<p>OK I am seriously in a rut as far as narrowing down my list of schools. I'm looking for a small-to-mid-sized school, with a rigorous academic program and more intellectual student body. Here's where I'm for sure applying:</p>
<p>U of Chicago
Reed
Swarthmore
Carleton
Williams</p>
<p>Here are the "second tier" schools I am trying to narrow it between in rough order of what I am at now:</p>
<p>I get the sense that some of these (Georgetown and Tufts in particular) are kind of lingering on there and don't really fit perfectly with what I'm looking for. Out of these, which are most like the five I'm for sure applying to?</p>
<p>There are some people on this board who will quickly suggest that their schools are the best at everything, but it's not true. Tufts does not have the reputation of being at all like Chicago, Swarthmore, and Reed. It's a fine school, but its reputation for academic rigor really isn't in the same category.</p>
<p>Of the others on your list (and are you looking for any safeties???), those with a reputation that comes closest to those three for a "life of the mind" are hard to tease out. MIT is very rigorous, for instance, but I don't get the idea that MIT undergrads sit around discussing the merits of Spinoza until the wee hours. So it's a different kind of school. If it were I, I would probably eliminated Tufts, Georgetown, Kenyon, and Mac. Then I'd probably eliminate MIT because it's just a different kind of school.</p>
<p>You could use a few more criteria to prioritize your choices. </p>
<p>Such as:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Course offerings and reputation in particular areas you even vaguely might become interested in;
-within 40 minutes of a city (such as 4 of your top 5 choices), or no place near one whatsoever? I assume you must care about location to some extent, because Grinnell is not on your list but everyplace usually mentioned with it is.</p></li>
<li><p>What kind of people do you prefer to associate with. Do you want to hang out with predominantly, or largely, athletes and future investment bankers?Or future professors and public interest lawyers? Prepsters,hipsters, or just plain nerds? Etc. There are % Phd lists floating around that might give some insight into the prevailing personality types. Stats on % of student body involved in athletics. As well as guide book descriptions. This can be relevant, particularly at LACs. Even if you don't personally have a preference, many of your fellow LAC classmates will.</p></li>
<li><p>How much hassle do you want to have to get to and from school? do you want to be able to drive up and back easily? Or will you be outside of car access, and therefore maybe have to store your stuff up there someplace?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Weather preferences? Easier access to preferred extracurriculars? (eg skiing, music scene,or whatever you like to do)</p>
<p>These schools are all "good" you just need to apply your own preferences to weed them down. This is all called "fit". You have too many good choices, so you can be picky based on the accumulation of these secondary considerations.</p>
<p>These are all very different schools... What do you WANT in a school?</p>
<p>Bates: great profs, preppy population (that tries sometimes to not seem that way, but fails), but more laid back than Bowdoin.
Bowdoin: PREPPY!!! Great profs.
Oberlin: Uber-liberal. Attracts mentally ill students. Very musical campus, due to the conservatory. More hippy-like population (opposite of Bowdoin).
Georgetown: Conservative. In my mind, nobody who would want to attend Oberlin (or Reed, for that matter) would feel comfortable in G-Town
Middlebury: The social life here revolves more around liquor than some of the other schools you listed.</p>
<p>Does Carleton let you have a car on campus? Check that out.
Swarthmore's student body is very competitive, from what I hear. I don't know if it is true, but I've heard some nasty things about students ripping out pages in library books, etc. to gain advantage over their peers.</p>
<p>I know Carleton doesn't let you have a car on campus (although some students get exceptions) but their rationale for that as a broader part of their school policy towards inclusiveness actually appeals to me. </p>
<p>Thanks for the comments on some of the other schools. I definitely don't want a super "preppy" or super alcohol-soaked school.</p>
<p>I think my daughter would say the same about schools with conservative student bodies.</p>
<p>But in the off-chance somebody is taking this statement literally, no there is no outreach program in the nation's pyschiatric wards, so far as I'm aware. I imagine their mental health services department does some business, like most of the other schools, and I've no reason to imagine the extent is materially any different.</p>
<p>Although it's quaker and has the honor code, I would put Haverford with Williams. Both schools are intellectual, well rounded and sports oriented. </p>
<p>Williams also has very good fine arts, music, visual arts and theater and dance.</p>
<p>All these are wonderful schools. Why eliminate any, unless there is a financial consideration. </p>
<p>If you need to eliminate, S eliminated Yale (didn't think he'd get in), Georgetown (didn't want the religious atmosphere) Harvard (see Yale), Middlebury (just didn't like for whatever reason), MIT (not a Techie) and Bowdoin (felt that he already had selective schools -- Dartmouth, Brown, Amherst, Williams -- and needed some less selective candidate.)</p>
<p>He added Wesleyan and Vassar to the list you have.</p>
<p>Oh, he didn't apply to Haverford either because its music program, even with Bryn Mawr, was just too small, but it's a wonderful school, and a close friend of his goes there and really loves it.</p>
<p>LOL, monydad. I would agree. And, just to clarify, liberalness and mental illness definitely aren't associated in my mind, but Oberlin is definitely extremely liberal and unfortunately does seem to attract some very depressed and ill kids. I only have heard this from the students themselves, honestly. The two schools I've encountered this with the most are Bard and Oberlin. I'm sure that there are other schools that have a higher count, but I was only looking at certain (liberally leaning) schools. Of course, maybe at other schools it just isn't as obvious to the other students?</p>
<p>I agree. You've certainly done your homework. Leave them all in if you want. But using your "first tier" as a guide, this is how I'd rank your "second tier" schools as being more, or less, like your first tier group.</p>