Hi. I came on CC to respond to a question someone sent and figured I’d search “Skidmore” to see if I could help anyone else. Thanks to @NEPatsGirl 's post above mine, I found this thread. My daughter is a freshman at Skidmore, double-majoring in Theater and Classics. Her favorite and most difficult class this semester is a 300-level Latin class in which she is the youngest student. Her favorite, non-theater thing to do at school is D&D.
She is loving being a Dungeon Master (I think that is what the role of the story-maker is called) and has a very nice circle of nerdy friends. During her accepted students visit last year, she spent a day shadowing a senior who invited her to stay over night and attend a party on campus. By the end of the day, before I went back to the hotel alone, she was bubbling with excitement that “these are my people, mom!”
Also, theater auditions are held once at the beginning of each semester and are open to any students, not just theater majors, so that’s another box checked. (https://www.skidmore.edu/hpac/medicine/index.php )
Skidmore very well may be a good school for you to check out.
@NEPatsGirl@LuvsLabs Thanks for the great information! Skidmore is definitely on our list to visit. Did you both also consider Muhlenberg? I so, I’d love to hear any thoughts about why you picked Skidmore over Muhlenberg. From everything I have read, they seem quite similar.
@gallentjill Muhlenberg was never a contender; in fact, I hadn’t heard about it until about a year ago here on CC. Not sure why, D made up the list of PA schools we visited so I can’t comment. The schools I hear most often compared to Skidmore are Pugent Sound, St. Olaf and Kenyon, also none of which were on the list.
I haven’t read every post here but I notice UMass has been mentioned. FWIW, one of my nerdy kids spent a year there then transferred out (to a LAC). “Zoo Mass” seems to mean big classes, multiple choice tests, party atmosphere. But … YMMV.
“Nerdy” means different things to different people.
If you want a college similar to Lafayette (a selective high priced LAC in the mid-Atlantic), but with a better Geek to Greek ratio, you might want to check out:
Bard
Barnard (women only)
Bryn Mawr (women only)
Hamilton
Haverford
Muhlenberg
Sarah Lawrence
Skidmore
Swarthmore
These are all private schools in PA or NY that rank among the USNWR top 75 national LACs.
All of them have high sticker prices; most claim to cover 100% of demonstrated financial need, but use the online net price calculators to estimate your own costs (you may be pleasantly surprised … or not.)
Lower ranked, less selective schools may offer more merit money. In-state public schools will have lower sticker prices. St. Mary’s College of Maryland is a public LAC with lower sticker prices than the above (even for OOS students). New College of Florida is another public LAC; in the recent past it has offered merit scholarships for most/all OOS students; it’s nice and nerdy as far as I can tell (and it’s on a beach). Goucher and Drew are somewhat less selective private alternatives. So are Ursinus and Juniata.
If you want to consider small universities in addition to LACs, you might want to start with URochester. Brandeis, maybe. Both offer merit money (~$14K/~$15K avg.) Clark University seems to offer more/bigger merit scholarships than either one. New Paltz might work, too (just based on in-state sticker).
Hi all! Thank you for the incredible help you have all provided. D is a Jr. so we have time. She has good stats but we are not targeting anything that is ulta-selective so Swarthmore is out. She also wants a co-ed school. Merit aid or in-state public is the goal. She also wants to stay in the northeast somewhat near home. Here is our list so far. All of these schools look like safeties when compared to the Naviance statistics from her school. D loves Theater, Science and D&D (and other nerdy/sci fi interests). She wants to double major in Bio and Philosophy and go pre-med. I understand all of that is subject to change.
Muhlenberg (toured it, loved it)
Ursinas
Skidmore
Drew
Bard
New Paltz
Hofstra (We have family there who love it)
UMass Amherst (D loved it at the tour, but she is starting to lean more towards small so this is moving down)
A family member has mentioned Manhattanville, but I really know nothing about it.
Off the list
Lafayette (Toured, too much sports and greek life)
Brandeis (Toured and didn’t like it)
Sarah Lawrence (Toured and didn’t like it)
Hamilton (No merit aid)
Have you looked into Marist? - beautiful setting on the Hudson River. If it were closer to us, I’m guessing one daughter would be seriously considering it. We liked it a ton more than New Paltz during a weekend visit of both.
Heard today from Muhlenberg and both Ds accepted, though scholarships probably not enough to keep them from attending Ursinus (one still considering Moravian for graphic design).
Also the U of Delaware is a larger school that doesn’t feel big. Everyone we know who has a tie to it has only good things to say. And getting into their honors program would make it feel even smaller and prestigious.
In the UMass acceptance threads I’ve noticed that they offer high stats OOS students merit aid of about 10k to 14k, and if she was accepted into the Honors College it would be less of a party atmosphere. URochester would be a great fit - geeky, good science, and an emphasis on arts, but they aren’t super generous with merit aid unless you fit into very specific criteria. But you never know unless you try. Also has the benefit of an associated hospital. The University of Hartford is much larger than Drew with a strong arts culture and offers merit aid.
@jmek15 Thanks for th great suggestions. D is leaning more towards smaller rather than larger. Are you suggesting that Drew is too small or has some other deficit? We haven’t visited yet, but it looks good on paper.
@RandyErika Congrats on the Muhlenberg acceptances! We will look into Delaware and Marist.
This thread has been really interesting to read as we have a nice somewhat nerdy but sporty (swimming) STEM girl who is putting a list together of schools she’s interested in (she’s a junior now). We live in California and are of course thinking about the UCs, but there are some really great schools small LACs out there that we’re hoping would give her some merit aid. I didn’t know that Smith gave merit aid. Her counselor just recommended that school to her so we’ll check it out. Right now we’d like to visit Macalester, St. Olaf, CWR, Oberlin, Grinnell, Kenyon, Dickinson, Lafayette, Lehigh and Emory. Who knows if we can afford to make it out to all of them. Based on her stats right now, are these are good options for acceptance and merit aid:
•SAT (took it once) is 1520 (probably will not take it again)
•she’ll take the Chem and Math II SAT Subject tests in June
•Currently she has a 4.6
•will have taken 12 APs at a rigorous Nor Cal public school by the time she graduates
•she’s been on a competitive year round swim team since she was 6 and her times are not Kenyon fast but she could swim at Oberlin, Macalester, St. Olaf, Lafayette and Grinnell (do you know if swimming will add to her appeal)
•several STEM related ECs (WISTEM, peer tutoring in Chem and Math, UC Davis YSP, etc).
•I’m pretty new to CC, but i notice that most people don’t add their ethnicity, so hoping it’s not taboo to do so, but she’s white
Would be really grateful to get some feedback about where we’re looking based on where she’s at right now. Thank you so much!
@crknwk2000 Welcome to CC! It would probably be better for you to start your own thread to get advice about schools your daughter might target. My D17 had similar stats to your daughter, but different ECs and more humanities than STEM interest. We looked at a lot of the schools you mentioned and she appplied to and got accepted to Macalester, St. Olaf, CWRU, Oberlin, and Dickinson. PM me if you’d like more information.
Your daughter might also look at the Claremont Consortium. A number of my daughter’s classmates ended up there. Mudd and Claremont McKenna have some merit awards, and Scripps may as well, although I’m not sure on the last.
Check out Trinity TX. Very transparent about merit money. Their website says is your GPA is X and SAT Y you get Z. Brand new science center. No idea about nerd factor.
Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. My midwest, nerdy DD attends school there. She isn’t premed but one of her roommates is. Has a great premed program and the bonus of St. Jude’s hospital right there for science majors. Has a theater department one can join without being a theater major. So easy and quick to get to and from the airport during school breaks or any time. Lots of kids from all over the country. Merit aid was wonderful for us (she was around your daughter’s stats).
@gallentjill My DD applied to and got into Quinnipiac. It was high on her list (until she got into her 1st choice) so I know it a bit. I did not get a nerdy vibe from it. More of a preppy, country club, rah-rah sports feel and reputation (due mainly to having a D1 hockey team). Very pre-professional. Doesn’t mean there aren’t nerds and excellent academics and that your daughter couldn’t find her peeps there, but given how you describe your daughter I see her more at some of the other schools being suggested.
My daughter is at Scripps College as a freshman and loves it! She is super nerdy, loves science, joined the mock trial team and is taking classes at the Keck Science Center (she is pre med track). They also gave her a very nice 4 year merit scholarship! Scripps is part of the Claremont consortium so she can take classes at Claremont Mckenna, Harvey Mudd and Pitzer too!
@sagemom Scripps sounds perfect except that its in California. My daughter really wants to be closer to home. However, this thread seems to have flushed out lots of other nerdy girls so it may very well be helpful to others. Nice to know there are so many of them out there!