You have an interesting profile and I look forward to seeing how your college search process goes. Once we know what your annual budget for school is, and what the NPCs says, then we might be able to give better recs. But if you’re trying to stay in the northeast, these are the schools I would recommend for you to look into.
This list is categorized based on my very fallible sense of what might be your chances of acceptance. That does not mean that these are the chances for whether they will be affordable. A school can have a high likelihood of admission, but a small chance for a big huge scholarship. Mentally classify that school in the harder-to-get category then. Also, a school’s admittance rate has to do with how popular a school is, not what the quality of the school is. And lastly, you are very lucky that you live in Maryland. You have some excellent in-state publics to choose from!
Also, these schools have a range of sizes, but are predominantly small. Some are in urban areas, others in more rural ones, and others in-between.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
- Drew (NJ): About 1600 undergrads
- McDaniel (MD): About 1800 undergrads
- Seton Hall (NJ): About 6k undergrads
- St. Mary’s College of Maryland: About 1500 undergrads at Maryland’s public liberal arts college
- Suffolk (MA) About 4200 undergrads
- Towson (MD): About 18k undergrads
- U. of Maryland – Baltimore County: About 11k undergrads
- Washington (MD): About 1k undergrads
- Washington & Jefferson (PA ): About 1200 undergrads
- Wheaton (MA): About 1700 undergrads
Likely (60-79%)
- Allegheny (PA ): About 1600 undergrads
- College of New Jersey: About 7k undergrads
Toss-Up (40-59%)
- Clark (MA): About 2300 undergrads
- Dickinson (PA ): About 2200 undergrads
- Mount Holyoke (MA): Women’s college with about 2200 undergrads
- U. of Maryland – College Park: About 31k undergrads
Lower Probability (20-39%)
- Brandeis (MA): About 3600 undergrads
- Connecticut College: About 1800 undergrads
- Skidmore (NY): About 2700 undergrads
- Smith (MA): Women’s college with about 2600 undergrads
Low Probability (less than 20%)
- Vassar (NY): About 2500 undergrads
- Wellesley (MA): Women’s college with about 2500 undergrads