A+ Universities for B Students

What do you do if you want to go to college in the United States, but your grades and test scores aren’t 100% perfect? What happens if you aren’t the best standardized test taker in the world, or you were feeling sick the day you had to take your SAT & TOEFL tests and your scores suffered as a result?

We’ve sourced a list of 25 A+ Schools for B Students here from Forbes for your reference. These schools all provide outstanding value for their price, are all highly reputable and prestigious US schools, and require their applicants to be well rounded.

Each of the names of these schools is linked to a profile on the school itself, and the list includes acceptance rates and the range of SAT / ACT scores the schools typically admit.

U.S. News rank	School	Selectivity	Fall 2011 acceptance rate	SAT/ACT 25th-75th percentile
#54	Pepperdine University  Malibu, CA	more selective	31.6%	1100-1330
#58	Fordham University  New York, NY	more selective	42.4%	1150-1340
#58	Syracuse University  Syracuse, NY	more selective	49.4%	1050-1270
#65	Purdue University–​West Lafayette  West Lafayette, IN	more selective	68.3%	1040-1300
#68	Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey–​New Brunswick  Piscataway, NJ	more selective	61.1%	1080-1310
#72	Michigan State University  East Lansing, MI	more selective	72.9%	23-28
#72	University of Iowa  Iowa City, IA	more selective	79.8%	23-28
#75	University of Delaware  Newark, DE	more selective	58.2%	1100-1300
#77	Baylor University  Waco, TX	more selective	39.7%	24-29
#77	SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry  Syracuse, NY	more selective	46.8%	1100-1270
#77	University of Alabama  Tuscaloosa, AL	more selective	43.5%	22-29
#83	Clark University  Worcester, MA	more selective	67.9%	1080-1310 2
#83	Drexel University  Philadelphia, PA	more selective	57.5%	1100-1310
#83	Indiana University–​Bloomington  Bloomington, IN	more selective	72.3%	1050-1280
#83	Marquette University  Milwaukee, WI	more selective	56.8%	24-29
#89	Auburn University  Auburn University, AL	more selective	70.0%	24-30
#89	Miami University–​Oxford  Oxford, OH	more selective	74.1%	24-29
#92	St. Louis University  St. Louis, MO	more selective	61.3%	25-30
#92	Stony Brook University–​SUNY Stony Brook, NY	more selective	39.2%	1130-1330
#92	Texas Christian University  Fort Worth, TX	more selective	37.7%	24-29
#92	University of Vermont  Burlington, VT	more selective	75.4%	1090-1280
#97	Florida State University  Tallahassee, FL	more selective	58.5%	25-28
#97	University of Colorado–​Boulder  Boulder, CO	more selective	86.9%	24-28
#97	University of Massachusetts–​Amherst  Amherst, MA	more selective	65.6%	1090-1280
#97	University of Missouri  Columbia, MO	more selective	82.3%	23-28

- Source: Forbes

If you have struggled in the past with standardized tests and are looking for some “match schools” to which you can apply, you should take a closer look into some of these universities -- especially if you haven’t heard of them before.

Although many of the most famous private schools in the United States have a longstanding reputation for excellence, the price tag of higher education has risen so much that many schools traditionally considered second or third tier are now being viewed as equal to the historically most prestigious universities in America. When selecting which schools to apply to, it is important to strike a balance between cost, quality, future prospects for employment, and other intangible factors.

If you would like any help talking through the pros and cons of the undergraduate schools listed here, or making the decision about which schools are right to apply to, feel free to reach me at david@transcendadmissions.com.