<p>This is my second post for helping my D find the right college. We are looking for a small college on the east coast that fit a few of the following criteria:</p>
<p>Friendly Campus
Diverse population
An academic school (as opposed to a party school)
A non-cliquey environment (thats similar to high school)
A place where students grow both academically and personally
Strong Alumni</p>
<p>D is still a Junior in high school, but I would like to start narrowing the search to around 5 or 6 colleges. She hasnt taken her SATs yet, but PSATs will be out in December. Her current class rank is in the top 10. </p>
<p>The profile of my D is friendly, but a bit quirky. She doesnt drink or party, but would prefer small get togethers with friends. Upon graduation she will have taken five AP classes. She also plays a varsity sport and is on the student council. </p>
<p>The following are a list of colleges she thinks might be a good fit her:</p>
<p>Wheaton College MA
WPI
Brandeis University
Connecticut College
Tufts University (reach)
Amherst College (reach)
Williams College (reach)</p>
<p>My first post was on the Wheaton College MA board, but nobody responded. I didnt notice the parent forum until today. </p>
<p>This is my first venture into helping to select the right fit for D, so any insight from a parent whos been through this, or is going through this, would be appreciated.</p>
<p>First, figure out the financial parameters, meaning how much you are willing to contribute to your daughter’s college costs.</p>
<p>Then run the net price calculator on each college’s web site (or use collegeabacus.com to do more than one per data entry) to get financial aid estimates.</p>
<p>This can give you an idea of whether you and your daughter are looking for need-based aid or merit scholarships in the college search.</p>
<p>Make sure that there is at least one safety that she is sure to get into and will certain be comfortably affordable. Start the list with the safety.</p>
<p>Without stats it’s a little tough to recommend schools. My suggestion is to do a lot of visiting. Sounds like your D would fit in well in the south. Check out Washington & Lee, U of Richmond, Wake Forest, Duke, Davidson, Elon, Furman, Emory, and Tulane for starters.</p>
<p>Bates! I’m not sure how diverse Bates is but otherwise, it’s a very friendly, warm place that has great academics, no fraternities or sororities and really prides itself on its inclusiveness. My son is a freshman this year and loves everything about it. I think what ultimately sold him on Bates was during his overnight. He, his host and several other hosts/prospects were sitting together in the dining hall when they noticed a student sitting by himself eating so they invited him to eat with the group. My S later learned that the student was a complete stranger to them. My S is deaf - he has a profound hearing loss and has two cochlear implants so as such has a “difference” but he feels right at home at Bates, in spite of being I believe the only kid there with a hearing loss. </p>
<p>Athletics is important at Bates and is definitely part of the culture though arts seems to be equally as important. There’s something for everyone there.</p>
<p>There are several Bates alums in the area where we live and when I mention my son is there, all you hear is how much they love the school. We attended a panel during accepted students open house - a young woman who was about to graduate was asked if there was anything negative she could say about the college. She nearly started crying and said “it only lasts four years!”</p>
<p>We’ve been <em>very</em> pleased with his choice and feel very fortunate he’s there.</p>
<p>On the drinking/partying thing: many, many kids do not drink or party in HS, but they do so in college to some degree. This does not mean that they turn into raving party animals, but they don’t stick to milk and cookies, either. I think that this may be quite common among serious HS students who are turned off by the antics of their less academically engaged classmates while in HS.</p>
<p>Do you have any idea of her likely academic interests? Not specific majors, but perhaps sciences, social sciences, languages, humanities, etc. What kids of activities interest her? Is her idea of a great winter afternoon drinking coffee and browsing a great bookstore followed by a foreign film, or skiing? Would she really like to have access to both, or is one more optional than the other?</p>
<p>There are, as I’m sure you know, many LACs that would suit her.</p>
<p>Cross-posted with BTMell: Bates was a place I thought she would really like. It sounds like Wheaton would probably be a safety for her. I think she would probably like something more challenging.</p>
<p>Adding to the list you already have…Skidmore and Stonehill. They have about the same “diversity” as the schools you already have on your list. What about Marist?</p>
<p>Or American University, Haverford, Swarthmore, Vassar?</p>
<p>Would she consider any of the women’s colleges? Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Bryn Mawr?</p>
<p>Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, and Smith are all diverse and academically oriented. There is also Middlebury, Bowdoin, Bates (as cited above), Bard, Skidmore, Vassar…IMHO the field is too wide to make recommendations without more info.</p>
<p>An academic school (as opposed to a party school</p>
<p>lol…you may not realize that most schools, except the bible schools, are going to have lots of parties. MIT, one of the most “academic” of all univs is known for its parties. Seriously, the kids from Tufts take the public trans to MIT on weekends for “the best parties.”</p>
<p>When you get a bunch of 18-22 year olds together, you’re going to have parties and sex…nearly no way to get around that.</p>
<p>*On the drinking/partying thing: many, many kids do not drink or party in HS, but they do so in college to some degree. This does not mean that they turn into raving party animals, but they don’t stick to milk and cookies, *</p>
<p>Exactly. And, there are many non-partying (or less partying) kids at so-called party schools.</p>
<p>However, the level of partying can vary between schools. Parties are available almost everywhere, but non-partiers may find some schools more or less comfortable environments.</p>
<p>Alcohol drinking and binge drinking have been found to vary between schools as well. Characteristics associated with less binge drinking include historically black school, women’s school, no/less fraternity/sorority presence, less prominent sports, commuter schools, 2-year schools, not in northeast or north central region.</p>
<p>First of all, thank you for the feedback. I am not under any false illusions regarding drinking and sex in our colleges, but I do believe that if we consider the more academic schools it does minimize the degree of partying.</p>
<p>D has stated that she does not want to go to an all womens school, and would like to attend in the northeast. This rules out some great schools such as Wellesley and Mount Holyoke (both of which I like).</p>
<p>Skidmore and Bard are definitely a consideration, but Bates is not. She had a cousin who went there and then transferred out. Due to the surrounding cities, Trinity and Clark were both taken off the list.</p>
<p>Yes, finances are a concern and we are hoping for a merit scholarship of a certain amount.</p>
<p>D s interest in the area of Math/Science with a possible major of Biotechnology. </p>
<p>Does anyone have opinions about Wheaton College MA, WPI, Brandeis University and Connecticut College?</p>
<p>Conn, Tufts, Amherst and Williams give primarily need based aid. To be honest, I am not sure they award merit aid at all. You should check this.</p>
<p>The northeast is FULL of colleges. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean about an “academic school”. To be honest, I think there are academic vs party folks at EVERY college. If your kiddo is worried she won’t find her people, you might want to consider a larger vs smaller school. Simply put…in a freshman class of several hundred, she could go through groups of students and maybe not find her niche. With several thousand, there will always be others to meet.</p>
<p>Ok…what about Boston College, Northeastern, Boston University, Providence College, Stonehill (very similar to Wheaton), Hamilton, Ithaca, Holy Cross?</p>
<p>More important than the amount of the scholarship is the bottom line that you’ll be paying. If one school offers your daughter, say, $15k a year of merit off of a list price of $55k, and another school offers no merit aid at all but the list price is $35k, the second school is going to be more affordable.</p>
<p>Have you tried running the Net Price Calculators for each of the schools on your daughter’s initial list? That can give you a first glimpse into how much the schools will cost. Tufts offers essentially no merit aid (and I’m guessing the same is true for Amherst and Williams) but can be generous with need-based aid.</p>
<p>It’s too early to be narrowing the list. You don’t have her test results, her junior grades or AP scores. That info won’t only effect admissions but also merit aid potential. She’ll grow a lot this year and what seems attractive now may not appeal to her later. My own DD had about 20 colleges on her list beginning on junior year. By this past July she’d narrowed to 8 and remained stable. I’ll add that only 3 of those schools were on that fall list.</p>
<p>We found Cappex very useful for searching and keeping track of potentials. It’s an easy way to get some information on schools and some visuals on where you land with other applicants and a rough guesstimate on costs. You will still need to research the individual colleges and run their net-price calculators but it’s a good place to start.</p>
<p>I’m a big fan of Wheaton as well as Connecticut College. My guess is that your D might get more merit $$ from Wheaton but (especially without real stats) it’s just a guess. I do like Clark – and think that taking a look see is not unreasonable. I’ve seen the campus and it’s in a nice part of the city. My niece is a Clark graduate – Bachelors and Masters – and loved the place. I think her stats were similar to your where your D will end up.</p>
<p>I think any of the NESCAC schools only do need-based aid (Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut College, Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Tufts - I’m sure I missed a few). Same with the ivies. </p>
<p>Two friends of my older son attend Wheaton and really like it but I don’t know anything about inclusiveness, academic rigor, etc. Both are young women. Too bad about Clark - it was my younger son’s second choice. yes, the surrounding town isn’t much (you’d run into that with WPI and Holy Cross too of course) but what a wonderful college. And they were very generous with merit money in addition to need based financial aid. We joked that my son must have had “must attend a college in an old mill town” on his list of preferences. </p>
<p>My older son is at Hampshire, which is one of the five college consortium in Amherst Mass, along with Amherst College, UMass, Smith and Mt. Holyoke. He’s taken most of his classes at Amherst College and has really thrived there. It’s definitely not the right place for everyone but has been great for him - they were very generous with financial aid as well. </p>
<p>As was said above, the northeast has a ton of colleges. I’m sure you’ll find a match! (too bad about Bates though <em>grin</em>) With any college, it’s good to visit and go beyond the tour and the admissions talk - have lunch, sit in on a class, talk to students who aren’t admissions office “plants”. We found for both our boys that what may look great on paper doesn’t always translate to real life.</p>
<p>Well since WPI is in the same city as Clark, I guess you can take it off the list too. Honestly Worcester is no great shakes, but the kids I know at Clark and WPI love their colleges. My younger brother hires a lot of WPI grads in his computer business. </p>
<p>Tufts is definitely a place a non-partier can be happy. There is a very small frat scene which hosts most of the campus partying or one can venture to one of the other 50 campuses in the Boston area. Brandeis struck me as a little more serious than Tufts, but we had the misfortune to visit the day before Passover and the campus had already mostly emptied out. I think it has a lot in common with Tufts, but is a little easier to get into and not quite as convenient if you want to get into Boston.</p>
<p>The kid I know at Wheaton liked it a lot. He’s an outdoors quiet type.</p>
<p>Math/Science possibly Biotechnology…merit money…not a big party environment…make sure you stretch your search as far as Ohio and Case Western Reserve University.</p>
It sounds like Wheaton would probably be a safety for her. I think she would probably like something more challenging.</p>