Daughter has super broad interests. Having lots of trouble narrowing down list. She has visited schools with 20k plus students and small LAC with 2k and in between and has come away feeling that she could be happy at either end–as long as the “setting” is right–not even necessarily the campus, but the environs. Smith got high marks due to Northampton, McGill, because Montreal. Only school that has been a complete turn off is UVM because of the hard-sell overkill info session and tour (and Burlington would have been a perfect setting)
Things we do know–she likes cool climates, so nothing south of NY. MA resident, but UMASS is out because 25% of the HS goes there. Likes small cities (or the feel of, like Boston and Montreal) or access to cities. Class size doesn’t bother her, though she is shy so smaller classes would pull her out of her shell. Undecided as to major, but probably no hard sciences–possibly math/psych/history
Brown (pie in the sky)
Smith
Wellesley
Mount Holyoke
McGill
Queens University
Concordia
Univ of Edinburgh
plans to visit
BU
Notheastern
Barnard
NYU
Wesleyan
Brandeis
Quick stats
4.55 w 3.8 uw gpa
no rank
1440 SAT 720/720 (retaking)
33 ACT (not retaking)
5 APs (4 more sr. yr) only one score so far (3 on Bio soph year, but she was sick that day)
white female
well regarded MA public HS
minimal aid required
EC: NHS, Band, jazz band, pep band, Editor of Lit Mag, library volunteer, other local nonprofits, etc, etc
Awards: none beyond MICCA gold medals with band, and Tulane Book Award this year.
Where else should she look? Thanks so much for reading this far!
URochester - ticks the “small, cold city” box and the “top-notch performing arts” box, and has a very flexible curriculum that is excellent for students with diverse interests.
Would she consider the Pacific Northwest region? Portland fits the template perfectly, environment-wise, and Reed is excellent in her areas of interest. Different vibe from her other schools, which could be good or bad.
@momofsenior1’s Northwestern suggestions sounds good, as well as Columbia or Syracuse, as a couple reach or targets, although they’re more or less in a bigger city.
Northwestern is in Evanston, just north of Chicago. Definitely a small city feel but with easy access into Chicago. Evanston is a great college town - very safe too.
Thanks for the ideas-- Momofsenior1–Hadn’t thought of Northwestern–I personally love Chicago, but she hasn’t been. Will take a look
aquapt–will look at URochester, and I think she should look at northwest–so will check out Reed.
monkeyrevolution–we are looking at Barnard in a few weeks, will glance across the street :)–her cousin was rejected from Columbia with better stats last year, so I think she doesn’t hold out hope.
Barnard is nice for her. I agree that Burlington would have been perfect. Did she look at Amherst College when she was looking at Smith and Mt. Holyoke? The Northampton/Amherst area seems a good fit for her.
Based on her list, I wonder if she might not like Skidmore, Tufts, Sarah Lawrence, U Michigan Ann Arbor, SUNY New Paltz, and yes, UMass Amherst. Reed, and Colorado College.
In the Northeast, you might consider adding Tufts, Vassar, William&Mary (too southern?) and I second U. Rochester, in the mid-west, WUSTL, She has all the northeast women’s colleges on her list, and they are pretty different from each other. If she is shy, then the women’s colleges will help her self-confidence a lot and help her to find her “voice.” So, she sounds like she would do better at Barnard than at Columbia or NYU, at Wellesley, Brandeis or Tufts than at BU, at Mt. Holyoke (although South Hadley is kind of remote compared to Smith) than at Wesleyan. Best of luck!