<p>I was wait-listed for my top choice, Brown, so now I need to make a choice between six colleges: Bates, Colby, Tufts, UVA, Wesleyan, and William & Mary (accepted into their honors program). I am having a lot of difficulty, and I do not really have anyone, like a guidance counselor, to help me.</p>
<p>I'm not really super-clear on what it is I want. I know I want a school that is not too dominated by one type of person, like hippies, frat boys, snobs, athletes, or whatever. I want a school with people who are fun, normal, and really smart and curious. I want a school where I can try a bunch of interesting things, because I am not sure at all what I'm interested in (well, I know I hate math...so that's one down). A school with nice facilities and a good campus is always a plus, too. As you can see, I don't really know exactly what I want, so...that's where you come in!</p>
<p>What I'm asking is which college would you pick if you had to decide? And why? Which would be second on your list? Last? Be brutally honest and tell me exactly what you think. Any information, revelations, or just a little nugget of information would be GREATLY appreciated. I am having a lot of difficulty making a decision.</p>
<p>i know tufts has a large greek life community. i don't know if that helps, but you did say you hate frat boys lol. i also applied to tufts [though i was rejected] and found the school to be very diverse and full of people with tons of interesting backgrounds.</p>
<p>i know a lot of people compare the atmosphere at brown and wesleyan to be very alike, so if you loved brown, you'd probably like wesleyan. </p>
<p>however, wesleyan does have a predominantly famous "hippie" reputation (but isn't brown known to be very liberal and hippie as well?), so i'd suggest tufts as well. i visited both schools and they were gorgeous.</p>
<p>xiphias, as disappointing as it is to be waitlisted, you are still in an enviable position with some wonderful choices. I can only speak about Tufts as the parent of a junior there. Your second paragraph describes Tufts to a "T" (so to speak). The kids are bright and energetic and hyper-involved in campus life and yet low key in their dress and demeanor. You won't feel that your clothes have to be a certain brand or that your car (if you've even got one) has to be a certain make. The professors are responsive to out-of-class contact with students and the administrators respond to parent questions within the hour. (Okay, maybe that part doesn't concern you as a student.) The campus is attractive-- you can't beat it on a sunny autumn day-- and it's close enough to Boston that you can see the city skyline from the library rooftop. (Hope you've already done that.) To find out more about what's happening on campus, do check out TuftsLife.com and TuftsDaily.com.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision. It seems to me that you can't make a bad choice with those options.</p>
<p>At tufts, only 15% of the men, and 4% of the women are in greek life. I should know, I'm going there next year :-). So naturally, I'd say tufts.</p>
<p>I'd just like to point out that depite its reputation, Wes does have a huge variety of types of people on the campus (and less than 10% participate in greek life). I'd say Tufts or Wes could both be good choices...you should visit them to get a better sense. Wes is compared to Brown the most of the schools on your list, but I could see someone who loved Brown liking either Wes or Tufts.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information!
I have visited Bates, Wesleyan, UVA, and W&M (and Brown), but not Colby or Tufts (I would've liked to, but time + money prevented it). Unfortunately, Wesleyan was a gloomy, rainy day during their fall break, so it was hard for me to get a sense of what it was like.
I'm fine with having frats or hippies or space aliens or whoever at whatever college I go to, it's not that I dislike those groups. I just don't want to be somewhere where everyone is the same. Fortunately, from what people have said and what I've read, I think that probably won't be a problem!
It's funny that a lot of you have mentioned Wesleyan and Tufts -- I've been leaning towards those two. Unfortunately, money is definitely a concern. Most of the schools offered similar aid, save one---Tufts, which offered significantly less. At first I thought maybe they made a mistake, but they said no. I'm going to try writing them again, but unfortunately my decision may be made for me!
But until then, I still consider each of the six schools (and maybe Brown still?) to be an option, so keep information coming!</p>
<p>really you need to break the schools down but their details ie snow vs sun/mountains vs beach/large research U vs LAC vs middle size/natl sports scene vs 1AA vs division 3. Liberal vs conservative/ large Greek vs moderate vs almost none/ Urban vs suburb vs rural.</p>
<p>If you answer these questions honestly about yourself, one of these schools will rise to the surface. You are very fortunate to have so many good choices. good luck</p>