<p>Tulsadem- I don’t know if anyone said this before but Brown sounds near-perfect. :)</p>
<p>You guys are right on - I love the Claremont Colleges</p>
<p>Pomona is my first choice, but I was deferred so we’ll see if that works out. Claremont McKenna is my second choice…</p>
<p>I’m also applying to Willamette, Whitman, Occidental</p>
<p>u chicago?, syracuse?</p>
<p>here’s my criteria:</p>
<p>politicaly active
intellectual
medium to large
near or in a city
diverse
has music/arts
allows undergrads. to talk one on one with professors</p>
<p>Hm… I’d think GWU for politically active, medium and in a city.</p>
<p>My ideal college:
-laid back students
-work hard/play hard
-strong academics (possible international focus)
-good foreign languages
-medium sized
-near or in a city</p>
<p>My ideal school:
-has less than 5000 undergrads
-either doesn’t have graduate programs or has a strong undergraduate focus
-has a beautiful campus (preferably with very traditional architecture)
-has a work hard play hard mentality
-has very good academics
-has a very strong campus culture (ie campus is center of almost all social stuff)
-preferably not in a city (this is slightly negotiable)
-has strong poli-sci, economics, language, or history programs
-is not regarded as a “haven for nonconformists”
-is not a tech school
-is very selective</p>
<p>williams, maybe? idk about the work hard/play hard thing, though. if you want “very selective”, that’s hard to come by (i assume by very selective you mean like top 20 in the US news rankings). Brown meets that criteria, though.</p>
<p>salpert - Macalester</p>
<p>la2pgh - Middlebury, Bowdoin, Davidson</p>
<p>la2pgh- princeton? i don’t know what’s reasonable, but if you can get it, it fits your criteria!</p>
<p>la2pgh: based on listed criteria, Dartmouth is perfect</p>
<p>la2pgh- Dartmouth, maybe Amherst or Princeton too.</p>
<p>la2pgh, I would add Duke to the mix. It has slightly more than 5,000 undergrads, but everything else fits to a tee! I also think you would like Bowdoin, Carleton, Haverford and Middlebury.</p>
<p>for la2pgh–I second what other people are saying!</p>
<p>I’m looking for a fairly small (at least under 10,000 students, preferably under 4,000) friendly LAC, that is also academically-oriented (I’m not afraid of working hard! In fact, I enjoy it.). I have a passion for learning and enjoy being around others like me.
I’m looking for a fairly selective but not HPY selective (20-40 percent acceptance rate-ish).</p>
<p>I want to go to a place where there is a strong NON-drinking scene because I’m not going to partake in any drinking in college. I want to go somewhere where people are friendly and approachable and it’s easy to find activities, people, and fun which does not involve drinking/outrageous parties.</p>
<p>I’m not as wild about going somewhere in the deep south or somewhere that’s too much of a haven for non-conformists (On the other hand, a little non-conformity is always good!). I’d prefer somewhere where the Greek system isn’t too much a part of the social scene.
Also, I would like to go to a school where there are small class sizes and there is easy access to teachers. Lastly (I know I’m asking a lot!), I would like the students to be encouraging of each other, rather than competing against each other. I would like a school that has a nice campus–if it’s in the city, then it NEEDS a significant campus. Any suggestions? </p>
<p>I’ve asked other places before, but didn’t include the non-drinking, which is actually rather a big requirement (I have a health related problem which would limit it, and I’m not interested anyway). I’m not by any means expecting the entire student body not to drink–I know the realities of college life–I just want it to be relatively easy to find friendly people who don’t drink and on-campus activities that don’t involve drinking.</p>
<p>Poetrygirl, you might consider the University of Chicago. True, it’s not an “LAC” by definition, but there are about 4700 undergrads and the College is truly an autonomous sort of division; the only contact with grad students you’ll usually have is when they TA classes (I had 4 grad student TAs for a 40 person English class, which is excellent) and occasionally when they teach classes in their field. That being said, the vast majority of my classes (even outside of my major) are taught by University faculty. UChicago takes its undergrads seriously. It’s an extremely academically-oriented place, but not a competitive one. Students are extremely cooperative (depending on individual comfort levels, of course) and respectful of each other as fellow students. Study groups abound, and there’s help wherever and whenever you need it.</p>
<p>I actually transferred to UChicago from Boston University to escape the drinking scene and I’ve been extremely happy with what I’ve found. There’s all sorts of good times to be had without imbibing; those who do drink copiously are in the distinct minority here. I’ve heard the party scene here described as “here if you want it, not here if you don’t,” and I would agree. The Greek system exists but is hardly noticeable. </p>
<p>UChicago’s location and campus are perfect. It’s set a few miles south of downtown (anywhere from 6 to 9, I think, I can never remember) such that going into the city for a weekend jaunt only takes two dollars and 15 minutes. The actual campus is very physically manifest – the architecture is wonderful, the quads are spacious. True, you might still observe you’re in the city, but it’s not terrifically hustle-bustle, and certainly not overwhelming. To put all this in perspective, I grew up in Dover, New Hampshire and was absolutely overwhelmed by BU’s campus (“concrete jungle”); UChicago has all the trees, grass, hallowed halls and squirrels you could ever imagine.</p>
<p>And it’s a very selective school. The percentage accepted has hung around 35-40% for the last couple of years. Next year they’re switching to the common application, so you might find yourself in a somewhat larger pool.</p>
<p>Hope this helps – if you think I’m a bit biased, you’re right, though I have good reason to be. Check it out! [Uchicago</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uchicago]Uchicago”>University of Chicago - Wikipedia), [The</a> University of Chicago](<a href=“http://beta.uchicago.edu/]The”>http://beta.uchicago.edu/) and <a href=“https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/legendsmyths/University/index.html[/url]”>https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/legendsmyths/University/index.html</a>.</p>
<p>Followup: You might also consider that UChicago takes creative writing very seriously, particularly with regards to poetry and poetics. There are several classes every quarter ranging from beginning to advanced skill levels, and lectures and readings related to poetry constantly happen on campus. [Creative</a> Writing at The University of Chicago](<a href=“http://creativewriting.uchicago.edu/]Creative”>http://creativewriting.uchicago.edu/), [UChicago</a> - Poetics - Events](<a href=“http://poetics.uchicago.edu/events.html]UChicago”>http://poetics.uchicago.edu/events.html)</p>
<p>You didn’t answer mine…</p>
<p>Oh just noticed one person did, but in general I got skipped over :)</p>
<p>My ideal school:</p>
<ul>
<li>Is at least somewhat prestigious (i.e. should get me a high paying job after graduation)</li>
<li>Has a very active campus centered social scene (city life should be kept to a minimum)</li>
<li>Has a work hard, play hard mentality </li>
<li>Has friendly, outgoing students</li>
<li>Fraternities and sororities don’t have to dominate the social scene, but there should be inclusive frat parties every weekend (or all week long)</li>
<li>Alcohol should be widely available</li>
<li>Preferably should be in a location with good weather</li>
<li>Preferably has a large student body and impersonal classes (I know most people clamor for the opposite, but I dislike class discussions).</li>
</ul>
<p>You guys were spot on. I really like Dartmouth, Carleton, and Middlebury.</p>
<p>salpert–how about Georgetown? The campus is really nice, there seems to be a good variety of students–it’s in DC but there’s still a nice campus, and they have an international focus.
I visited there and it seemed like a really great school.</p>
<p>rainmanoutofsnow–thanks for the suggestion! I’ll definitely look more closely at UChicago.
Does anyone else have suggestions for me? I’d appreciate it!</p>
<p>Pear–what about Emory or Duke? They’ve got nice weather and fairly big Greek/party scenes I think. I don’t know about the campus social scene, but they are definitely prestigious schools. </p>
<p>I’m not sure about class size, but Duke has 6,100 undergraduates and Emory has 5,600 undergraduates. Not huge schools, but not tiny either. You could also look at University of Virginia, with 13,000 undergrads.</p>
<p>Here are my ideas for a dream college:</p>
<p>1) Good Academic Environment - I don’t mind working hard, but I don’t want to be consumed by only academics, or being in a cutthroat environment. Basically you have fun learning and you have to work hard, but not insanely hard to keep up.</p>
<p>2) Sports - Either Division 1 really good team that the school adores and follows everywhere or a small Division III school with a noncompetitive team I could maybe play on. Anyway, the students have to have fun doing something athletic.</p>
<p>3) Location - My ideal situation would be in a small, but artsy city but within an hour or two’s drive of a big city so I could always escape there if I wanted too. It’d be nice for it to be in the general south-east area, but Im not limiting it there so don’t make that a big point. Nowhere to far up northeast though, don’t feel like freezing my butt off all year (I’m from Georgia)</p>
<p>4) Campus - I’d like it to be pretty, natural not all industrial buildings in the middle of the city. Must have its own obvious campus area, not be freely connected with the city and all. </p>
<p>5) Social-Life: I want their to be fun things that you can do that don’t involve drinking or drugs. They can be a part of the community, but there also has to be an alternative to those activities such as sports events, local movie theatres/interesting city life, and movie theatres or writing communities.</p>
<p>6) I’d like to go to a school with a good English and/or a good writing program.</p>