Sally_Rubenstone

Yes, Bryn Mawr is still a single-sex school, one of the former prestigious "Seven Sisters," now known as the "Sister Schools" since a couple of the former siblings went coed.

How about your school counselor ... didn't he or she suggest some safe options for you? We don't have access to your SATs, GPA, nor to other aspects of your overall profile that your counselor should know, so it's not responsible to suggest truly "safe" schools without being privy to this information.

Other than the Ivies, which colleges does your father find acceptable? Some parents (though he may not be one of them) who poo-poo the fine smaller colleges they've never heard of (e.g., Bryn Mawr) are okay with places that get a lot of media play via their sports programs (e.g., Syracuse, Ohio State).

integrity09

Smith is part of a 5-college consortium (with Amherst, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke and Univ of Mass). You can take classes at any. There is a free shuttle bus to get to classes at the other campuses, and the buses run nights and weekends as well.

Also, Smith is part of the 12 college exchange--students can attend a semester or year at: Dartmouth, Amherst, Vassar, Bowdoin, and others, should they want to.

Maybe the above information will pass muster with your Dad.

Smith College is a wonderful supportive community of bright, impressive women—a place where you make friends for life. It’s known for academic excellence and small classes, and is no more PC than a number of LACs. Students tend to support one another rather than compete, and to be open-minded and respectful of each other’s beliefs.

It may help to show your Dad this: http://www.smith.edu/collegerelation...Smith-0414.pdf

classof09

I know this isn't exactly a LAC, but on the last page you mentioned larger universities being okay. I also know that this isn't exactly a safety, but looking at where you are applying, it could definately be considered a low match and higher safety (certainly harder to get into than UMass). But it seems quite obvious that BU could be a decent fit. You like urban environments, and BU is quite known for psychology (I think.) It also has quite a reputation, largely because of its size, and your dad will probably be fine with it (I sympathize, my parents won't let me apply to Colgate!) For the Boston area, you could also check out Northeastern, which could prove to be more of a "safety" as well. While you might not think of these as in the same category as the schools you are looking at, they are both alrge enough (and in the city of Boston) that you are sure to find likeminded individuals.

little_galaxie

^ thanks for the Northeastern suggestion! I'll have to check it out. I don't think I'll apply to BU because they're known to be extremely stingy with their financial aid (ie, my friend chose a UMass honors college over BU because the monetary difference was something like 30k a year) but I like the college well enough.

classof09

Yikes that's a huge difference! I just know that my friend is going to BU over NYU because of a nice finaid package...

While you're at it though, check out Fordham.. probably another "safety" but in NYC. I was born across the street from the campus so I'm pretty partial.

little_galaxie

Haha, well I've heard that NYU is the stingiest of them all : P

Thanks for the continued recs! I've heard of Fordham, I think...I'll look into it. The fact that it's in NYC is a HUGE plus.

Bourne

It's also Catholic though, don't know how that'll affect your decision.

Brandeis could be somewhat of a match?

Sally_Rubenstone

Fordham has a Catholic affiliation but welcomes students of all faiths and is a very appropriate choice for non-Catholics. One of my former advisees is a junior there now and is thriving, even though she, too, was hesitant to attend a Catholic college. She is very politically active and quite left-leaning, so she was wary at first, but she's had a terrific experience and has taken full advantage of Fordham's NYC location.

Speaking of which, do note that Fordham has two very different campuses. One, Rose Hill, is located in the Bronx and has the feel of a "real" college campus. The other is at Lincoln Center, smack in the middle of all the Manhattan action and with a different ambiance than you'll find at Rose Hill.

So prospective students checking out Fordham need to be aware of these options. The two-campus choice isn't unique, but it is unusual and thus potentially confusing.

es2642

Northeastern is a great option for a safety. Its the fastest rising school in the rankings over the last 4 years.

bclintonk

Yes, Bryn Mawr is still a women's college, but it's also part of a consortium with Swarthmore, Haverford, and Penn, all top-notch schools. This gives you a very rich set of course offerings, as well as more social opportunities than you'd get at a stand-alone women's college. Of the four, Bryn Mawr has the highest acceptance rate (44%) and slightly lower stats (1200-1420 25th/75th percentile SATS, v. 1290-1500 for Haverford, 1320-1530 for Swat, and 1330-1530 for Penn). I don't know that I'd call it a "safety" but if you're competitive at Wellesley and Barnard, you should certainly be in the running at Bryn Mawr. It's got an outstanding reputation for academic excellence, and its location in suburban Philly, on the Main Line a quick 20 minute train ride into the city, sounds like it's right up your alley.

little_galaxie

Thanks so much everyone! Based on research (aka browsing through CC and recent college visits), my heavily revised list goes like this:

Reaches:

Yale
Amherst
Columbia
Pomona
Harvard (maybe. I don't want to go to a college that's 10 minutes away but I'm a legacy through my dad. Getting your pHD at a school qualifies you as an alumni, right? He kind of counts on me applying.)

Matches:

Wellesley
Tufts
Bryn Mawr/Barnard (trying to decide if I should keep one or both)

Safeties:

UMass-Amherst (in-state, financial safety)
Northeastern


That's 10-11 colleges. Just right? Too many? Should I load up on more matches?

Sally_Rubenstone

Tell us more about your grades, courses, test scores, interests, accomplishments, etc. It's impossible to assess whether this is a sensible list without knowing all of that. Certainly admission committees will see much more than what we see on this forum, so it's really not all that responsible to assess anyone's "chances" here ... but, of course, that's never stopped us before.

momrath

lg, for art and theater in the not too selective, not too leftish, I'd recommend Conn College, Hamilton, Skidmore, and somewhat to the west, Kenyon.

In the reach category, Williams is surprisingly great in the arts, much more so, I think,than Amherst, Pomona or Wellesey. I would consider adding in Wesleyan instead of one of the others.

I don't think 10-12 schools is too many when you have super-selectives on your list (though I would note that for someone who'd like to get away from Boston, you seem to be heavily weighted toward Boston schools). As long as you have safeties that you really wouldn't mind attending, then it doesn't much matter if your mid-range are reach-y matches or safe matches.

I like both U-Mass and Northeastern but I think as big impersonal universities they are very different from the schools on your wish list. I'd suggest you do more research in the less selective small to medium category. Women's colleges can be very good values in that category.

little_galaxie

Ha ha Sally_R, the very thing I've been trying to avoid is a "chances" thread, but here I go anyway:

GPA: 9.8/11.
School: intensive boarding school (um, I think my profile pretty much gives it away). Sends around 70% to Top 20 schools, around top 25% are competitive for Ivies. Most popular schools: Harvard, UPenn, Columbia and Georgetown. I'm around top 15-20%? Average GPA for my year around 8.0 (B).
Courseload: very rigorous (can't say "most" because we have about different 30 math levels here, and only the true geniuses can ascend pass BC Calculus or Orgo Chem).
Basically all classes here are considered APs, so there's no weighting.
SAT: 2320 - reading 800 writing 800 math 720

ECs/awards: centered around 3 points: art, writing, and community service.
won several distinguished poetry/short story awards, painting awards, featured in galleries, won't mention c.s. achievements b/c they are very, very, specific and would probably give my identity away. Suffice to say, they are pretty awesome. I plan on making good use of the one-page attachment the Common App allows you to add to your EC credentials.
I'm also in StuCo and played one JV sport but that's kind of filler crap.

As you can see, my strengths are skewed waaayy towards humanities : ) I would *not* say I'm well rounded; my GPA is pretty good because my grades in History/English/French are way up there and my grades in math/chemistry are way down there, so it all balances out. Will have completed BC Calc by senior year, though. Surprisingly, I did well in bio and physics.

Possibly majors in college: psychology, philosphy/econ (econ appeals to my practical side)

Sally_Rubenstone

Thanks, l_g. Sounds like your list is sensible. (Note disclaimer in previous message about not having access to the info that the adcoms will have.) Another factor, too, is the "competition" from within your school. A parent from a prep school comparable to yours (and I know there are few, but this was one of them) told me yesterday that 51 kids from the senior class had applied to Middlebury. My guess is that many of them were highly qualified. I don't know how many of that group Middlebury admitted, but I can assure you that it wasn't remotely close to 51.

This could be all prep-school grapevine hearsay. Those figures may not be accurate, but they're probably in the ballpark. The key point is that, although admission officials will typically say that applicants aren't competing with their own high school classmates, that's not exactly the straight scoop.

So, depending on how many (dozens of) others from your school have similar lists and how strong those others are, your odds could go up ... or down ... at your target colleges.

I still think you should add Smith. Assuming there are no skeletons in your closet, Smith sounds like a "Safe" choice for you. And, if finances are a concern, you might want to aim for some of the big merit scholarships at schools like Emory, BC, and BU.