Academic overview:
-Weighted GPA: 3.76; Current (Senior) weighted GPA: approx. 3.9; SAT 1370
-I’m particularly interested in history and English right now, but I hope to (maybe!) study Anthropology, International Relations, and Women’s/Gender Studies.
-Besides scores/quantitative (and honestly, arbitrary) measurements for my academic aptitude, I’m very passionate about travel, politics, feminism, and human rights. I’m basically trying to highlight in my essay that I am passionate about learning more about the world, and that I have conviction and dedication as long as what I’m doing has meaning.
Some of my priorities…
academics - this is obvious, but I want to go somewhere where academics are the priority
cost/financial aid (my parents income has been approx. $6000-$7000 in recent years, so financial aid is really important)
limited in terms of competitiveness (I don’t want to be somewhere students are always comparing themselves and their grades, I’d rather a place where students are collaborative and will help each other)
atmosphere - artsy and liberal, not preppy, and ideally a place with spirit
(5.) warm climate, but that isn’t really a priority, just a preference
Let me know what you think about how Vassar, Pitzer, Smith, Bryn Mawr, American, or Penn State (my state school) would fit those priorities. Thanks!
There’s more to calculating financial aid awards than simple income and schools compute it differently so you need to look at each school’s own net price calculator (NPC) to determine affordability.
Vassar, Smith and BM are top tier competitive schools. That doesn’t mean “cut throat” but students will naturally get stressed at exam time. Your stats (specifically your unweighted GPA) make them reaches.
Of the other three, Pitzer comes close to meeting all your wants except maybe affordability. Good luck!
Net cost may be your deciding factor. For family incomes of $0-$30K, according to College Scorecard, the average annual costs to attend these schools are:
$10,558 Vassar
$11,619 Smith
$12,389 Pitzer
$12,892 Bryn Mawr
$20,010 Penn State - Main Campus
$28,524 American
Your own results may differ (maybe significantly) from these averages. Use the online net price calculators to get a clearer picture. If the numbers look far from affordable for any of them, you may want to look for alternatives (perhaps including a safety within commuting distance).
Keep in mind that you can realistically expect to cover up to about $8K/year through “self help” (a combination of student loans and work-study). So look for net prices close to that limit, or below.
Bryn Mawr is very much collaborative in spirit, and not-cut throat at all. All about doing your own best, not comparing each other (I am an alum). We visited Vassar with my kid, and it seemed similar though tougher admissions and no merit awards. We know a current student at Pomona and that sounds more intense, though that is only a single anecdote.
I’ve stayed overnight at Smith and Bryn Mawr (they’re my top two!) and both are pretty similar but I felt like bryn mawr was more subtle. Like both have a lot of activism but Smith was more outward with it. It’s kind of difficult to describe. Bryn Mawr has a very strict honor code which entails not sharing your grades or cheating or anything so they’re very, very cooperative and the only time you would ever compare grades is maybe if you or a friend were like “hey I did a lot worse on that exam than I thought I did, how did you do?” Smith also was not very competitive but it was less pronounced than it was at BMC. BMC would get less snow and cold weather than Smith, although still very cold in the winter. I suggest using bestplaces.net to compare the different cities. Good luck!
Honor Code at Bryn Mawr is similar, though not as deep-rooted in the culture, as at Haverford – which is about creating community through shared values and expectations, rather than primary focus on not cheating and therefore, contributes to collaborative nature of community. BMC and Smith each have academic consortium, though I’ve always figured that the Bi-Co BMC/Hford academic cooperation was more part of the culture than the 5 college consortium among Smith, Amherst etc. – primarily because of the ease of access. Haverford and Bryn Mawr are 1 mile apart from each other, with the “Blue Bus” running back and forth between the campuses all day long (and in the evening). Class times are set so that students can get from one campus to another for class, and the departments tend to complement each other – Haverford doesn’t need much of a presence in Classics, for instance, because BMC has such a strong history in that regard.
When I see the list I keep thinking of that Sesame Street song, ‘One of these is not like the others’.
Penn State seems like a real outlier on the list
I’m assuming the OP is in-state for PA – if not true, then Penn State is a serious outlier.
If home state is PA, there is a grant program available from the State which goes to students who go to any college in PA. The amount of the grant is based on family income.
I ruled out Haverford basically because I liked Bryn Mawr a lot more and I have too many reaches on my list.
As for the financial situation (just a few more details that I probably should have included at first), my parents own a small business and are hoping to sell it (it’s on the market for $1m), and also have a small farm and a lot of undeveloped land. I haven’t run the price calculators simply because I’m not at home a lot and there is a lot of information I need to dig for, but when I come home for Thanksgiving I plan to run all the price calculators. While I’d rather not rely on my grandma’s money to go to college, if I am accepted at a school that I really want to go to and provides better opportunities than more financially realistic colleges, she has told me that she would pay. So, financial aid is still an issue for me but if things don’t work out, I do have a backup (and the only reason I’m hesitant to use it is because she has already paid for 4 years of college prep school and then some).
Just to confirm, Penn State is on the list because I’m a resident.
I agree, the colleges are definitely very different from each other, but they are my top choices. I basically need to narrow down the list, because I think it’s stupid to apply to a ton. I feel like the whole college decision process is a little overblown - I’ve worked really hard in high school to make sure that I have options I like for college, and I definitely have those now, but I don’t know how to rank one over the other. I would like to apply to Vassar ED, but I also think I’ll be just as happy there as at any of the other schools I mentioned. Should I be applying ED if I think that I could be just as happy somewhere else?
That question really applies to deciding between Pitzer and Vassar. I’ve visited Vassar twice, and have not visited Pitzer because it’s really far. Both are obviously reaches, but if I were to apply to Pitzer I would have the choice to apply test optional. According to their website, Pitzer’s middle 50% SAT Critical Reading is 650 – 730 and Math is 650 – 720; my scores are 690 and 680, respectively. Test optional is appealing for me because I don’t think my scores represent my abilities.
Both of their ED deadlines are Nov 15. Perhaps it seems irresponsible to consider applying to either school with a binding agreement so close to the deadlines, but the only reason I am considering both is because I do think that I will be happy at either. Let me know what you think that might help me decide between those two schools (or, if you think it’s unwise to be considering both at such a late date, not applying ED at all). Thanks!
Grandparents often aren’t aware of quite how much college costs, so you may want to hunt for merit aid to reduce the cost. Because my guess is that the calculators are not going to be very accurate for you. They don’t take into account businesses and property most of the time. But you must file CSS Profile at all the schools that give good aid, and they WILL consider the business and land as assets in the calculation of your need. So you may have a big issue with affordability.
My take is that you are going to need to compare aid offers, and you need a financial safety you KNOW you can afford and would be willing to attend. Because of that, I think an ED application would be a real roller coaster. Likely you would end up appealing your FA offer, and it would stretch out and be stressful & complicated, and you very well might have to decline the offer.
Obviously I will be looking for any aid I can get, but my grandmother is quite aware of the cost of college right now, and, like I said, while I really would rather not put that burden on her, she is in a position in which she could pay for 4 years of full tuition, room and board. I also plan on taking a gap year, so I will have to defer any admissions decision I get anyways. If it isn’t going to be affordable for me after applying ED, then I will have that extra year to apply to schools (even though that is less ideal since I won’t know where I’m going as soon). I’m definitely interested to hear what anyone has to say about that situation considering the gap year, and if it still would be unwise to apply ED.
Don’t apply binding ED to a college you haven’t visited. If you visited Vassar twice, there’s no problem applying ED there and they meet 100% full need, if you were to get accepted there. Good luck. You would have to get on those financials though.
Just to point out that an ED can be voided if the finances prove to be to big of a burden. Vassar is one of the most generous schools for financial but if your aid package under your specific circumstances is not adequate you can be released from ED. My son is a senior at Vassar.great also if you love theater. Poughkeepsie’s and Bryan Mawr’s weather is pretty similar. Hudson valley is like NYC weather