Help Shorten LAC Safety List

College Search & Selection
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<p>DS is about to finishing his junior year of HS. We have been building a college list from safeties up and he is now having problems narrowing his list down. His unweighted GPA is 3.9 weighted 4.6, 11 APs by graduation, top 10%, SAT super score 1460/2060 (730 R, 710 M and 630 W). He may or may not take SATs a 3rd time in fall, is taking SAT 2s in June. His major is undecided but will not be math or science more likely government, IR, economics or psychology. Good, not great EC focused on academic interest.</p>

<p>Some level of diversity is important. Mom would like at least a small Jewish population. Son would like a strong travel abroad program, cold climate and strong career services. He has no interest in sports, more of a Dr. Who kid.</p>

<p>He would like to go to a small school, but realizes fit is very important the smaller the school is and has just started to be willing to consider state flagship, UMCP. He will also apply to St. Mary’s which he visited and did not love, but did not want to take off the list. The 3 safeties he has visited that he really likes are College of Wooster, Dickinson and Goucher. He did not like Earlham when we visited. We can’t visit all of the safeties on his list and need to whittle the list down. Merit aid is important and budget is fluid due to family issues so a wide net will be cast. Son is aware of all of this. </p>

<p>Match and reach schools on the list are Kenyon, Brandeis, Macalester, Grinnell, Hamilton, Carleton and Haverford. He has only visited 2 match/reach schools: Haverford which he loved and Oberlin which he took off the list.</p>

<p>He has 9 more safeties on his list. Since merit aid is hard to predict he will apply to a large #, but 13 safeties are way too many. He has read about each school (guides, web-site reviews and school web-sites ) and has positive feeling about all of the following. Please help shorten the list. Opinions welcomed on the following schools: Wheaton (Ma), Muhlenberg, Knox, St. Lawrence, Beloit, Clark, American U, Williamette and Cornell College.</p>

<p>Lastly, not that he needs more schools, but other ideas are welcomed. </p>

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<p>How about Kalamazoo? </p>

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<p>My sister and cousin attended Wheaton when it was all-female. My nephew attended shortly after they began admitting men. I sat with two current, male Wheaton students at Thanksgiving dinner last fall, and both seem very happy there. It is small, and not as accessible to Boston as people might think (I grew up nearby). My sister always said that she would have been utterly miserable if she did not have a strong network of friends and family in the area. My son was accepted at Willamette, with a generous scholarship, and attended their accepted students’ event last month. He had mixed feelings about it, and decided against attending: Salem is not a particularly attractive city, evidently. He is also interested in poli.sci./govt./pre-law, and Willamette has some attractive features: a 3-3 BA/JD program (although that is difficult to combine with foreign study), and easy access to internships at the State House across the street. You might also consider Whitman, in Walla Walla, WA. They did not offer as generous a scholarship, but my son had a lower GPA than yours (similar SAT score). </p>

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<p>@need2learn Kalamazoo was on the first list of schools and he investigated and don’t know why it fell off. I will have him re-visit. I just looked at their homepage and there was a big article on the growth of the Jewish Studies program, that must be a sign.</p>

<p>@woogzmama Thanks for your insight, I’ll pass it on to my son. I took Whitman off the list because I thought it would be very hard to get to from the East Coast. Of course, that hasn’t pushed Grinnell off the list so who knows.</p>

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<p>For potential safeties, what about Truman State or University of Minnesota - Morris? These public LACs are low cost at list price; Truman State also has some automatic merit scholarships.</p>

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<p>Sorry for being brief before @mom24boys - I was headed out to pick up the kid. I know they have a Hillel and their study abroad program is legendary, they give merit $ and they are in a cold climate. But are we supposed to be helping to shrink the list not add to it?</p>

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<p>@ mom24boys - I cringed when my son decided to apply to Whitman, and dreaded the possibility of contending with the cost and logistics. He had never even visited it, but something about it touched a sympathetic chord with him. He got in, with a modest merit scholarship, but received better offers elsewhere (to my great relief). </p>

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<p>I don’t think Cornell has much Jewish life </p>

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<p>Have you posted in this thread? <a href=“Colleges for the Jewish "B" student (Part 1) - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>Colleges for the Jewish "B" student (Part 1) - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums;

<p>They seem to be very helpful parents over there, and may have suggestions of pursuing merit money and finding the requested Jewish life on campus.</p>

<p>And, I don’t know anything about merit aid cut-offs, but do schools ever look at the W score? His CR & M should open doors, but if the schools do consider W score when awarding merit, it may be worth taking one more time, especially if the essay score is the issue. That 25 min essay score assumes disproportionate weight.</p>

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<p>This is very funny @Mom24boys, but I remembered an older thread looking for schools like Haverford and thought it would be helpful for you. And guess who started that thread? You! <a href=“Schools like Haverford - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1487858-schools-like-haverford-p1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>My older D goes to Muhlenberg and is happy there. I think he would like the vibe. And he would definitely get merit $$.</p>

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<p>If he’s looking at Carleton and Haverford, Bowdoin should be on the list - it fits in every aspect and is test optional, though I think his scores are fine. A reach, but it is for everyone.</p>

<p>Schools that meet your criteria that D though had enough Jewish life to be worth applying to (Some LAC, some not, some already on your list): Colby, Bowdoin, Tufts, Hamilton, Rochester, Haverford, W&M, Whitman, Carleton.</p>

<p>Truman State is nearly impossible to get to unless you have a car or know someone who does. Don’t think it’s known for Jewish life.</p>

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<p>If he has three safeties he already likes, but you want to apply to more for merit, I’d pick the ones that offer the most merit $. You can see that in the Common Data sets.</p>

<p>If it were me, I’d toss Cornell,College unless you love big greek presence and the block plan; also Knox–which is very hard to get to if you don’t drive, and Wheaton because it empties out on weekends. </p>

<p>I know two kids who went to Willamette, got big merit scholarships and loved it. They were very outdoorsy, though. </p>

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<p>@MrMom62 Thank you. I will have him look at Bowdoin and Colby, for some reason I forgot all the Maine schools. If we qualify for financial aid I will look at the others. I really liked U of Rochester when we visited with DS12, but DS15 does not for some irrational reason. I went to W&M in the stone ages and think it would be perfect for DS15, but we are out of state which means little chance for either financial or merit aid so it’s off the list no matter how much I picture him sitting in the Wren building studying philosophy. Nephew is at Tufts now and not sure DS15 scores would get him accepted.</p>

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<p>I think Muhlenberg is a great safety option. The school has a large Jewish population and I know a few people who got very generous merit aid there. Another idea (if you want one) might be Skidmore (which is 60% or so female so men are most welcome). </p>

<p>You should try to visit the schools, even the safety schools. Small LACs often look for demonstrated interest in their school and in searching with my D we saw that the LACs each had very different vibes so a school that could work well for one person may not be a great fit for another.</p>

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<p>I would keep Willamette - very good for his stated interests and he should get 20-25k or so in merit $$$. Have him apply for the Hatfield Scholarship if it still exists with his related ECs. That would be potentially more $$$ on top of automatic consideration.</p>

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<p>Whitman is harder to get to from the east coast (heck it’s hard to get to from Seattle!) and isn’t known for fabulous merit aid so it would depend on how much you need to make it work out.</p>

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<p>Macalester seems like it might be a good fit.</p>

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<p>From the East Coast, Whitman will require a direct flight to Seattle or Salt Lake City to make it a one-connection trip. It’s going to be an all-day affair to get in and out. You get better prices and flights going to Pasco (PSC) rather than Walla Walla (ALW). I would definitely make it a backup option only because of the travel difficulties, and I think it’s a very good school.</p>

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<p>We have visited Kenyon, Oberlin, Wooster, Haverford – my guess would be that, if your son didn’t respond to Oberlin, Beloit could probably come off the list as well. Cornell, with the block plan, seems also droppable, since if you love block, you would also apply to Colorado. Wooster impressed me very much – struck me as more intellectually serious than I expected, and also happy students. I would drop Beloit and Cornell and show Wooster lots of love. </p>

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<p>I don’t know if Bowdoin is a great school, given that the kid isn’t a sporty person. It’s very different from Carleton and Haverford.</p>