Another "LAC Suggestions" Thread

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hi everyone, I am trying my best here to figure out good possibilities for D16, a HS junior and my oldest. She is a sweet, bright, and quiet kid with an artistic side. In fitting with her personality, she is laid back about the whole college process, and is happy to go to one of our state schools ( NY), yet my thinking is that she would thrive in a smaller setting as she has a tendency to make herself invisible. I'd like her to have this...hubby is happy with the state school idea, but agrees we can stretch and not make finances the main consideration.</p>

<p>Her main request is to be within 4 hrs of home (Long Island) and not too rural. She is really looking to me for direction, and I feel the weight of that! </p>

<p>Strengths: Her best subjects are math, science and foreign language. She presently takes a college credit pre-calc course, AP Physics, Honors 4th yr. Spanish, and 3rd yr. Japanese. She really has a passion for the Japanese and has advanced a level on her own. </p>

<p>Weaknesses: She is not the strongest reader/writer and takes regular courses in both English and Social Studies.</p>

<p>Stats: SAT ( March 2009): CR 630, M 720, W 740 (the writing was a surprise)
ACT ( April 2009): 33 Composite</p>

<p>She is retaking the SAT in May with the hope of bringing up the CR score, and is taking the Math (not sure level 1 or 2) and the Physics Subject tests in June.</p>

<p>GPA: She attends a large public high school (2000+) that has a different kind of rating system which I haven't seen here on CC. It's on an 8 point scale...they get extra points for taking Honors/AP, and they just give out one number, not unweighted and weighted scores. There is no class ranking. She has a 7.6, but I don't know how to interpret that...will find out from guidance next month. She has some honors and a few APs ( not the hardest schedule) and has a tendency to "forget" to hand in HW ( even when she's done it!!), yet tends to pull it together during test time. She has A+'s in the subjects that interest her, but has a smattering of Bs and one C as well. I have had little success in getting her to understand that it all counts.</p>

<p>Extra: Japanese Club, board member, anime teacher
Violin for 6 yrs, guitar for 2 ( has written a song with Japanese lyrics)
Japanese Honor Society, secretary
Spanish Honor Society, National Honor Society
Teaches ESL twice a week at a church at night with a Spanish teacher from our HS
CPR certified and works as an assistant 2x/month and summer
Takes a Chinese class on Sundays just for fun
She's played JV tennis in 10th grade, but just missed advancing to V. Still plays,<br>
but not competitively </p>

<p>I guess I am trying to convey that she is not at all intense, except for her interest in Asian language and culture...then she comes to life! She has the ability to mix with kids from diverse backgrounds, and I know one of her accomplishments has been to bring kids together in her quiet, easy way. She's really modest about this, but she managed to get some tables mixed together in the cafeteria!</p>

<p>Anyway, the top contenders so far are Skidmore, Connecticut College, Vassar, the SUNYs, and NYU (which doesn't really fit, but there was something about it she liked).</p>

<p>Thanks for reading all this...comments/advice appreciated!!!</p>

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<p>okay, I am thinking out loud to myself here and have decided to ix-nay the NYU idea. I am willing to pay for the LAC experience but not NYU.</p>

<p>psychmom—who has made a bit of progress this morning</p>

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<p>Would she consider an all womens school like Barnard?</p>

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<p>It’s not near Long Island, but I’d suggest taking a look at Earlham. It’s known for its exceptionally strong Japanese language, linguistics, and cultural departments.</p>

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<p>Huskem, She doesn’t seem too keen on the whole women’s college idea. In fact, she gave me her (not so) secretive smile when hearing about Coast Guard Academy right across from your alma mater! </p>

<p>Coureur, Thank you for the Earlham suggestion, but the distance thing is very important to her.</p>

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<p>Would SUNY Geneseo be too big / under- / over-qualified for it? It seems to have the LAC feel to it while still being a state school.</p>

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<p>In addition to the ones not mentioned: Bard, Drew, Marist, Sarah Lawrence, Bryn Mawr, (Haverford harder get, Swarthmore, hardest get), Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Wheaton, .</p>

<p>I live on LI and these are all within easy striking distance. With the Ferry the MA schools are really close, especially Wheaton.</p>

<p>Wesleyan might be possible too.</p>

<p>Trinity might be a good bet.</p>

<p>Geneseo is actually far away.</p>

<p>There are lots of options, really. I am hearing Smith ringing in my ears, but not every girl wants to consider a woman’s college. Smith has the only all women’s engineering program, and after hearing about it, I wanted to attend. (I have a PhD in English but would have loved the non-competitive support for math/science that a woman finds at Smith.)</p>

<p>Northampton is not “rural.” (That might knock Bard out of contention, but it a lovely school. Much more academic than it is given credit for.)</p>

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<p>Thank you, Here<em>To</em>Help and mythmom, for your thoughts.</p>

<p>I’ve heard SUNY Geneseo is about 7 hrs away, but will double check.</p>

<p>I like the idea of a woman’s college, especially if it is located in a city or within a consortium, but I think D16 would rather have a coed experience.</p>

<p>I’m thinking Haverford and Swarthmore won’t be too forgiving of the spotty areas in my daughter’s transcript. Wesleyan is perhaps more quirky in this regard but is highly competitive as well. </p>

<p>Trinity and Wheaton sound like reasonable options as long as they offer Asian languages; Drew and Marist don’t.</p>

<p>I did look at Bard on the web…I don’t know…I found the description of their academic program to be confusing!</p>

<p>In just a short time, I see it’s been helpful to post my daughter’s “story” here. I think anyone having reservations should really consider doing so.</p>

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<p>Connecticut College sounds like a great fit and with the Long Island-New London ferry service it’s practically in your backyard, yet will feel like it’s “away.”</p>

<p>That 33 ACT is impressive and packs more wallop than her current SATs. According to the official ACT-SAT concordance a 33 ACT is equivalent to a 1460 SAT CR+M, or 110 points higher than her current CR+M.</p>

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<p>bclintonk, Connecticut does seem like a great choice, and she enjoyed her visit there. Quite possibly an ED school.</p>

<p>She appears to be one of those kids who tests better on one over the other. She’s going to try the SAT once more, but my guess is that in the end we’ll go with the ACT.</p>

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<p>I ran through the women’s college idea with D16 and she wasn’t interested, until she heard about Barnard. I showed her on a map how the college is literally across the street from Columbia, and she seemed intrigued by the idea of being in this more intimate environment while having immediate access to NYC, broader academics, and boys. We’re going to check it out…I, myself, have never been there, and am looking forward to this day trip with her ( probably next month), however the outcome!</p>

<p>Thanks so much!!</p>

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<p>SUNY Geneseo is 6 hours from where I live on Long Island (Huntington area)</p>

<p>I highly reccommend Conn Coll.</p>

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<p>oh, thanks, mcvcm92, for confirming Geneseo’s distance for me. The best SUNY option seems to be Stony Brook, as Binghamton is quite limited in Japanese. Albany happens to have lots for her, but I am not crazy about the party reputation.</p>

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<p>psychmom, I don’t know how to fathom her GPA either. (Why do they have to overcomplicate?), but I would say that with her ACT score, involvement in Asian culture and language and musical activities, your daughter is a stronger candidate than you might think. I’d forget the SATI and start focusing on racking up some good SATII scores.</p>

<p>I think she has a good solid list with Barnard, Conn College, Skidmore, Vassar. I believe that Haverford would be reasonable. Wesleyan is a bit more of a reach, but it has excellent Asian programs. A little more isolated, I’d add Hamilton. Middlebury also has a solid reputation for languages.</p>

<p>We live in Asia and one of the most popular choices among expat kids who want to keep their Asian connections is Macalester. Totally out her geographic range, but worth a mention.</p>

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<p>Oh yes, and add Dickinson, excellent language programs.</p>

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<p>momrath, Thank you for your input as I try to come up with a reasonable game plan here. I know my daughter will find it exciting that a mom in Asia is helping us out! </p>

<p>At this point, she is making it clear that she wants to be at a college close to home, yet have the chance to study abroad ASAP…does that make sense to anyone???</p>

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<p>You mentioned Skidmore and if she wants to go abroad that would fit perfectly if she choses to go for her first semester to London. Good Luck!</p>

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<p>Hi Iamsoconfused, In my readings here, I did come across that option, and while my daughter would love the opportunity, I think I want her to have the typical freshman experience, but who knows at this point. As you see, I’m confused here too!</p>

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<p>more follow-up: In checking SUNY Binghamton’s website, there is now a section within the Asian Dept. named “Japanese Studies.” No information is available as yet…when you click on it, it says “coming soon.” </p>

<p>She will be happy if this opens up as an option.</p>

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<p>I’ve had a few responses to check out Wesleyan as it has a strong East Asian Studies Dept. Interestingly, Wesleyan was the first college we visited, and my daughter had a negative reaction to it, feeling intimidated by the social environment. Although she has this artsy/ creative side, she is basically a quiet, sweet kid, more “nerdy” than anything else. She doesn’t party, smoke or drink, and prefers to hang out with a small group of friends. Her one boyfriend is more of a “friends” kind of thing. I am sure she has no idea what a hipster is (I, myself, had to look it up on wiki).</p>

<p>With this in mind, is Wesleyan worth a second look? I basically scratched it off the list, but I want to feel satisfied in this search and make sure I’ve turned over the main stones, so to speak. Is Vassar too non-mainstream a choice as well? I think she would enjoy some quirkiness and I don’t want to go too much the other way either ( as in too serious/dry) in the LAC search.</p>