<p>Living on the west coast, we don't know enough to choose well for college tours on the east coast and have limited time (5-6 days) to see them all. She wants small to medium sized, close to a town that's not too small or at least has charm, nice campus, academic challenge, not too nerdy, not too preppy. (to give an idea, on the west coast, she will apply to pomona pitzer, stanford, whitman). She has a 4.0, no SAT scores yet (expect good but not incredible), pretty good extracurriculars, has lived abroad a semester, and interested in international relations, language, math and sciences (both physical and social). more liberal than conservative. Her current "east" list is: northwestern, kenyon, brown, middlebury, maybe dartmouth -- people have suggested to her skidmore, haverford, wesleyan, yale, swarthmore, williams, colgate, but we don't know how to narrow this list down. The ivys might be a stretch, but we will still consider. Please send suggestions as we don't have time to visit all these schools -- I think Pomona is a great fit for her -- what is comparable in the east? what schools do people LOVE? where do people go and find themselves happy time and again? where do people not get too caught up in the social scene and have good balance of academics and outdoors? even though we're trying to narrow, any we need to know about?</p>
<p>You might want to also look into Bowdoin, Swarthmore and Tufts.</p>
<p>I would think that Williams and Amherst would be the eastern Pomonas.</p>
<p>It will be hard to fit Northwestern and Kenyon into an "East" tour, and some of these---Middlebury, Dartmouth, Skidmore, Colgate---are in fairly remote locations. A doable trip would be to start in Philadelphia (Swarthmore, Haverford) and head northeast to Connecticut (Yale, Wesleyan), Rhode Island (Brown), Boston (Tufts) and then either continue on to Maine (Bowdoin) or double back to Western Mass (Amherst, Williams). </p>
<p>These schools all have very low acceptance rates and therefore are a bit reachy even for someone with your D's stats. I'd suggest adding a few that fall more in the match/safety range, like Bryn Mawr (just one mile from Haverford with lots of joint ECs, joint program, and easy cross-registration), or maybe Bates and/or Colby if you head up to Maine. </p>
<p>FWIW, my D sounds quite a lot like yours. Her current list after having visited most of these schools includes Haverford, Bryn Mawr, W</p>
<p>^^agreed. there's really no eastern counterpart to pomona if what you're looking for is a place to spend as much time out of doors as you would indoors without freezing. I'd put Tufts (same size as all the Claremonts put together; moderate winters) and the Pennsylvania tri-college area (Haverford, Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr) on the list. You could start in PA, perhaps swing by Wesleyan and Amherst on the way to Tufts, then fly out of Boston on the last day?</p>
<p>thanks helpful -- what do people think of colgate, skidmore and wesleyan? Do you think the ivy leagues are too much of a stretch? (her 4.0 is all honors/AP - her school does not use the 5.0 scale; her extracurriculars are solid and balanced across several areas; I'm thinking her only negative will be test scores -- based on her past mult. choice tests -- and also she hasn't invented anything or started a non-profit or had some unbelievable hardship)</p>
<p>Are you expecting a good as in 2000 SAT score or as in 2250? Focusing in on that would be important for a realistic list.</p>
<p>The ivies are unrealistic for most without a hook and less than a 2200 which is median at Dartmouth, Brown and also at Williams and Amherst.</p>
<p>If you're looking at say 2050, I'd look at Colby, Bowdoin, Bates range schools.</p>
<p>I think Wesleyan is great. Very academic/intellectual, artsy (in a good way), politically active, very lively campus life, yet a very mellow vibe. It's also a little bigger than many LACs, about 2800 students I believe which allows a little more depth and breadth of curriculum, but it still feels intimate. (I accidentally sent before finishing my last message---was going to say Wes up near the very top of my D's wish list along with Haverford & Bryn Mawr and ahead of Brown, Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Pomona).</p>
<p>Colgate is a good school but pretty isolated and in a very small town. It also has a reputation for being a little on the conservative side; whether that's accurate, I can't say. Skidmore is a decent school but not at the same level as the others you mention, probably a safety for your D.</p>
<p>I think with good SATs your D certainly could be competitive at the Ivies. It's just that HYP are down to single-digit acceptance rates, and the rest have been in the teens and likely will be even lower this year. So they're reaches for even the strongest candidates. But they're still worth investigating and applying if your D is interested. Just make sure she has some matches and at least one safety on the list because you can't count on any Ivy, nor can you any longer count on the most selective LACs which are pretty much the ones you've listed here.</p>
<p>again, very helpful. now what about tufts? she's not excited about a huge city and has heard mixed things about tufts -- but people do keep suggesting it. I think she'd rather go to whitman then either bates, colby or bowdoin if she does the small town rural thing (we have another daughter at whitman who thinks it's the best school in the universe -- very happy, challenged & active). I think we'll knock colgate and skidmore off the list and put her backup schools out west; we'll knock out yale...so northwestern (her brother, a USC student in film & PPD/ double major, thinks that fits her well along with brown), wesleyan, brown, the bryn mawr trio, middlebury (she loves the language/international studies part of that school) and maybe kenyon (she has a dear cousin there, but it could be too small) remain on the list. so now only uncertain about: williams, dartmouth, tufts. any advice there?</p>
<p>all 3 are outstanding...</p>
<p>You could do Dartmouth and Middlebury in the same day. Dartmouth is beautiful but its in a somewhat small city. Middlebury is more rural.
I could suggest Bates but thats pretty isolated.
My D didnt like Skidmore, nor Tufts. Skidmore seems more like a saftey if you are looking at the schools on your list.
Brandies is another option, its near Tufts. They are both on the outskirts of Boston, near the rail system so Boston is easily accessible.</p>
<p>I live in New England and have visited most of the small LA colleges with my D so ask away if you need any more info.</p>
<p>Dartmouth is really wonderful BUT is in a remote location which is very isolated from "civilisation" i.e. a large city! It is over 2 hours to Boston, and freshman aren't allowed to have cars, which is one reason S decided against D when decision time came. A second big factor was the average expected travel time from Dartmouth to home in Nov and Dec- 10 hours average, without Boston getting snowed in and flights cancelled [son is not a fan of flying and we are also on the west coast] Hanover, the town Dartmouth is located in, is small but charming. Tufts is a great college located in a so-so suburb of Boston.</p>
<p>Hanover and Lebanon are not small by any means.
You could fly out of Manchester which is 45 minutes from Dartmouth.
Tufts is in a blue collar burb but its safe.</p>
<p>Williams is a great school but my D didn't have the time of day for it; too isolated, tiny town, said it didn't suit her. </p>
<p>Dartmouth is also a great school, the most undergrad-oriented of the Ivies (though they all offer an excellent undergrad education); again, my D found it too isolated, and also the social scene is a bit too frat-heavy for her taste. Outdoorsy types seem to love both Williams and Dartmouth, also Middlebury. </p>
<p>Tufts is a very good school with maybe a bit of an inferiority complex ("Tufts syndrome" it's called) because it's been a fallback for Ivy wannabes since the beginning of time and everyone knows it, including the kids who end up there. Plus it falls into a middle category, not quite a major research university but too big to be a true LAC, so it's kind of the odd man out. It's gotten very selective and has a really impressive student body, but some would say the faculty hasn't made similar strides in all areas; some outstanding programs, though, including IR. Hard to judge that from a distance. Definitely worth investigating if you're around Boston.</p>
<p>"Hanover and Lebanon are not small by any means."
Well, compared to some of the locations where the OP's D is applying- Stanford, Pomona, it sure is. It's all a matter of personal experience.[ I live next to Stanford and son visits friends at Pomona/ LA a lot]
And flying from Manchester means changing planes at JFK or another major airport, in order to get on a non stop 6 hourflight to the west coast. Son has friends who go to college in Boston and over the last 3 years it has always taken them at least 10 hours to get home in the winter.</p>
<p>You are right, living in NE, its considered average size.</p>
<p>Okay, I have research many of these on the list:</p>
<p>Middlebury: Very rural, but very school spirited atmosphere. Nice community and students are overally pretty chill.</p>
<p>COlgate: Also very rural and very diverse student body. Tough academics.</p>
<p>My kid who attends Dartmouth found Middlebury too rural!</p>
<p>I would definitely visit Johns Hopkins while you're on the East Coast. And Southwest flies into BWI, so you can get a cheap airfare. Check out the Wanna Get Away rates. You can also take the MARC train down to Union Station, where you can catch the Metro to visit Catholic and other DC schools.</p>