Laid-back/happy social vibe:
Brown
Vanderbilt
Rice
Reed
UCSC
Yale
Grinnell
Colby
Carleton
Haverford
Earlham
Bates
St. Olaf
There are plenty more…
Tufts might fit the bill. Swarthmore is a very hard working school but not necessarily competitive. You will need to assess the vibe there yourself. I am not recommending anywhere that does not have engineering in 4 years…
If you son is so driven, you might be better off waiting until spring break next year to do visits rather than feeding the beast by doing them so early.
"I would prefer he goes to a college with other elite students that enjoy learning, but also have time to enjoy themselves outside of class.
To provide some perspective, here are my (perhaps misguided) views about some colleges to encourage/discourage:
- Encourage Harvard, but perhaps not MIT
- Encourage Yale, but not Columbia
- Encourage Michigan, but not Carnegie-Mellon
- Encourage Duke, but not Johns Hopkins"
@hebegebe , this may or may not be the time or place for me to bring this up, but after spending quite a bit of time on CC recently, due to an illness, I have been reading again and again the stats of kids who were rejected from ALL of those colleges this year. Its NOT going to get any easier 2 years from now. Because of that, I suggest you DON’T "encourage’ ANY one of those colleges over another, as statistically speaking - he has a very good chance of NOT getting into any of them. And your implied bias and “wishes” may come back to haunt you 2 years from now.
Instead, I suggest you focus your search for match and most importantly, safety colleges - both U’s and LAC’s, that have strong STEM programs to challenge him AND where he has a good to very good chance of being accepted. He will find PLENTY of like minded “elite” students at those colleges because MOST “elite” students who apply to the colleges you listed end up going to non tippy top colleges, simply because there is not enough space for them at the most selective colleges.
Tippy top colleges can be added after the safety and match colleges have realistically been identified.
I agree with the suggestions of Reed, Carleton and Grinnell as additional reach / match colleges for kids such as your DS. All of those are LAC’s, which have just as many “elite” students as the universities you listed.
For my D, the right choice was UChicago over Vanderbilt. She is the opposite of my son, wanting to enjoy herself as much as the situation possibly allows. The demanding UChicago workload was perfect for her, whereas Vanderbilt might be better for him.
I doubt you can change his personality. He might like Harvey Mudd — it is academically very intense, but more in a cooperative way than competitive way. Mudders usually know right away when they visit if it is the right place for them.
I was about to ask a question about Mudd @intparent, so thanks for chiming in.
I thought Mudd might be a good fit, but S wants a college that “is bigger than his high school”, which has about 2000 students. Mudd by itself is smaller, but does it feel bigger since it is part of the consortium? And how easy is it to take classes at the other colleges?
It is small, but the consortium does give a bigger social pool for clubs, dating, eating at more cafeterias, etc. The larger pool is about 5,000 students. My kid found it easy to register for most classes on the other campuses. She took at least one class “off Mudd” every semester starting 2nd semester sophomore year. They make it really easy to cross register – done through the same registration system, classes are on the same finals schedule, and the campuses are right together – you can walk across the entirety of the 5Cs in either direction in about 15 minutes. I think she would often scooter or skateboard between classes if she was going down to Pomona on a tight schedule. There are a couple of streets that run through the campuses, but they are not busy.
My kid didn’t get every class she wanted – when you have sophomore course registration priority, you have sophomore registration priority, no matter what college you are attending. 
But by junior and senior year she could get into most things. The one area where she struggled to get into classes was visual arts, couldn’t get the classes she wanted until senior year. I’ve heard that CMC econ classes can be hard to get into as well. But there were so many classes to pick from at the 5Cs that she was happy with her options.
@menloparkmom said:
As a CC veteran, I see some of the same threads. I should have stated off the bat that the primary reason for my question was to get suggestions of excellent schools that might be off the radar and/or lower ranked. Even though we have been through the process with my D, I tell my son that individual college decisions can be random, and he might not be as successful as she was, despite him being far more accomplished.
But as a practical point, we are looking at colleges at the level of BU or better, as BU would be a safety for him.
State flagship?
Also, for a relaxed atmosphere, it is good that his interests are not in the majors that pre-meds tend to cluster in.
For LACs, I second Haverford. Elite LAC, but its Quaker roots emphasize cooperation. In fact, it’s built into the college’s mission and curriculum. Then there’s the added bonus of Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, and Penn being so close by (Bryn Mawr especially, of course).
Oh, and if you are open to schools that are lower ranked, check out the forty schools in the book Colleges that Change Lives. You don’t need to buy the book. There’s a website and Wikipedia entry that lists the schools. There are a few fairly selective schools like Reed, Whitman, and St. Olaf, but most are “hidden gem” LACs, schools that offer a terrific education but are often overlooked.
Bad news, OP. BU is not a safety. Not for your son, nor for anyone else. Below 30% acceptance rate and they care deeply about yield, per the admissions officer there I spoke with. Time to re-orient to true safeties.
Our school’s scatter grams indicate otherwise so far, @roycroftmom, but given the changing landscape, good point that I should monitor the situation.
Have him express interest starting now interest via the request info form.
Don’t consider a university with 25% acceptance a safety regardless of stats. Consider it a “Low match” depending on interest expressed - which, if nearby, would imply a visit.
BU is not a safety these days… and they really care about yield.
How about the honors college/program at a school such as Pitt?
I appreciate the caution, but please be aware that I am not an uninformed parent. I know how the top kids in our school do on a year-over-year basis because it is published in the local paper, and more recently, I know some of the kids personally. More than half consistently end up at top-20 schools, and for those that don’t it is often due to taking scholarship money. I also already have a D in an elite program, and without getting into details about my son’s qualifications, because they could identify him, his are much stronger.
Re Pitt, I will encourage him to see that as well. It is right next to CMU (as mentioned above, CMU is not ideal due to pressure, but given his interests still makes sense to include). And they care a lot about demonstrated interest.
A thanks to all those that mentioned LACs that may fit the bill. I know so little about most of them that it is really starting from the beginning.
hebegebe, I think your opening post contained a fairly good assessment about the academic pressure/ competitive environment in few of the top universities. However, this is very subjective and I don’t think others can fill in with qualified inputs. Also, a lot of this distinction is a perception bubble!
Purdue has a super laid back, collaborative vibe and he could try for honors college.
Lehigh could also maybe be a high match and the students there seemed like a good balance of hard workers but not stressed.
Also wanted to share our experience at Johns Hopkins. My daughter was convinced she wasn’t going to like it and ended up going to visit four times, including sitting in on a chem e class for sophomores, meeting with the prof, and talking to students. It was incredibly laid back, students were very at ease with each other and the professor, and we were there just a few days ahead of exam week. The professor was very approachable and engaged. In my daughter’s opinion, the students were the most collaborative of all the reach schools she visited (CMU, Northwestern, Cornell, Notre Dame).
Lastly, don’t rely too heavily on the naviance scattergrams. Lots of surprises this year at my daughter’s school for students safely in the green quadrant.
No problem - just being cautious since super high stats students may be turned down due to yield protection.
I think of the Claremonts as a sort of Oxford or Cambridge with uglier/modern buildings: a university with 7,000 students grouped into colleges similar to Balliol or Christchurch or Magdalen. All the colleges have distinct buildings, you can claim college legacy, but they are all part of a larger campus and share facilities, tutors/lecturers (professors), etc.