I really like Pomona and Harvey Mudd (albeit a little less so). I was hoping to either do a double major with engineering at HMC and environmental analysis at Pomona. Or maybe just focus on environmental analysis at Pomona. I like the idea of having a consortium of colleges as well.
Also @baeria Lawrence U, Earlham, and St. Olaf seem like overall great fits, but I am not sure how good their environmental science departments are. If anyone who could speak to these colleges share a little bit more, that would be greatly appreciated.
This Boston Globe article discusses some of the challenges facing Vermont colleges in general: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/01/30/higher-education-struggles-hit-vermont-hard/hiN0TRBKM147Qbdrvx4QHJ/story.html.
I am a current high school senior and applied to Middlebury this year! Other colleges that are similar for you to look into are Bowdoin, Williams, Amherst, Colby, and Hamilton. Some other wonderful small schools are Haverford, Bates, Vassar, Swarthmore, and Grinnell. I wish you the best of luck in your college search 
As you consider your options, you should find this New York Times article on a natural feature of Hamilton’s campus interesting to read: https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/26/nyregion/new-york-has-top-norway-spruce.html.
Apply to a mix of both in that case, which is very common.
Liberal arts colleges offer no more curricular freedom than universities; you’re drawing a distinction where there is none. Some universities and liberal arts colleges have rigorous core curriculums (e.g. St. John’s College, Columbia), some universities and liberal arts colleges have open curriculums (e.g. Amherst, Brown), and some universities and LACs have distribution requirements and fall somewhere in between.
Geology is an unpopular major, so geology programs tend to be fairly small even at very large universities, and career prospects are fairly good with a master’s degree. Undergraduate biology and chemistry programs tend be much larger.
When you start looking for your low match or safety schools you are going to have to pay attention to a school’s financial status…especially if you are looking at LACs that have had financial struggles like Earlham has.
I am not knocking Earlham at all, but they have had financial difficulties in the past, and covid-19 is likely to make their financial situation worse. Just something to think about when you are looking at non-upper tier schools. Obviously you want the school to be around for four years.
Thanks for the info @warblersrule . I didn’t realize that not all LACs have open curriculums.
That is really cool! Thanks for sharing.
With respect to “open curriculums”: Some schools limit certain courses to those majoring in that particular subject matter area.
Also, some “schools” or “colleges” within a university may not allow students not admitted to that “college” or “school” to take courses there.
Just need to research each school’s requirements & limitations.
@Mwfan1921 How can you tell the colleges financial status? Should I use endowment per student? Or a different measure?
WPI does not have a history major. Here is some info on the history minor @https://www.wpi.edu/academics/study/history-minor
WPI does not offer geophysics. They do have a very accomplished Caltech geophysicist as President and they do have a very accomplished geophysicist in the math department as well as some physics courses relating to astrophysics. See https://www.wpi.edu/people/member/vdruskin. Vladimir Druskin would only be a resource as a project advisor, but he did post “In the July of 2018, after a long career in industry, I joined the Mathematical Sciences of WPI, and I am excited about the new research and mentoring opportunities that I may reap.” WPI does not offer a Russian course, but all Russian educated scholars are fine with english.
Your subject interests indicate to me MIT. Geophysics and linguistics are are big time there and I’m confident they have a range of history offerings. You are a good enough student… if it fits your interests very well, apply. Both WPI and MIT (and many other universities) are looking for students who are very excited about their subject and will not be faint of heart when addressing issues. Both have strong interest in project focus.
It is not entirely about tests scores and GPA, but don’t place a wager on admission! You have the brains, follow analysis of your interests and your heart. Do not apply where you are not excited!
You need to par down your list.
In terms of colleges that could be worth their expense, your tentative list includes some excellent choices: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliesportelli/2017/04/26/10-expensive-colleges-worth-every-penny-2017/.
If what was holding you back from research institutions was the perceived lack of flexibility, you should really revisit that as @warblersrule mentioned. Many of the selective schools are very flexible in terms of what you can take and allow you to change majors very late in the process.
In addition to you looking at Brown as mentioned above, I also recommend you take a look at Yale for two reasons.
First, Yale is very flexible. My nephew who attended had basically finished one major by sophomore year (he came in with a lot of AP credit), took an internship in that field that summer, decided he hated it, and switched to an entirely different major starting junior year and still graduated on time.
Second, Yale loves science kids, and that is likely a plus for you. They get more than their fair share of humanities kids but normally would lose out on the top science kids to places like MIT, Harvard and Stanford. So they created a special outreach program to the top science kids called Yale Engineering and Science Weekend (YES-W) to invite them to see what Yale offers and get them to join. And typically just over half do after attending that weekend.
Thanks for everything relating WPI. I will definitely look into MIT. And lastly, yes I do need to par down my list. I feel like all the schools on my potential list are amazing, so it feels hard to take them off.
@merc81 Thanks for the link!
@hebegebe I will definitely go back to the research universities and figure out the core requirements. I will check out Yale. Hopefully I would be accepted into YES-W program.
A friend’s D whose first choice was Midd and who is headed there in the fall had Colby and Bowdoin as her other reaches. She’s particularly interested in languages but felt that these 3 had a similar vibe. Since you haven’t visited in person, it may not make sense to hone in on vibe, though.
You’re getting great options above.
@Diaz42: I disagree that “You’re getting great options above”.
In my opinion, you need to show more respect for your intellect & for your academic accomplishments. In your case, both are exceptional.
OP does have to have match and safety schools. There are many reaches listed above. I also think OP is impressive and if they apply ED to Midd I like their chances.
OP’s stats:
1580 SAT / perfect 4.0 UWGPA / won a few national STEM competitions / published research / top score of 5 on both AP exams taken / summer at MIT
OP: In my opinion, it is very important to be around highly intelligent, hard-working, ambitious classmates.
OP: Did you enjoy your Summer at MIT ? If so, why ?