<p>I've been referencing Rugg's Recommendations on the Colleges and gleanings from other sites (Princeton Review, etc) to determine which LACs are particularly strong in both Physics and Chemistry. How useful/accurate are such sources? Other factors in my choice are: small to medium; diverse, free-thinking student population; good undergrad research opportunities. Oh, and not TOO far from Upstate New York. Thanks!</p>
<p>Hey! I need help with this! :-) (bump)</p>
<p>Rugg's is pretty accurate. It doesn't rank. It simply classifies into large groups by selectivity and size. </p>
<p>How good a student are you? What's wrong with Geneseo? In-state tuition. If you want a private school, go to U Rochester or RPI. If you can get in, there is Cornell. but it is big. Smaller schools would be Colgate, Hamilton, or Bucknell. Which city/town are you from?</p>
<p>I'm going to be applying to Geneseo, considering it a 'safety'; nothing wrong with it, just a bit big. Being from Rochester, UofR might be a bit too close to home, but it does award some merit money and has engineering as well as good physics/chem. In terms of 'fit' I was steering clear of greek-oriented schools but am keeping an open mind about how much their presence colors the intellectual/social scene. Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>It might be easier to avoid the Greeks at a larger school.</p>
<p>Oberlin is not too heavy into Greek life but may not be good fit for other reasons.
Lafayette, Lehigh, Haverford, Swarthmore, Williams, Amherst, Franklin and Marshall, Union, Kenyon, Dartmouth, Case Western.</p>
<p>I am from Rochester. Which suburb are you from? Or do you live in city?</p>
<p>Actually, Oberlin looked very good to me on a recent visit. Both my parents are alums, and it's another definite app. Checked out Kenyon while in Ohio, expected to like it but really didn't at all. Weird. College of Wooster, although not highly regarded by my counselor, does give good merit aid, and we checked it out too; strong in Chemistry but Physics looks small. I'll be visiting Haverford and Swarthmore at the end of July. If I get in, they give little if any merit aid, so... but we'll see. With regard to Lafayett, Lehigh, Franklin and Marshal, Union, my very shallow, biased assessment pegged them as too preppy. Even Williams and Amherst--although probably just as tough to get into as Haverford or Swarthmore-- have a 'whiff' of preppyness, but I'm maybe being too narrowminded. It's hard, though, sorting through accumulated information about different schools, from books, web sites, friends, strangers, strangers' friends, trying to find nuggets of personal relevance/truth.</p>
<p>I'm in Brighton!</p>
<p>I posted a topic a while ago (with a similar title, too). </p>
<p>Specifically:</p>
<p>If you want to study Physics or Chemistry, want to avoid preppyness and whiffs of it, and your parents are both Oberlin alums, you can probably think of it as a safety school, as long as your "Why Oberlin" essay is authentic and sincere. On top of their historic reputation in Physics and Chem, there's now the new Science center which is state-of-the-art for environmental studies. You'd have to give them a reason not to take you. (D went there; H and I are alums...)</p>
<p>Amherst has a prep element but you can definitely live alongside and around it, since plenty of others have other core perspectives (S went there.) Research the stats there on minority enrolment and read (on CC or in the Amherst archives) about President Tony Marx's initiative (along with the pres of Harvard) to enrol more middle class students, as compared to very needy or very wealthy. The old Amherst is preppy but the new Amherst less so. It's also helpful and interesting to meet people with staggering resources, my S discovered, and they met all our financial need with their heavy endowment. The joys of preppiness...as experienced by a public school kid. Between Williams and Amherst, it sounded as though Williams is a bit more preppy than Amherst. They are competitors in Div III sports, along with Wesleyan, so they talk a lot about each other. My son's good friend was a physics major at Amherst, studied string theory, sang in the choir, was active in Hillel, a very full life. He's now getting a Ph.D. in physics at Brandeis. </p>
<p>A friend of mine sent her son to either Colgate or Hamilton for science, attracted by its hands-on laboratories for technology, trying out all kinds of robotic inventions and so on. </p>
<p>Another upstate NY school to investigate might be Vassar. I know it's strong in the arts, but I just don't know about science. It's certainly progressive in outlook.</p>
<p>Did you also look at Brown and Wesleyan?</p>
<p>BTW, Oberlin and Amherst, among others, have no fraternities or sororities. Brown has about l0 percent Greek enrolment with the buildings right in the center of campus.
My kids wanted very much to not have Greek life taking up air-time on the campus, it interested them so little.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response! So, you think Oberlin values 'legacy' candidates? I'm heartened to hear that you think it is 'shoo-in'; now the issue is whether they will give any merit aid. I've got a 1500+ SAT and about a 3.9 GPA, music, wrestling, etc. but I'm no Ivy super candidate, so I'm not sure whether/how much money might be forthcoming. There's always SUNY Geneseo! Colgate and Hamilton are strong in Chem/Physics but I don't think they'd be the right scene for me. Vassar's great in alot of ways, but not quite as strong in sciences. I keep telling myself to go ahead and apply to at least one 'perfect' school-- assuming I find one!-- regardless of whether they historically award merit aid, 'cause "you just never know"... Maybe Haverford or Swarthmore will fit that bill--we're going to visit them both in a couple of weeks. Amherst still seems a bit too preppy for me, but you seem to have an inside view of the campus, so maybe it's worth another look.</p>
<p>Have you thought about Wesleyan? We're strong in the sciences, including providing good research opportunities (grad school funding+very few actual grad school students=lots of undergrads doing research), ~2,800 students, free thinking population for sure, and CT isn't that far from upstate NY, especially not compared to Oberlin. (No merit aid, unfortunately, but they do "meet all need").</p>
<p>Wesleyan does indeed look fabulous. I'm just trying to narrow down the number of applications to 'great schools I probably can't afford to go to even if accepted' to about two. My parents have some money saved, and being middle class will probably not warrant need-based awards, and are insistent that they/I don't incur tons of debt. But there's a lot to be said for Wesleyan... I gather it bears more than a glancing resemblance to Oberlin, and I really liked Oberlin... If I'm not too burned out with college visits, maybe we can take a look in the fall... Argh! this is an exhausting process! Reading between the lines, sifting biases, marketing, hype, pretensions all while trying to get a thoughtful, honest read on your own prioriites and values...</p>
<p>melman: have you considered trying to get outside scholarships to help pay for college? (Not that I know much about them, but they might be an option). And I do know some people at Wes who are decidedly middleclass who have some finical aid (especially of the work-study variety), so maybe you'll get something?. Anyway, good luck with your college search.</p>