Totally agree @intparent . But after the crummy tour at CMC, there was no way our kid was even willing to look at the other schools in the consortium. She wanted to leave town.
I hate Palo Alto and the Silicon Valley and am not a big fan of San Francisco either. I actually liked Los Angeles much better. So I’d probably go for USC instead. But if you don’t mind hot humid summers Rice is really fabulous. Nice size, nice campus, residential colleges, Houston is actually surprisingly fun.
And of course if you are a science nerd - Caltech is pretty awesome. Architecturally speaking it’s one of my favorite campuses, and the plantings are beautiful too.
I would pick Georgetown, a very well rounded choice. The vibe of Georgetown (the neighborhood) is hard to beat.
Since we’re looking for mild weather, I recommend Yukon College.
Interesting how some kids have such a strong reaction to a school (whether it be positive or negative). My son had visited about 20 schools, and once he visited Pomona College, he knew very quickly that it was the school for him. Loved the consortium and the Village. Applied ED, never even sent other applications, etc. Found a group of students at Pomona that were so similar to him, yet they are from all over the U.S, and from other countries as well. They go to LA about once a month, not at all difficult to do on a weekend. A lot going on right on campus, but they are getting more adventuresome, and are enjoying the proximity. Great interaction with professors who truly seem to care, wonderful opportunities available, and name recognition of school is increasing. Beautiful place for us to visit!
Are you a Durmstrang alum?
Some people think good weather is having lots of snow in the winter. I’m not one of them but I know plenty of people who do.
British people only know what good weather is by going to Spain, or the south of France.
The OP said “mild weather,” not “good weather.” No one thinks Syracuse NY has “mild weather” because it gets lots of snow in the winter! Now, maybe lots of people think that Houston or Tucson don’t have “mild weather” either – and I may be one of them – but at least I can imagine thinking that Houston or Tucson qualify.
I thought the ‘weather’ consideration was eliminated back in post #17.
Is there a category that modifies “high ranking” a bit? As in, “high ranking, but not with a 5% acceptance rate”? Surely that will open this up a little wider.
Should add that I believe Hogwarts is even more selective than Stanford. I mean, most of us are Muggles, right?
If we have eliminated mild weather as a criterion then just go with these three handy lists:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cc-top-universities/
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cc-top-liberal-arts-colleges/
USC, Stanford, Santa Clara, Duke, Vanderbilt, UNC CH based on OP criteria. We eliminated entire regions of the country (and their colleges) based on weather - huge criteria at our house.
Just to add to the conversation, the Claremont schools are in the middle of suburbia, pretty far inland, and there didn’t seem to be much going on even with 5 schools. Did a tour with one, the other didn’t even want to get out of the car (which btw, there are cars jammed in there everywhere) so we did a drive-by tour. Just a strip mall down the road, it is pretty sleepy. A friend whose high stat STEM daughter toured Harvey Mudd described it as really dumpy with bad outdoor tables and junk piles everywhere. Was probably engineers trying to build something. CMs are great schools (just not for mine) but think it could be described as a sweet campus, but I wouldn’t call them vibrant.
Cal tech, f course
Caltech
Skidmore has a pretty campus and Saratoga Springs is a great town.
Caltech
Good weather
Housing all 4 years
Anyone who wants research opportunity, can get one
Meets financial need
Was #1 in value when son accepted
I’d probably freak out if I ever saw Pomona College or Claremont-Mk, or Stanford or any of the other big time Cali U’s. But, the truth is, as a Florida kid, that is like a different world. I didn’t do much research when I was looking but when my oldest son was looking I geeked out and looked high and low and fell in love with Duke, Lehigh, Davidson, Wake Forest and schools like that. Three are in NC. They all seemed to be the right size, generous with FA, and he could have maybe played sports there.
But he ended up in stare with zero regrets.
FSU. Tally. 250 miles from where we live. Not too far. Not to close. He has grown up tremendously and he has made lots of new friends and he will graduate this summer and is accepted to FSU’s grad school and even has a few things semi-lined up job wise after grad school. He even cut his hair. I am giddy. It has worked perfectly.
His little brother just went to his high school prom with a girl that is beyond perfect for him. So, right now, everything is good. Knock on wood. He is going to do what I did and his brother did. CC first. TF to FSU. Not much to think about.
If I were being objective …
I’d love to check out the Cali schools.
I’d love to live out there.
I’d second the Athens, GA. comment. So I’d check out UGA for sure.
Miami is a really cool city, yes we are hispanic, so Miami would get a visit, although I’ve been there. Here again, Coral Gables, the city it is in, is a big part of why I’d like it.
Austin, TX, UT, would be worth looking at.
I’m not sure I’d like the mid-west or northeast. Once you get used to warm weather, you ain’t leaving. I don’t know. Maybe I’d check out Ohio St. Vandy is in Nashville. That might work. I am an FSU guy so UF is out but otherwise, UF, trying to be objective here, is a great school and a great value.
That’s about it.
No, wait. Furman. No, take that back. Davidson trumps Furman so Furman is out. For me it is WF, Lehigh, Davidson, Duke, UGA or FSU.
“Mild weather” is, IMHO, not something that a “perfect school” requires.
Southern California has its ‘weather days.’ It was 113 one day and as I tried to enter my building, I burned my hand on the metal handles. Other times I walked through 6+ inches of water on the sidewalks. Most of the time, it was lovely but I had to LOL when it was 45 degrees in the morning and people had down jackets on to walk the dog.
I’d spend more time worrying about the heat than the cold. Boulder is perfect to me, but was closed 3-4 days this year for snow (they are getting to be whimps; it was closed only once when I went there, a Friday afternoon in May as 5’ of heavy wet snow began falling and I doubt any classes were actually cancelled). NM has nice weather most of the time. Oregon does for me, but not for others. Miami? Just shoot me now.