<p>rochester cares more about the other aspects of your app. Test scores are the least important of all of the factors. The especially look to see intellctual curiosity, so you'd be a good match since you said you love to learn.</p>
<p>Bowdoin is the complete opposite of a 'nerd school'.</p>
<p>I visited Bowdoin and I thought it had a mix of an intellectual and party atmosphere. I'm not completely sold on it, but I had a good interview and I want to go ahead and apply.
How's financial aid at Rochester? It looks expensive and I definitely need aid.</p>
<p>I think Bowdoin is a great school and I have many friends who have gone there, but I think you'll be disappointed if your think the atmosphere there is similar to a UChicago or Johns Hopkins. Apply, see if you get in and try to get a better sense from an admitted students type of day.</p>
<p>Uhhhh... Claremont Mckenna is NOT a nerd school by any means.</p>
<p>And Harvey Mudd is somewhat of a nerd school, but it's not nearly as nerdy as people believe. It's way less nerdy than MIT and Pooptech.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, DON'T go to Case. I lived 10 miles from it. It's nerdy, but it's cold, boring, hard, and going downhill. They're really far in debt, by the way.</p>
<p>Good advice, gellino. Thanks.
I don't know a whole lot about Case Western...is it in a really run-down area or something?</p>
<p>It's not really a nerdy school per se, but Wesleyan is one of the best LACs in the country. And their College of Social Studies seems like the definition of academically focused.</p>
<p>Other top schools for polisci: UVa, Georgetown.</p>
<p>Yeah, Case is in Cleveland. It's not a good part of Cleveland either. Outside of the campus it's kind of dangerous, really run down, and impoverished. There's not much going on on campus either, and by not much I mean nothing at all.</p>
<p>Ugh...well, it sounds like Case isn't going to be high on the list, but I might consider adding Reed, Rochester, and maybe Swarthmore. These schools don't anything crazy like high suicide rates because of their intensity, do they? Also, does it look better when applying to grad school to have gone to a school that is considered really intellectual?</p>
<p>I'd reiterate Carleton and Grinnell, if you don't mind a Midwest environment. Both are great schools with a definite quirky edge. They have a smaller contingent of Ivy-rejectees than a lot of Eastern LACs (hence, in my opinion, a bit less of the dissatisfaction to be found in places like Williams, Amherst, and to a lesser extent Swarthmore), more people from public schools (thus, less of the rugby-crew-polo prep culture, which is a good or bad thing depending on your perspective), and a generally more laid-back atmosphere with roughly comparable academics. I get the impression that kids there really love learning, but have deep whimsical streaks.</p>
<p>Carleton might be a slight reach with a 29 ACT, but Grinnell is definitely a reasonable match.</p>
<p>i'd say grinnell is also a slight reach with a 29 act. their median act for class of 2010 is 31.</p>
<p>Tufts would be a real reach with a 29 ACT.</p>
<p>tufts would also be just a slight reach with the act median of 31.</p>
<p><a href="http://admissions.tufts.edu/?pid=121%5B/url%5D">http://admissions.tufts.edu/?pid=121</a></p>
<p>I don't get the impression that there is inherent discontent about being rejected from 'higher' schools at Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore to the same extent that there is at Tufts, Bowdoin, Colgate, Middlebury, Hamilton, Johns Hopkins. However, except for Tufts and JHU, students seem to get over it pretty fast. Otherwise, I would agree with Leshachichka about Carleton and Grinnell.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I don't get the impression that there is inherent discontent about being rejected from 'higher' schools at Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I've not seen much of that either. Not at Williams when I was there, nor from Swarthmore students. For one thing, a significant percentage of students at Amherst, Swarthmore, and Williams were accepted Early Decision (30% to 40%). Another significant percentage had acceptances in hand from other "presitigious" schools like Brown, Dartmouth, etc. and chose to attend the small LAC. AWS win about half the RD head-to-head acceptances in those cases. Obviously from the yield numbers, AWS lose the majority of RD head-to-head acceptances with Harvard, Yale, and Princeton -- of which there are a sizeable number. And, finally, there are many RD applicants who got into AWS, but not HYP. By and large, these students aren't terribly bent out of shape by the outcome. I would say that the vast majority of students at Amherst, Williams, or Swarthmore are very happy to be there.</p>
<p>"I visited Bowdoin and I thought it had a mix of an intellectual and party atmosphere. I'm not completely sold on it, but I had a good interview and I want to go ahead and apply.
How's financial aid at Rochester? It looks expensive and I definitely need aid."</p>
<p>There is a calculator at the U of R financial aid website that gives a cost estimate . You might want to give it a try .</p>
<p>I had cousins that went to Bowdoin and although it's a great school , one have to like the outdoors to be happy up there . My S is not the ski club type ( although he could broaden his horizons and enjoy it later ) and I believe Bowdoin , Middlebury , maybe Hamilton (?) have a lot of outdoor athletics types.</p>
<p>I'm pretty athletic, but I would only want to do intramurals in college...</p>
<p>If you're going to look at Bowdoin..try Bates...a little nerdier than Bowdoin but neat school</p>
<p>Not sure about admissions, etc., but you might look into Oberlin. There will be like-minded students, and Poli Sci is great there.</p>
<p>Georgia Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University</p>