Match Me - VA junior looking for college with academic culture and good food! [4.0 UW, 1520 SAT, Likely IR/History]

Chance Me / Match Me
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Hi guys! I am a slightly overwhelmed junior looking for some colleges to make a visit list! My preferences are that it would be a school that has at least a town near it with relatively strong academics, a contained campus, pretty scenery, a slightly nerdy culture, and good food (important)! I’m not particularly interested in super big party scene, and I dislike loud places. I don’t mind if the college isn’t coed, but like I share a bathroom with my brothers it may take a while to get used to. I don’t think I really have a preferred size of school, but I would like smaller class sizes.

Demographics

  • US domestic
  • Virginia
  • Medium private
  • White Female
  • Legacy to UVA, parent works at Richmond (free admission), grandparent alum of Cornell and pushy about it.

Intended Major(s)
I honestly don’t have any idea! I enjoy pretty much all subjects, but I am most interested in International Relations or History, so it would be nice if the school had a strong IR/History program.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0/4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA : 4.8 (school isn’t clear about weighting system)
  • Class Rank: Numbers not officially released by school except via an award given to the top ten students by GPA; I have received this award all three years so likely somewhere in the top ten?
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 1510 (720 math, 790 EBRW), will take again in April and will definitely know the formula of a circle.

Coursework
10th - APUSH - 5, AP Statistics - 5; 11th - AP Calc AB, will take BC next year
Currently in the IB Diploma Program taking 7 IB classes including IB Global Politics and IB Music.

Awards
1st Chair All-Regional Orchestra: 9th-11th
1st Chair All-Regional Band: 11th
Won various Model UN Awards (can’t remember the exact number but there are a lot of certificates)
Got 221 NMS index for Fall 2023 PSAT, so I may have won something there?
Top Ten students in school
(note: school has no NHS program)

Extracurriculars
Volunteered over 500 hours at local science museum - summer of 9th, 10th, 11th
Attended program at W&M (bad food, cool culture) and wrote paper on efficacy of layouts of museum exhibits with guidance from professor there (super cool, sparked interest in history).
Acapella - 9th, 10th, 11th (Has sung the national anthem at four college basketball games and a minor league baseball game which is pretty cool)
Co-editor of yearbook
Playing harp for over 8 years
Part of harp specific ensemble for 6 years (reached highest level in 9th grade)
1st Chair Harp in best youth orchestra in area
High school orchestra
Leader of Model UN Club
Founder of Model Judiciary
40-hour shadowing experience under appellate court judge
Worked as youth dance instructor for past 2 years, attended dance classes for 4 years prior
JV tennis 9th, 10th; Varsity tennis 11th (bad at sports)
Has played various gigs as back-up for church choirs, as a solo musician for churches, at school ceremonies, at 2 festivals, and even a birthday party (got to dress up in costume and free cake)!

Essays/LORs/Other
Essay: Unsure, possible topics include volunteering at the science museum, harp, my slightly successful art Instagram page and my love of doodling, and my very awesome current-events-themed DnD 5e campaign (if I need to pull out something weird about myself).
LORs: Likely to be strong
Have been in contact with a couple of in-state schools (VT, W&M) regarding scholarships for instrument because lots of colleges have to pay harpists to play with their orchestra!

Cost Constraints / Budget
Parents would prefer in-state, but likely able to afford most schools. Student safety also super important to parents as I am the oldest and they’re just really worried about sending me away.

Schools

  • Safety -
  • Likely -
  • Match - Richmond, VT
  • Reach - UVA?

Also, random thing but got food poisoning at the JMU dining hall the day before all-state auditions so really not going there.

Any suggestions/ideas would be super, super helpful!

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Food poisoning can happen anywhere. It so happens that Va Tech has the highest rated food in the country, along with UCLA and UMASS. I’d imagine Va Tech is pretty safe for you. No interest in W&M which would be exceptional.

So if Richmond is free - I assume it’s leading.

You could look at a “safety” like College of Charleston but what isn’t a safety is both the Charleston Fellows and International Scholars. They are sub groups in Honors. My student is in both and the scholarship she has is tuition + more. You get mentoring and invited to neat events. Small classes, etc. It outperforms the school…if you will. Obviously Charleston has a great food scene.

New Orleans could be another foodie haven- Tulane - but do your parents have a discount or some sort of exchange for Richmond? Again, it’s a party city…but a strong school.

Given their situation, I’d imagine you’d end up at Richmond, an in state school, or you can apply to schools like Charleston, Christopher Newport, or others as safeties. Many schools will “pay you” to come - but it’s really a question of how far and what type of school you’d like.

I’d venture more into - what type of discount / exchange would they get at other schools? For example, Vanderbilt staff get 70% of tuition paid at other schools - do you have a similar program?

Good luck

College of Charleston | Charleston Fellows

International Scholars – John Edwin Mroz Global Leadership Institute (charleston.edu)

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Based on the academic experience you appear to be seeking, you might like some of the colleges named in this site:

As examples, Grinnell, Claremont McKenna, Hamilton and Bowdoin would make good matches for your academic level (although some may represent admission reaches).

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You’re a strong candidate for many places! What’s the budget?

I think W&M has a joint program with St. Andrew’s in Scotland. St. A’s quite strong in IR and likely history.

UVA
Tufts
American
Georgetown
GW
Gettysburg (US history/museum)

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And U of Richmond is listed at #3 on that site. If tuition is free, that would be a hard opportunity to pass up!

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That’s certainly a point worth making. Nonetheless, while Richmond does offer an excellent international relations program, I don’t see its general atmosphere as quite matching that which the OP seeks.

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Richmond’s campus is contained, very well maintained, and pretty…but I would not call it slightly nerdy. I would keep it on the list (due to your parent) along with UVA- your guidance counselor can tell if UVA is a reach for you. I would also keep JMU on the list.

I would look at the University of Rochester, GW, and American.

Look at Tufts, Georgetown, and Cornell as reaches.

I would look at a few state schools such as the University of Delaware, Pitt, and the University of South Carolina. You might make honors.

I don’t know about the food, but others might.

Most/all schools have parties, but if you choose a school with a lot going on it will be easy to avoid them.

You can find a slightly nerdy culture at many schools.

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Congratulations on your achievements.

You will be NMSF with that index. With NMF (most NMSFs become NMFs), you can access some big scholarships, generally at less selective schools (but still good schools) like U Alabama (IS major) where you would have a full ride, and UTulsa (poli sci and history majors), also a full ride. USC (So Cal) and Fordham offer NMF scholarships to some students. Obviously USC is far away.

I agree with others that Richmond doesn’t sound like a good fit. It’s not nerdy and there is quite of bit of cliquey behaviors particularly with females.

I wouldn’t eliminate JMU because of the food issue.

I second many of the good suggestions so far, and would add Case Western….good IR and music offerings. Also look at CMU, NYU, and Syracuse.

If you are interested in LACs, that would expand your list. But, there will likely be relatively fewer music opportunities at schools that size.

Lastly, I agree you should talk budget with your parents. Run the net price calculators on each school’s website to get cost estimates and see how that compare to your budget.

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St Olaf for music and you’d likely quite benefit from the “Global semester” (geopolitics on location, 1 course at a time). The food is good enough that locals go eat there like at a restaurant :wink:
Seconding Case Western.
Look into women’s colleges - Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr sound like the best fit. Agnes Scott for a safety.

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When you mentioned strong academics, a pretty campus, and good food, the school that first popped into my mind is Cornell. And you’d make your grandparents happy by at least looking at it.

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WM got a new food service provider this year, and the food is significantly better than in the past. My son is there now and has no issues.

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@elia812 do you want suggestions of schools that are less costly to attend, or will your parents pay wherever you get accepted. Please let us know so we can hone in on your desires.

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My kid is an oboe and English horn player. She wanted to play in the college orchestra in college and take lessons. This was the hardest criteria for her to satisfy in her college search. Like harp, oboe is an endangered instrument, but remember, many many pieces don’t even have harp parts, but most have oboe. She didn’t have anyone paying her in college. She did find a school where she could play in the orchestra, and take lessons…and she did.

To find out about this, you need to contact the orchestra director, head of the music department and applied harp teacher at your colleges of choice and see what they say.

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That’s quite an assumption. Not every family chooses the “free is the best” option.

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Richmond is quite different from what this student wants and in all likelihood she is a prime candidate for TE so any number of universities would be better candidates and would be tuition-free or nearly tuition-free.

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U. of Richmond is part of the tuition exchange (TE) program which allows dependents of staff/faculty to apply to fellow TE schools and have an opportunity to get a significant scholarship ranging from a set rate (about $42k) up to full tuition. Your family will need to check with U. of Richmond to see whether they will qualify (some universities have more eligible staff with dependents in a year than they have spots), but this is definitely something to investigate. These are the schools on the list:

It includes schools like American and GW, as well as Dickinson, Gettysburg, Connecticut College, Trinity College, Mount Holyoke, and others.

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I didn’t assume - but the student mentioned it and parents were her to stay in state - so I asked an affordability question - because it may be that -or it may be distance as it was also mentioned.

You find out perspectives by asking questions - so please don’t attack. I’m not going to mention a school that doesn’t meet parameters so I’m trying to find parameters… Foodie is one which is why I threw out schools in Charleston and New Orleans…but again, trying to pique thoughts from OP. But those are two foodie cities.

I also asked - before throwing out any additional schools - if there’s an exchange program or a discount type program.

For example, Vanderbilt provides 70% of tuition no matter where a student attends - for its faculty. Others have an Exchange program.

So yes - it might be the parents want to stay within a financial parameter.

I don’t know.

That’s why you ask questions…which I have.

No reason to attack.

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These are some schools with popular majors in history and international relations that are likely to have smaller classes. I added the campus food letter grade from Niche, though that is survey-based and things like vendors change (as noted upthread for William & Mary). There’s a range of price points here, and I think you would have a decent shot at merit from most of them. I’ve sorted them by my guesses as to what your chances of acceptance might be. Schools in the low or lower probability category are there not because you are a weak candidate (quite the opposite, in fact), but because those schools tend to have far more qualified candidates than they can accept, so even the majority of strong applicants get a waitlist/denial.

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • Christopher Newport: A-

  • SUNY Geneseo: C+

  • SUNY New Paltz: C+

  • U. of Mary Washington: B-

  • U. of Richmond: A

  • Wheaton (MA): C

Likely (60-79%)

  • Gettysburg: A-

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • Brandeis: D+

  • College of the Holy Cross: B

  • Connecticut College: C+

  • Dickinson: D+

  • Kenyon: B-

  • Mount Holyoke: B

  • U. of Rochester: C+

  • William & Mary: D+

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Vassar: B+

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Carleton: C+

  • Emory: B-

  • Georgetown: B-

  • Princeton: A-

  • Tufts: A

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Interestingly, Richmond makes a lot of lists from Princeton Review in a number of academic categories ( in addition to #11 in Best Campus Food):

#3 Best Classroom Experience
#14 Best College Library
#7 Best Science Lab Facilities
#5 Most Accessible Professors
#15 Professors Get High Marks
#19 Students Study the Most

If “slightly nerdy” students can indeed be found in a lot of places, it seems there would probably be some there taking advantage of those opportunities. And who’s “studying the most” and using the science lab facilities if it isn’t the “nerds”?

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Mary Washington and Christopher Newport are below this students potential. I think there are probably more appropriate safeties.

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