To the OP: your daughter’s list could be my son’s. A couple of huge state schools (public), a few small liberal arts colleges (private), and one midsize (private). He enrolled in the last one because it was an outstanding university (UChicago) and it was located in a major league city (sports).
My daughter applied only to art schools or programs, with her preferred location being “in a real city in the East.” She attended RISD. Although Providence barely qualified as a “real city” (from her perspective), it was within easy reach of Boston and NYC.
I attended a small college (Reed), located in a real city but not “major league.” My wife attended a large university in a smallish city (University of Wisconsin).
I feel confident that you and your D have done the work necessary to make an informed, smart application list. Different things matter to different people and that is just fine. Your D isolated academics, campus, and Greek Life as being what she wants in a college – and for that reason her list crosses schools of different sizes and locations. But really that is not so different than for example my D isolating academics and wanting a LAC. The idea of the process is to find what is important to the student and go with it.
Wishing you and your D the best as the process moves along.
My daughter’s list consisted of small LACs, large universities and everything in between. The common thread was the perceived strength of the departments of her intended major with one eye on other opportunities lest she change her mind.
So far, so good.
Private schools, especially smaller ones are a mixed bag of worms. They tend to have a very homogeneous culture that new students absolutely love or absolutely hate. The culture could be nerdy, snooty, ultra-liberal, ultra-conservative, party, religious, etc. A lot of times, students go to a private school and the culture is a poor fit and they end up miserable for 4 years. If she’s unsure, sometimes a bigger school is a safer bet. They tend to be more diverse and it’s easy to find clubs and organizations with like-minded people.
If she’s interested in Greek life and a nice campus, she might want to consider Texas State University. It’s 30 minutes from Austin and 45 minutes from San Antonio. The school is adjacent to the San Marcos River, which is a big swimming hot spot…and it gets HOT in Texas.
Yes, my kids wanted small LAC’s but we are on a public school budget. This meant a rather diverse list of big in-state public schools, mid-size private schools with merit opportunity and schools that meet full-need. Thankfully, they got what they wanted but yes, the list didn’t totally make sense.
Older daughter: List ranged from a private college with enrollment of around 800 to our state’s flagship (U.W. Madison) with enrollment around 40,000. Geographically, the schools ranged from east coast (Vermont) to west coast (southern California), and her two top choices ended up being the Vermont and California schools. She ended up at the small private university in southern California.
Younger daughter: List ranged from LACs with enrollment of 1,000-2,000 to our state’s flagship. Geographically, they ranged from east coast (Maine) to California and the state of Washington. Her two top choices were in California and Minnesota; she went to the Minnesota college.
D18’s top two out of 12 very varied choices: University of San Diego (medium Catholic university) and University of Iowa (20,000+ undergrad) so different, yet both tempting. I was rooting for small LACs Denison or St. Olaf.
She deliberately chose from all over the menu, seeking merit. Most came out right around our FAFSA EFC, so she could have saved some trouble! Perceived fit and overall vibe from visits were decisive.
A last minute visit to sunny San Diego after a typical Chicago winter made her decision very easy. Academics would have been fine at any of the schools.
D13 applied to 8 schools, mostly LACs. But her final two were Bryn Mawr and UW Seattle.
D16 applied to 18 schools, chasing money and very uncertain about what she wanted. Final four (all still candidates mid-April) were very different from each other: Messiah College (small Christian school in semi-rural PA), Dartmouth (rural), Princeton (suburban), and GA Tech (huge and urban). Final two were Princeton and Ga Tech, and it was actually painful choosing despite the differences.
There is so much growing that happens in the last two years of HS. I think what may look like a bizarre list to us parents is really our child “trying on” the options of who they could be. They are weighing what they think they want against what peers, teachers, counselors, the media, other adults, and yes, their parents, say they SHOULD want. From application to final decision can be 6-9 months of continued wrestling with all of that. IMHO a varied list just shows that the DC really is thinking about it and will likely make a well reasoned decision.
My daughter’s list is a mix of school type, size, and direct setting (suburban vs urban). They’re all tied together by major of interest, general geographic location, and her positive opinionsafter visiting. Her 1/2 choices are tiny suburban LAC and huge urban ivy. Ha.
My S had a very wide assortment of schools on application list, from large OOS public to small LACs. At the very end, his 3 top choices were OOS public, medium sized private U, and small LAC. S only applied to schools at which there was a chance at merit aid, even if the chance was very small.
We thought it was fine for S to have such a wide assortment because he is a flexible, accommodating kid and we thought he would adapt to most environments. Plus, we thought he could change a lot of his ideas/wants during senior year of HS and that turned out to be accurate. His final 3 schools in April were completely different than his top 3 schools in November, and he was admitted to all 6 of these schools.
@appalachymom thank you for mentioning that. That’s the reason S19 is not going ED after all. He has a clear fav now but afraid to commit. I’m not sure if he will still feel the same in 6 months either.
It is stressful right now because we are in the last looks timeframe. I don’t want him to miss out on a great fit that he discovers too late. He has a good list but I wish he would add a few more in case his focus changes.
My son’s list is also all over the place, united only by strong math and science programs. The only schools that fell off were the ones in a very urban settings (NYU) and very small isolated towns (Williams).
My son refused to visit Chicago in the winter because he didn’t want to be influenced by the weather. We saw it on a beautiful spring weekend for the first time and he loved it, though he ended up choosing Tufts.
Every kid is different. My daughter had perfectly clear that she wanted to be in a large city not far from the east coast. She was deciding between UChicago, Columbia, and Upenn after being accepted into 8 top schools. She is attending UChicago, her first choice. My son, on the other hand, says that he does not care at all about location or size as long it has a good CS program.
He is in 9th grade; we will see.