This is REALLY far from you but a lovely location for a visit 
. University of Hawaii is great for Astronomy.
Edited to add, UC Santa Cruz as someone above mentioned.
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You may want to swap Swarthmore for Vassar. Agree about Wesleyan; it may not be a safety but DD would have at least one role model there:
https://www.middletownpress.com/middletown/article/NASA-selects-Wesleyan-professor-s-proposed-16230285.php
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Would recommend that you put in most of your time at the match/safety level.
College trips are fun but exhausting. Agree to start close and work your way out. For my D22, when she was younger a campus tour was enough but now we try to have her talk to people from the department she is interested in, students, etc. Also, she has matured and developed so much in the last year that she is getting a lot more out of it. Think strategically in this way â from general broad likes moving to very specific questions of fit, academic programs, etc.
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Vassar is not a safety for 99% of applicants, OP.
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She will probably figure out early in if she prefers a small school to a big school. However, a place like CU Boulder can sway even a student who doesnât want a big school. And, even if she prefers a big school, she might fall in love with one of the smaller liberal arts colleges.
It seems like a big but good list and also a long but great road trip. 
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Yes, this. My D22 started out wanting big, football, rah rah schools and yet fell for Occidental. It is in LA and has a vibe she loves and academic programs she is really interested in. She also focuses on honors programs for some of the larger schools because she likes seminar instruction and is then able to have smaller classes and big school spirit. Make sure you investigate the honors opportunities at the big schools.
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Since Amherst is on her list, she may want to apply to at least one or two other colleges in the 5-college consortium. It appears that the astronomy departments at all of the schools work closely together. Hampshire fits her edgy criteria and would be a match. (I think theyâve straightened out their finances, but that would be something to consider.) Five College Astronomy Department (FCAD) | Department of Astronomy
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Would you share the schools she wouldnât consider because she felt they were too conservative?
Thanks
Before committing to a lot of travel, it might be useful to go out for day trips to a few schools in your area that are large, medium and small as well as urban, rural and suburban. These schools do not need to be on your list because the point of the visits would be to discern what settings most appeal to her. That will allow you to then narrow your list to whatâs worth your while.
Also, I agree with the previous poster who encouraged you to focus on more possible and likely options. It will be a great stress reliever if your student realizes a school thatâs highly likely to admit her would be a perfectly fine place to spend four years.
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Thanks - she did visit both Smith and Mount Holyoke but she has decided against womenâs colleges⊠for now. Many of her close friends identify as male. Also MH was very very sleepy when we visited (a beautiful fall afternoon). Really liked Amherst.
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Looking at Honors colleges at the state schools is a great idea, will do.
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Only on paperâŠ
def not a safety, and imo more like a match than a likely.
Vassar is probably match->likely, not safety
As a school, Rice might hit the sweet spot- but idk anything about their astronomy department.
Take out Swarthmore and Cornell.
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Lol Frogdogmom. Schools themselves are rarely actually conservative but the issue is the setting and the state. Note she is LGBTQ and shows it - in addition to political views, her safety and comfort are paramount to me. And I need vaccine requirements and mask mandates and people who observe themâŠ. If you promise this wonât start a political âthingâ that gets the thread shut down, I will share the schools eliminated on these grounds. Schools ruled out on this ground were those in Texas (or as we call it, the new Taliban Republic) - UT at Austin and Rice, Case Western in Ohio, Duke (prob wouldnât get in anyway, not worth wasting a moonshot on), WashU in St Louis (though this one is still teetering on the list), we may otherwise have looked into UFlorida as well, UVA which was too conservative when we visited with her much less politically engaged sisterâŠU of Arizona is on the list (blue last election of course) but it gives me some of those same concernsâŠ
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Thanks for the insight. Can you pls elaborate on UMd? Their acceptance rate is 44% but I canât find breakout for OOS.
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Based on your description of your daughter & her interests / likes / dislikes, Union College would not be a comfortable environment for her. Lots of alcohol & Greek life is the dominant social force on campus. Would be too conservative based on my understanding of your daughter.
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Thank you!
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How can we judge safety/likely/match/reach etc? Unless I missed it, the OP has not shared her daughterâs stats. Accordingly, I would never tell someone Wesleyan is a match . . . it may be, but it is not for most applicants.
I will share that according to Naviance at my sonâs school, Vassar is harder to get into than a lot of the NESCACs. This could be specific to his school, but it gave me pause when we were considering it.
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You are right, shouldnât be overconfident- really going by where other kids at her highly academic private which is a big feeder to many schools get in.
No problem. Naviance will be the most help (compared to us on the internet) then. My son was also at a highly academic private (Hotchkiss). It was eye opening to see the Vassr stats compared to Williams/Amherst/Middlebury etc.
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Irrespective of residentsâ political affiliations, Hamilton Collegeâs surrounding town of Kirkland places among the safest locations in the nation, with zero violent crime recorded in a recent year.
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