By last minute, I mean LAST minute, my school requires a finalized list of no more than 10 colleges by tomorrow. Here is my current list:
Duke (ED)
Pitzer College
UCs - Berkeley, LA, Santa Barbara, San Diego
Amherst College
Middlebury College
Vassar College
USC
Bowdoin College (considering swapping this one out because it’s so similar to Vassar, Middlebury)
I can add two more at maximum. Since I have so many small LACs, I want to add a few larger schools. I am currently considering:
Northeastern University
Emory University
Boston University
Some other info: I am primarily interested in environmental studies/environmental science. I’m also hoping to get involved with environmental clubs and activism while in college, and perhaps pursue art or creative writing as a minor or extracurricular activity. I’m liberal, but don’t feel the need to be somewhere extremely left-leaning. I prefer more tight-knit communities w/ strong sense of spirit, don’t care at all for Greek life or athletics but also don’t mind them.
I feel as if I’m lacking adequate match and safety schools and would REALLY appreciate any recommendations (schools in 30-40% acceptance rate range?), input on the potential schools I already have, or any other advice. Thank you so much!!
ACT: 36
Weighted Cumulative GPA: 4.09 (not sure what unweighted is, school doesn’t give out this info)
“I feel as if I’m lacking adequate match and safety schools”
I was pretty much thinking the same thing. What state are you from? How much can your parents afford to pay? Have you run the NPC for each of the schools on your list and is the result consistent with what your parents can afford to pay?
Can you give us a quick guess on how many A’s you have and how many B’s (given your list of schools I am hoping it is nearly all As)? Different high school compute weighted GPA so differently that it is hard to know how to interpret this.
I’m an international student. My parents can afford the tuition, it’s not ideal without some level of financial aid, but they have told me not to factor that into my decision.
I have pretty much all As throughout my high school transcript, only 2 Bs and each lasting for 1 semester. Current IB predicted score of 41 based off my classes.
Some schools that come to mind that would be safer than where you have applied: UMass Amherst, University of Vermont, or any of several schools in Canada such as Dalhousie (east coast) or U. Victoria or Simon Fraser (west coast). McGill, Toronto, and UBC are very good at both environmental studies and environmental sciences, and should be safe if you have nearly all A’s.
Of course a degree from any of the US schools does NOT allow you to stay afterward – the US assumes that international students will leave after they graduate.
If you don’t care for Greek life or athletics, why is Duke at the top of your list?
Univ of Vermont could be a safety. It has a strong environmental program
From what I’ve read, it seems that while it’s definitely a big part of life at Duke, it’s not as ubiquitous as some people make out to be and many people choose not to participate. My choice is mainly due to the quality of the envsci programs, facilities, and research opps.
Have you thought of adding Macalester, Oberlin or Kenyon as safer choices? Also, I don’t think Bowdoin is that similar to either Vassar or Middlebury so all three would be good reach schools.
Depending on the year, Vassar admits 35-39% of male the applicants. Male applicants are self-selective, so the applicant pool is highly qualified and admission is very competitive.
@CrewDad
I had looked at the 2016-2017 data when making my comment, which had a 55% male acceptance rate. But good to note it can change significantly from year to year.
@Wisteria100, Thank you. I missed that. It appears that 2016-2017 was an anomaly. The admit rate for the of class '21 is back down to 39% The 2015-2016 admit rate was 35%…2014-2015 was 34%…2013-2014 was 34% and so on.
@CrewDad Thanks for clarifying. While it is undoubtably easier for young men to be admitted to Vassar, it is by no means a sure thing and it would be misleading to regard it as a 100 % safety. Our son had a 1480 SAT, 13 APs (he earned 4/5s on 9 of them, 3s on the rest) and a hook as an athlete, but when he had his preread, his coach said admissions wanted to know why, after all As, he had gotten two Bs as a Junior (really tough teachers!) Admissions wanted those grades back up! It was by no means a sure thing, although he was accepted. Thankfully he earned all As again as a senior so he felt his early decision acceptance was rightfully earned; by then he had had a team overnight and fallen in love with the school. He happily rescinded his other apps. Now we are starting the process for second son (junior). Not sure he has the stats for Vassar even if they did accept 55%, but there are many wonderful schools out there!
@sixkids6, that’s a great point as our XC/Track DD sunk her chances as an ED at Bowdoin by getting two B’s in Junior year after a spring slump which was flagged in her pre-read and then she repeated that in the 1st qtr. of Senior year; while she then turned it around and had great ACT scores (34 single sitting/35 superscore), it was too late for Bowdoin as she was deferred in ED1 and then denied in RD - I don’t think getting B’s were the issue, it was the downward trajectory. That said, all ended up well as she’s a student athlete at Hamilton, but that last leg of the process was an eye opener for her.
Agreed on Colby and Macalester as great schools and amazing matches for your interestes. You might get offered a decent amount of merit aid at Macalester which would make your parents happy. Both colleges like you to show interest so reach out to them.
If you want a larger school with a great environmental science program as a possible safety or match, consider adding UC Santa Cruz. If you have the UC gpa to get into UCLA or Berkeley, then UCSC would be a safety. Remember that the UCs care more about your UC gpa than they do test scores…even super awesome test scores.
Whitman
Quest U in Canada
College of the Atlantic
Marlboro
Green Mountain
Unity in Maine
Colorado College
Warren Wilson
St. Mary’s of Maryland (lots of ocean front and sciences based on that)
Hampshire
William and Mary