This site can serve as a convenient alternative to NPCs for researching costs:
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My daughter was the same - I had only heard of Swarthmore in the Mamas & Papas single, âCreeque Alley,â until they sent a humorous mailer, which piqued her interest. We are in a very small, very rural town (Bishop, CA) and no one had ever gone to Swarthmore that we knew of.
I turned out to be a perfect match, and she absolutely loves it there. Sheâll be a senior in the Fall, and expects to graduate in 2022 (Theatre and English major).
The academic rigor is not undersold, but she is thriving, and the student body is incredibly diverse and engaged, which translates into a great college experience. The student body is remarkably talented, but this doesnât result in competitiveness, but rather into a supportive and curious culture that my daughter just loves.
Best of luck to your daughter. Iâm sure she will bloom wherever she is planted.
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Thatâs understandable. I never saw myself at a womenâs college but now itâs in my final two. Nevertheless, maybe SUNY ESF certainly for enviro, no idea how IR would work with that though. Maybe ESF kids can cross register/ double major at Syracuse? I donât honestly know. Might be worth looking into.
So I thought I would provide an update on where my D stands as we head into application season:
Her study abroad program has been delayed until at least December, so sheâs now a bit stuck since she graduated early when she found out sheâd been accepted to the program. She has decided to spend this semester getting EMT certified (something sheâs always wanted to do) and continuing her flight training toward an instrument rating. She will also participate in the virtual program provided by the State Department (2 hours of class per day + homework) in lieu of travel first semester, continue working about 20 hours a week, and apply to colleges. It will certainly be enough to keep her busy!
Here are the schools on her list thus far:
State Flagship University (in state tuition/likely honors with guaranteed merit)
Ole Miss (Croft Institute for International Studies; likely big merit)
Puget Sound (Interdisciplinary emphasis; Environmental Policy; Asian Pacific Rim 9 month study abroad)
Macalester (known for International studies; Twin Cities location)
Whitman (Environmental Studies emphasis; outdoorsy, Semester in the West; down-to-Earth student body)
Grinnell (open curriculum, MAP, unpretentious student body; lots of internationals; endowment/FA)
Brown (open curriculum; unpretentious students; outside the box thinking)
Bowdoin (Center for Coastal Studies semester; coastal location; emphasis on common good; outdoorsy student body)
Carleton (down-to-Earth student body; excellent geology dept; students seem like âher peopleâ)
Rice (university with LAC vibe; residential college system; race/class interaction; Baker Institute - IR and Asian Studies; outstanding FA; emphasis on community; diverse)
Pomona (EnviroLab Asia; high diversity; Environmental Analysis major; consortium)
She may add one or two more since we really have no idea how colleges will view her. She also understands that many of these schools are reaches for everyone - especially her since she has an unconventional transcript, lack of rigor compared to other applicants, and comes from a mediocre public that sends most of its college-bound kids to the local university and community college. But sheâs done her research and feels that all would be good fits so Iâm letting her steer the ship.
Thanks to everyone for the previous encouragement and suggestions - I will continue to update periodically as the application season wears on!
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I think she will do really well. Colleges love interesting outliers like her.
ps The EMT is useful in a variety of jobs (I got mine in 1980!).
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I have nothing to add with college recommendations, but if she wants a role model of an unconventional woman, an outside-the-box thinker, and an expert on international relations, have her read up on the biography of Avril Haines, our current Director of National Intelligence.
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Thanks for the recommendation! I will pass it on. 
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Avrilâs parents have quite a story as well - especially her father.
BTW, Iâm guessing youâve checked it out, so just out of curiosity what were your thoughts on Reed when you looked into it?
I always appreciate updates on threads Iâm following, so hereâs one for my kid:
Her cohort leaves today From San Francisco for Taiwan, where sheâll spend the next 6 months in intensive language classes after being virtual since August. In her 3.5 additional months at home, she earned her EMT certification and landed a job at the Medical School as a standardized patient. There werenât many younger people hired, so she got a LOT of hours role-playing and evaluating med students this fall and loved every minute of it.
After all of this, sheâs now very interested in medicine (even the EMT clinicals with obstinate patients, various bodily fluids, and Covid exposures did not deter her), so I have no idea which direction sheâll head next year.
She decided last minute to apply ED to Amherst (a super reach and a real long shot considering her not-4.0 and lack of rigor as compared to other applicants), but they have the best financial aid and she loves the open curriculum, new lack of legacy preference, and high diversity. Sheâll find out Friday from quarantine. Most of her other apps are complete, so if she doesnât get good news on Friday sheâll be ready to submit them immediately. She may add a few more schools just for fun.
Thanks again for all the encouragement and helpful advice!
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Love the update! Keep us posted
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Deferred from Amherst, which she understands is a likely rejection.
Onward to other applications!
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I wouldnât assume that. A large proportion of ED acceptances are recruited athletes, URM and Questbridge. My D was deferred from another NESCAC, Middlebury, got in RD as well as getting into Williams. Good luck!
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I just started reading this thread tonight, and what an interesting young woman your daughter is! I hope that she thoroughly enjoys her time in Taiwan and enjoys the college response process, as despite the waitlist from Amherst, I suspect sheâs going to have lots of good news and offers to weigh in the end.
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Another update:
D was awarded a full tuition scholarship at Truman State (with potential for full ride) and Honors + half tuition at state flagship. Nice to have two affordable options on the table!
She has added Williams to the list even though itâs another reach - she applied to Windows on Williams earlier this fall and didnât get in, but she was offered a Q&A with an admissions rep, a fee waiver, and consideration for a free visit if sheâs accepted, so she plans to apply.
She has an alumni interview with Emory (apparently offered to a limited number of applicants) this week, but that could just be because there happens to be one at med school in our area (and it has to be virtual anyway since she is currently overseas).
D has been fortunate to form a great relationship with her Chinese language professor in Taiwan, and this professor has offered to write an additional rec to include in college apps. Hopefully that will provide an added boost.
Being deferred at Amherst has had the unexpected benefit of giving her something to do for three weeks in quarantine - she has lots of supplemental essays to keep her mind active!
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Just found this thread. Your daughter sounds fantastic and itâs so ridiculous that the situation in this country is such that she isnât the most sought after kid in the country. Anyways, you have a great attitude and weâre looking forward to how this turns out.
Weâve got a similar situation in coming from a not good school for college admission (didnât even know that was a thing 3 years ago!), and a remarkable young woman though no evidence of that like you have what with all your daughterâs adventures.
Looking forward to hearing about your results in competitive college admissions as we are kind of stuck with only being able to afford the elite colleges. Is there an ED2 plan?
Thanks so much for your encouraging words; I will pass them along to my D as she finishes up applications!
No plans for ED2 as we are in the donut hole for financial aid and need to be able to compare offers (we only allowed her to apply to Amherst because the FA is stellar and easily works with our budget according to the NPC). She also has no clear preference after Amherst, so sheâll have to wait until March.
I share your frustration with the state of college admissions - the more research I do, the more I realize the deck is heavily stacked against unhooked kids - but it is what it is. At the end of the day, we also realize that elite colleges are academic institutions first, and her lack of AP classes (not to mention the one semester C in one of them) may present a significant hurdle to acceptance. There are thousands of talented kids out there and our Dâs are just two of them! Where is yours applying?
My Dâs list changed a bit from what I posted previously - reach heavy because like you, the elites are the most affordable with financial aid. She has submitted apps to state flagship, Truman, Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Brown, Carleton, Emory, Grinnell, Macalester, Rhodes, Rice, Whitman, and Williams. She understands she may not be accepted to any of these other than her safeties, and sheâs content to attend one of those (especially if she ends up leaning toward medicine) - so we told her to apply anywhere she thinks is a great fit with the understanding that the FA has to work out if she gets in.
Best of luck to your family as you navigate the same gauntlet - this is definitely a learning experience!
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Has she considered Clark? They told us they love âoutliersâ meaning interesting kids who are âunique.â One of mind had not attended high school for senior year to perform and Clark was enthusiastic about her. She also got in to Bennington and Goucher.
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She did look briefly at Clark, but the NPC is high for us. Unless they give merit that might bring the cost down to around 30k, I donât think itâs doable. But it sounds like it might be worth another look, so Iâll have her check it out! Today is her last day of quarantine and she needs something to do.
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Goucher gave a lot of merit aid to a couple of people I know so that may be worth a look as well (although it is close to 70% female which may be a turn off based on your earlier comments about womenâs colleges).
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One of the nice things about Carleton is