We are at an impasse and would appreciate some input for anyone who knows “the vibe” at these schools. We have toured them, but it is sometimes difficult to get an accurate handle on the student body from an organized admissions tour. Daughter is a Jr. 1500 SAT. 3.9 GPA. They/them pronouns. Quirky but quiet. Artistic: writing/theater tech/languages (possible science minor). Introvert. Doesn’t want to get lost in a college with lots of loud voices, but still wants to be heard. Does that make sense? Not sporty.
Impressions of each:
Hamilton: Beautiful campus. Are kids here too mainstream for her?
Wesleyan: Liked the kids. Hated the campus. Not enough green space.
Amherst: Liked the campus and location, but was unsure about the student body and where she would fit?
Haverford: Loved the campus. Very unsure of how being LGBTQ on a small campus will work for her. Also, what is the vibe of this school? Is it bookish? Is it quirky? I really could not tell.
Carnegie Mellon: Kind of an outlier, but she really loved the campus. Different vibe from the rest.
If anyone has any input, it would be much appreciated!
May want to look at Vassar. Very similar type kids as W and consistent with the way you describe what your kid is looking for. Expansive and beautiful campus with green space, farm, curated gardens along with great architecture.
There are plenty of artistic students at Hamilton, so I wouldn’t rule that school out.
Wesleyan seems like a good fit student body wise…is it on or off the list as she didn’t like the campus?
Amherst is more mainstream and sporty than some of the other schools on your list.
Haverford…is the smallest as you said. I would do some research about last year’s student strike for some more insight into the student body there.
CMU is such a fit school, so I would pay attention if she liked it there.
Is she set on an LAC? I would also encourage her to consider traditionally all female colleges…Smith mentioned above, Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Bryn Mawr.
All the schools you mentioned are reaches, even for high stat students. I encourage her to take time identifying at least one affordable safety school, as well as a handful of target/match schools.
Other LACs she might consider include Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon, Carleton, Macalester, Reed, Beloit, Conn College.
Some possible non-LACs could include Case Western, Ithaca, Tufts.
Thanks for all of your replies! Here’s a little more information:
D does not want to attend a single sex school. I tried!
These are her top tier schools. This list is not extensive at all! These are def all her reaches. She wanted to visit her reaches first. We are trying to get a handle on these to see if any should be weeded out.
Yes, she def wants LACs. Nothing too big, which is why CMU, for many reasons, is an outlier. She just loved the campus and wanted to throw in something a little different than the others.
She does have Oberlin, Kenyon, Carleton, Reed, Conn College, Sarah Lawrence, Bard and Bennington on her list as well.
Haverford: She has definitely read extensively about the student strike. She is still interested in applying, but very unsure about how “present” the LGBTQ presence is there?
Wesleyan: Not off the table, but we thought this would be a home run and it was not. Any info about how quieter, quirkier kids fare there?
Amherst: Concur with sporty vibe (also a super reach for her), but wondering if we misjudged and should give it another look?
Seconding Macalester, especially if Carleton has been considered and not ruled out for location. Mac is in the twin cities which are very welcoming. Carleton is suburban/somewhat boring location.
D22 with similar profile applied mostly to NESCACs and has several acceptances. She also applied to several mid-west LACs to increase her chances through geography diversity.
Grinnell steadily moved up in the rankings as we got to know it better over the last couple of months (I can’t seem to find a single bad thing about the school other than location) and is in serious consideration along with two other “name” schools. I would definitely give it a serious look. Added bonus - extremely generous merit aid.
Oberlin left a good impression too. I know someone who had a child there and another at Vassar and feels the Oberlin education/classroom experience was markedly better.
Kenyon is a bit more preppy IMO but has one of the top creative writing programs in the country so my guess is that it has plenty of quirky creative types too.
Carleton also made our list but it was my least favorite of the four, which surprised me based on what I know - I think it was that their virtual stuff was a little lacking.
My daughter is lgbtq and feels very welcome to be open about it at Haverford, and feels like she fits in.
ETA: the vibe: yes. It’s bookish and quirky and sporty and artsy. There are a lot of ways to find your people there, because the vibe is pretty diverse for such a small school.
Reading your comments Vassar and Oberlin immediately came to mind. I know or have known students at both campuses and both schools may be good fits. Eckerd College is one that is supposed to be welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community. So that is one that your child may want to look into if they have not already.
Wesleyan’s perceived lack of green space is offset by all the university-owned, single-family houses that lend a neighborhood feeling to the side streets. A shy introvert can look forward to having their own kitchen with a small group of friends, certainly by junior year - sooner, if they’re lucky in the annual housing lottery.
We definitely have had Oberlin come up multiple times with others as well. She did not have it on her list for possible ED choices because we had not heard much about it (we are from New England and D wants to stay kinda close – I think she thinks Ohio is a bridge too far…), but maybe we should move it there?