College List Help for "Typical" Junior [~3.98 GPA (4.02 with +/-), 1460 SAT, undecided major, possibly psychology, math, architecture]

College Search & Lists
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I could use some help from this wise board! My daughter is a junior and we need help narrowing down the list of schools to visit next. I think she is in love with schools that may be out of reach.

SAT: 1460 (690W 770M) hoping to get that higher

GPA 4.02 unweighted. Rigor is typical for college prep (8 APs and some “honors” level classes).

ECs: Basic stuff. Varsity sports all seasons, all 4 years & will be co-captain senior year, School leadership positions, some voted on by teachers and others by students, very typical summer high school jobs. No national awards. She is working on getting a summer internship to make her profile stronger. No legacy. Marginal hook is that we are “full pay.”

Major: Unsure. Her favorite classes have been psychology and math. Architecture is a possible interest. She really needs to explore some more, so a school with strong academic advising for undecided students would be ideal. She is leaning towards a LAC for this reason, since most of them allow students to wait and declare sophomore year.

Wishlist: She wants a collaborative and friendly academic environment. Size or location doesn’t matter so much, it’s more about finding fit with the students and flexibility to be undeclared/change majors. We are in the NY/NJ area and would like to be driving distance or short flight distance.

Loved: Wesleyan, Davidson, UVA, Duke - all too reachy ?

Maybes: Conn College, Dickinson, Haverford, UMass, UConn

Leaning No: Tufts & William & Mary (felt too quirky), Lafayette & Amherst College (obvious athlete/non athlete divides), Swarthmore (too stressful), NYU & Northeastern (too pre-professional focused)

Schools we have bookmarked from other discussions on CC but haven’t visited… this is way too many so I need help narrowing down a mix of reach, target, likely.

Carleton, Hamilton, Macalester, Northwestern, Univ of Michigan, Univ. Minnesota Twin-Cities, Pitt, Univ of Rochester, Syracuse, Case Western, Loyola Maryland, George Washington University, Hobart and William Smith, Colby, Bates, Bowdoin

Thanks for you help!

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Providing a list of schools we had researched through the application process, may or may not be a good fit:

Clark University
Holy Cross
Providence College
Skidmore
Champlain College
Syracuse (not an LAC but possibly to look at their architecture program?)
Trinity College
St. Mary’s of Maryland
Washington and Lee
University of Richmond
Bucknell
Colgate
Denison
Kenyon
Oberlin
Case Western Reserve

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Agree the Ohio schools could be worth a trip - all 4 different vibes and a good way to narrow down what she is really looking for on a campus and school fit over a long weekend trip to help narrow your list. We found Carleton, St Olafs and Mac was another great combo for vibe/fit visit - as all a bit different and reiterated to one of our daughters she wanted more rural
and small/tiny town. Enjoy this time with your daughter.

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Some other sources that have been helpful to our family -

Colleges That Change Lives

Mount Holyoke-The Five College Consortium | Mount Holyoke College

Out of the OP’s preferred geographical range, but LACs—Liberal-arts consortium knits together 5 small colleges | The Seattle Times

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Would maybe suggest subbing St. Olaf for Carleton on your LAC list, though if in town for either you can probably check them both out. Am on my first visit to St. Olaf today, in fact, and wow, wow, wow. Highly, highly recommend a visit.

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Thank you!

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If she has 4 reaches she loves already, I would start focusing a lot more on the likelies and safeties. I would say Loyola MD and Hobart are probably your true safeties. Michigan, Northwestern, Case, Colby, Bates and Bowdoin are probably all reaches for just about anyone. GW and Pitt are probably matches, I don’t know enough about the other schools to say where they would fall. There are tons of LAC’s in PA that would meet a lot of her requirements, ie, Gettysburg, Bucknell, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall are ones that we toured that did not seem too quirky. Marist may be another good safety.

And I would add that your daugter is way above “typical”!

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I agree Michigan and also UVA are very limited on taking students from out of state , even with great stats. Spend an afternoon doing virtual visits of a few to help narrow down the list of actual visits

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I agree, well said!

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This is interesting to me because with just UVA, Duke, and Davidson, I would feel fairly confident I had a handle on this kid’s preferences. But then Wesleyan is suggesting something a bit different to me.

Holding aside Wesleyan for a second, although she doesn’t really need another harder admit, I would still suggest checking out Wake Forest. Just strikes me as a possible very good fit both academically and non-academically.

OK, then I think she might be interested in Miami (OH). I would think it would be a much easier admit for her, and actually they have GPA-based auto merit.

Since you have Loyola Maryland and Holy Cross on the possible lists, I wonder if she would be interested in more Jesuit colleges. Fordham seems like an obvious one to check out–so obvious I kinda wonder if you already considered and eliminated it for some reason. Fairfield also seems like an obvious possibility to me. Since you are looking at the Upper Midwest already, maybe Marquette.

Normally Wesleyan would then support a bunch of LACs, but I worry her reaction to Tufts and W&M are pointing in a different direction than I would normally take with someone who liked Wesleyan. Like Macalester I would normally suggest, but maybe not in this case? Carleton I personally loved, but from a certain perspective it is sort of like as if Swarthmore and William & Mary had a child. Might work still, might be horribly wrong.

However, I like the idea of at least checking out St Olaf. You have Denison on your list, which I think is a good idea, as is Richmond I think. I might add Rhodes to check out.

I apologize if this is adding more than subtracting, but I do think there are things to be learned from what she has loved and not loved so far.

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Thank you so much for the ideas! We have not visited any Jesuit schools yet, but they are not off limits for any reason. I’ll take a look at the ones you mentioned. I think what is happening is that she likes the idea of LACs but they have such specific personalities! There isn’t time to see them all when the kids are there, which is why your comments about what schools “group together” are so helpful!

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I agree with the idea of a Minnesota tour of Mac, UMN, Carleton and St. Olaf. And absolutely do not overlook St. Olaf! Its education is the real deal-- I know some tippy top students who chose it even after getting into their reaches. Their math, in particular, is quite good.

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How do you define the 4.02. What’s the max ? Is it 4.33 so it’s really like a 3.7 ? Is it a private school ?

If architecture is an interest, as a career, then applying to schools where the major is more like art history may not be smart whereas a Syracuse, Miami, Va Tech and more have actual architectural degrees.

Scroll down to see the coursework ?

She might want to attend a summer program to learn more about the major to see if it’s a fit. Perhaps a parent can recommend one.

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I am away from a laptop so can’t write too much. I will say there is a mix of odds of admission, ranging from extremely likely to low probability, but that it is heavier on the reaches.

Has she looked at any of the women’s colleges? Barnard, Smith, or Wellesley all have architecture options. Additionally, Lehigh seems as though it could be a contender.

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We have talked about visiting Bryn Mawr! Haven’t yet but that might be an option for her.

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I don’t know how to define the 4.02. She has only ever had one B+, every other grade has been A+, A, or A- . I need to speak to the school to understand it myself, I should be able to answer this question! They don’t give us class rank.

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I was assuming Barnard and Wellesley were out of reach with her SAT score but I could suggest she look into Smith.

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Great - thanks.

I’m thinking an A+ gets a 4.33 but perhaps if she’s only had 1 B, it’s higher.

So I think you should look in to a summer program - so you send her to a college with actual architecture if that becomes a love - but that won’t be an LAC.

I think her Loved isn’t too reachy - but all are reaches and a few might need to go TO.

I think all the Maybes are yes - except maybe Haverford.

All the schools at the bottom - are yes or possible but some may need to go TO.

Good luck.

Architecture school in the United States - Wikipedia

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A visit to Bryn Mawr on the earlier side, if reasonably convenient, seems like a really good idea to me. She might not be interested afterward, but if she is, I agree there would then be a nice list of women’s colleges she could consider.

I also personally think it has one the nicest campuses anywhere! Not that this means she has to like it overall, but just the visit might be cool, at least if you are into that sort of campus.

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A little confused by the list of schools. Have you explored that the programs above are offered at them? Psych and Math are typically going to offered just about anywhere.

Architecture is niche and many of the schools listed above do not have an Architecture program - though many will have an Art program that would position your student for a Masters in Architecture program if that becomes an option.

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