Is this a good final list?

BooBooBear
Sat, 05 Aug 2017 18:00:29 +0000

The big issue is that your list is match-heavy, with some of those matches being more like low-reaches (Wesleyan, Skidmore). Your only real “safety” in the usual meaning of the term is U Vermont, and as an OOS applicant you are not a sure thing. Now, if you are 100% on board with going to Vermont in case the others don’t work out, then that is likely fine. It is just that Vermont looks like the only college on your list about which you can feel relatively safe. The odds are certainly in your favor that you will get into several of those others on your list, but do you really want to roll the dice on that chance?

Even if you love U Vermont, there is another argument in favor of having more than one “safety” on your list: merit aid. You say your financial aid situation is not a real concern, but even so your stats are good enough that you would likely qualify for merit aid at many of the usual suspects of “safeties” discussed on these boards, like Alabama that gives big merit packages for a 33 ACT (full tuition-plus), or even a midwestern state flagship like Ohio State that gives merit awards that lower its OOS tuition to a level comparable to many in-state options. I am also curious why you don’t have a NY state school on your list as a safety/match.