Other special factors: legacy at washu, all my classes (except ap & dual-credit) are considered honors, my school doesn’t rank
Cost Constraints / Budget
cost is not an issue.
Intended Major(s)
anthropology, global studies, english. poli sci maybe? end goal is law school.
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 4.00
Weighted HS GPA: 4.28, no idea how it’s weighted though
ACT/SAT Scores: still waiting for them but psat / nmsqt was a 1310 (sat projected from that is a 1400 but i think i did better)
List your HS coursework
i am a rising senior btw!
English: honors english all four years
Math: honors math freshman + sophomore year, adv. alg 2 / trig junior year, adv. precalc next year.
Science: honors bio (freshman) honors chem (sophomore), physics (junior). adv. bio (dual-credit) senior year.
History and social studies: honors world civ (freshman), apush (sophomore. 4 on the exam), dual-credit anthro (junior), honors sociology + foreign policy (senior).
Language other than English: next year i’ll be taking spanish 5 (one level before ap), ap latin, and french 3
Visual or performing arts: studio art 1 sophomore year
Other academic courses: creative writing in freshman, junior, & senior years.
Awards
high honor roll all four years so far
national honor society (joined junior year)
ranked 9th nationally & 7th in the state in national french contest, level 2A (junior)
ranked maxima cum laude in national latin exam, intermediate level (junior)
ranked 15th nationally and 12th in state in national french contest, level 1A (sophomore)
won my school’s lit mag competition (sophomore)
Extracurriculars
summer law camp at state flagship (idk if this counts but i did have to apply to it)
tutoring new tutors at my school’s writing center next year
mock trial (joined junior year)
swim team all four years (might be captain next year)
200+ hours as summer camp volunteer, helping kids perform plays
60+ hours at a nonprofit making ceramics
i have a job interview for a fast food place next week!! we’ll see how it goes
Essays/LORs/Other
will probably get 2 humanities teachers for letters bc science position is cursed (never had a teacher for more than a year) and math teacher will only give me one if they like the school.
Schools
washu
emory
wake forest
upenn
university of richmond
smith (rd)
bryn mawr (rd)
american (ea)
if i don’t get into any of these i’ll just go to one of my safeties so it’s fine
i would like to go to one of these though. anyways if anyone also has any suggestions on which schools i should apply ed, i would love to hear it! thank you so much!!
I think, assuming the 1400, that the first four are unlikely.
Richmond is better odds but not great Similar with Smith.
If you demonstrate interest, Bryn Mawr and American are likely.
There’s more schools that might fit your mold. Take law school out of the equation - you don’t know if you’ll go - and even if you are sure, whether you go to Yale or Youngstown State, you can still get into a top law school. Harvard has 146 schools represented in its first year class. Penn had 119 schools represented in its first year class and over 200 in the law school.
So if your safety is an Arizona or Denver or wherever, law school is not going to be a concern, even the top ones.
So take that part out of your decision.
Also, given you want business nearby, I’m not sure Richmond fits. Plus while it’s a fine school, it’s business dominant - so it doesn’t seem to fit what you’d want in my opinion. Given your interests, you really should look at College of Charleston and the Charleston Fellows and International Scholars programs. It’s a public LAC and strong in poli sci and Global Studies, with the Mroz Institute.
Tufts as a reach and Brandeis as a target might be other schools that fit you.
Congratulations on your accomplishments in high school and building a well-rounded profile! Below are my guesses as to your chances for admission at the school on your list.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
Likely (60-79%)
American (if you show significant interest)
Toss-Up (40-59%)
Lower Probability (20-39%)
Bryn Mawr
Smith
U. of Richmond
Wake Forest
Low Probability (less than 20%)
Emory
UPenn
WashU
I saw your other thread (Colleges like emory?) and was wondering if the schools on your list were already under consideration, or if they were added based on yesterday’s suggestions.
Do your safeties have similar characeristics to these more selective schools? If not, would you be happy to enroll and spend four years on those campuses? Your list is composed of schools that are small to mid-sized, and I sometimes find that people will then have safeties that are very different to their more selective options and then end up unhappy in the spring if those are their only options. Your safeties are the most important schools on your list.
Have you visited all of the schools, preferably while school is in session? When financially feasible, I think that’s an extremely important criteria if selecting a school to ED to. Assuming all schools have been visited, which is your favorite? Are you so convinced that it’s your favorite that you wouldn’t care to find out if any other schools offered you admission or gave you scholarships? Has it been your favorite for a period of time, or does your favorite still tend to change?
They are very different than your top schools though. U of A likely fits better for your interests but there are many, many schools closer to what you actually want - many you can get to, public and private, that you shouldn’t have to settle for a school that doesn’t fit.
Highly recommend that you find some out-of-state safeties that are more similar to your reaches! It seems like what you really want is an urban, or urban-adjacent midsized private school. Not a large in-state public. If so, look at Fordham, University of Denver, Loyola Marymount. I’m not sure if I’d count these as safeties, but they are all a lot more likely than all of the schools currently on your list, except American.
I think it can help to use the term “Likelies” for colleges which are not autoadmits, but given your basic academic qualifications they are very likely to admit you. 2 or 3 carefully chosen Likelies makes it extremely likely you will be able to choose a college you actually like. On the other hand, people who only have “Safeties” they don’t particular like, and no carefully chosen Likelies, are at risk of being quite disappointed with their choices.
I agree in the OPs case, a lot of Jesuit colleges in particular might make for excellent Likelies. DU is also a good suggestion.
If you want to go to law school someday, you should look for a school where your writing and analytic reasoning skills can be honed. One school that seems to send a lot of graduates to law school is Sewanee: University of the South, a liberal arts college: About Sewanee | The University of the South | Sewanee. Sewanee’s web page notes that its graduates have a law school acceptance rate of about 95%: https://new.sewanee.edu/
But urban / access to urban it’s not. It’s way up on the hill, with Chattanooga (cool city) the closest, a bit less than an hour away.
There are so many colleges - esteemed and not - where writing and analytic reading skills can be honed - and there are many honors and sub honors programs at even the largest of universities - including both U of A and ASU if OP ends up at either.
Opinions about college can of course change. For example, my son initially wanted to go to a college in a big city; and he ended up choosing to go to school in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Additionally, your suggestion of College of Charleston was a good one.
Below is a rather extensive list of colleges, many of which were listed on your other thread, sorted by my guesses as to your chances for admission. I suspect that you would likely receive merit aid at most of the colleges in the toss-up and likelier categories, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that you would get some from the lower probability category.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
Butler (IN): About 4500 undergrads in Indianapolis
Drew (NJ): About 1600 undergrads
Hamline (MN): About 1700 undergrads in the Twin Cities
Ithaca (NY): About 4400 undergrads and students can take classes at nearby Cornell
Loyola Chicago (IL) About 12k undergrads at this Jesuit college
Seattle U. (WA): About 4100 undergrads at this Jesuit college
U. of Montana: About 7600 undergrads at this WUE school
U. of North Carolina – Asheville: About 2900 undergrads at this NC public liberal arts college
Likely (60-79%)
Chapman (CA): About 7900 undergrads
Fordham (NY): About 10k undergrads, but around 6k are at the Rose Hill (traditional campus), with the others at the Lincoln Center campus.
U. of Denver (CO): About 6400 undergrads
U. of Tulsa (OK): About 2500 undergrads
Toss-Up (40-59%)
Connecticut College: About 2k undergrads
Furman (SC): About 2300 undergrads
Mount Holyoke (MA): About 2200 undergrads at this women’s college that’s part of the 5-college consortium with Smith, Amherst, Hampshire, and UMass.
Rhodes (TN): About 1900 undergrads in Memphis…leaning towards likely
Santa Clara (CA): About 6200 undergrads
Southwestern (TX): About 1500 undergrads just outside of Austin. Leaning towards likely.
Trinity College (CT): About 2200 undergrads
U. of Rochester (NY): About 6800 undergrads
U. of San Diego (CA): About 5700 undergrads
Lower Probability (20-39%)
Brandeis (MA): About 3700 undergrads in a Boston suburb. Leaning towards toss-up. Part of a consortium that allows students to cross-register at Babson, Bentley, Wellesley, Olin, Boston College, Boston U., and Tufts (source).
College of the Holy Cross: About 3k undergrads…on the higher end of this category coming from AZ as they’re trying to expand their national reach. Can cross-register at Clark and WPI, among others.
Macalester (MN): About 2100 undergrads
Oberlin (OH): About 3k undergrads
Skidmore (NY): About 2800 undergrads
Trinity U. (TX): About 2500 undergrads in San Antonio
Low Probability (less than 20%)
If you let people know what attracts (or repels) you from various suggestions, that can help people to offer options that are more likely to suit you.
I think the thing I am trying to square is the “vibe” you are looking for. It sounds like you really like traditions from your other thread, but does that mean Greek life or something more artsy/esoteric? From the other thread (schools like Emory), you really sound like you might really like Wake Forest (traditions), but the Bryn Mawr note is throwing me off a little bit. I think of Wake Forest as pretty preppy in vibe, and Bryn Mawr more on the quirky side. And then your list includes super pre professional places like Penn and U Richmond, but then Bryn Mawr and Smith are more intellectual single-sex LACs. So I’m reluctant to suggest an ED when you really should do that only when you are convinced a school is a great fit.
If (and only if) you determine that you like the preppier vibe and you really feel like you are ready to commit, I think Wake is an interesting ED candidate. You can apply ED on a rolling basis there and get an answer early (and if you apply in August or Sept, you can even get an answer before EDI deadlines for other schools, giving you a second opportunity for EDI if rejected or deferred). It’s not like Atlanta, but Winston-Salem isn’t the sticks either, and they are building a huge new dining/entertainment center near campus. Wake has a really excellent forensics program that would be great for law school. There are a ton of traditions and school spirit, and they take a liberal arts approach at a school that’s bigger than many comparable campuses. Very good study abroad programs, too. You probably want to be into (or at least OK with) Greek life, though - it’s not “Bama Rush” level of Greek life, but it is pretty dominant on campus and most women join a sorority. I would not describe the students as overwhelmingly quirky, and it’s not as diverse as some other campuses.
You seem to like Emory. When we visited, we got the sense that test scores mattered for admission, and they very strongly encouraged people to apply to the Oxford Campus. So if you want to increase your chances, and you really love Emory, try to get a great score and check the Oxford box. Oxford isn’t in a city though, and I got the sense that the split campuses in the first two years created logistical hurdles for community within the houses if people were in Greek life, etc. School spirit wasn’t that big from what we saw, but the Coke toast etc. was a cute tradition.
You didn’t ask here for other schools, but I agree that Rice is great to consider if you like more quirky non-Greek-bound traditions with its residential college system. And Tulane is another tradition-laden school with a campus but city access you might consider - from Mardi Gras to tons of festivals. Lots of opportunity for academic exploration at Tulane, too.
this is super helpful (as are the other replies on this thread)! i do think i lean more towards artsy schools but i also haven’t gotten the chance to visit wake forest so I can’t say much on if i like the culture or not (and it is possible i might). i think i will visit sometime this summer though or at least before the ed deadline.
not super into greek life (as in i wouldn’t personally join it) but i don’t think i would mind it being a thing on campus. i did the virtual tour online recently and it is a really gorgeous campus (though i didn’t find the video super informative).
i think for me it is a strong contender. i just don’t know if i have a shot to get in (this thread, while being really helpful, has also discouraged me lol).
as for rice, i did look into it as i have a family friend in tx who wants me to go there and i liked it, but i think the dealbreaker there is that housing isn’t guaranteed and becomes a lottery system after the first year.
i do have tulane on my list, but not sure i’ll apply (i’ll have to look into it + maybe tour if i can).
thank you for your help!
Wake likes money. You are full pay. They give little aid vs others in regard to the percentage receiving aid. That’s an edge. It doesn’t get you in but if you’re on the fence, it could get you over.
Just FYI, almost all Rice students are on campus for 3 years, typically Fr/Jr/Sr, and the school is adding space next year - both a brand-new residential college and a new larger building for Lovett College are coming online in Fall 2026. Part of the new space will be taken up by increased freshman enrollment, but the residential college experience is a huge priority for Rice, and they do everything they can to keep as many people on campus as possible. I can’t promise that you will get to stay on campus for four years, but by the time you would be attending, more students will be able to do that.
If you really like Rice, I wouldn’t write it off just because of housing - in fact, I think my D22 would say that housing quality has been the one lackluster part of Rice (she lives in one of the oldest residential colleges), and yet she LOVES the school and can’t imagine going anywhere else.
