Bright, but very social kid - where to go?

Parent Cafe
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<p>The ones I know about include UVT, UMaryland, UOregon (really excellent program), UTexas, UMichigan, and Ohio State. American and GW have honors programs (they are private), but are within DC, a pretty exciting place (no skiing.)</p>

<p>What I think your son will like about Pitzer is its interdisciplinary and intercultural character, it is a small college, but within a much larger consortium where you can virtually take any class you like. No frats, much lower drinking. And within less than an hour of downtown LA, and within an hour of skiing, and there is Div. III soccer. </p>

<p>Oberlin and Kenyon are both in the middle of nowhere, and not within easy reach of somewhere.</p>

<p>If you want more info. about Evergreen, just ask - it is my hometown.</p>

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<p>Honors Tutorial at Ohio University Athens. VERY hard to get into.</p>

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<p>Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, a suburb of Boston, is "small university" with emphasis on/attention paid to the undergrads, who will not get "lost" there. They also enjoy going into Boston every weekend, 20 min away by a shuttle bus, I think.
My history-loving-schoolband-participating nephew just got in there for the coming freshman class, coming out of a modest-yet-capable New England h.s., so like your guy, perhaps it's the bigfishsmallpond phenomenon working for him.
Brandeis is not a "Jewish school" by affiliation, yet 50% of its attending students are Jewish. Founded in the earlier part of the 20th century, it was the Jewish community's way of coping with having quotas limiting Jewish enrolment at the Ivy Leagues (I kid you not, I know my history here.) My advanced Math training tells me this means that the other 50% of students are other-than-Jewish, for whatever all that means to you. My visitor's impression is that ALL the students enjoy intellectually engaged discourse, but only your S can sense if it's too competitive for him or he finds it peer-stimulating. Pre-meds might be cut-throat competitive (some say) but I don't think that's across the boards among all the other departments. You really have to take all these reputation factoids with grains of salt til you visit, obviously.
"High level of user satisfaction" has been noted at Brandeis. Strong undergrad offerings in the areas of history, poli sci, and all the things that Justice Louis Brandeis loved, along with a solid good theater program.
There are lots of buildings on a small amount of land, but given what you thought re: Cornell, he might just find it "tight and cozy" at Brandeis.
The other school in that region that came to mind was Tufts, with fantastic opportunities in international studies, but I'm thinking he might feel more "found" at Brandeis but "lost" at Tufts.
Kudos to you for also considering your kid's learning style and not just the prestige. (I'm also a teacher but little bitty kiddies).</p>

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<p>With NYU, the academic and cultural offerings are fabulous, BUT they make a point of emphasizing the importance of their students being independent, capable of drawing from a large menu of resources, and able to stay focussed and manage their time. They're in the middle of Manhattan, so the attributes just listed, which all students need everywhere, are especially relevant in Washington Square/Greenwich Village/Manhattan. Galileo passed away before proving that this neighborhood was the center of the universe, but its residents are certain that it is so. You'd have to consider the distractability factor there..however his friendly sociable side would love it. NO campus, although there's the urban park called Washington Square; instead, the entire city of NEw York is the living room, so there's your campus. Not a family-rescue type administration, either. Must...be...independent...inchargeofself. No whiners.</p>

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<p>adigal- i went to conn (and a frequent booster on these forums..) instead of me hijacking this thread, go to the conn forum and i can answer anything!</p>

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<p>Allegheny has a very competitive, very friendly, well-coached soccer program. He'd want to include a two Spring JYA semesters perhaps but otherwise, a great Div III soccer choice.</p>

<p>690 is worth taking again if he wants a higher ranked school.</p>

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<p>Looks tough to get into by the high school GPA - and no SAT scores posted on collegeboard that I can find. But beach and skiing might be right up his alley, so I will go do some research! Thanks!</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.pitzer.edu/offices/institutional_research/data/CDS20052006.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.pitzer.edu/offices/institutional_research/data/CDS20052006.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>
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Your point is very good that he likes culture, and the schools we are looking at are for the most part, rural.

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</p>

<p>Rural schools are not for everyone, but then again neither are urban or, for that matter, suburban. I've noticed that parents of kids who actually enjoy a rural environment usually acknowledge that it's individual preference, while those whose kids go for urban can only assume that the country mouse must be bored, deluded or deprived. :)</p>

<p>At any rate, the college schedule is a few weeks of school then holiday, long weekend, summer vacation etc. There's plenty of opportunity to get away to the opposite of whatever environment you've chosen. </p>

<p>For a kid who enjoys the outdoors (especially winter sports) a rural environment can be exhilarating. And I can assure that at Williams -- and I imagine some of the others, I just don't have the direct experience to relate -- there is no shortage of exposure to the arts: music, museums, theater, dance, writing. </p>

<p>My son who had only lived in mega-cities all his life and is art-driven was sure that he would end up in an urban environment. But in the end Williamstown appealed strongly and after nearly four years he'd do it again in a heartbeat. </p>

<p>You say your son's visited 8 schools. Which ones was he attracted to?</p>

<p>EDIT: Sorry, I just read your post outlining your son's reaction to the schools he's visited. It doesn't sound like he visited many LACs rural or otherwise, especially the sporty-extroverted ones. He'll have a better idea of what he wants after he does some more visiting. </p>

<p>And, no, I wouldn't characterize Cornell as overly competitive, cutthroat. The kids we know who go there are smart but friendly and outgoing.</p>

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<p>"Oberlin and Kenyon are both in the middle of nowhere, and not within easy reach of somewhere."</p>

<p>mini - And I thought this Buckeye was always hard on Cleveland! Yeah Kenyon is definitely in the midle of nowhere but Oberlin is virtually in the suburbs of Cleveland and while Cleveland might not be the hotspot of the Western world it has Syracuse, Rochester, Albany and every hogwallow NE LAC town beat to heck.</p>

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<p>Hi,
Well, we visited Bates, Bowdoin and Colby - he loved Bates, not too crazy about Colby, and liked Bowdoin, but not as much as Bates. Then we went to see Conn College and Wesleyan. He loved Connecticut, liked Wesleyan, but not as much as Bates and Conn College. Cornell intimidated him at first, but then he warmed up to it, and we didn't get to Ithaca College with kids there but they have a nice campus, and Ithaca is a great little town.
We are planning trips to Wheaton College in Norton, MA, Hamilton College, U of Rochester, Geneseo, and possibly the Ohio schools, Oberlin and Kenyon. His chemistry teacher, who adores him, wants him to apply to Williams, where her son went, so he is thinking about that now. He has pretty much decided against the PA schools, Bucknell, Lafayette and Lehigh, and are still thinking.
Thanks for all of your help,</p>

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<p>"For a kid who enjoys the outdoors (especially winter sports) a rural environment can be exhilarating. And I can assure that at Williams -- and I imagine some of the others, I just don't have the direct experience to relate -- there is no shortage of exposure to the arts: music, museums, theater, dance, writing."</p>

<p>It's still virtually all on campus. It's a great campus, but that's all there is. </p>

<p>"mini - And I thought this Buckeye was always hard on Cleveland! Yeah Kenyon is definitely in the midle of nowhere but Oberlin is virtually in the suburbs of Cleveland and while Cleveland might not be the hotspot of the Western world it has Syracuse, Rochester, Albany and every hogwallow NE LAC town beat to heck."</p>

<p>I have many friends who have attended Oberlin, and whose kids have. I can count the number who spent more than one extra day in Cleveland during their four year on one hand (with two fingers left over). That's not a judgment of Cleveland, but of Oberlin.</p>

<p>In neither case (Williams and Oberlin, both wonderful schools), would you find the breadth of courses (especially interdisciplinary offerings) nor the breadth of cultural opportunities that you would at Pitzer with the 5-College Consortium and Los Angeles (with a train right there at your door to take you in.)</p>

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<p>"That's not a judgment of Cleveland, but of Oberlin."</p>

<p>Either that or the kids that go there. Its is about a 35-40 minute drive to downtown Cleveland. That is closer than Princeton is to Philly or NY but I doubt you will find many Princeton kids who never go into Philly or NYC. Granted NYC has a lot more to offer than Cleveland but Philly is Cleveland without the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or the Orchestra or civility:-)</p>

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<p>philly has an orchestra.</p>