We’re working to get to a final list of schools for my son, and wanted to get feedback from the folks here. I’ve been on this site for a few years now, starting with my older son’s college search (he’s now studying CS at UIUC), and have been following things more closely the last year or so, trying to pick up things that would be helpful for my younger son, who will be a senior this coming fall. So we’ve been through this once, but it’s going to be very different this time around, since my younger son’s interests and preferences are so different. I’ve amassed quite a list of schools to consider – way too many :-), so mostly I’m interested in cutting that list down, but I’m still open to hearing about schools we may not have considered.
Apologies in advance for the length of this post, but I’m trying to include all the relevant information.
About my son: He’s very strong academically – I don’t know his exact GPA, not sure exactly how his school calculates it, but he’s got just one B so far, the rest A’s, taking a rigorous courseload; his school doesn’t do rank; he scored a 36 on the ACT; and he scored well enough on the PSAT to be a strong NM candidate. He’s a strong writer, and, judging by their responses at PTCs, his teachers like him, so I expect his essays and letters of reference to be strong.
As to his extra-curriculars, they’re more average, particularly relative to his academic achievements. His biggest EC is music – he plays the viola, and as well as playing in a variety of community orchestras, he’s achieved All-State each year in high school. Otherwise, he’s got a variety of activities, nothing real consistent, deep, or accomplished – one sports team for four years, another for two; some math and science competitions, a number of other clubs and activities at school, and he’s got a job this summer (which may continue on).
He’s interested in studying physics, and realizes that will likely require going on to grad school and getting a Ph.D. But his interests are fairly broad – he’s not just a math/science kid – so he would like a school where he can explore a variety of subjects (although he’s not interested in double-majoring).
He’s interested in small- to medium-sized schools. Some of the common descriptors apply to his preferences: quirky, liberal, collaborative, open, not mainstream. He likes playing games (all kinds – computer/video games, board games, RPG). Some of the things he talks about are being able to find a group he can play the kinds of games he likes with, and finding people that he can have deep/interesting conversations with on a variety of subjects and classes.
Geographically, he’s looking in the midwest, northeast, and west. He’s fairly open as to location and weather, although he would prefer the school be near or in a decent-sized city (but he doesn’t really like being in the midst of a big city). He’s not interested in sports, and wants a school with little/no greek life, and no religious affiliation (except perhaps Quaker). He’d be perfectly happy at a LAC, although preferably one with interesting things going on in science and physics in particular.
We live in Illinois, so UIUC is a natural choice. In fact, it’s a good comparison point, because he’s almost certain to get in, and it’s affordable for us. And, we can’t really afford much more than that, so any school with a net cost much more than UIUC’s in-state cost will likely not be feasible.
As to our financial situation, we’re middle income (with no unusual circumstances, like owning a business), and can expect at least some financial aid at schools with only need-based aid. Whether it will be enough is unclear, and will depend on the school. We’ve run a few NPCs, and in some cases, the net cost was doable, and in others not. (We will run the NPCs again, as part of the process of finalizing the list.) I also expect that my son can get good merit aid at a number of schools, and that may get the net cost down to around the level of UIUC’s cost. So we are trying to include schools known for good merit aid on the list.
This gets to one of the tricky points of this search. My son would much prefer not to go to UIUC – it’s too close, and doesn’t really match what he’s looking for in a school. So we’re really trying to find an affordable alternative.
Another important point: My son is smart and he’s a hard worker, but he’s not super intense. So he’s already cut some of the schools known to be very intense (e.g., Caltech, Reed). But some other schools in that category are still on the list, because he’s gathered from what he’s read that they still allow for other activities and a life outside of classes. I can appreciate his not wanting to go to one of these super intense schools; still, I feel that he’ll best be served by going to a school with smart, hard-working, motivated, ambitious students. So we’d like to find a school that has that, while not being too intense.
So, on to the schools we’re considering. These are organized roughly by what category I think they fall into for my son (e.g., reach, match). I don’t want to get sidetracked into discussion about whether I’ve miscategorized any, but if you feel any are way off, let me know. For now I haven’t really included any pure safeties – we may add one or two of those (e.g., Truman State or UMN-Morris). A ‘*’ indicates we’ve visited the school (and while we’d like to visit many more of these schools, it’s not clear that will be possible). And we’re also aware that for many of these schools, showing interest is an important factor.
reach: Amherst, Brown, Harvey Mudd, Pomona, Stanford, Swarthmore, U Chicago*, Williams
high match: Bates, Carleton, Grinnell, Hamilton, Haverford, Middlebury, Tufts, Vassar, Wash U, Wesleyan
match: Case Western, Oberlin, Rochester
low match: Dickinson, Earlham, Kalamazoo, Lawrence, Lewis and Clark, Occidental, Puget Sound, Skidmore, Willamette, Wooster, UIUC
At this point, he’s nowhere near having a clear first choice (although he’d probably name U Chicago if asked – and yes, he knows about their essays, it’s one of the things about the school that intrigues him). Partly because of this – and also because finances are a big consideration – we’re not currently planning on his applying anywhere ED (but yes to EA, so hopefully he can get some early acceptances in the bank).
So, again, feel free to comment on any aspect of things mentioned in this post, but my primary purpose is to get close to a final list of schools. Comments on particular schools, or general strategies for pruning the list would be helpful.
Thanks!
). We actually started out with a list almost twice this size, most of which I had come up with. Then I had my son do some reading and research (mostly from a recent Fiske guide) to categorize schools by preference, and that’s what led to the current list (all the dropping from that huge list was based on his categories).