While all LAC’s like geographic diversity so they can say they have every state represented, I don’t think Tennessee is going to be that hard to pull students from - Nashville isn’t a small city. As a result, unless OP is a First-Gen, at which point the lowest 25% is feasible, best to focus on schools where a 30 ACT (current ACT superscore) is well within the middle 50%.
Rhodes ACT range is 27-32. That is the range for the 25% to the 75% percentile. Your 29 puts you right at average. It is not a safety from a score perspective.
@Eeyore123 hmmm… well, i’m applying early action, so hopefully that helps me a little bit, haha.
@kalons Now that you have said you are first gen, that improves your odds. Hard to know how much, but the LACs will take note of that
It may be out of reach, but Tufts is big on interdisciplinary majors/research. It has both a BioPsych major and a very broad Cognitive Science major. My bias is toward Cog Sci, because the computer science component leads to better job prospects directly out of undergrad. Tufts does superscore the ACT and admission is very holistic with essays being extremely important. Work experience and community service are considered important, as is creativity. Poetry could be interesting. Meets full need from a financial aid perspective. If it sounds interesting, make sure you are comfortable with the extensive language/culture core requirement.
@Mastadon thank you so, so, very much!
@kalons, yes, applying EA to Rhodes makes it a Target, not a Safety. An example of a Safety for someone with your profile would be Beloit, Knox, etc.
I don’t think some of the top LACs are shut out for you completely. You have a different background than most students applying and your testing isn’t that far below their bottom 25% (it’s literally one point lower for Williams/Pomona and right there for Swarthmore).
If you want to have a couple of reaches, go for it. Try to narrow it down to 5 or so.
@nostalgicwisdom okay! thank you for the encouragement and advice 
@kalons This is the info for Tufts. You can find this info for every college on your list and compare yourself.
Good Luck.
Profile of the Class of 2021
At Tufts, we have a student body made up of more than numbers. Our students have strong grades and test scores, but we look for more than that when making a class. We admit students who are well rounded in all areas of their lives – academic, social, and extracurricular.
APPLICATION INFORMATION
Applications 21,101
Acceptances 3,127
Acceptance Rate 14.8%
TEST SCORE RANGES
Mid 50% Range for SAT - EBRW 700-760
Mid 50% Range for SAT - Math 710-780
Mid 50% Range for ACT 31-34
Mean ACT Composite 32.5
DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE
Enrolled Students 1,413
Arts and Sciences 1,214
Engineering 199
U.S. Citizens Who Are Students of Color* 31.8%
Hispanic 8.2%
Asian 13.5%
Black or African American 4.2%
Two or More Races 5.8%
Percentage Receiving Need-Based Aid 39%
1st Generation College Bound 162
@kalons, did you apply to colleges before deciding to wait a year to attend as that may shed some insight on admission chances at different selectivity levels?
@kalons I don’t know if this will help you cut down your list…My kids really didn’t want to go to any of the schools listed in the NY Times this past January with uber wealthy kids. Culturally, they felt it wouldn’t be a good fit. You have several colleges on your list where 20% of the students have a family income > 630,000. per year. I’m not going to list the schools, because I don’t want to start a firestorm, it was a personal decison for my kids. However, I do think the social experience of college is a critical piece. There are some amazing schools on your list that have great economic diversity too. Good luck with ur search and keep us posted as you narrow your list and/or apply!
Are you running the Net Price Calculators for these schools? Ruling out unaffordable colleges is a good way to shorten a list.
@ssjstudent thank you so much! i will definitely look into the new york times, and i will absolutely keep everyone updated on where i apply!
Denison outside Columbus, Ohio, does well on economic diversity rankings, and is about 18% first gen students, as best I recall. Worth a look.
“At Tufts, we have a student body made up of more than numbers. Our students have strong grades and test scores, but we look for more than that when making a class. We admit students who are well rounded in all areas of their lives – academic, social, and extracurricular.”
Ok so every selective college says that, the 25-75 SAT is 1410-1540, which means for sure test scores are very important for selection maybe the most important. An applicant with a 1250 even 1300 and well rounded in all other areas is not getting in, in fact not even applying, unless they have a hook.
@ssjstudent, even many of the most diverse highly selective schools have a high percentage of the top 1% - it’s a barbell that is a result of BOTH the smartest richest and smartest less advantaged being able to attend the same school - both Princeton and Amherst are great examples, there are many others.
It is not really a barbell at the highly selective private schools. Usually, they have nearly half without financial aid (probably top 2-3% income/wealth families). Of the rest, they typically have more without Pell grants (top half of the family income/wealth distribution) than with Pell grants (bottom half).
@ucbalumnus, gotta disagree as Amherst, as an example, has 55% receiving scholarship or grant aid with avg. aid amount of $48,000, totaling $55mm. In addition, 22% were eligible for Pell Grants.
I.e. 45% no financial aid (top 2-3% income/wealth families), 33% financial aid but no Pell (top half excluding top 2-3%), 22% financial aid with Pell (bottom half). I.e. top-heavy like other highly selective private schools.