@OutOfKantrol, now that you have decided that an LAC environment is the best fit, you will want to dive deeper into fit and begin to whittle down your list of Target, Reach and Safety Schools - you should probably have ~30% Target Schools and ~20% Safety schools.
As an International applicant with your academic profile, every top school (those with a 20-25% or lower acceptance rate will be a Reach, Target Schools will have a 25% to 35% accpetance rate, and above 40% will be a Safety.
I think you sound like you would like Yale or Brown. At any rate, I think you will get into many of the schools, especially as a full paying student, so I don’t think you need to apply to quite so many (I disagree that a 1550 is a 1580- if that were the case, there wouldn’t be a 1550 and a 1580). That seems like a lot of work (all of the applications are different even with Common App), especially as you’ll have exams. I am really jealous of you! I wanted to go to Oxbridge (my dad went to Oxford and my mum went to Cambridge) but we have been in the US for too long; I would not be considered a UK resident, even though I have dual citizenship. Anyways, my dad (a professor) really thinks that the US college system is better (he says BA in the US, MPhil in the UK and PhD in the US is the way to go). I would not be eligible for in-country tuition. But I would love to just read English! I looked at Williams but was turned off by the drinking/partying/sporty atmosphere. I am waiting to hear from Yale and Brown. Yale would be the dream and I wish I had applied SCEA (apply Early if you can, it really ups your chances). Otherwise, I will go to UT where I have been accepted into Plan II Honors. That would be fine too. There is always graduate school! Good Luck!
Looking at an overview of application figures it appears that a number of LACs experienced substantial increases in the number of internationals applying this year. How that will play out in the final number enrolled is impossible to say, but I don’t expect LACs to increase the percentage of internationals enrolled by more than one or two points.
It’s not so easy to get black and white figures on true international admissions (not including green card holders, expats and dual citizenships). From what I can deduce Williams received 1886 international applications and admitted 103, 5%. Swarthmore admitted about 109 internationals, but I can’t find the number that applied.
Here are a few comments from a selection of LACs. I would conclude that international recruiting has significantly intensified, and that high achieving international students worldwide have discovered LACs.
My advise to the OP is as before: Comb through the admissions data to get an idea of the college’s admission rate for internationals, consider all LACs with a high number (over 50) of enrolled international students, apply ED, add more mid-sized privates to your list, interview on campus wherever possible. You can use US acceptance rates for context, but be aware that international acceptances are not analogous to US rates.
A random sampling for Class of 2022:
Bates: International applicants increased by 105 percent, driven by triple-digit increases from China, Pakistan, India, and Ghana.
Smith: an “unexpected and welcome” 8 percent increase in international applications.
Whitman: The elevated number of international applicants is perhaps the most striking change. In 2016, 551 international students applied, 687 the following year and a whopping 1,197 in this year’s class. That figure beats out both California and Washington (1,070 and 1,009, respectively) and accounts for 24 percent of the total applicant pool. This year’s increase in international applicants (444) is responsible for 46 percent of the total growth (961).
Williams: We also saw dramatic increases in applications from American students of color and international students . . .The Office of Admission has devoted more time to international recruitment, traveling further and for more time this cycle than in previous years. These efforts, led by the new Assistant Director for International Recruitment Misha Garg, have proven successful; 22 percent of applications came from international students, an increase from 17 percent last year.
Grinnell: Grinnell is becoming more appealing to international students, as it received a record number of international applicants this year. “Last year, we had a total of 1,423 [international] applicants, something that we had never seen before,” said Jon Edwards, Coordinator of International Admission. “However, this year, the number of international applicants has risen to 1,534 and even more applications are on their way.”
Middlebury: The number of students of color and of international students (that applied) also reached new levels, breaking last year’s record highs—students of color with a 5.7 percent increase and international students with a 7 percent increase. . .The six countries with the largest number of applicants are, also in order, China, Pakistan, India, Kenya, Canada, and the U.K.
https://www.bates.edu/news/2018/02/21/bates-college-attracts-record-number-of-applications-for-incoming-class/
https://www.smith.edu/news/a-new-record-for-the-class-of-2022/
https://whitmanwire.com/news/2018/02/27/whitman-sees-ten-year-high-in-applications/
http://williamsrecord.com/2017/02/22/applications-to-college-jump-up-22-percent/
http://www.thesandb.com/news/applications-to-grinnell-stay-at-last-years-high-level.html
http://www.middlebury.edu/newsroom/archive/2018-news/node/563076
How about Hopkins for philosophy? They just received a $90million gift for their philosophy department from an alumnus. The univ is exactly the intellectual environment you are specifying.
Check on https://educationusa.state.gov/ for an advising center for your country to get info on applying to US colleges.
@OutOfKantrol I’m a bit amused by your comments about Bowdoin. Take a look at the CVs of the professors in their Philosophy department and that will tell you all you need to know about whether it is an “intellectual” enough place for you. http://www.bowdoin.edu/philosophy/faculty/
My head is spinning from reading this thread. I have many comments for you. You have a large and sprawling list that must be pared down. Up to 15 applications is doable, but quite a bit of work. The most competitive schools have many supplements that add significantly to the application time.
I think the most important thing is to apply to places that match you and your strengths. Pick right, highlight your strengths, and I believe a great college will grab you. You have so much to offer them. You are going to be spending a lot of money to attend an American school. It’s not about going to any old American school. It’s about going to the RIGHT American school.
I have a lot to say so I’m going to post a few times on different topics. The subject of this post: finding the right pond to swim in and the right fish to swim with!
Choose schools rich in kids with rich literacy skills because these are the kids you’ll want to be around, who will contribute to a stimulating environment in class.
For example, an application to Clark U, mentioned as a safety for you, is just flat out inappropriate. The middle 50% of verbal SAT scores (also variously referred to as Reading, Critical Reading, or Evidence-Based Reading) is 550 to 665 for their students. That means 75% of the students scored below 665, well below your SAT score of 800. 25% scored below 550! Think of the verbal score as a very rough proxy for reading ability, and reading ability as a very rough proxy for intellectualism.
(As an aside, Clark also has, at least a few years ago, some really annoying freshman-level required courses with limited spaces. Some kids have to take them as seniors because they aren’t able to get a slot. Also, Worcester is a bleak and depressing rust belt town.)
Compare the above statistics to Yale: their middle 50% scores for Reading are 720-800. That means 75% of their students have scored above 720, a feat impossible in the absence of strong reading skills. I think you need to be going to school with a large number of peers scoring at least in the high 600s to 700s on the verbal section. The middle 50% statistic is available for all U.S. schools. Google “middle 50% CR SAT” + school name and the information should come up.
If you want to go into even greater detail, you can pull up the Common Data Set for every college, which contains detailed statistics (more than you’ll probably want to grapple with). Look for the most recent data set, usually for either 2017-2018 or for 2016-2017. Scroll down to Section C9. After the middle 50% statistics section, the scores are broken down in more detail. So you can learn that Grinnell, with a middle 50% of 640 to 750, specifically has a student population where 49% scored above 700, and 41% scored from 600-699. For Swarthmore, with a middle 50% of 690 to 760, the figures are 78% for 700s and 21% for 600s.
Before anyone reading this post takes umbrage, let me reiterate that SAT reading scores are indeed a rough rule of thumb for literacy skills. Some kids are bad test takers, and score below their ability and potential. Some kids hail from lower socioeconomic backgrounds which cause depressed scores. Some brilliant students are English as a Foreign Language speakers and thus will score lower on this measure. There are plenty of wonderful people in life who have average SAT scores. And there are plenty of people who have high verbal scores who are not interesting people or good people.
Now let me point out another implication. At a school with a lower percentage of the 700+ kids, there will be more opportunities to shine in the classroom. At a school like Grinnell, your intellectual skills could very well make you a star of your department and garner you a lot of attention. At a place like Yale, if the professor asks a question, twenty students will be vying to answer. You will be one of many very talented students. It’s a place where high school valedictorians are routinely shocked to discover they aren’t actually all that special. For some people, that can be a negative experience. If you are shy, or don’t flourish amid competition, a softer environment might be a more nurturing place for you. In a pond with more average fishes, your star can shine. But that is not the sense I get of you.
I will post again soon to discuss other factors to consider to sort through some of the “noise” of so many college possibilities.
Apologies if I’ve rubbed people the wrong with my comments concerning Bowdoin. I can see how they may look arrogant and supercilious which was not the way it was meant at all. I believe I phrased it badly.
Also I have a few questions concerning Williams and Dickinson that I was wondering if anyone could answer:
Williams – From the research I’ve done, I’m really liking the sound of Williams. My concern is that I’m putting too much emphasis on the things I do like about the school and not enough on the things I don’t. I love the tutorial system but it says on the Williams website that more than half of Williams take a tutorial. So almost half of students don’t even take a tutorial? The way some people talk about them makes it seem like you can take a tutorial every semester, but other people are saying you only take one or two. How much weight should I be giving the tutorial system when considering Williams? Also they clearly have a big sports scene, which looks like it is more being active than a spectator sports scene. Besides occasionally going hiking and the odd casual game of basketball, I’m really not that active at all. Will I be able to have a decent social life at Williams without being in a sports club or taking part in other physical activities?
Dickinson – I’m not sure whether I’m looking too much into this or not, but on the Common App most schools say something along the lines of ‘if English has not been the primary language of instruction at your school for the past three years, you are required to submit a TOEFL score’, however Dickinson’s application has all international students tick a box saying they will to submit a TOEFL score. Will I be expected to submit a TOEFL (or something similar) score? I’ve emailed the Dickinson admissions office but no one has gotten back to me yet; I assume it’s because April is a busy month.
yay, op! if you have any questions about grinnell, let me know! i’m a member of the incoming class, so it’s nice to see you’re considering it. 
@kalons Thanks, I’ll definitely take you up on that offer at some point. And congratulations about Grinnell!
@tmf2018 That’s just the way it goes - you always want what you can’t have. I hope Yale went well but if not UT-Austin is a fantastic school and I’m sure you’ll have an incredible time and education there.
Let me know if you need any info–I went to Grinnell and my husband to Middlebury. We, like the schools, are very different, but are “true intellectual companions.”
To answer today’s questions:
I have a question:
Someone mentioned that you have decided to pursue LACs as top priority. Is that true, or are you still considering universities as well?
If you were to attend Brown, to get the intellectual most out of it you’d want to push yourself to schedule tough classes and to avoid choosing the Pass/Fail grading option, which in theory would allow you to do just enough work, at the minimum accepted level of quality, in order to pass. The opencurriculum allows you to study whatever you like (basically…), which means you can make it as hard or as easy as you like.
@prezbucky No, that’s not true; I’m not pursuing LACs as a top priority, although most of my list is made up of LACs. Actually, I think my top choice would be a university with a clear undergrad focus (like Brown and UChicago), however there don’t seem to be many of them. But really I’m fine with either. It does seem that more LACs have what I’m looking for though.
And thanks for the answers and tip about Brown. I’ll send Williams an email tonight.
Princeton has a very strong undergrad focus relative to the other hyperselective universities (Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT, Chicago, Columbia, Caltech) – those others are under 50% undergrad, while Princeton is about two-thirds undergrad. The makeup of the student body necessarily must direct the priorities of the school’s managers/executives.
Of course, a school does not have be at least 50% undergrad in order to be highly intellectual and rigorous – Chicago and Columbia are prime cases in point.
You seem to have stuck with most of the schools known for intellectualism and rigor that were on your list a month ago, and added some that aren’t thought to be as hard – like Brown – but (I’m sure) can be.
Finally:
@OutofKantrol, Williams’ tutorials are designed and offered by individual professors in individual departments. A larger department might offer several each term, but like any course offering, some are designed for first years and some have prerequisites. Generally tutorials are limited to 10 students, 5 pairs of 2. The topics are narrow enough to be explored in depth and broad enough to encourage tangential discussion (which is true of many LAC course descriptions).
Here’s a list of what’s on offer this year:
https://catalog.williams.edu/catalog.php?offered=Y&cmp=TUT
My son took two tutorials while at Williams. He enjoyed them quite a bit, but on balance preferred the small seminar with 6 to 8 students. Theoretically, nothing would prevent you from taking a tutorial every semester, but practically, you may be more interested in other courses being offered and choose accordingly.
All LACs field approximately 20 varsity teams. Some take performance more seriously than others, but they all have them. Plus there are intermurual teams and club sports. I think the question is not whether you’d be an outsider because you don’t participate in team sports (you wouldn’t) but rather what do you like to do when you’re not in class? The Williams kids I know tend to be energetic and involved, not necessarily in team sports, but often in some type physical activity – hiking, running, dancing, sledding, because it’s fun and social and a good way to burn off academic pressure. There is also a high level of involvement in the arts, in social advocacy and just plain hanging out with friends.
I think the major negative for you and Williams is that their international acceptance rates are very low, about 5%. If you like the idea of mid-sized privates with rigorous academics, you should expand your list beyond Brown, Chicago and the ivy league and other superselctives. Schools like Johns Hopkins, Tufts, Rice, Emory, Northwestern, Boston College, Brandeis are plenty intellectual, full of serious, accomplished students and top notch professors with impressive CVs.
I’m a Minnesota parent of a 17 year old daughter, not like you at all. But I attended two Ivyies - Dartmouth and Princeton, and I think I have a pretty good read on what you’re looking for.
If you’re looking for smallish, intellectual, not-to-rural schools that will be challenging and still fun, I think my list would be Swarthmore (near Philly), Haverford (same), Reed (Portland), Princeton (not urban, but great education) Carleton (small town in Minnesota, but folks love it, and I think you should visit) and maybe Rice (Houston). Any of those, I suspect would be fantastic for you. If you want to DM, just let me know.
@FrozenNorth I think you’ve hit the nail pretty spot on on what kind of schools I’m interested in. Swarthmore, Haverford, Reed, Princeton, and Carleton are all high up on my list. Interesting that you mention Rice; it seems to me very STEM focused. Any reason why you mention it?
Just a small update: I will be visiting colleges from the 28/4 to the 5/5. To make a long story short, my school gives students 3 university days and I got permission for an extra 2 more. I’m flying into Boston Logan on the evening of the 27th with my mum. I’m flying from Philly Int to Chicago O’Hare on the morning of the 5th, and back to the UK from there on the 6th. I’m visiting Swarthmore on the 4th and UChicago on the 5th. Apart from that I haven’t quite decided on an itinerary yet.
At the moment I’m thinking:
Wellesley (maybe)
Williams
Brown
Wesleyan (maybe)
Yale
Columbia (and possibly Barnard)
Princeton
Swarthmore
UChicago
What do you guys think? I won’t have time for both Wellesley and Wesleyan. At the moment I’m leaning slightly towards Wesleyan just on the grounds that I think I prefer it at the moment. Or do you think there’s another college I should be touring? And is it possible to do both Columbia and Barnard in the same day?
Also this won’t be my only chance to visit colleges; I will be visiting in October and the beginning of September if necessary.
Yes. They are essentially the same place and very small campuses. I think it would be easy to see both in 2 hours or less-- the onliy complicating factor would be start times for info sessions or formal tours, or if you wanted to sit in on classes.
It would really be crazy not to visit both at the same time.
Columbia and Barnard are across the street from each other. I can walk the entirety of both campuses in under an hour.
You’ve picked some unique places and with the possible exception of Yale and Princeton, no two are exactly alike. Visiting Wesleyan is important because it’s so hard to describe: part university, part small college, artsy, sporty, modern, traditional, activist and nerdy. Some people have used the word, “hodgepodge” to describe it, but, that IMO, merely begs further exploration.