+1 for American, and be sure to show lots of demonstrated interest.
Possibly this is why GWU is excluded, though i agree it would otherwise be a very good addition to the list
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Oooh good catch wrt the pretty historical campus (Mount Holyoke, Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Agnes Scott, all win there.)
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I would agree with others that your list is reach-heavy, and could lead to your only acceptance being to your safety. But, your safety school isn’t very similar to the majority of the rest of your list. Most students are happier to have a few choices when all of the dust has settled, and even happier to have a few choices that meet most of their primary criteria. You may want to have an acceptance (or two or three) to schools that are not just “pretty Ok.”
As others have suggested, consider adding some small and mid-sized schools in states outside of Florida that are less reachy. American, GW, Dickinson, and Mount Holyoke are all great ideas. I’m going to suggest two midwest schools - St. Olaf and Macalester. St. Olaf really matches your criteria of having a gorgeous campus (it remains one of the prettiest campuses we toured) and people just love the school. It’s a little more that 45 minutes outside of the Twin Cities and would certainly meet your criteria of being in a cold area. : ). It would probably be a target. Macalester is right in St. Paul, in a great urban neighborhood and, while not quite a picturesque as St. Olaf, has a nice campus. It’s probably a reach - but a lower, more reasonable, reach than the ones on your list. Both would be great for political science, and both are very queer friendly. (Don’t be thrown off by St. Olaf’s religious affiliation - it is a very welcoming, inclusive environment that is known to be progressive.)
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Was just gonna suggest Agnes Scott. Good recommendation !
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In particular, if you appear “overqualified”, you may need to convince American that you are not applying to American as a “backup” behind Georgetown or George Washington.
To show interest, type"join the nailing list" + < Y College>; fill out the form; check to your email at least once a week and click on he links you find interesting in the message they send (this is tracked).
If the University is within driving distance , register for an official tour - otherwise, an official virtual tour.
First of all, let me confirm that you can run net price calculators as an anonymous guest and that colleges are not privy to those results.
For many people–probably most–the best deals they will get in terms of education are at independent liberal arts colleges rather than at big state u’s. I say this not only in terms of absolute price (though Florida public colleges are EXCEPTIONALLY affordable, and an exception), but also in terms of access to faculty and mentoring.
If law school is in the plans, look for a place with significant and effective mentorship toward law school acceptance.
Proportionally, you have too many reaches in my view. I’d second looking hard at the many excellent schools which provide a strong path toward law school acceptance but which accept 30-70% of applicants. I concur on St. Olaf, and suggest Kalamazoo and Hendrix as well as Knox, Earlham and Kenyon as places worth exploring.
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Welcome to College Confidential, @gia4! You’ve gotten some great advice from others.
When people are forming college lists, I often recommend that they think about the mental makeup of the applicant. For some people rejection is like a fuel that makes them want to be even more awesome wherever they land in order to prove their naysayers wrong. For folks like that, a reach-heavy list can make sense. For most people, however, rejection can be a mental and emotional blow. And although most people can take a certain number of rejections, as the rejections become more numerous, it can become really damaging to the applicant, and they often begin thinking poorly of the acceptances that they have with the belief that those acceptances can’t be that great if all of these others rejected them. I find that most people do better with more acceptances than rejections, but that is a factor that is very much based on the individual makeup of the person in question.
So in determining how to balance your list, I would give strong consideration to how you handle rejection.
It sounds as though politics is an interest of yours. I would suggest you give serious consideration to schools in state/national capitals due to the increased availability of school-year internships. You may also want to give schools in New Hampshire and Iowa some thought because of their early primaries/caucuses. Due to the outsized role they play in presidential politics, most politicians end up setting up some pretty robust campaigning infrastructure in those states.
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I read this and a lot is missing. Can you afford these ?
UCF is fine but much bigger and different than the others you mentioned. But let’s put this aside - “I wouldn’t go anywhere else that is not a top school. Harvard has kids from 163 in its first year class of less than 600. Schools like FIU, Fl A&M, and many you may not have heard of like Towson, Nebraska Wesleyan, Columbus State in GA, etc.
You need a school where you can afford and it’s not 4 years but 7. And where you can get great writing skills.
Many of the schools you list -you’ll need a higher ACT. We didn’t see your rigor. And most won’t let you come in two years done but a state school may.
But I don’t know your budget or academic profile (classes in core areas) but Penn Law is represented by over 200 schools. UVA over 130. The where is less important than what you do in school - and where may be of zero or near zero importance (the school name).
Also you mentioned queer friendly. Is any school in Florida ? That’s for you to answer - but free is nice.
But there are hundreds of great Poli Sci and pre law programs. Not just the ones you read about in a magazine.
Budget first and that’s a 7 year one or maybe less if you go to a school that takes your AA.
Good luck
I see you are on the fence about Williams. I toured it back in the day when I was looking at colleges and it was incredibly remote, up on a mountain. As a Florida person, it looked like a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to spend 4 years there. If you are looking to save money on applications, you might want to consider removing that one from the list. This seems like a lot of reach schools. UCF is likely on target for you but you might want to add in a couple of the Florida state safety schools - or at least have a couple in mind to apply in spring for rolling admissions.
The student explained that UCF is on the list because she has guaranteed admission because she’s at Valencia, and UF and FSU because they are her state schools and cheaper. Another consideration is that it may only take 2.5 or 3 years to finish a BA and then you could start on grad classes while still an undergrad and still get to use Bright Futures (don’t graduate even if you have enough credits!)
I’d pick 2-3 of the other schools on your list as your long shots and maybe add some other Florida schools that are size you want (looks like you may prefer smaller?). You have Rollins but what about Flagler, Tampa, or even Miami? They’ll take your Bright Futures as a lump sum (whatever instate tuition is, $8000?) and then have their own Financial aid too. Or one of the Florida publics that isn’t as large?
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@gia4 - what were the results of your July 11 ACT?
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