D20 changing her college list at this late date

College Search & Selection
1

D20 is a H.S. senior and had a list of small liberal arts colleges that we thought fit her nicely. But at this late date, she has decided she wants to expand her options and look at medium to somewhat larger schools as well.

She needs a school that will meet need — we are a low-income family but after running NPCs at many schools, it looks like her best financial option would be private schools that meet 100% of need. So we want to spread a wide net.

Here are her stats. She attends a small private school in New York (not a big-name feeder school) on scholarship. The school does not offer APs or honors classes, but she will get “most rigorous” designation. Unweighted GPA is 3.98 and ACT is 33; school does not do weighted.

By the time she graduates she will have four years of all core courses, including pre-calculus (no calc) and bio/chem/physics with Advanced bio. Languages are her passion - she will complete five years of French, four of Latin, two of Chinese and one year of Japanese. She also self-studies Korean; language learning is her idea of fun and she wants to major in it. Probably a double major in international studies or linguistics.

Her ECs are good - varsity soccer (10-12), mock trial (10-12, lead witness in 12), International Club (9-12, president in 12), student ambassador (9-12), drama club (9-12, small roles in school productions every year), environmental club (11-12). Outside school she has had roughly 400 volunteer hours, mostly through her art involvement, teaching kids art over the summer and serving as a museum docent. She also has numerous art awards, including Gold Keys in the Scholastic Art and Writing competition, and third place in a national art contest. And a very unique art activity involving a public art exhibit in which her pieces have been sold at auction, raising money for charity.

She has switched around her college list and now is looking at Barnard, Boston College, Boston University, Macalester, Binghamton (loved it), SUNY Buffalo, Stony Brook, Brandeis, Cornell, Smith and, as super-duper long shots, Yale and UChicago. But she is still not wedded to the list and we would appreciate any input/other suggestions. She is open to small or big-medium schools, prefers little to no Greek life, and is willing to look outside the Northeast corridor, but far-away schools would add to our transportation expenses. Must offer Chinese, and Korean is a strong preference (but not offered at many schools).

Cost is paramount, but with our income she is eligible for a ton of financial aid - if she can get in. Meets-need private schools would actually cost less than SUNYs, even with the Excelsior Scholarship. Any advice would be most appreciated.

2

Middlebury and Dickinson should be on her list.
As for medium schools: Tufts should definitely be on her list.

3

Thanks for the advice. She actually removed Midd and Tufts from her list because they didn’t have Korean and Tufts, in particular, seemed like such a big reach (added to multiple other reaches). We will look into Dickinson.

4

She could study Korean at Barnard – I don’t think she could major in the language, but she could major In Asian Cultures and choose Korean as her language - https://amec.barnard.edu/east-asian-track

I think Barnard is still something of a reach, but her interest in foreign languages would be a plus factor. Her stats are good enough to make ED a possibility if you are confident that your financial situation is straightforward (no complicating factors to throw off the NPC).

Dickinson doesn’t offer Korean, unfortunately – otherwise it probably was a good suggestion.

5

I’m surprised Hamilton didn’t make your daughter’s tentative list. By IPEDS data, Hamilton appears to graduate more foreign language majors than any other liberal arts college, as well as more than larger schools such as Yale and Cornell. This student’s interests seem similar to those of your daughter, most notably with respect to Korean: https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/it-started-with-anime-and-led-to-language-number-four.

6

How about Vassar? Financial aid is great and they have an Asian studies program. What about any of the Maine LACs?

7

I think Smith is a very good choice (or MHC) because she could take a lot of the language classes at UMass while getting full FA from Smith.

She should look at schools that have other schools near them and allow cross registration, especially if it is just for one part of her desired majors, like just Korean.

8

Thanks to everyone for the advice. We visited Barnard this week and she has decided to ED there. She absolutely loved it. She took a class at Barnard and a Korean class across the street at Columbia (she already knew everything they were studying! Yay). She absolutely loved the vibe at Barnard and thought her interview went well. She got into conversations with several random students and liked what she heard. Fingers crossed!

She has considered many of the schools that have been suggested, thank you to everyone for the ideas. Hamilton, Tufts and Midd were all on her original list but were ruled out because they don’t have Korean (for a kid who is otherwise easygoing, she would REALLY like to be able to study a subject that is not available most places). I have asked her to look into Dickinson.

Smith is definitely at the top of her list. Funny, originally she wanted nothing to do with all-women’s schools, but they are growing on her!

9

I was actually going to post that it’s not that late in the process, unless you’re applying ED or EA, which it looks like your daughter did. Many kids are still waiting for their test scores from the fall to figure out a more solid list. Good luck with Barnard!

10

Thank you @theloniusmonk ! It just seemed like she had a game plan for some time, and now it’s changing! And with ED deadlines in one month.

But the visit to Barnard really sealed the deal. We were on campus all day, until 5:30 p.m., and she didn’t want to leave. Loved the classes and the people she met. Here’s hoping it all works out in the end.

11

Good luck with Barnard – I do think her chances are good ED. The language passion and self-study is something that will make her stand out, and her basic stats are definitely strong enough to qualify for admission. And if admitted she’ll find she has all sorts of options-- not just the languages she is now interested, but pretty much anything else she wants to explore as well.

12

Although your daughter seems to have found what she wants at Barnard, I’d like to point out that Hamilton does offer options for the study of Korean:

https://www.hamilton.edu/academics/catalogue/department-display?id=46

13

It’s not just whether a language is offered – it’s also important to check out how many years are offered. The Hamilton link shows that only two terms of Korean are offered – and the OPs’ daughter attended a class at Columbia (presumably intro level) and already knew everything they were studying – so it’s quite possible she’ll place into a higher level at the outset. Columbia offers 5 levels of Korean, up to graduate level. From the surnames of instructors listed in the course catalog, it looks like all levels are taught by heritage speakers.

Also, note that the Hamilton program is described as follows:

So it’s not just a question of whether a language is offered – it’s also important to look at the quality of instruction – levels offered, number of faculty, faculty background etc.

I think foreign language instruction for less common languages is one area where large universities with graduate as well as undergraduate programs are really at an advantage. They just have more resources overall. Barnard has the advantage of providing the benefits of a LAC (undergraduate focused education) with the resources of a large university. Foreign language sections typically are quite small even in a large U (at Columbia section size in Korean is limited to 14 — my daughter typically had 8-10 students in her Russian classes)

It’s not only the quality of classroom instruction - there are also the overall resources of the department. A Barnard student would have access to events like this one – http://ealac.columbia.edu/event/china-korea-relations/ (And that’s just looking at this week’s event schedule) So I can see why the OP’s daughter fell in love with Barnard after visiting for a day.

14

I see six.

15

@calmom you are right about the benefit of available resources at a larger university, especially for my D’s less-than-common interests. Looking at the available classes at both Barnard and Columbia, there was an incredible array of classes to choose from. That’s why she decided to look at bigger schools in the first place; she didn’t want to feel hemmed in - she just wanted more options.

16

@merc81 – you are right – I didn’t scroll down but stopped when I saw “Swahili” — I see more Korean classes at the bottom. But I still would have concern about the “self-instructional” model – sounds like that’s what the OP’s daughter is already doing. It might be a better alternative to a college that doesn’t offer Korean at all… but I think there’s a value in having a real teacher.

17

A bigger city like NYC or LA is going to have Korean cultural events, stores to shop in and converse in Korean, restaurants, even cable TV channels in Korean.

Smaller LACs just can’t offer everything to everyone. Grinnell canceled its football season today because they just don’t have enough players (healthy) left. If the Korean professor at a rural LAC takes a sabbatical or gets sick, will there be a replacement?

18

This isn’t college list related but I highly suggest she look into applying for the State Dept’s NSLI-Y program for either Chinese or Korena languagae study. They have both summer and full academic year programs (Gap Year eligible). They are offered as full merit based scholarships. Applications are available now.

https://www.nsliforyouth.org/

And look into Emory University.

19

IMO she should look into Wellesley College.

20

My son is taking Korean at Hamilton in addition to Japanese. It is a very small part of the critical languages department and isn’t as established as other languages, but it isn’t self-taught. He has an instructor and there is also tutoring available. Your student sounds like someone who will pursue the opportunities offered. You must be so proud! Good luck to your daughter!