<p>definitely Macalester</p>
<p>so Oberlin fits all of your criteria but one...it's a solid 1.5 hours away from Cleveland, which might be a problem for you! It's a wonderful school though, so if you can deal with the rural thing it would be a great choice!</p>
<p>And yes, Oberlin students are super-hard-working and intellectual!</p>
<p>Actually, Oberlin is 45 minutes from downtown Cleveland.</p>
<p>Oberlin is really convenient to the Cleveland airport, which is south and a little west of downtown.</p>
<p>If the "in or near a city" criterion is really important to you I'd definitely add Macalester, Reed, Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Chicago, and drop Amherst, Bard, Bennington, Hampshire, Kenyon, Oberlin, Skidmore, maybe even Vassar and Wesleyan. For the kind of major museum-going you're talking about, you don't want to be 2 or 3 hours away from a city, you want to be in or adjacent to a city that's got a rich, lively cultural scene. Albany doesn't count.</p>
<p>I don't know how important being in/near a city is for me. It used to be a major concern, though I've recently found that if surrounded by a close-knit community, I can thrive pretty much anywhere (including the cornfields of Iowa). So...does this help? Confuse? I'm mostly lost as to where to apply. </p>
<p>Again, thank you for the suggestions, but right now my main goal is to eliminate as many schools as possible. (I don't think applying to 15+ schools is right for me. Or for anyone, for that matter.) My ideal list would consist of 8-11ish colleges, 12 if the mood strikes me. </p>
<p>Do you need any more information so as to aid me in this seemingly eternal quest for the "perfect fit"? I really do appreciate this (as my possibly annoying posts suggest), and am grateful to everyone for their input. </p>
<p>Where do I go from here?</p>
<p>If you EA those schools that you can, it will eliminate some of the RD schools; those that you don't like as much as the EA schools that accept you. At worst, it will make you rethink your list.</p>
<p>From the criteria you listed, everything you said makes Scripps seem like a really good choice. I'm actually going there in the Fall, so I've done a ton of research about the school, especially because I was really picky during my college search (and shouldn't you be? You will be spending 4 years there!).
Anyway, I think the majority of Scripps students are liberal and intellectual. All students take a 3-semester-long course called Core that is set to broaden the way students think. It's situated an hour away from Los Angeles and other SoCal cities, depending on traffic. I'm not quite sure about the writing program but you can always take classes and major at the other walking-distance colleges in the consortium. I think Scripps women are very proud to go to Scripps (the ones I've talked to have). Scripps doesn't actually have parties (students mostly go to the other 5Cs for that) and no Greek life. I've heard that grad schools consider it a very strong school. When I visited, the students I met were very accepting and told me it was not a competitive atmosphere. There's a coffeehouse on campus called The Motley where poetry readings go on and bands perform, but students study there too. I think it would benefit you to get in touch with a current Scripps student. It seems like a good match for your interests.</p>
<p>I second Macalester. Excellent fit for you.</p>