first, if you’re reading this: thank you! i’m a high school graduate planning to pursue a gap year and apply to colleges during my time off, and i was wondering if you kind people would mind helping me find colleges best fit for me!
Ethnicity: white
Gender: male
Residency: tennessee
GPA: 4.00 UW
Rank: 1/278
ACT: 29 (i plan to retake this in september to [hopefully] achieve my desired score of a 33.)
SAT IIs: i will be taking SAT IIs in literature and u.s. history along with math level two.
APs: i want to self-study and take the ap exams for u.s. history, psychology, and human geography, and i have already taken the ap exam for calculus ab.
my desired major is still in the works, but i have a lot of interest in both history and psychology, and i plan on attending law school in the future.
what i’m looking for:
L[G]BT+ friendly campus (very important)
top-tier academics
weather does not matter
location does not matter
size matters to an extent, for i don’t want a university as large as berkeley, but i also don’t want a college smaller than my high school (1,300 kids).
nice social scene (i’m an introvert looking to expand my horizon in college.)
cost plays somewhat of a significant roll (meaning i can’t afford $70K tuition without aid [i’m looking at you, USC], but i can afford $40K tuition without aid).
the schools at which i have been looking are yale, bowdoin, pomona, dartmouth, upenn, grinnell, and swarthmore.
yale is my tippy-top dream, but i know the chance of that acceptance letter is a mere 6%
if you have any questions, feel free to ask me. feel free to also edit my current list as well (be it add schools and/or remove schools)! thank you all so much for the help. the college process seems orwellian at best.
First off- Retake the ACT. Use the time that you have off to study for it and aim for that 33.
Your current list of colleges seems very well matched to your profile and wants- this is good!
My advice: add a safety to your list (70% acceptance rate or so) and find one or two more that have acceptance rates around 30-50% to balance out your list.
You may want to read reviews on Niche or a similar student-feedback-ranking service to find out details of the social scenes and LGBT+ communities of colleges that you’re considering. I believe Princeton Review actually has a list of the most LGBT+ friendly campuses on their website! However, I think pretty much any school that’s not strongly religiously affiliated will be extremely accepting.
Right now, with a 29, all the schools on your list are major reaches. Even if you achieve a 33, they all are reaches (with the possible exception of Grinnell) due to their very low admit rates. You need to add some matches. How about Macalster or Trinity.
You also should look to do something interesting during your gap year besides studying and test taking. Schools will want to see you using your time off productively.
@newkidnewtrix thank you for the feedback! @wisteria100 yeah, i see what you mean. i’ll be traveling, working, and diving into the interests i didn’t get to explore in high school because of my fear of being different (silly, i know). @Mintwood thank you for the suggestions!
all of you mentioned safeties, and i totally should have said this in the post, but i do have some! the schools i listed are the mid to high reaches at which i’ve been looking.