Chance/Match Illinois resident for women's colleges and other SLACs- 3.7UW/4.3W, 35 ACT, math major

Chance Me / Match Me
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Our daughter is a rising senior, and we’re looking at mostly small liberal arts colleges. Women’s colleges are frontrunners right now. Definitely looking for a supportive environment for LGBTQ+ students, and only looking at blue states currently.

  • US citizen
  • State/Location of residency: Illinois
  • Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Top Chicago suburban high school

Cost Constraints / Budget We will not qualify for need-based aid, but would love her to receive some merit because she’s the oldest of three.

Intended Major(s) Math, with some thought to data science and/or business

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
3.7 unweighted, 4.3 weighted. School doesn’t rank. 35 ACT, 1440 SAT. Will re-take SAT but won’t submit unless she gets 1550 or above.

  • English: Honors English isn’t offered for freshman and sophomores. Freshman English, Sophomore English, AP Lang, and AP Lit
  • Math: Honors Algebra II, Honors Pre-Calc, AP Calc AB, AP Statistics
  • Science: Physics, Honors Biology, Chemistry
  • History and social studies: Honors World History, AP Psych (5), AP US History, AP Macro, AP Micro
  • Language other than English: French 1-5, AP French
  • Visual or performing arts: Choir all 4 years

Extracurriculars
Stage Crew
Costumes
IMLEA Jazz Choir
Student theater production performer
Musical performer
Choir Officer
Choir all 4 years
Voice lessons
Cross country freshman year
French Honor Society
Summer job as a counselor at a local day camp 3 years in a row

Essays/LORs/Other
She’s a very strong essay writer with a unique voice. She should also have very good LOR from her AP Calc teacher and French teacher. She’s also submitting voice samples.

Looking at SLACs, most under 3,000 students, in blue states or purple states only. She’s also considering a couple of larger schools.

Her ideal school would be suburban or in a college town, although a rural location would be ok if she can access a town within 15-20 minutes. She’ll have a car if it’s allowed. She would very much like an artsy, relaxed school with collaborative students. She’s not interested in Greek life. She would like to participate in choir and possibly theater. She would like a large LGBTQ community.

Schools
In order of her top choices:
Bryn Mawr
Scripps
Mount Holyoke
Smith
St. Lawrence
University of Vermont
Brandeis
University of Michigan
University of Rochester
Macalester
Skidmore
Dickinson

Would love advice on ranking the schools in terms of reach, match, and likely, and please suggest other schools we should consider.

Thank you!

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Movement Advancement Project | Snapshot: LGBTQ Equality by State can give a more detailed look at state laws and policies regarding LGB and T subjects, since different blue (or purple, like Michigan) states can vary from each other.

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Budget should come first…are you willing to be full pay at any college on your list? Ideally what budget would be most comfortable for your family?

I don’t understand why she is considering retaking the SAT considering her ACT score? I would encourage her to consider not spending another minute on prep or the couple hours to take the test. Even if she got a 1550 this time around, that won’t make her app stronger IMO.

I would defer to her HS counselor for categorization of this list, based on prior results from your school. Does the school use a program like Naviance/Scoir where you can see scattergrams?

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@ucbalumnus
Thank you!

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@Mwfan1921
Our high school uses Maia, and often our students seem to be more likely to get into a given school than average. Our college counselors are ok, but very busy and don’t have a lot of experience with SLACs. Most of our students go to Big 10 schools or other large schools.

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@Mwfan1921 we are willing to pay full-pay, but would definitely be nice to have decent merit. I think she wants to re-take the SAT because she put a lot of effort into studying for it, before she knew she’d even take the ACT. She went into the ACT with no prep and got a 35, so maybe that’s the better test for her!

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Why would you retake the SAT. She got a 35. Zero need there. But sounds more a personal thing so that’s ok.

Your issue may be rigor - science but if you can pay full you will have plenty of choice.

I would look at Agnes Scott in Atlanta. They are in a consortium with Emory and more - I note this because women’s colleges are front runners.

Why the large schools, don’t think Michigan would happen - so if she wants large supplement with UMD which is a math leader and is a match. . Or Ohio State which is likely. But it sounds like all should be off.

Seems a good list overall.

I think she has to rank - we can’t.

But I’d think Mt Holyoke and St Lawrence would be lower based on access to city.

Finally - set a budget. We can pay full but…means you don’t want to pay full.

What do you want to pay and find schools where you know you’ll hit that # 100%. Wheaton, as an example, will likely be $40k or lower. St Olaf assures ED certain merit. And non ED can get too.

But what is your # ? Michigan is $80k plus. You’re not getting $$ most likely.

Good luck.

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Hi!
My D22 is a CS major at a LAC and came from a different suburban high school. We looked at many of these schools.

Just in general in terms of stats and rigor, I think Bryn Mawr and Holyoke are targets. We didn’t look at Scripps because they don’t offer CS (although we walked by while visiting Mudd & Pomona & it looked beautiful). I suspect she will get into at least one of those.

Smith is a reach.

Working down the list, St. Lawrence and Vermont are safeties.

Brandeis is a target, I think. Also, I think this is a lot more like the first four schools on the list than St. Lawrence and Vermont are. I know Brandeis is a university, but it really feels like a LAC. If you get the chance to visit, I highly recommend.

Michigan and Rochester are both reaches.

I don’t know enough about Macalaster to comment, but Skidmore and Dickinson are both safeties.

I hope you get a chance to visit some of these places. On paper these places look a lot alike, but can have a different vibe when you’re there.

Question about math at your high school, is there another calculus she could take senior year? She will need to keep going in calculus to be a math major. I would hate to see her take a year off and come in rusty.

Also, some schools may look at AP stats as an easy class for her (as opposed to challenging herself senior year). It is less of an issue at a LAC because they don’t admit by major. But I think it would be a red flag for Michigan if you had the choice of more calc and chose stats.

If anyone disagrees with the above please let me know!

If your daughter does have more calc options and wants to do stats, ask her counselor to call Bryn Mawr, Scripps & Holyoke “anonymously” and see if they care. When my D wanted to drop a certain class senior year, her counselor did that and the LAC said “it’s ok as long as it isn’t an AP.” Better to find out now!

Good luck! Try to enjoy the process if you can. Every school on her list will be a fun visit! And I think she has 4 safeties. Is that what Maia shows on the scattergrams, or do you not have enough data points?

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Curious why you’ve mentioned Wheaton here? It is significantly more expensive than $40k, and is a Christian college which isn’t known to be very LGBTQ friendly. Not sure where that fits for OP.

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Just a quick follow-up, the suburban high school appears to have a very good reputation when it comes to placing students. For example, on the raw numbers UMichigan would be a pure reach, but based on historic acceptance data of students from her high school it turns into a hard target. Also, the % of students attending SLACs appears (to me) surprisingly low. Most of the kids are Big Ten bound. Seems like that would help if that’s where she’s inclined.

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Do you know how far back your scattergram information goes? The only reason I mention this is our high school’s placement to Michigan shifted post – Covid. Prior to Covid it was a safety for kids shooting for ultra selective. The shift appeared to occur for the class of 22. It went from target/safety to reach. And kids were very surprised!
Our Maia data only goes back 3 years at this point. We used to get 5-7 years of data, I think.

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One word of warning on LAC data points, from our high school, a number of the kids headed to selective LACs are not only full pay, “standard strong” academically, but also recruited athletes.

At my D’s LAC, the single kid accepted from our high school in each of the 3 years above her was an athlete (as was she) and the student 4 years before her was a legacy (with a very involved alumni parent). There’s no way to get that info from a scattergram but your counselor should know.

Does anyone know if the music/theater aspect of the OPs profile will provide an admissions boost (over and above being a great EC)? Would it at any of the schools on OPs list?

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@Midwestmom2022 I believe our Maia only goes back 3 years, because the school only began using it then. I still think Michigan is a reach, and it’s much larger than any school on her list.

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It just occurred to me, are you looking at Michigan and Rochester because of SMTD (UMich’s music school) and Eastman (conservatory affiliated with Rochester)? Would your D apply in voice/theater as well as math?

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Wrong Wheaton - can access Boston and Providence although maybe not suburban enough - but more so than say Mt. Holyoke.

Wheaton College (MA) - Liberal Arts and Sciences College

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Fit matters most - you have to be somewhere four years, day after day…but if she wants a big school, then you need big school alternatives…it shouldn’t be Michigan or bust is the point. There’s others that are suitable subs even if their “rank” is a bit lower - which likely won’t impact at the job level.

Plus, you want merit - well Michigan today is close to $80K the first two years and over $80K the last two years. Given the majors, why would one choose it over Illinois…or Ohio State with merit…or top notch UMD which will be $25K a year less.

Again, you can afford anything - but you clearly don’t want to - so ensure you have options so you aren’t locked into - wow, we love Michigan, but dang, stroking that $40K + check 2x a year is crippling…

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A couple of thoughts:

  • I think that Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, and Scripps are good targets.
  • Have you considered Connecticut College and Sarah Lawrence? They are co-ed but with majority-female populations, are LGBT friendly, in blue states, and offer merit. Both would be targets. St. Olaf would also check most of these boxes (don’t know about the gender ratio).
  • Don’t bother with an SAT retake. Her ACT score is outstanding and needs no reinforcement. Schools do not prefer one test over the other.
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Just seconding these suggestions!

Also Union College has merit, and a cool Managerial Economics major that might be of interest.

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As you’re looking at Macalester already, I’d echo a few others and recommend checking out (and getting a tour at) St. Olaf when you’re in the area. It’s very highly regarded for both math and music, and is supportive of LGBTQ+ students. (I met an LGBTQ+ student there this past spring who absolutely loves it, sings with the choir, etc. My very progressive SF Bay kids were looking at it and really liked it, and would have dropped it in an instant if they felt that it had social justice red flags.) Although my kids ended up somewhere else, we were all really impressed by it. I was especially impressed by the merit aid they offered, and by how incredibly kind everyone was. Definitely worth checking out a bit more, especially if you want more target/likely schools.

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SLC may be rather limited in math offerings, however. Its emphasis is mostly arts, some humanities, history, and psychology.

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