<p>My oldest daughter is currently a junior and we would like to begin visiting a few schools during her spring break. I have never been through this process before and feel completely clueless when it comes to researching colleges. We have a meeting set up with my daughter's guidance counselor, but it isn't until after her break. She has two weeks off, so I'm hoping we can visit quite a few colleges.
She is at a competitive private school in CA with a 3.8 unweighted GPA, 2220 on the SATs, 9 APs by graduation. She has good extra-curriculars too (I think)- captain of the soccer team, Student body president, editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, camp counselor, lots of volunteering, lots of awards, etc.
She would prefer a smaller school (~6000 students maximum). She likes the suburbs, but would be OK with a big city or small town too. It's important that the school has a sense of community. She would like a school that is (in her words), "more liberal than conservative but not crazy liberal hippyish"- whatever that means... She doesn't necessarily want/need to stay close to home. She doesn't know what she wants to major in yet. She's considering biology, economics, math- it seems to change every day. It would be nice if the college provided good guidance in choosing a major and career path.
I absolutely do NOT want her to go to a college with the "party school" reputation. She's very social, and I'm concerned that she would be distracted in that type of environment.
I'd really appreciate any suggestions as to how we can begin our search. My daughter wants to focus on other things and wait to begin the college search until summer, but I don't want to miss the opportunity of visting colleges over spring break.
Thanks!</p>
<p>maybe Tufts?</p>
<p>Pomona/ Claremont McKenna, Barnard, Brown, Swarthmore</p>
<p>We’re just a bit further along in the process than you. DH and DS are on a college tour this week. I do think it’s a good idea to see colleges when classes are in session-your daughter will get a better sense of what the students look and act like, where people hang out, etc… Those intangibles may help her decide whether she feels like she belongs at a school. DS has already crossed a few schools off because of factors like the neighborhoods around the school and the way students group themselves in the dining hall. He’s not interviewing in this round. </p>
<p>We started by looking at traditional rankings, ala Princeton Review, and choosing schools that seemed to be in a reasonable range for him academically and fit his criteria in terms of size, academic emphasis and basic fit (mix of male-female, political or religious bent, etc.). He then went on the schools’ websites and made lists of plusses and minuses for each. An example might be “Negative: school X requires a foreign language and is weak in my sport; positive: school X has a great environmental studies program”.</p>
<p>It sounds like your daughter might do well in a liberal arts college and with her stats she should have a good range of choices. If she’s willing to go East Coast she may want to look at some of the NESCAC schools.
[New</a> England Small College Athletic Conference - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NESCAC]New”>New England Small College Athletic Conference - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>I get what she means by liberal but not hippyish. DS is looking at small LACs but knocked Bennington and Hampshire off the list right off the bat because they felt too liberal for him. One of his criteria is that his school must have a football team, not because he plays or even watches football, but because for him it is an indicator that a school has a modicum of traditional school spirit.</p>
<p>Will money be an issue? If so you’ll want to make sure you include some financial likelies on the list-schools with low costs or where she’s likely to receive merit money.</p>
<p>Does your school use Naviance? If so, perhaps you can email her college counselor to find out if she can get an early account password so you can start using it to create a list. In my experience Naviance isn’t particularly helpful in helping you find schools but it is a useful tool to help you figure out which schools are within range for your student.</p>
<p>One of the things we made sure to do was to create a list that was unranked. IOW, we didn’t sort schools into reach, match, and likely piles before seeing them. We want to leave open the possibility that DS might fall in love with one of his likelies and we don’t want to pre-bias him toward the higher-ranked schools on his list.</p>
<p>The non party schools that come to mind are University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins</p>
<p>Also, how about Wellesley College, which in my view is the top women’s college in the country.</p>
<p>Maybe Washington University? It’s a very academic place, with a variety of strong programs and plenty of advising staff. It’s a medium size and in a suburb-y area in St. Louis. Also, if you’re interested in multiple areas of study, they are very open to double majoring and minoring. I recently toured and it seems really great.</p>
<p>Yes, if she’s willing to look at women’s colleges or colleges with a gender imbalance the seven sisters (Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Barnard, Mount Holyoke) are a bit less selective than their academic peers. </p>
<p>Note: I only listed six because Radcliffe has been absorbed into Harvard.</p>
<p>WOW thanks so much everyone! What great advice!
We don’t get to use Naviance until our first meeting with the GC.
I just asked her what she thought of an all-women college- she nixed that idea immediately (It would be my dream come true to send her to an women’s college though LOL)
I think we’ll do a trip to the East Coast to check out some of the NESCAC schools. They seem to be just what she is looking for. Pomona and Claremont McKenna seem great too.
Money is not an issue.
I only mention the non-party school because I went to Wisconsin. I want her to enjoy college, but I don’t want her to go to a school where partying would take over her life and get in the way of academics.
Thanks again! I don’t feel so helpless now!</p>
<p>Any thoughts on Haverford? Is it worth visiting? Would my daughter have a chance at getting in?</p>
<p>Haverford is excellent, it’s worth visiting, and yes she would have a chance at getting in.
It’s small even for a LAC, but students also can take classes at Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, and UPenn.</p>
<p>There are excellent LACs all over the country, not just on the two coasts.</p>
<p>I’d look at Penn and Swathmore too if you’re looking at Haverford. Dartmouth fits a lot of your criteria as does Williams although they have party reputations. It’s very hard to find a school where someone looking for a party life won’t find one.</p>
<p>I think I’ve reconsidered my stance on the party issue. I trust my daughter and a party scene is ok, I just didn’t think the whole huge state school party scene would be a good fit (more along the lines of Wisconsin, Penn State, etc.) I don’t mind fun as long as academics are taken seriously.
Which colleges out of the ones that has been mentioned would you say have the great “sense of community”? That is important to my daughter coming from a high school with a tremendous sense of community and tight-knit student body.</p>
<p>Dartmouth and Williams.</p>
<p>Blairsmom, It sounds like your daughter will have a blank slate of choices, i.e., too many! My son attended a small liberal arts college (Williams) and for all of the reasons that you note – sense of community, tight-knit student body plus excellent academics and accessible faculty – it was the right choice for him. [I went to Michigan and I know what you mean by comparison.]</p>
<p>Each LAC has its own personality and after visiting a few your daughter will get an idea of which appeal to her. The Northeast is a good place to start because there are a lot of small to medium sized colleges and universities within a small geographic area, but really, there are good LACs all over the country. Most lean left politically, but some are more embracing of different views than others.</p>
<p>Once he determines the personality type and environment that is the best fit for her, she can expand her list to others in the same ambience, and to include a range of selectivity (reach/match/safety). </p>
<p>It’s quite common and in fact encouraged for students at LACs to experiment across different disciplines before selecting a major. Double majoring is also common. I can only speak for Williams, but the career and graduate school counseling is excellent.</p>
<p>From what you’ve told us she sounds like she’d be a good fit with Williams – bright, energetic, extroverted, sporty, outdoorsy, middle of the road politically. In that case I’d also recommend Amherst, Middlebury, Hamilton, Bowdoin, Kenyon, Skidmore. Pomona, definitely. Dartmouth and Princeton are universities not LACs, but they share many of the attributes of smaller, undergraduate focused schools.</p>
<p>PS, It seems unfair that your daughter’s college counselor doesn’t have time to meet until after spring break. That’s a common visiting period and it puts her at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>I really recommend looking regionally. Pick a part of the country, then use the college guides (we liked the 373 Best Colleges) to read about the ones in the area and decide. Don’t overlook the Midwest. Lots of great LAC’s there. After you’ve visited a few you’ll have a lot better idea of what she likes or doesn’t.</p>