Good safety schools for my "spec"?

College Search & Lists
1

<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>Could you guys help me find some good safety schools for me? Got college apps coming but can’t think of any half decent safe schools.</p>

<p>Enrolled at TJHSST (US News & World Report #1 Public High School, although tbh, I’m pretty sure colleges don’t give a ****)</p>

<p>All Honors classes</p>

<p>SAT: 2060 (will be retaking, hopefully for a higher score)</p>

<p>Subject Tests: Will be taking Math I, Korean Language, and English Literature in November</p>

<p>GPA: Freshman 3.21, Sophomore 3.24, Junior 3.89; Cumulative 3.51 (Weighted)</p>

<p>Extracurrics:
Cofounder/Music Director of men’s a Cappella
Arranger for string quartet and commissioned by Langley HS Orchestra
Tech/Media Editor for local NPO
Tech Coordinator for student government
Publicity Chair for choir council
Senior guide for tour guide organization
Longterm member/Team Leader for freshmen introductory group
Composer/Arranger</p>

<p>Recs:
AP Music Theory/Choir teacher (golden)
Videotech Lab director (golden)
Principal (golden)
APUSH teacher (golden)
Professional videogame composer (golden)</p>

<p>Other schools I’m looking at (admittedly a lot of them are reaches):
Amherst, Vassar, Sarah Lawrence, Princeton, Yale, USC, Kenyon, Oberlin, James Madison, Northwestern, Syracuse, UC (LA, I, B)</p>

<p>My interests are in music composition, creative writing, interactive media, and film/cinema if that helps any. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Rhodes is a place where high school quality is considered, so your GPA, while not high by some standards, would carry weight here, especially backed up by a decent SAT score.</p>

<p>There’s a good music department here, as well as a large English department with both literature and creative writing tracks for the major. Film studies is a minor. As far as interactive media goes, you might be interested in seeing this student project that Rhodes sponsors: [Crossroads</a> Home](<a href=“http://www.crossroadstofreedom.org%5DCrossroads”>http://www.crossroadstofreedom.org).</p>

3

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<p>Oh, I think the better colleges do. Your stats still look too low to get you into Amherst, Princeton or Yale without a significant hook and terrific essays. The upward trend looks good, though.</p>

<p>If Oberlin is a high match for you, and you like it for its music programs, then Lawrence University in Appleton, WI should be a good low match (if not a safety). Like Oberlin, it’s a midwestern LAC with a music conservatory attached to it.</p>

<p>Of course, Virginia has some very good public universities. My understanding is that UVa evaluates NOVA residents on sort of a curve (otherwise they’d fill their classes with students from TJ and other top DC-area schools), so maybe it’s not a safety for you. George Mason?</p>

4

<p>I definitely second Lawrence.</p>

<p>Your original list is all over the place, though. Can you tell us, in 2-3 sentences per school, what you like about the schools you have so far?</p>

5

<p>If anyone has any good undergrad business programs to mention, I’d love to hear about those as well. </p>

<p>tk:
I’m pretty sure I have some killer essay topics, being physically disabled (short right achilles, missing fingers), part of an immigrant family, and being one of a handful of artsy types at a SciTech school. </p>

<p>Teenage_Cliche:
A lot of the smaller school choices (e.g. Kenyon, Oberlin, Vassar, etc.) were also affected by the reviews on **************.com</p>

<p>Yale - Tour Guide: “So I had to study a Bach score for my music theory class… so I went to the library, and they tossed me a pair of white gloves and let me look at the ORIGINAL.” Phenomenal resources, beautiful campus, I like the residential college system, great study abroad program.</p>

<p>Princeton - Great town, great resources, focus on undergraduates, great study abroad program.</p>

<p>Sarah Lawrence - Acceptance and support of creativity and the arts/humanities, something I desperately need after being suffocated at TJHSST.</p>

<p>Vassar - Good liberal arts program, good music program</p>

<p>Amherst - Good liberal arts program, great study abroad program (plus I looked at their Music Theory placement test and it looked ridiculously easy).</p>

<p>USC - Interactive media program, strong music and cinematic arts program</p>

<p>Kenyon - Strong creative writing program</p>

<p>Oberlin - Strong creative writing program, good music program</p>

<p>James Madison - Strong music program, strong Media Arts program</p>

<p>Syracuse - Strong film program</p>

<p>Northwestern - Strong film program and strong music program; want to ad-hoc major in “Scoring for Visual Media”.</p>

<p>UCLA: Strong film program</p>

<p>UCI: Strong creative writing program</p>

6

<p>Wesleyan has a highly regarded film program. Big ethnomusicology (“world music”) program, too. Slightly less selective than Amherst but still a reach. Keen on diversity. Surprised it’s not already on your radar.</p>

<p>Vanity Fair Magazine, October 2008:
“This tiny Connecticut University, with a total enrollment of 2,700, has turned out a shockingly disproportionate number of Hollywood movers and shakers.”
<a href=“http://roth.blogs.wesleyan.edu/files/2008/09/wesleyanvanityfair.pdf[/url]”>http://roth.blogs.wesleyan.edu/files/2008/09/wesleyanvanityfair.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>But you asked about safeties. How about Eugene Lang College (assuming cost is not a big part of the safety definition)? Decent arty LAC set in Greenwich Village, NYC.</p>