<p>Son has (hooray!) raised the topic of the college list for discussion today. He is a HS Junior. We started to discuss parameters, such as size, location, student body vibe / politics, urban vs. rural, match/reach/safety...</p>
<p>We are in the Hartford, CT area. </p>
<p>He'd like to be around a couple of hours from home, in a medium sized school (5000 ish), with a liberal student body though not too artsy, where students are smart but not terribly wedded to rankings. He's interested in History and Computers generally, with no specific major in mind. He'll probably be in the top 25% of his public school class, with an A- average in mostly honors and AP's. He'll probably score around the mid-high 600's on his SAT's if PSAT's are any indication. He has a few extracurriculars but nothing outstanding and we haven't pushed him to add activities for the sake of the resume.</p>
<p>Tufts is a school we know well (husband is alum) and think Son would thrive there; however in today's admissions environment it'd be quite a reach. </p>
<p>Ideas for similar schools? Especially for schools in the 5000 size range and a bit south rather than north? (He loves the seasons but would not mind a place with a bit less winter =). Most of the schools I've rustled up are on the small size, though there are some lovely 2000 ish places out there. Ideas for some a bit larger with a nice town/village adjacent to the campus?</p>
<p>Tufts is a reach for him but some easier schools with similar vibes ought to be considered. Brandeis could be one (a lower reach). Also, URochester. Carnegie Mellon. And consider several of the NESCACs like Connecticut College, Colby College.</p>
<p>I would encourage him to do most of the searching. You can just tag along and give support. As a teenager myself, I honestly would get annoyed if my parents tried to hold my hand through the process.</p>
<p>Have him go to <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com%5B/url%5D">www.collegeboard.com</a> and register. He can use their college search functions to generate lists and save them. You start out by putting in parameters: school size, major, geographic area, etc. and it finds a list for you.</p>
<p>I am having trouble thinking of schools that size. Smaller schools come to mind: Dickinson, Skidmore. Perhaps Union. Syracuse. The College of New Jersey. Bucknell -- but it might be too conservative and fratty, those the kids I know who went weren't. Brandeis seems a good suggestion. Might also want to consider larger schools: BU and NYU. Just a thought.</p>
<p>Thanks for the answers. And thanks, especially, Mythmom - you are helping to confirm that I'm not missing something obvious out there. Schools seem to be either very small or 15,000 and up, and also seem to be north of us when the obvious ideas come to mind. He will be doing most of his own searching, but of course we will be here when he needs to come around, well, for a hugcheck.</p>
<p>FWIW: I generated lists for both my kids. Both are indpendent and achieving, but researching colleges was not something either of them was willing (or able?) to do. Of course, they both had veto power, but each applied to one school "just for mom" because I thought there was a hole in their lists. Each was accepted to the "mom" school and almost went!, but each was accepted in his/her first choice.</p>
<p>I showed D the school she attends when she was twelve as part of a family outing. (We live on LI and were investigating neighborhoods in NYC.) She fell in love with Barnard then. S saw Vassar with sister and was set to go there, but I read on Williams' website that they were looking for musicians. (Something he would never have done.) We visited, and he fell in love. Then he did better on the SAT and ACT than we expected, and he wa competitive at Williams on his own.</p>
<p>However, if I had left them to their own devices I think things would have turned out differently.</p>
<p>If he wants to generate his list, more power to him. If he doesn't, I see nothing wrong with its being a collaborative project driven by parent. Now that they're at school they are both completely independent.</p>
<p>Mythmom, I can't thank you enough for your kind replies. You are validating my sense of the process. And since this is such a difficult journey, your words are smoothing the way. </p>
<p>Bard (I know, your daughter is at Barnard, not Bard) is one I might put on the "just for mom" list, and Vassar is on the radar. Thanks for noting that the kids you know at Bucknell are not preppy ones - that school seems like it might be one for us to consider. </p>
<p>Here's hoping the SAT scores come back in line with the good grades! Son is a strong, smart young man with a sunny disposition (even at 16) but not an athlete. I'm hoping for a reasoned approach to this college search without the sturm und drang of the angry adolescent and, too, without an excess of pressure (pro or con) regarding prestige.</p>
<p>I was so pleased that HE started the conversation re/ college search. This kid has been a self starter since he was about 7 years old. So I think my job will be to make the resources available to him and, as you did, to make sure he is aware of the schools that might work for him. Also, I will try to make sure he is not dissuaded from forming an ambitious list (with some true safeties) by overworked guidance counselors stunned by the competitive admissions situation created by this group of kids who are well prepared and positioned in the belly of the demographic bulge. </p>
<p>Bard was a safety for each of the kids. The "mom" schools were Mt. Holyoke and U of Chicago respectively. Both would have been happy at Bard so it was a wonderful choice for a safety. In addition, they have EA which allowed us to scrap all the less desirable safety schools.</p>
<p>Clark (Worcester MA)
Check out the Philly area - I'm blanking right now, but there are some good schools in that area.</p>
<p>George Washington, American University.</p>
<p>Suggestion to the use the collegeboard.com college locator is a good one - gives you some basis for ideas.</p>
<p>Ask your HS if they use the naviance system - gives a similar search capability, and also shows statistics about how the kids from your school did in applying to schools. I've found it very helpful.</p>
Bard was a safety for each of the kids. The "mom" schools were Mt. Holyoke and U of Chicago respectively. Both would have been happy at Bard so it was a wonderful choice for a safety. In addition, they have EA which allowed us to scrap all the less desirable safety schools.
My DD was accepted by two top-30 U's and two top-10 LACs, so in that sense we were pretty sure Bard would be a safety. Even before she was accepted by Bard EA, it was her first choice and she's very happy there todaytoo bad it was the smaller of all the financial aid packages offered to her!</p>
<p>Holy Cross is a small Georgetown. In fact it was founded by the Georgetpwn Jesuits. It is the only Jesuit school in the country that is strictly undergraduate which means your professors are all PhDs and no grad students teaching. There was an article yesterday in the Globe about Harvard students complaining about having little to no access to professors and only interacting with the graduate assistants. HC has a computer science major and is less than a hour from Boston, Providence, and Hartford.</p>
<p>Thank you again, everybody! Your ideas are so very helpful. </p>
<p>Will look at Mt. Holyoke more carefully. Holy Cross gets axed early due to the name (we are confirmed secularists) but if it's like Georgetown then perhaps we need to look past the name. Love the Jesuits' deeply thoughtful approach to life, but Son would be most uncomfortable, I think, in an environment with an abundance of proselytizing and born again folk. </p>
<p>Any ideas for other schools in Pennsylvania? Are any of the smaller schools (Allegheny, Gettysburg, e.g.,) thinking of growing a bit what with the giant population of young people stampeding towards the High School Exit sign? Are places like Susquehanna and Elizabethtown up and comers? They seem like wonderful places for bright kids, from what I've read lurking on these boards and on their web sites. Are they teensy tiny or growing? </p>
<p>Adding Lehigh to the "look into" mix. Have heard it's frat driven, though - also probably not a great fit for Son, though again, like Bucknell, I'm sure there are many kids not frat driven. Lafayette - same thought process?</p>