<p>So I'm having trouble figuring out where I want to apply early, since I haven't been able to visit a lot of my top choice colleges. My top three are:</p>
<p>I definitely want to major in geology and all three of the schools are part of KECK which is good, but my parents want me to apply early to Dartmouth too since I'd be a 4th generation legacy. I'd like to go to the school, but I don't feel the ivy league would be right for me if in the slight chance I did get in. So....out of the schools I listed, based on what you know of them, were would you suggest applying early?</p>
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<li><p>First off, I’d like to remind you, and plead to you that you remember that your college choice is yours. It is not your parents. You shouldn’t let them push you into anything. This is your life, and your future, and your not going to be everything you can be if you don’t make the decision yourself.</p></li>
<li><p>Just because your family went to a college, doesn’t mean your obligated to also. Again, you are your own person.</p></li>
<li><p>If you feel like the ivy league wouldn’t be right for you, then don’t go. Even better, don’t even apply. College is about self growth, in both academics, and personal life. This means you need an atmosphere you are comfortable in</p></li>
<li><p>That being said, you don’t HAVE to apply “early” to anywhere. I hope you don’t think this is required. If you are not sure of where you definitely want to go yet, apply regular admission, and make your decision in spring, when you have more time to think.</p></li>
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<p>If you can’t decide where to apply early, then simply don’t do Early Decision. ED does NOT give you a big advantage (some colleges claim it gives you no advantage at all). So just apply regular decision. Must easier, plus you won’t have those horrible doubts later on about if you chose the right school.</p>
<p>The rule of thumb with parents is never to fight a battle that doesn’t have to be fought. You haven’t applied or been admitted anywhere yet. Apply regular decision, see where you get in, visit, and then marshall your facts for why A is a better choice for you than B.</p>
<p>Without knowing your stats, ED to Colorado College or Carleton WILL give you an advantage if you’re on the border. Whitman, while every bit as desirable, isn’t quite as selective, but of course, ED there too would give you an advantage. But you should never apply ED unless you’re sure that’s where you want to go. You could apply EA to Colorado College–again, an advantage over regular decision which also wouldn’t obligate you to go (don’t know what Carleton offers in the way of EA) My D goes to Whitman, and she knows many students there who chose it over Colorado College. Seems to attract the same students. But you have to visit to know. 1 more thing–many students change a lot during their senior years. If there’s even a small part of you that wonders about Dartmouth, you can always go ahead and apply. If you don’t get in, your parents will be happy you tried, and if you do, you may have a different perspective in 7 months.</p>
<p>Why do you want to apply early? If you are not absolutely sure this is the school you really want to go to, then you should not apply ED. Period.</p>
<p>What do you know of the three you are asking about? How much have you researched?</p>
<p>All three are small LAC. They are all ranked very well. With Carleton being the highest. Do you care about weather, area of country etc? As these are all in different places. How much do you like being outside?</p>
<p>All three have very similar feels but each has it’s own uniqueness. </p>
<p>Colorado College is in Colorado Springs so has more of the small town city close by. Whitman is in a small, quaint town and Carleton is in a town that shares with St. Olaf. It’s freezing in Minnesota though and some ppl can’t take the long winters. Colorado gets snow, but is much more temperate. Whitman has diverse weather. Rain, snow, dry hot summers. Not the easiest to get to either, but doable.</p>
<p>Maybe it would be helpful if you throw out some questions and ppl can tell you what they know about each.</p>
<p>This would be true in an ideal world, but unless the OP has $200K sitting around, I’m fairly certain his parents will get the deciding vote.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that as a Dartmouth legacy, especially if you’re not just being modest and you don’t have amazing stats, you need to apply ED for a real shot. </p>
<p>If you have any chance at all at Dartmouth, you’ll easily get into the other three. </p>
<p>See if you can sit down with your parents and come up with a strategy you can all live with.</p>
<p>These 4 schools fit together pretty well. But as others have said, don’t apply ED to any school you aren’t sure you’d love to attend, and could afford. Consider applying non-binding EA to Colorado College and any of the others that offer this option. If you are a strong candidate, Colorado College may give you a decision even before Christmas. Any merit aid will be offered at the same time. If it’s enough to make the school affordable, then you know you have at least one good option; so (if you like) you can drop applications to safety or match schools that you would not prefer.</p>
<p>Of these 4 schools, Colorado College is the only one located in a city (though the city is a fairly small one, and is up against spectacular mountains). You’ll want to think about differences like this and whether they matter to you.</p>
<p>Well, maybe 2 out of the 3 anyway. Carleton is pretty selective. But they are all similar enough, with a wide enough selectivity spread, that if you have a decent shot at Dartmouth then yes, the odds are high you’ll be admitted to at least one of the 4 that you are reasonably happy to attend.</p>
<p>However, you cannot necessarily take these spreads at face value. There may be a much higher concentration of recruited athletes or legacies in the ED pool, for example. So the advantage may not be double for ED per se. My impression is that, compared to the other 3, Dartmouth (like many other top New England schools) tags a higher percentage of their applicants for athletic, “development”, legacy, or other hooks. This may have implications for the characteristics of the student body at each school. </p>
<p>Other admit rates: Colorado College - 26% ; Carleton - 27.5%; Whitman- 45.8%
(with Carleton presumably drawing from a somewhat more competitive applicant pool than the other 2)</p>
<p>Colorado by the way (can you tell I have a bias here?) is a fantastic place to study Geology. The Colorado College block plan, if it fits your learning style, gives the advantage of supporting field work more conveniently than a conventional schedule.</p>
<p>I think you’re asking for someone else to make up your mind. No one should do that except you. If FA is an issue, then wait to hear what is offered, and work it out with your parents. All three choices may be similar, but then there’s Dartmouth. That wasn’t really on your list, just added b/c you’re legacy. What if you got in? That school is NE, and technically not LAC. I know it sounds great to hear “what if you got in?” but if you are choosing favorite schools b/c of location and size, why would you go to a school just b/c you got in?</p>
<p>That’s like going clothes shopping. Just b/c a pair of pants fit you, should you buy it, even if you really wanted to buy a new shirt? Think about all other schools you coulod also get into. Do they also fit your criteria? Remember, ED is binding.</p>
<p>I agree with everything hmom5 wrote, and would add that if you do make your mind up about applying ED, I would make every human effort to visit. It can only increase your chances of admission, as well as ensure that you will like it.</p>
<p>Is Dartmouth more selective than Carleton? Yes it is.
Is it inconceivable that a 4th gen legacy could get into Dartmouth, or be waitlisted, yet be rejected by Carleton? I don’t think so. In terms of test scores and class rank alone, the 2 are not all that far apart. So if you are counting on a legacy-plus-ED advantage for a “fighting chance” at Dartmouth, I would not dismiss Carleton College as a safety school.</p>
<p>This is all rather speculative though (as the OP has not shared his stats). I tried without luck to find some data on Carleton/Dartmouth cross-apps and outcomes. I think the important point for him is that he ought to visit if possible before committing to ED.</p>
<p>According to data on MyChances, the following are some of the schools that waitlisted or rejected a surveyed student who was accepted by Dartmouth:</p>
<p>Indiana, Johns Hopkins, NYU, Rice, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, University of Richmond, UNC, UVa, Vanderbilt, William & Mary</p>
<p>Also according to MyChances, the following are some of the schools that accepted a surveyed student who was rejected by Carleton:</p>
<p>This stuff can appear random; if school C already has enough oboe-players and HS newspaper editors, they may reject a qualified oboe-playing newspaper editor who is accepted by school A.</p>
<p>Have to agree with Hmom here. 4 years ago S was a declared Geology major with hi stats, gpa, etc and was accepted at Dartmouth, Carleton and Whitman. In addition, there aren’t THAT many declared Geo majors applying to those colleges, so that may be a bit of a “hook”
OP, if you are a Geology major, why are you not applying to U’s which have strong Geology programs as well? You may find you will want to have a broader and deeper selection of geology classes, which can only be found at a larger U, and which will give you the option of taking graduate level geo classes as an UG. When S was first thinking about where to go to college, he was SURE he wanted to attend a smaller LAC, but as he looked into what classes each college actually offered in Geology, he realized that he would have more opportunities to not only take more advanced classes in his major, but also do research during the school year at at U. The Keck consortium is a nice program, but it doesn’t offer the opportunities of a larger research U with a strong Geology program. Something to think about.</p>
<p>As a 4th gen at Dartmouth, you must have had a lot of exposure to the school. Can you expand your comments and explain why perhaps you might prefer one of the others? Are your other choices somewhat out of fear of not getting into Dartmouth or is you trying to walk your own path and not follow that of others in your family?</p>
<p>Just my GUESS, but a legacy who does not apply ED has longer odds that the other RD applicants bcos the adcoms will know that the legacy school is definitely not first choice. (I know if I was an adcom, that’s how I’d think about it.)</p>