Oops good point, my use of SoCal wasn’t meant as the beachy fun vibe most think of. I just meant more local/commuter students than most UC’s/SLO.
And yes, Inland Empire is so not that SoCal vibe. 
Which is something for OP to consider if she does look into Scripps or the other Claremont Colleges.
The Claremont Consortium is great. From an admissions standpoint they each look for different things and fit is extremely important.
Thanks - added UCSC to list for visit!
Yep and sigh. The strategy aspects of the process are just maddening.
Hmm Scripps instead of Pomona (where I agree she has no chance in RA and is highly unlikely to use her ED) is a very interesting suggestion.
Colleges which accept more than half their class in the early round are very difficult for RD. For example, Penn, Williams.
Wesleyan, too, fills more than half the class early.
Like others, I see few private college matches on the list. At Wesleyan, for example, there are sizable cohorts of legacy, first gen, and people of color. There are also more women than men. All those factors affect your child’s likelihood of admission for very few slots.
Whitman meets most of her criteria and is a bit less selective than many of the colleges above.
If she really likes Amherst, she probably would like Hamilton. There are many similarities between the two. One of the biggest differences would be location, with Hamilton being more isolated and bubble like.
I know zero about astronomy programs, but as someone who
-has lived in NYC and Chicago, now in STL
-is engaged in politics here
-is raising an LGBTQ teen
-is an alumn of WashU who maintains ties to what aid happening on campus today
I’d be happy to provide provide objective information on areas of concern regarding WashU that could move it from uncertain into the “yes” or “no” column.
What are are your big concerns/impressions keeping it in the maybe column? We can go from there.
Don’t be discouraged by being an OOS applicant to UC schools. As a resident of California, I feel it is almost more challenging to gain acceptance to some of the UC choices you have listed. UC Berkley and UC Santa Cruz (as suggested by another) would be favorable environments for your description of an inclusive, comfortable environment. My son is also applying for Astronomy and Physics, and I agree some that you have omitted (such as UT) are appropriate omissions. U AZ is one I would probably omit, as well. I think the area is more conservative than you perceive. A point to make regarding your daughter’s admission consideration is that both Astronomy and Physics are male dominated fields and will have many more male applicants; that is to her benefit. Good luck to your daughter.
Thanks for offering insight into WashU - My concerns have to do with needing wholehearted lgbtq acceptance/inclusiveness not just at the school but surrounding community. I am not talking about “tolerance”. She would also like a significant number of students with very progressive politics so she isn’t some outlier. I of course do not want or accept a state where discrimination against my child (or other people’s children) is legal or accepted. Also though hopefully COVID will be over by then(please) I want a community and school admin that takes it seriously, requires vaccines and masks, etc if it is still going on or there is some new plague… Given WashU is in Missouri and I haven’t looked into it in details, these are some of my concerns…
Thanks you! The UC schools have definitely moved up the list and UC Santa Cruz has been added (though distance is obviously still something to consider). I have received other private communications which made it clear U of Az is not a good choice so it is off the list. Thanks so much.
Brandeis would be worth a look if she likes WUStL but is unsure about its location. Nerdy vibe, pretty liberal, great science and humanities programs, and both the school and Boston are very queer-friendly.
Based on your daughters interest in Astronomy, you should be making financial plans based on 8 years of school: Undergrad and Graduate programs so keep that in mind when you say there is no set budget.
As a UC Forum Champion, I am all for promoting the California UC’s but with a price tag of $268K for 4 years for an Undergrad degree, to me it seems pretty steep when she will probably have just as good or better options with merit at several of the schools on her list.
Below are the OOS acceptance rates for all the UC campuses. Other than UCLA and UCB, the rest of the UC campuses have a higher acceptance rate vs. in-state and that is due to low matriculation rates which is tied into the costs of attending as an OOS student.
Admission Rates for Out-of-State Applicants (Domestic): 2021
UCLA: 13.9%
UC Berkeley: 14.1%
UC Santa Barbara: 36.3%
UC Irvine: 74.0%
UC San Diego: 59.3%
UC Davis: 80.8%
UC Merced: 71.8%
UC Riverside: 85.7%
UC Santa Cruz: 82.2%
Note that acceptance / inclusiveness of the T in LGBTQ lags that of LGB in many areas and contexts, so exercise care when making an evaluation based on that (i.e. examples of acceptance / inclusiveness of LGB may not necessarily imply acceptance / inclusiveness of T – note also that T is now the preferred scapegoat of politicians pushing this sort intolerance, since anti-LGB less likely to be a “winning” political stance for them now).
Thanks and agree. Neither type of prejudice would be acceptable to us.
Thanks - those stats for UC OOS acceptance rates are super helpful and pretty encouraging honestly. Re budget- we are all set for 8 years, no worries. We didn’t take cost into account for the older sibs who went to top tier privates and won’t for this one…
Also PhDs in the sciences are often effectively free between grants, TA jobs etc.
You’re welcome. We are West Coast, so it is definitely helpful to have people to network with from different areas of the country. We visited UW for our eldest son (Engineering), and the school and Seattle are wonderful. It is urban, but it is a place like no other because of the charm of the Sound. Take a good look at their program. Your daughter may really love it there. They do prioritize Washington students, but a good percentage of their students are OOS.
At University of Washington, both astronomy and physics are competitive-admission majors, although they do not have as competitive a reputation as CS and engineering majors.
http://www.washington.edu/uaa/advising/degree-overview/majors/list-of-undergraduate-majors/
We just visited UW — it is gorgeous. It seems to be a very accepting campus and city. Large classes though and our tour guide seemed perplexed by a question about seminar-style classes. I also wonder about advising. My daughter will apply but would only attend if she got into honors.