Best LAC match for her?

College Search & Selection
21

<p>psychmom, it’s difficult to find an LAC that offers a full program in Chinese, which I’d prefer as an option since it takes several years to gain proficiency. It’s not certain that my daughter would choose that route, but we wanted a school that was good in all the several areas that interest her. It seems that only some of the reach schools offer a Chinese program beyond 2 yrs. As it’s a difficult language, perhaps only a sufficient number of students elect it at the higher ranked schools.</p>

<p>Hudsonvalley51, Holy Cross did occur to me because of the reputation of their classics program as well as Chinese. Since classics is a much larger program at HC than at other schools, she’d have more courses and profs available to her. I think there is some scholarship money available for students in that field at HC, but I understand it’s quite competitive as many other students gravitate to HC, too, for the classics program.</p>

22

<p>Have you considered Dickinson College in PA? The college seems strong in foreign language/study abroad while having the typical LAC offerings, and is not in the top competitive range.</p>

23

<p>Here’s the list of suggestions so far:
Carleton. Middlebury, Bowdoin, Barnard, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Bryn Mawr, Hamilton, Skidmore, Kenyon, Colby, Bates, Connecticut, Drew, St, Olaf, Beloit, Cornell C., Lawrence, Trinity, Knox, Whitman, University of Puget Sound, Lewis and Clark, Willamette, Oxy, University of Redlands, Linfield, Scripps, Pomona, Kalamazoo, St, Mary’s Dominican, Pomona, Dickinson, Claremont</p>

<p>I think I got them all…any others to consider?</p>

<p>Of these colleges, could you rank them in rough categories as to your perceived difficulty of my daughter’s chances for admission?
In terms of Her chances of significant FA?
In terms of their academic intensity? (while she wants a challenging program, she doesn’t want to be overwhelmed either)</p>

<p>And then in terms of my initial post and what I described of her, what ones do you feel are the best matches, academically and socially? </p>

<p>If you want…maybe rank in terms of reach, do-able, and safety for these considerations combined.</p>

<p>Your suggestions this far have been very helpful and really expanded the list to consider. </p>

<p>Any recommended safeties?
Any public universities that might have an honors college for which she might qualify with aid for out-of-state students? (I’m thinking an honors college would be a smaller environment and also the uni might offer more curricular options, e.g., a full Chinese program).</p>

24

<p>May be a bit adventureous, but look into Furman.</p>

<p>[Furman</a> University Department of Asian Studies](<a href=“http://www.furman.edu/depts/asianstudies/resources.html]Furman”>http://www.furman.edu/depts/asianstudies/resources.html)
[Furman</a> University Admissions](<a href=“engagefurman.com”>engagefurman.com)</p>

<p>[Furman</a> Fast Facts](<a href=“engagefurman.com”>engagefurman.com)</p>

25

<p>I’m going to suggest Bryn Mawr, an outstanding women’s school in Bryn Mawr, PA (suburban Philadelphia), one of the original “Seven Sisters” elite Northeastern women’s colleges. I make this suggestino for several reasons: first, the academics are otustanding. Second, as a previous poster indicated, women’s colleges are not quite as selective as coed educations of comparable quality—partly because they automatically eliminate half the potential applicant pool on the basis of gender, second because a fair number of women don’t want to go to a women’s school. That means they can be an admissions “bargain.” Your D’s stats seem a good match for Bryn Mawr: middle 50% ACT 27-31 (putting her high in the second quartile, just shy of the 75th percentile mark); 65% in top 10th of their HS class but 96% in the top quarter, which means they do draw a lot of students in the 10% to 25% range, and given the strength of your D’s HS curriculum and the fact that her class rank is a function of her school’s no-weighting policy, BMC’s holistic admissions process is likely to spot the academic strength and not place too much weight on the class rank. Third, Bryn Mawr has an outstanding classics department, one of the strongest in the country; although it’s primarily an undergrad institution, it does have a graduate program in classics that perennially ranks among the top grad programs in the country (just as an indication of faculty strength in this field. Fourth, Bryn Mawr (jointly with Haverford, about a mile down the road) has an East Asian Studies Department which offers two years of Chinese and two years of Japanese—extremely rare in a small LAC. But wait, there’s more: Bryn Mawr and Haverford are also in a consortium (the “Quaker Consortium”) with Swarthmore and Penn, allowing students to take classes at either of those schools, which means if your D wants to continue with Chiness or Japanese beyond the two years available at Bryn Mawr she can take classes at Penn which has a full range of outstanding language programs. Or, alternatively, study another language entirely. Fifth, Bryn Mawr is pretty strong on biological sciences and its students do extremely well in gaining admission to medical school with a success rate over 75%; and if more science is needed, it’s probably available at science-heavy Haverford or, if not there, then at Swarthmore or Penn. Sixth, it’s a gorgeous campus and a warm, nurturing, environment that emphasizes cooperation over competition—the kind of environment that sounds ideal for a self-motivated but not highly competitive kid like your D. As one indication, it’s considered a violation of Bryn Mawr’s honor code to discuss your grades with another student, which eliminates a lot of the grade competition and pushes kids in the direction of setting and meeting personal goals rather than constantly peering over their shoulder to see where they stand in relation to their peers. Oh, and seventh, like a lot of Northeasten LACs, Bryn Mawr tends to draw most of its students from the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions, but like most elite colleges, it values diversity, including geographic diversity, so your Southwestern residence might be a modest “plus factor” in admissions. Enough already. To me this sounds like the ideal match.</p>

26

<p>I think there are a lot of great Pennsylvania LACs. One I’ve seen is lovely little Franklin and Marshall in Lancaster. The people couldn’t be nicer. Beautiful campus, it’s right near town and in the middle of Amish country. They have certain scholarships, too. Other LACs that offer merit scholarship are Lafayette and Gettysburg. Around Philly there are a million nice looking LACs, like Bryn Mawr (maybe a reach, maybe not), Cabrini College, Villanova, Haverford (totally delightful, also maybe a reach), etc.</p>

27

<p>You say she is a gifted writer? Any awards? Liberal arts colleges look favorably upon students with a specific talent, particularly if there is recognition to show for it. Also, writing a killer essay just may be her ticket in…Sometimes “artsy” students have a more dificult time showcasing their talents than the standard “I am a hyper organized, processing machine with a 2350 on my SATs {an off day, of course} and nothing gives me kicks quite like plunging thru 120 AP Calc problems” brainiac. Make the essays honest, and professional, punctuated by colorful imagery.</p>

28

<p>bclintonk, you certainly make a good case for Bryn Mawr. I’m aware of their reputation in Classics. I’ll bring it up to my D—not sure if she’s given serious consideration to a women’s college. I was on a trip to the Philly area a few years ago and I drove by it—it’s a beautiful campus. While it may be less competitive than some other schools, what would you think of the social match with my daughter’s characteristics?</p>

29

<p>Similar to Bryn Mawr and its consortium, Scripps is part of the Claremont consortium and the students have access to Pitzer, Pomona, Claremont McKenna, and Harvey Mudd.</p>

30

<p>Macalester should also be on your list for Classics, Chinese and Biology. Meets 100% of financial need–the only merit scholarships are for those with financial need, except for NMF awards which are available to all. Test scores and GPA are in range, especially given the rigor of curriculum (and Mac will look at that). A compelling “why Mac” essay and she should be in.</p>

31

<p>With her rigorous curriculum, she’d be a strong candidate for both St. Olaf and Bryn Mawr.</p>

<p>The majority of small LACs don’t offer advanced study in Mandarin. If that is important to your daughter, she can use it to eliminate a lot of schools from her list. </p>

<p>If merit aid is important, she should look to the not-the-top-tier midwest LACs. Of the schools listed so far, that would include St. Olaf, Beloit, Lawrence, Kalamazoo, Cornell College and Knox. Midwest schools don’t have as high a profile as the Eastern schools, so they use merit aid (aka tuition discounting) to entice students to attend. She’d be a strong candidate for aid at all of those schools.</p>

<p>She’s going to be a great applicant. Lots of schools will want her.</p>

32

<p>If she’s particularly interested in study abroad, she should consider Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. While study abroad is not required at Kzoo, it’s expected, as over 85% of Kzoo students do study outside of the US. Kzoo has been emphasizing study abroad for over forty years so the campus culture is set up for it: freshman advisors talk to incoming freshmen about where they might want to go and sophomores are busily planning their overseas studies as well as being campus leaders because juniors are abroad. </p>

<p>Kzoo operates about ten of its own study abroad programs (none in China, though) and coordinates with dozens of other outside programs (including one in Beijing).
Kalamazoo also offers eight levels of study in the Chinese language, so your daughter would be able to continue her study.</p>

<p>Kalamazoo is a good choice for a “nerd” who is friendly, but doesn’t want to go to a party school.</p>

33

<p>melior, that list should keep your daughter busy for some time. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Just to help focus, does she want urban, suburban or rural? It’s okay to like all three, but some kids have strong preferences.</p></li>
<li><p>If flute and dance are not serious pursuits, how about writing? Has she published work, awards, special recognition? LACs don’t mind unsolicited materials. She should put together a package of her writing: a few short samples, a resume listing classes/accomplishments, a supplemental recommendation from an instructor or mentor.
The objective is to communicate a personna. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>I’d do the same with her interest in Chinese. (Maybe this is #1.) This is an usual and powerful hook. Don’t let it get lost in a laundry list of ECs.</p>

<p>When the adcom reads her application they should be able to form an image. Something like: Here’s a bright girl from the Southwest who has a fascination with Chinese culture and language, excels at creative writing, dances, plays the flute.</p>

<ol>
<li>I’d like to be sure that you understand the types of financial aid that are available. Need based aid (meaning what the colleges think you need) is offered by all of the colleges on your list. It varies somewhat from school to school but you can get a fairly reasonable estimate from an on-line calculator. At $60 your family should be eligible for a fair chunk, but as I said, it’s a moving target right now. Other factors like other children in college, home ownership, retirement also weigh in.</li>
</ol>

<p>The other source of aid is merit aid. Not all colleges give it. Notably many of the most selective and/or Northeast schools do not. Colleges generally use merit aid to “buy” students who are somewhat more qualified than the majority of their students. Merit is very tricky to predict. If you need it, your daughter will have to cast a wide net and possibly take a step down in the academic tier.</p>

34

<p>I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Oberlin. Or did I miss it?
Oberlin offers 4 levels of Modern Standard Chinese (“Mandarin”) plus 1 level of Classical Chinese. It is a bit less selective than Carleton, Bowdoin, and Middlebury. However, the percentage of Oberlin students who go on to earn a Ph.D. is one of the highest in the country (#7 for all disciplines in the years 1992-2001 according to a Weighted Baccalaureate Origins Study by the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium.)</p>

35

<p>i know several people who have been quite happy with the Chinese department at Connecticut College, one of the first LACs to offer Chinese as a major. While it is a small department, I am amazed at the fluency of the grads, no doubt due to the individual attention that the department size allows.
Similar in feel but less selective as Middlebury, Bowdoin, Carleton.</p>

36

<p>melior - my D put her college list together solely on the basis of Chinese, though she doesn’t intend to major in it. She is a 3rd year HS Chinese student and has a goal of achieving fluency. It is important to look at each college’s individual Asian Studies website if this is what they offer to make sure they do have 4+ years of Chinese. Based on this we had to rule out Knox though we really liked the school as they offer only 2 years. We were kicking ourselves for not looking at Kalamazoo which appears to have a solid Chinese program as Cardinal Fang points out but she is very happy with her choice - a good fit, in the end that’s what counts.</p>

<p>She will be attending Beloit next fall which has the full Chinese program and overseas opportunity and also has a summer intensive language program in Chinese as well as a few other languages. They said they were planning to offer a Chinese major but I’m not sure if it is for this fall. </p>

<p>2 other little known schools that have 4 years of Chinese (we didn’t visit but heard good things about mostly) are North Central in Naperville, IL and Augustana in Rock Island, IL - she received big scholarships at both. The well known LACs have been very hard to get into in recent years though who is to say what will happen next year? My D top 4%, excellent stats, solid to excellent in all areas - including that Chinese hook! was waitlisted at a few top LACs, though accepted everywhere else. You can put them on the list but as others advise all over CC make sure you have the matches and the safeties that you will go to if need be. Best of luck!</p>

37

<p>Regarding the Oberlin suggestion, one of my daughter’s teachers is an Oberlin grad and is very enthusiastic about the school; we are only looking at colleges in the Northeast, but I think it is an excellent suggestion for OP.</p>

<p>Huskem, We have visited Conn and it will be on D16’s list this fall!</p>

38

<p>So maybe look on the West Coast for studies in Chinese - you’d be that much closer to China. For instance, once example would be Pacific Lutheran University. It has a Chinese Studies program, a Chinese Studies Club, and of course a study abroad in China option where your financial aid stays with you even while abroad.</p>

39

<p>I disagree with the post above by poi. Drew is would not be a good school for your daughter. It is a very rich snobby town and the students are not that good at all. Honestly I would look at Beloit, Carleton, Macalaster, Colorado College, and Oberlin.</p>

40

<p>LAC’s aren’t going to care about seeing your daughter’s tapes playing flute or dancing. If you took all of the seniors who played flute AND danced they could have their graduation at the Rose Bowl. </p>

<p>Do a few tours of schools suggested and see what your daughter thinks. As far as reach schools go you might consider schools a long way from your home state or schools with strong programs (in your daughter’s interests) that get a lot of male applicants. Unfair I know, but many competitive LAC’s need another flute playing, dance loving girl interested in China like they need another cafeteria tray.</p>