@#57
Mea culpa.
My knowledge of Santa Clara U. is fairly limitedā¦ Iāve been on part of the campus for a concert and know one student there. The campus is cute but in an unattractive part of San Jose (light industrial, right by the airport). That was coming from one direction, though, might be better on the other side, and obviously thereās a ton to do in the area. The kid I know there really likes it and isnāt religious at all. I get the sense that it draws a lot of the preppy Catholic high school Bay area kids, but that could be changing as the school is rising in the rankings (I donāt mean anything is wrong with preppy Catholic kidsā¦ more that too many kids from the same few high schools might be a turnoff for kids from other places). The school is very well placed for silicon valley internships.
2 kids we know went to Santa Clara last year - neither are religious at all. Both really like it - they were also very generous with merit aid for them. Iāll see if I can get some more color.
@ivycover Lol. Yeah, I know. I sort of live and die by our Naviance and the info Iāve gathered from families at our school. Itās the most accurate way to predict acceptances. S19 applied to 13 schools and our predictions were exactly correct. Zero surprises.
Now Iām distracted to the point of total uselessness. No disrespect to Washington or Chicago but have you ever watched the Colgate Cornell game at Ithaca on a crisp day? If Iād have only knowed about that phantom polo scholarship . . . . . . .
@wisteria100 whatās your take on the politics at W&L? She is liberal. And she can get pretty riled up these days even though I donāt see her as a SJW. Sheās a good listener and has conservative friends and likes to debate. She should be somewhere where all views are welcome.
@homerdog W&L is not going to be a good fit.
@ivycover ha! My point was that very capable kids get turned down at Vandy. Maybe thatās why Vanderbilt started waitlisting almost all of our RD kids - because they were choosing to go elsewhere. They waitlist them and then see who jumps through hoops to get taken off of the waitlist. The two kids I know well who were waitlisted and now going flew down there on May 2nd to show more interest. They both sent additional recommendations right away and wrote letters with very specific reasons why they would take a spot if offered. Vandy all about yield in RD I guess D21 could apply in RD and see what happens but I wonāt have her waste an ED there.
I aways say start with geographic location first, then size (choose a school large enough that has options), and then look at price. This should generate a list to work with. Good luck!
@homerdog - My take on W&L is that it is definitely more conservative than your typical top LAC but in line with Wake politically.
As for Santa Clara - thumbs up - but it is going to be the same type of Catholic/Jesuit vibe you will find at BC and Holy Cross. Welcoming to all, progressive in social justice issues, but if she is nixing BC and Holy Cross for being Jesuit, then she will nix that too.
@wisteria100 only 40% of the kids at Santa Clara identify as Catholic and thatās half the percentage at BC so I thought maybe the religion part was a little less forefront at SC. I could be wrong. Iāve got a few leads here on people who have kids at Santa Clara so Iāll see what they think.
@homerdog That % seems low to me, was definitely over 50% when we looked into it, but that was several yrs ago and things may have changed. I do recall the theology class requirement was bigger there than at BC or HC, but that may have changed as well.
Gettysburg and F&M could also be possible safety/match ideas
@homerdog FYI - SCU has less than 1% (100 of 5500 students) Jewish population if that matters to you (I remember your BC thread)?
@socaldad2002 we arenāt Jewish.
Iām local to Santa Clara, but not an alum. Great academics, great campus, any āreligiousnessā is not that noticeable to me at all.
The area is OK. And when I say OK, Iām not talking about issues with crime. There are some residential neighborhoods nearby, CalTrain is adjacent to campus for trips to SF or East Bay via Bart transfer and the SJ airport is ānext door.ā Also, Avaya stadium, where the SJ Earthquakes play, is about a mile away. I remember attending a USWNT game there, on weekday, and the traffic was a complete nightmare.
Alot of employers in SIlicon Valley hire SC grads, but probably behind bigger and/or more prestigious local schools like Cal, Stanford and SJSU.
@homerdog I think folks have given you good advice.
I think, as others have mentioned you need a school with strong career services, strong research and internship opportunities and, ideally, a strong alumni network.
Most of the LACās you are looking at will have a broad variety of majors.
Talking to professors in subjects that might interest her, sitting in on classes, staying overnight give students the right āgut feelā of a place.
Your daughterās asks seem to āscreamā NESCAC schools! 
Frankly a lot of the schools in the āhidden iviesā list might fit the bill:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_Ivies
Then, as matches and safeties, you might consider the schools in the Colleges That Change Lives list. Itās a book, but look at the website: https://ctcl.org/ They are less famous than the hidden Ivies, but have lots to offer in terms of internships, research and career services. Some schools mentioned in this thread are there.
One of the NESCAC schools I was impressed with in being market-driven and getting students to build their resume from day one was Connecticut College.
@Theoden thanks. I have Hidden Ivy book and Colleges that Change Lives book and S19 applied to five NESCACs so we are familiar. D21 is different than S19 but maybe they do overlap in some ways. Iāll have to talk to her a bit more and maybe visit some of the NESCACs we did not see on S19 tours. She wonāt get into Amherst or Williams or probably Bowdoin. We visited Colby and she just thought it was too remote. That would leave just a few to consider. Iāll have to read up on them. I definitely need to get her out to see schools because even just going to UW-Madison got her narrowing down whatās important to her. Right now, planning on seeing Denison this October and Richmond, Wake, Davidson for spring break. I want her to see Colgate but that may have to be a summer trip and I guess we would see Hamilton if we are there as well. Iāll need to have her read up a little bit and we need to wait and see how grades and scores pan out before we make any other plans.
Pitzer? Occidental?
A friend of our S is a legacy at Vandy (attending) and his dad said he thought Colgate and Richmond were similar (though smaller). Both have great career centers and alumni, but theyāre already on your list. I was very impressed with Lafayetteās career focus and alumni network - they bring kids in starting 1st yr and help them pick majors if necessary. But other than checking out these resources and alumni bases, and sticking to LACs, I think itās difficult these days to build a list when a child doesnāt have an idea for a major (we have twins like this, same yr as yours). While you may think she wonāt go stem, you never know. We know a girl who went from English to CS. So, just make sure of ease of entry to majors.