Finding a college for me - LAC?

Parents Forum
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<p>Hello! I'm a big newbie here at this forum. I posted this exact same question in the College Search & Selection forum, but someone referred me to this forum thinking that I might get more advice here. I've learned some from my other topic, but I'd like to hear what people here have to say as well. :)</p>

<p>This is my same dilemma I posted earlier.. revised just a little.</p>

<p>Okay, I'm a high school junior from Oregon. My mom is a dentist and my dad is a biochemist so my parents have been steering me towards the sciences, specifically the medical field. I'm not terribly fascinated with these sciences just yet. It could be my teachers, or it could just be my lack of interest in self learning currently. But anyway, I've been refusing to completely pick what I want to do. I could very well end up being a dentist, though, like my mother wants. She thinks it'd be a real fit job from me and has been trying to convince me to get into dentistry my entire life. And now that I've grown up, I've actually started to consider it and I can actually start seeing myself in that category. Of course, I still have until next year to make my applications. My point here being that I'm not exactly sure on what I want from college as a major, but I'm leaning towards medical/dental.</p>

<p>The idea of going to a small LAC school attracts me because I want my college experience to greatly help me and my mind to grow in the liberal arts and in overall knowledge while having a fun time at school. The fact that I love the weather in the Northwest definitely limits my choices for an LAC. I've went to several schools around here and I'm liking the feel of Willamette, Lewis and Clark, and Whitman, though I'm not completely sure if I can get into all. Whitman doesn't have my ideal weather of Portland's, but I'm hoping I can deal with that. Also, L&C's hippie and weed reputation make me question this school as well as the idea of the Greek lives at Willamette and Whitman. I could make my college list maybe bleed into California, but I don't want it to be too hot. Weather is a big issue for my skin. I've considered the Claremont schools or Occidental but I don't really know the difference between them yet. I kind of just want a school where I'd fit in and have fun at while learning. I want a good community where I can really get to know people well.</p>

<p>So obviously, I would love to go to an LAC, but I was wondering how it would be to go pre-med or pre-dental in an LAC. Or if I should consider going to a college with something more medical-based. But people have taught me that getting into dental school really only takes a good GPA and a good DAT score, so I'm worried that it'll be so hard that I can't keep that and that I should really actually just go to some state school where I could probably easily pull out a 4.0 GPA.</p>

<p>There's too many college options... Money isn't too big of an issue. I might be able to get out a few merit-based scholarships, but that's not my focus currently. Right now, I just want advice on where I should be going. However, if it helps.. I don't have my PSAT scores back, and I haven't taken my SAT. But I plan to get my full IB diploma with an unweighted 4.0 GPA in the most difficult courses of my school, along with a good amount of ECs like varsity tennis (4 years), band (flute/7 years, 4 years high school), piano (12 years), newspaper (3 years), key club (2 years), library volunteering (3 summers). My brother's at Rice University and he wants me to go there with him but it's way too hot in Houston, and frankly, I don't think I'd get in or do well if I did.</p>

<p>My question is whether or not it's a good idea for me to decide to go to an LAC, or if it's a better idea for me to go get a different kind of education and then more specifically, if there are any other school suggestions.. and that would be wonderful. If you guys have any other questions or comments, feel free. I'm a newbie at this.</p>

<p>Thank you to everyone willing to help in advance. <3</p>

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<p>A quality LAC education will be fine for dental school, provided your GPA and boards are strong. The ones you mention are good options. You may well find the LAC offers smaller science classes with more involved teachers.</p>

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<p>Don’t let the Greek life at Whitman deter you–it’s not like other schools. My D says that at Whitman it’s very inclusive–she has no interest in joining yet she always included in their parties and events.</p>

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<p>LACs are great for med/dental school prep, especially because you get to do many things besides prof school prep AND they give you good personalized preparation for the application process. Oxy has a lot in common with Whitman–but is very urban in contrast to the small city/outdoorsy quality at Whitman. Don’t worry about the Greek thing at either place as it is NOT the stereotype of greek-ness–rather more like service clubs with an affiliated house and not exclusive at all. Seems like the geography is your major variable so you need to visit and see what fits.</p>

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<p>FYI
Medical school admission rates for some of the top LACs tops 75%.
The list includes:
Pomona
Swarthmore
Williams
Bowdoin
Davidson
just to name a few.</p>

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<p>Thanks yabeyabe2- The more people to back up my plan, the better I feel!</p>

<p>Wrist, yes I’ve heard that. I guess I’m just paranoid that it’ll affect the feel of the community, but thanks for the reminder and reassurance. :)</p>

<p>Mmaah, I’m hoping I can get to visit Whitman sometime. It’s kind of a long way to drive there… to like the middle of nowhere Walla Walla. Which is another thing that’s setting me back from there… It would be much faster to get home from around the Portland area like L&C or Willamette. It’d probably even be easier to fly back from California than to drive from Whitman. Haha. Hopefully I’ll also get a chance to go down to the LA area to visit Occidental and those Claremont schools. Thank you for your input!</p>

<p>Appdad, thank you, but yeah… I’m trying to stray away from those top schools. I might apply but they’re waay out there in a place I’ve never gone to. I’d feel more at home living along my beautiful Pacific. And I also fear that I have a high chance of not getting in, or I’ll feel out of place in one of those top schools if I do. Maybe you weren’t actually suggesting the schools for me, though, and just giving me examples to help me understand LAC med admissions… either way, thanks! :D</p>

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<p>Some of these schools might interest you:</p>

<p>[Colleges</a> That Change Lives](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/]Colleges”>http://www.ctcl.org/)</p>

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<p>These observations by an admissions counselor for med school might help you decide -
[Collegiate</a> Choice Walking Tours Videos - college videos, campus tours, college guides, college planning, college admissions](<a href=“http://www.collegiatechoice.com/mypre-med1.htm]Collegiate”>http://www.collegiatechoice.com/mypre-med1.htm)</p>

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<p>Reed would be an obvious choice if you want to be in/around Portland. </p>

<p>Most LACs have very good med school placement records (and I am sure dental is similar), and will prepare you very well for any type of graduate studies.</p>

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<p>I think they’d support you looking at Reed. Its top-tier LAC reputation includes a heavy focus on undergraduate education, and they have science programs as well (including, according to wiki, a nuclear reactor).</p>

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<p>Just so you have it clear, Reed is the Portland school with the hippy weed reputation, not L&C. Reed also does not offer any merit aid, only need based. Reed is an awesome school that challenges its students. L&C is a little more middle of the road academically but has a gorgeous campus.</p>

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<p>L&C also has a hippy weed reputation.</p>

<p>What about Santa Clara? University of the Pacific has been getting some love here on these boards too (though Stockton is NOT on the Pacific or even close). Or how about University of Puget Sound?</p>

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<p>My daughter is on a pre-vet track and looked primarily at LACs. Even though she was accepted into an animal science program at CPSLO she ended up attending an LAC instead because she wanted to have the small LAC experience. What we learned from talking to our vet (who graduated from UCD vet but transfered out of UCD as an undergrad) as well as the pre-professional counselors on the various campuses she looked into was that:</p>

<p>*Proportionally far fewer kids participate in science oriented pre-professional programs (like pre med pre dental and pre vet) at LACs but…
*Proportionally far more kids at the schools she was interested in end up being accepted into vet schools than what you would find at the major state flagship. This was true at Willamette, Linfield, Trinity U, Carroll College and Saint Mary’s College of CA.

  • a school like Oregon State or Cal Poly SLO may have more kids who get into vet school so they make up a larger part of the class but kids who earn a 3.0 or higher, score well on GRE or MCAT and graduate from an LAC are accepted too and from some schools in even greater numbers.</p>

<p>One case in point that I can recall is the TU pre-vet guy who said that though they only have 1 or two kids that complete the pre-vet advising program per year, the only vet school candidate who did not get accepted somewhere in his tenure had less than a 3.0. He even shared that a student from the previous year had been accepted into 2 vet schools which is pretty rare.</p>

<p>I guess what I am saying is that a good candidate is a good candidate and that the school you attend for undergrad needn’t fit neatly into the same box as most others in your field. Choose to be somewhere you love and it can happen for you. I would advise contacting the pre-med/pre dental advisors on the campuses in which you have an interest. They can answer your questions better than we can.</p>

<p>While we are making recommendations, Saint Mary’s College of California boasts an 80% med school acceptance rate I think. It, Linfield and Willamette all have their own cadavers (female and male) and are really strong LACs with wonderful science programs.</p>

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<p>A couple of observations for you that have not been mentioned if you do decide to look at schools in California:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>University of the Pacific is in Stockton. It is a beautiful campus, but in a very bad (very!) area, so to speak. Also, very HOT. (of these 3 choices, the Hottest and the Worst possible area - I do not go to Stockton, ever, at all!) It is not really selective, so you should have no problem getting admitted.</p></li>
<li><p>The Claremont Colleges, academically, sound like a perfect fit for you, as they have every type of class you can imagine. Basically the schools ARE the town. The campuses are also beautiful. Harvey Mudd is an excellent Science school, however you can take classes at all of the 5 schools, so you would have a very large variety of courses available for you (over 1000 total if I remember correctly). It is larger than a small LAC, with the 5 schools combined totalling around 5000 - 6000 students. So the social scene can be whatever you make it to be. They are an absolutely amazing group of schools with the most friendly students imaginable. Each of the 5 schools are very small. It really is a Consortium, with 5 small schools, housed on (basically) one campus, who share resources. And they are highly selective schools, but with your stats it looks like you would have a shot. However, Claremont is HOT. Not as hot as Stockton, but HOT. In the pool every day at certain times of the year hot.</p></li>
<li><p>Occidental is also a very pretty campus, however, again, not in the greatest part of town. Not terrible, just not the best. Much better than Stockton though! It is a small school with somewhere around 1500 students I think. Not as hot as the other two, but still warm since it is in So Cal. It is less selective, so most likely you would not have a problem getting admitted.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Both Oxy and the Claremont schools are in driving distance from the Pacific Ocean :-)</p>

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<p>I don’t understand where this anxiety comes from about not being able to get into places like Swarthmore, Rice, Pomona, etc. You’re a straight-A (assuming your school is on a four point scale) unweighted IB student who is a varsity tennis player and a musician. I’m not seeing any part about this that disqualifies you from the top Liberal Arts Colleges. </p>

<p>If you don’t want to go somewhere hot, I would avoid Whitman. Eastern Washington is a desert, it’s hot hot hot in the early fall/late spring and cold cold cold (especially at night) in the winter. It’s a little more like central or southern oregon than western oregon (not sure what part of the state you’re from),d ry, hot, windy. Of course, having grown up on both sides of Washington State’s “Cascade Curtain” I really do think Eastern Washington has it’s own special kind of natural beauty, but it’s a long way from the water.</p>

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<p>You might also want to look at smaller Seattle schools: Seattle University springs to mind. Or Evergreen College (even closer to Oregon!)</p>

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<p>If you like OR and WA, have you considered Linfield College and the University of Puget Sound as your financial (merit $$) and admissions safety schools? You can PM poster Son of Opie, he is a medical student who recently graduated from Linfield.</p>

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<p>As someone mentioned, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Middlebury, Wellesley and Smith (if you are a woman), Pomona, Wesleyan all have great record of admissions to medical school and you get a fantastic, well-balanced liberal arts education to boot. Class sizes are really small, emphasis is on a great education and you are taught by professors who are known in their fields. I know for sure that most of these LACs have fantastic science departments. </p>

<p>You should not go to an LAC if:

  1. You are a very advanced student in some field (say Math) and want to take advanced courses in college, say, graduate level courses since you have already taken undergraduate courses while in high school. If say you are a Math genius, and you know for sure you want graduate courses, then an LAC will not satisfy you.
  2. If world-renowned professors is what you are after, although many LACs also have world-renowned professors.
  3. If you want a great variety of courses - many LACs cannot afford to offer everything under the sun you want at the drop of a hat - although some LACs do. Money is a consideration.
  4. If you want an engineering education - although places like Harvey Mudd, Smith and Swarthmore have Engineering departments. Harvey Mudd has world-class engineering, in some people’s views.</p>

<p>I don’t know if you have seen standard discussions on LACs here on CC. There are some diehard people on one side or the other of discussions about LACs vs. Universities. I am not one of them.</p>

<p>Disclaimer: My son graduated from Swarthmore in 2008 and had a great experience there, so I’m not advocating one thing over another. You just need to know what you are getting into.</p>

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<p>Oh wow. That’s a lot of people. Thank you to everyone so much! This place is so helpful.
Man… I’m looking at my post now after I’ve typed it all up. I talk too much…</p>

<p>Thank you LasMa, +1 for Whitman! I’m going to Whitman’s college rep visitation thing at my school tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll learn a lot. I’ve also convinced my mom to take me to visit the campus. I’m so excited after going through the virtual tour they have on their website. I just need to find a time to go… since it’s a 4 hour drive out there, it’s more of a two-day thing.</p>

<p>Concerning Reed… that’s one of the schools that I kind of don’t want to go to because of the community. I don’t really like it’s reputation of a bunch of druggies at a hardcore school. I heard it’s extremely difficult there, and that’s kinda not what I’m looking for. I’m aware that it’s a great school, but it doesn’t seem to fit my personality. Not to say that there’s not a big bunch of people who are wonderful, but you know… iffy.
I also unfortunately won’t be able to qualify for financial aid… so if I can’t get any merit-based scholarships from any school, those schools will probably drop down on my list since they’re so expensive.</p>

<p>Thank you, historymom. That’s what I was aiming for from my topics. I’m so happy that I’m reassured about my LAC decision. They sound like such a great time and such a great experience. I’m excited to start making an official list of colleges for myself now from all the advice this forum has given me! I don’t think I’m going to apply to Linfield… I didn’t really like the feel of the campus. It was kind of flat and… I want to say “boring”, but I didn’t get to experience everything. It just didn’t seem like there was a lot there for me.</p>

<p>DVC Daisy, thanks. I will be sure to not apply to University of the Pacific… haha. Also, I was wondering what the difference between the Claremont schools is… I’m aware Harvey Mudd is good for engineering, but other than that… if I were to apply to one, I’d have no clue which one to apply to. I’ll have to research this. I will probably apply to Oxy, though.</p>

<p>In response to SmithieandProud… I think I have anxiety because I’ve always been kind of passing by and stealing my As, because I really don’t feel like I try that hard, compared to my brother at Rice especially. He’s much more intelligent than I am. Not that I’m not intelligent, but… I don’t know. I also have this feeling that I won’t do good on my SAT either, even though I haven’t taken it yet. I really should study for that more. I think those top schools are too prestigious for me, though. I feel like I would feel that it would be too hard for me, especially when I’m trying to keep a good GPA. My mom is also against me going to a school that might be sitting on a very difficult level for me. Those schools are also all pretty far away, and Whitman is definitely a good enough school for me, while being relatively close.
About the weather at Whitman… I’m aware it’s not that great. But if the community and the school is as great as everyone claims for it to be, then I’m definitely going to consider to just toughen myself up and stand the horrible weather they have there. I’m from the Portland area. I’ll probably try to avoid living at Whitman for the summer as a job. I’ve considered Seattle University and Evergreen, but it just makes more sense to me to stay in Oregon if I’m not going to go to a college higher up on the list. I’m going to apply to OSU or UofO as my very backup. Thank you very much for your input. These ideas have been floating in my head, but I haven’t been able to write them down yet till now.</p>

<p>Yes, BunsenBurner I have looked at those schools, but thanks for mentioning them. Like I said earlier, I did visit Linfield, but I don’t think I would really enjoy it there. I’m going to look more into Puget Sound soon and see if it’s a good backup. No use in spending money to apply if I wouldn’t even go!</p>

<p>Achat, I’m for sure keeping those schools in the back of my mind. I need to think about this for a while longer and if I’d end up wanting to go so far away to such prestigious schools… that is if I were to even get accepted, which I’d have to look more into after I take my SAT. I don’t want any of those that you listed, which is a good thing, I think! Well, a variety of classes is obviously never bad, but I would definitely be happy as long as I learn what I need to learn. Thanks much. :)</p>

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<p>Well, I can understand wanting to go to a school with a high GPA if you want to go to a good dental school, GPA and MCAT are important. </p>

<p>BUT, I wouldn’t sell yourself so short. So maybe you’re not a super-genius like your brother (I’m sure he’s not as genius as you think), but you are definitely intelligent. You don’t pull a 4.0 in IB classes without being smarter than the average bear. Maybe you just underrate yourself because you’re in classes with a lot of high achieving students? I’m sure you’ll do well on your SATs too, the test is designed for kids who study below the IB level (really below the AP level too). </p>

<p>Not to say that the list you’re interested in is bad, but with your stats you could definitely have your pick of schools. Don’t let self-doubt narrow your focus too much.</p>