dahe24

Hi, I need help finding a college that I can both get into and would actually be a good fit.

Junior in good public high school.

I have about a 3.5-3.6 weighted GPA, take a few AP classes, 30 ACT, some involvement in extra curriculars, and I volunteer some on the side. I really don't have anything extremely spectacular that would warrant entrance at elite universities but I could use some suggestions on colleges. I'm fine with large, medium, or small. Midwest and east coast schools would be first choice, though I'd be open to west and south too. I don't know what I would necessarily majoring in though I'm considering government, english/writing, business, or economics. I'm a Minnesota resident, and I'd like to get out of the state if possible.

Thank you!

C'est Moi

Claremont McKenna, Pomonna, Colby

elsijfdl

high reaches: brown, northwestern, willams, amherst, cornell, georgetown

reaches: middlebury, haverford, uchicago

matches: bowdoin, carleton (not getting you out of minnesota there), michigan, uva

depends a lot on what your class rank is with a 3.6 weighted, this list is sort of assuming it's top 10% or at least close to it.

OneMom

Tulane, Boston College, George Washington U.

daffymom

With a WEIGHTED 3.5 to 3.6 GPA, a few APs and no spectacular extra curriculars, Bowdoin (18 % acceptance rate this year) and Carleton are reaches not matches.What is your unweighted GPA? You may want to start by using the search engine on US News for colleges with your stats and interests.

You might look at Conn College.

chocolatelover03

Washington University in St. Louis
Bates College (Lewiston, Maine)

Erin's Dad

WUSL is a big reach. Some midwestern schools to consider are Earlham, Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster.

dahe24

I'm in the top 25% class rank and my uw GPA is 3.3-3.4. It seems like alot of the schools sugggested might be out of my reach, but I'll look into the three suggested by Erin's Dad.

Does anyone know of more match type schools in states like Mass, Penn, Maine? I visited Pitt and I was turned off by it's big city atmosphere. If I had to choose one type of college it would be relatively small, have a real college campus, and it would offer at least reputable academics. Williams is the kind I'm thinking of but maybe there's a type of college a bit easier to get into?

Thanks for all the quick responses!

ktcv

if your into california look at some UCs
santa barbara is really nice

MarathonMan88

In the states you mention reasonable LAC matches to reach-matches might include:

Mass: Clark, Wheaton, Holy Cross, Hampshire
Penn: Dickinson, F&M, Gettysburg, Ursinus, Juniata, Muhlenberg, Susquehana, Moravian, Washington and Jefferson, Allegheny
Maine: College of the Atlantic, Bate, University of Southern Maine

momfromme

Also in Maine: Colby and a public liberal arts college, Univ of Maine-Farmington http://www.umf.maine.edu/about/reputation.php

dahe24

Do you guys think Swarthmore is out of reach? Still worth applying?

ek1099

honestly, i would rate swarthmore as a very high reach for you. there are plenty of good schools out of minnesota that should fit your stats. you just need to do some more research and take a look at the other colleges the people here suggested

carolyn

I'd suggest these schools as realistic options that meet what you're looking for in a college: Earlham, Beloit, Lawrence, Knox, Hobart & William Smith, College of Wooster, Clark University, Goucher, Dickinson, Wheaton (MA), Gettysburg, Franklin & Marshall, Elon, Rhodes, Sewanee/College of the South, University of Redlands, Lewis & Clark, Willamette, Hendrix, Bard, Skidmore, Sarah Lawrence, Denison. The suggestions that MarathonMan has mentioned above would also be good places to start.

Build your college list from the bottom-up - start with some great schools that you have a pretty good shot at, then move up to schools that will be a little tougher. When you have those schools in place, you can then think about adding the reachier places like Swarthmore knowing that you have a firm foundation to build upon.

admisscouns

Carolyn, MarathonMan, and Erin'sDad make some good suggestions. Williams and Swarthmore are really not likely. Conn Coll and Boston College are also reaches. Why not check out the schools against the Stats Profiles on this site, to see how you compare to students who were admitted this year?