privates' Net Price Calculators on their websites with your parents' and yours, 2011 Tax Returns. Get some kind of an idea about your EFC. The CollegeBoard website has an EFC calculator as well. Keep hitting "Save" so you can refer back to it from time to time.

I will throw in:

Hobart & William Smith (NY)
Wheaton College (MA)
St Lawrence University (NY)
Skidmore College (NY)

Classof2015

There is no one "right" answer, but I have heard people use this approach: 3 safeties, 3 matches, 3 reaches (so 9 total). My daughter applied to 13 schools, and I wished she had applied to a few more (only because in the end, I realized her list was packed with reaches and not enough schools where she was likely to get in). If I had to make a suggestion, it would be this: make sure you would be happy at each and every school on your list. Don't assume anything. Have a few reaches but plenty of safeties/matches.

Good luck.

Longhaul

I've been making my kid crazy by running a ton of Net Price Calculator's from each school's website and then also looking into the highest merit available at the school and if the merit requires additional essays/interviews.

I think Conn College matches up well with many of your other schools and geographic area.

Check out Colleges That Change Lives. Most have very generous merit and are academically challenging for students with your stats. Off the top of my head Centre (KY), Rhodes (TN), Goucher (MD) and Juniatta (PA) all have merit up to full tuition (not room and board). Some are much more competitive than others.

We are high middle class and can't afford our EFC. My son's financial safety list includes many southern schools where the COA is much lower even without merit and aid. He has also expanded his list to include non-LACs with guaranteed merit (such as Alabama's Honors Colleges). Other southern schools to consider - College of Charleston (SC), UNC Asheville (a public LAC).

For our financial bracket and my son's GPA, we anticipate a wide range of merit/FA packages. He will apply to a MINIMUM of 10 schools because of this. The NPC have given us differences up to $20,000 when comparing schools.

No one can tell you how many is too little or too much to apply to. If you have a financial safety that you love, then you can apply to a handful of schools. Start building a list from the bottom up of admission and financial safeties.