<p>DD is a HS senior, working hard to get good grades and applying to colleges, but having an existential crisis at the same time. She wants to get off the rat race of life=good grades. Maybe it's just an early case of senioritis, but I'd like to give her some ideas of schools that emphasize learning over competition.</p>
<p>She's looking at LAC's in the NorthEast. Has good grades 3.7UW from a good prep school and ACT 31. Wants to study liberal arts/social sciences.</p>
<p>Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Bennington
Evergreen State
Hampshire
New College of Florida
Sarah Lawrence</p>
<p>St. John’s (evaluations with letter grades)
UCSC (evaluations with letter grades)</p>
<p>Many top-tier colleges offer the option of taking classes freshman year on a pass/fail basis. I think that they intend for this to be more a period of adjustment, but it would most certainly also serve the purpose of having a period of time to enjoy learning for the sake of learning. I know that several Ivies offer this, in particular.</p>
<p>I was very impressed with Sarah Lawrence. That’s the only one on this list that we’ve visited. </p>
<p>What is UCSC?</p>
<p>I THINK that’s U California Santa Clara. If that is the school, that would be very expensive for you no matter what. If you would consider west coast schools you can look at Reed. They give grades but don’t provide them to the students.</p>
<p>^ Pretty sure it’s UC Santa Cruz actually.</p>
<p>New College of Florida. It’s a public LAC on the coast in a nice little town. Grads have good placement, major requirements and curriculum are student and personal advisor chosen, and it gives evaluations in the form of narratives.</p>
<p>B-r-o-w-n!</p>
<p>Please have her learn more about Brown University. While they do give grades, there are many things that they do do get out of the ‘rat race’ she is talking about and focus on a vibrant intellectual community that is cooperative and creates an environment where students can take risks without always worrying about GPA. The school is ultra collaborative within and between departments.</p>
<p>You can take any course pass/fail.</p>
<p>There are no required classes, except in your major. You create your own schedule.</p>
<p>If you get below a C, it is not on your transcript. If it is required for your major, you can just take it again (or not if you don’t need it.)</p>
<p>You can drop courses very late.</p>
<p>They have a ‘shopping period’ before the course is officially on your schedule.</p>
<p>They don’t have a particularly high number of credits needed to graduate.</p>
<p>While it is not a LAC, it has some qualities of them. The professors are focused on undergraduate education. They are extremely accessible. It is very easy to get involved in research in any area of your interest because the grad school is so small, they need the undergraduates to participate–opportunities abound. This doesn’t mean that the school is easy, but you can create an easier or more difficult load each semester, as it suits you. I think it is a very special place.</p>