Finding colleges that aren't the typical BS counselor recommendation

Prep School Admissions
21

I think we are agreeing — what I meant is that college selection should not be limited by location as the “perfect” college may not be in your backyard, so we took location for (both BS and) college off the criteria list. We would have flown or driven to the ends of the earth for either. (And a huge thank you to those local parents who stood in the gap for us when it wasn’t feasible for our son to travel across the country to be home over every break.)

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22

May I make a suggestion :golf:

23

Location, Location, Location?

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24

Probably this thread:

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25

Here are some suggestions - places we have been, places I have played.

  • Lewis & Clark College
  • University of Washington
  • Davidson College
  • Rhodes College
  • Boise State
  • St Olaf College
  • Carleton College
  • Reed College
  • Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff)
  • Trinity University - San Antonio, TX
  • University of Puget Sound
  • University of British Columbia
  • SCAD (if you want to study art, design, restoration)
  • College of Charleston
  • University of The South
  • Oxford College of Emory University
  • Rollins College
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26

Ann Arbor is truly a fantastic college town (#1 in my book, #2 on the list). Our years there were magical, and I would give my left arm to do it all over again.

Go Blue!

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27

Nice to see the UMich course move up a bit in the rankings. Walked a lot of rounds there.

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28

DS knew what he wanted to study, what locations he was agreeable to live in, size of college he would be comfortable at and what type of social life emphasis he’d be comfortable with. He both went through Fiske’s guide and either SCOIR or KickStart (or both) and plugged these factors in. It gave him plenty of options. Then, he did the research for each school individually.

He applied to 8 schools. No Ivies. He even said last night (after learning that several kids with lesser stats got in to several) that he just didn’t want to be in an Ivy-type school. Several of the schools he applied to were “outliers” to the school’s normal list.

There are several “college finder” sites on the internet. They also have “if you’re interested in this school…”suggestions. Plus, the CC can work with a preliminary list and make even more suggestions or give feedback with the BS’s track record with the schools on the prelim list. It worked for us.

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29

Just throwing this out there… Roanoke College in Salem VA… it is a small private LAC, very similar in feel to our BS. DS declined it the first time around, despite a VERY generous merit offer. Now, looking to transfer from his larger, very impersonal, very disappointing state school, Roanoke has offered him SIGNIFICANT merit aid, again, this time for a college GPA that was not stellar… I continue to be amazed at how they can afford to do it. But it is worth a look for a certain type of student looking for very generous merit aid, and a 2000 student, small college town feel.

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