Help me narrow my list?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I’m trying to plan my final college visits (before I apply) in the fall, and I would really appreciate your help in cutting my list of over 20 down as much as possible (I’m hoping to end up with 10 or fewer). Everyone on CC was really helpful in suggesting schools last year, and now I’m hoping for some more advice in fine-tuning the list. Here are some of my criteria: </p>

<p>-Liberal arts college or medium-sized university with strong undergrad focus; small classes in both cases.
-Strong English program (preferably offering creative writing classes)
-Quirky, friendly, intellectual student body. Ideally, students tend to support one another rather than compete (more competitive with themselves than against one another). Turn-offs would be overt preppiness, extreme lack of diversity/cliquishness despite diversity, and any extreme (EXTREME) political imbalances.
-Cool college town—I’m from suburban Missouri, so as far as previous exposure to rural/urban areas, it just depends on the way you drive. Same goes for weather.
-Study abroad opportunities for English majors</p>

<p>Less important, but still considered: </p>

<p>-Theatre: I’m pretty involved with the tech side of things...plus I just really love it. So it would be nice if the college had a strong theatre program as well.
-Publications: It would be great if the college published a literary magazine of some sort in addition to a newspaper.
-Teaching certification: It would be great if the college offered a teaching certification program (for English) along with their BA program...I’m fine with taking an extra year to student teach, etc., but this would be a plus.
-As far as grad school goes, it is highly likely that I’ll eventually pursue a Master’s in English or education.</p>

<p>Now here’s my list at the moment. My amount of exposure to each of them ranges from “I visited and loved it” to “My guidance counselor suggested I take a look.”</p>

<p>Brown
WashU
Amherst
Pomona
Williams
Middlebury
Wesleyan (visiting in two weeks)
Hamilton
Vassar
Carleton (visited it and absolutely loved it)
Oberlin (already visited)
Kenyon (already visited)
Connecticut College (visiting in two weeks)
Occidental
Grinnell
Beloit
Knox
Truman State (in-state public)</p>

<p>Are there any clear outliers? I would really appreciate your help.</p>

<p>Oh, and I’m done with the SAT and ACT, have challenged myself in school and gotten good grades, have decent extracurriculars, etc., and I realize I’m at a point where none of that stuff will necessarily keep me out of anywhere. It’s going to come down to less tangible factors, and that’s why I’d really like to apply to the shortest and best-fitting list possible.</p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

2

<p>The colleges you have on your list are all great so yeah its a tough decision :P </p>

<p>I think that maybe Williams and Middlebury might not be exactly what you want though, as they are vey isolated and at least Williams is considered to be very preppy. Amherst isnt as isolated as the other two, but it is still quite preppy. If diversity is very important to you though, these colleges will have it since they are need-blind for int'ls when it come to financial aid.</p>

3

<p>I visted the Brown area when I was younger, and it is just a hip-happening place. Really cool cultural stuff going on everywhere, and a particularly delicious crepe restaurant :)</p>

<p>My friend goes to WashU and when I hear about his friends I am amazed and how fun and quirky and talented they are, just like him. This place seems to have the type of people you are looking for. </p>

<p>Beloit is completely isolated. Plus Wisconsin is just the most bitter, coldest, windiest place in the world in my opinion, having been exposed to 40-below temperatures when visiting the state. </p>

<p>This seems to be the exact opposite of what you are looking for, but you should check out Tufts. They have a great community going, and Boston is obviously the BEST college town ever.</p>

4

<p>I heard the surrounding area of Amherst isn't very great, probably not what you're looking for. You should investigate that.</p>

<p>Yes, Beloit, Grinnell, and Knox are isolated, but isn't Carleton? Also none of those schools are very diverse. </p>

<p>Let's make a rough list of schools that are difficult to get into and ones that are easier to get into:</p>

<p>Hard:
- Wash U
- Amherst
- Pomona
- Brown
- Williams
- Middlebury
-Wesleyan
-Hamilton
-Vassar
- Grinnell</p>

<p>Easier to get into:
- Oberlin
- Occidental
- Kenyon
- Connecticut College
- Beloit
- Knox
-Truman State</p>

<p>Okay, so you loved Carleton. I'm going to assume that you're going to apply there. That's why it's not on the list. Now, out of the 10 colleges that are considerably difficult to get into, try to narrow that list to 4 colleges, excluding Carleton. So now you have to really know a lot about the colleges and compare and contrast them. You might be fine at any of them, but the idea is to pick the four that you would most like to go to.</p>

<p>Do the same for the ones that are much easier to get into, and then you will have a list of 9 colleges, which is much easier to handle than 20.</p>

5

<p>The town around Vassar is pretty terrible, IMO; Grinnell's isn't great either, and it is also very isolated. They are both otherwise really cool schools, but since you're looking for schols to cut, that might be a reason. </p>

<p>OTOH, What did you think of Kenyon? I found it very isolated and wouldn't call the town a "cool" college town at all...but if you're keeping it on the list anyway, than I wouldn't suggest cutting Vassar or Grinnell because of location, since I found both of their towns better than Kenyon's.</p>

6

<p>You're right...the town was definitely one of the low points on my trip. At the same time, I liked Kenyon's students, it has great theatre for being so isolated, and the English program is amazing. So I'm going to keep it there for now.</p>

<p>Dchow08, I really like your idea of grouping them. Mostly, though, I'm worried because most of my schools' acceptance rates fall between 20-40%. It gets difficult to determine the differences between "high matches," "matches," and "safe matches" (I'm talking beyond the obvious reach-for-everyone schools), and I'm wary of not having a safety.</p>

7

<p>Did you look at some other schools in Minnesota like Macalester, St Olaf's, Gustafsen (sp)? Also Lawrence and Colorado College would be schools you might like... Kenyon is also a great favorite. Johns Hopkins has an outstanding writing seminars.</p>

8

<p>Carleton isn't really isolated. It's in a small town, yes, but only 30 minutes' drive from Minneapolis-St. Paul, where you've got arts, shopping, sports, concert, etc. The college arranges bus service to the cities on the weekends too.</p>

9

<p>cpt, that would be gustavus...my votes go to brown, wesleyan, pomona, and washu!!!</p>

10

<p>I don't mind small towns; I live in one (although close to a major city). Ideally I'd like to have access to a city, although without a car I'm not sure how far I would get. :)</p>

11

<p>It's easy to pick the top schools. Finding some that are not as selective but with high quality academics, kids, environment, etc is a different story.</p>

12

<p>Anyone have any suggestions for balancing it out?</p>

13

<p>wash u is overrated, take it out and put in duke</p>

14

<p>I agree that Middlebury, Williams, and Conneticut College seem to be the odd ones out...they're perceived (don't know how true this is) as a lot preppier, and they're also much more rural than, say, Brown or WashU.</p>

15

<p>Fordham seems like a good idea for a theater lover. Rose Hill campus, though.</p>

16

<p>Brown - I bet you'd LOVE it here
WashU - great school, but absurdly popular recently. make sure to put this on your reach column regardless of stats
Amherst
Pomona - cali rocks!
Williams - ditto Middlebury
Middlebury - way too preppy for what you were talking about
Wesleyan (visiting in two weeks)
Hamilton - Really high drinking rate. I liked it until I saw it on several lists for having high rates of alcohol consumption because it's isolated and the students can't come up with better things to do.
Vassar
Carleton (visited it and absolutely loved it) - Did you take a look at Macalester? They're very similar.
Oberlin (already visited)
Kenyon (already visited) - I thought kenyon was fabulous. I ended up picking between Whitman, Kenyon, and St. Olaf for college this year. Did you watch any classes? The professors are supposed to be awesome.
Connecticut College (visiting in two weeks) - really rich, preppy, etc
Occidental
Grinnell - isolated much?
Beloit
Knox
Truman State (in-state public)</p>

<p>I would focus on getting some better safeties on your list. You have a lot of reaches, and some matches, but your safeties seem to be very different. Take a look at OWU for a safety. It just doesn't seem like you'd be happy at a large, impersonal public university if you like Carleton, etc.</p>

17

<p>^Thank you! That is very, very helpful. I really hope you check this thread again...</p>

<p>I visited Macalester when I saw Carleton, and ended up crossing it off my list. Maybe it was unfair that I saw it the day after I loved Carleton so much. It was a nice place. But I kept thinking that if I had to write a "Why Macalester?" essay, I couldn't do it.</p>

<p>Do you have any better safety suggestions for me? The ones that I have (Grinnell, to a certain extent, Beloit, Knox, Truman) were largely suggested by my counselor as starting points.</p>

18

<p>Goucher comes to mind as a good safty option. Also maybe Skidmore.</p>

19

<p>Thanks for everyone's advice so far. Any more suggestions?</p>

20

<p>Anyone? 10 char</p>