<p>Momrath, I think you've expressed my thinking (and my own experience) better than I could have. MWFN: If only we actually had GC's at D's school who were in a position to take a personal interest and offer suggestions to the students. (There are 4 for a school with 2300 students; they do their best, but...) None of my kids even knew what a LAC was, and seemed somewhat puzzled by my attempts to explain the strange beast to them.</p>
<p>The GC situation in public schools is generally lousy, although some are decent. The key is forcing the issues -- becoming an advocate for your child -- early in the process. Still, many GC's are apathetic and/or unimaginative when it comes to recommending colleges.</p>
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Kluge writes: Actually, at this point I'm not sure my D will be interested in applying to Barnard or any other east coast school. I'm just trying to find out information to pass along to her, hopefully with enough supporting data to attract her attention if there's something there that interests her. A college trip is in the works - it'll be interesting to see what that stirs up.
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Your D may want to consider some of the larger state schools in the Midwest, located in college towns with lots of school pride, big-time college sports, etc. I'm thinking of places like Penn State, Ohio State, University of Michigan, etc.</p>
<p>Also you might want to get a few videos of different college types & locations to see if anything sparks an interest from her; less expensive than visiting in person. One source is <a href="http://www.collegiatechoice.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegiatechoice.com/</a> You don't say if your family has traveled much in the US, but as a kid growing up in CA I never really understood the diversity of this country. I pretty much thought everything would look like it did at home (suburban sprawl, lots of cars and freeways, brown hills, etc) , the variable being the distance from the beach.</p>
<p>As a student, I would HIGHLY advise your daughter to apply to UCSD because of their medical scholars program, which is extremely hard to get into, but with her scores, it's fine(must have 34 ACT). This is basically a BA/MD program that allows your daughter to go straight into med school without the hassle of studying for the MCAT. There are many BA/MD programs that your D can apply for. She isn't bound to attend the medical school if she chooses not to. I had similar scores as your daughter(lower ACT, slightly higher GPA) and I received Regent's from UCI, another good biology influenced school.</p>
<p>I second momrath's suggestion that she look at Scripps, and the other Claremonts as well.
The personal attention of an LAC combined with a population of a medium sized university (counting all schools together) is a great fit for some kids, and something not found many places. The downsides of a women's college are mitigated by the participation in the Claremont consortium.</p>
<p>Kluge, I just discovered this thread and read with amusement how you described your daughter and the many suggestions people here have posted. I think our daughters have similar traits; very attractive, bright, sociable and a procrastinator. She had high SATs ( in the 1500's, back in 1998) and 3.8 GPA unweighted. When we took her to tour colleges in the East, it was important to her to know how close the nearest mall was. As a matter of fact, I think she asked her Brown interviewer that question.</p>
<p>Ultimately she chose to attend Pomona over UC Berkeley, UCLA and UCSD and she chose not to apply to any schools outside the state.</p>
<p>What made a good fit was that Pomona was a small and more intimate environment Her absence and doing poorly in classes would have been noticed. I think that made her try harder. Being away from a big city prevented major distractions. Dressing up wasn't a priority so shopping trips were limited to Trader Joe's and Target.</p>
<p>Sometimes, it is easier to choose schools and locations by process of elimination.</p>