Extremely Indecisive Rising Senior Asking for College Recommendations Answered
Hi! Today I opened my colleges on my CommonApp and realized I only had two colleges selected in this section- UW Madison and UVM. Does anyone (who has the time to even think about this, thank you!!) have recommendations as to which other schools I should consider, specifically ones that give good merit/financial aid for middle class families? Context: I'm considering majoring in either political science/pre-law or marketing/advertising/sustainable business, have around a 3.9 gpa UW (no class rank) 4.2 W, 31 ACT, middle of the road extracurriculars IMO, and am primarily looking at colleges in the PNW or east coast (not looking at colleges in the south/hot climates lol) but I am from the midwest. I'm not really expecting to get into a college below a 50% acceptance rate (please let me know if even 50-40% is reaching) but would like to attend a school that is somewhat well respected. Thank you so much for even reading all of this, college apps are stressful!
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4 answers
In the Pacific Northwest I would look at these colleges:
University of Washington (Seattle), Reed College (Portland - RC is test blind so you don't need a test score), Lewis & Clark College (Portland), University of Puget Sound (tacoma)
For East Coast schools I would look at:
Hamilton, Colgate, Bates, Vassar, BrynMawr, Smith College, Skidmore, Bennington College, St. Lawrence Univ., Bard College, Mount Holyoke, Hobart/William Smith, Trinity College, Union College, Connecticut College. These are all great colleges that have good financial aid (Colgate has zero loans for families making up to $135,000 so they have the best middle class fin aid. But all of these are great schools.
Good luck.
Madison can be costly if you aren't from WI.
Jesuit schools can give more merit aid. So maybe look at College of the Holy Cross or St. Louis University.
Since you have a variety of interests and could fit into many different environments, I recommend basing your decision on affordability. Check out this blog post to see a list of schools that meet 100% of financial need. Though a lot of these schools are selective, there are some, such as Union College, that have a 43% acceptance rate. Based on the limited stats I know about your profile, I think that it would be realistic for you to get into a school with an even lower acceptance rate - 30% would not be impossible. Hope this helps!
A lot of people I know chose to go to Eastern Connecticut State University since it was VERY generous with its financial aid+scholarships. Its campus is city-like ish with a lot of activities going on. I don't know if they have all your maybe-majors though.
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Cool thank you so much! I cant see myself getting into most of these schools but if you think it’s possible that’s awesome, the Colgate info is super interesting!