How Does My College List Look? Class of 2021

College Search & Selection
1

Hello everyone!

As summer has started and I’ve had more free time, I’ve been looking at a lot of different colleges and trying to narrow down my options. So far my list includes:
University of Richmond
University of Virginia
William & Mary
University of Chicago
Stanford
Brown
UPenn
Swarthmore
Pomona
Vassar

with Pomona, UChicago and Brown probably being my top choices, and UVa, W&M and URichmond all being there primarily because I am from Virginia. (Note: This list is excluding safeties, but I have a few in mind that are in state, would likely offer full tuition AND that I could see myself going to…not including them in this list, but I don’t need any recs as far as they’re concerned)

To give a bit of insight, I’m looking at a duel major in Cognitive Science and International Relations/Studies (though I’m still generally undecided, which is why I’d like to go to a generally good school where I could move around if necessary). I’m not looking at public OOS schools because money won’t be possibly (so no Berkeley’s, UNC-Chapel Hill’s, etc.)…a few other schools I’m considering include Tufts, Oberlin, Brandeis, and Pitzer.

Also, socially I’m not looking for a frat, party school, but I also don’t want a school that’s “all work, no play”. I’m looking for something LGBT friendly (I’m gay) and by that I mean more than “they have a club or a program or wear t-shirts that say ‘I <3 the gays!’”…I would like there to be some sort of LGBT presence on campus, seeing as I’m going to be spending 4 years there and would hate to be in a high school situation where there’s only like 2 other gay guys there who don’t interest me. I’m also looking for something liberal, but that goes hand-and-hand with the LGBT friendly thing. Quirky, generous with aid, driven but not competitive, green, friendly + warm, focus on study abroad, and not preppy are all other descriptors that appeal to me.

Oh, also I’d rather not be right in the middle of the city, but be close to a city…basically URichmond where I’m 10 minutes away from downtown, but you wouldn’t know it based off the campus…I’m more flexible when it comes to setting, but this is an added bonus.

So, I’m wondering with the social things I’ve listed + my prospective majors, how does my school list look? Any schools I should cross out (Vassar is the one I know the least about, so any info specifically on that school would be appreciated)? Do you have any suggestions of schools to add to it? I know the Virginia schools (specifically URichmond and UVa) don’t fit a lot of my criteria, but the proximity to home and overall quality of education is hard to pass up, so I’m trying to warm up to them even if they don’t fit all my criteria.

I genuinely thank anyone who takes time to read this thread and comment ahead of time! Hope everyone has a great day/night/afternoon depending on timezones/whenever you’re reading this :slight_smile:

2

Keep Vassar, maybe add Wesleyan.

3

I agree with what you said about UVA and Richmond. Still, if you’re not 100% into them, I would pass up on them if I were you and focus more on other schools on your list (granted that you get into them). If you are international relations, it might be better for you to be closer to a city for internships and whatnot, but I’m sure it’s not that big of a deal. I hear UPenn is in the city of Philadelphia, but still has a nice campus vibe. That could be a great option for you. I’m not quite so sure about the whole LGBT thing though.

4

Since I am not really familiar with the ins-and-outs of of the other schools on your list, I will attempt to address the one that I am familiar with: William & Mary the school I currently attend

Majors: William & Mary is excellent for international relations and cognitive studies. I am less familiar with cognitive science, but there are LOADS of opportunities for international relations and is one of its strengths. A professor you may be interested in looking at is Professor Holmes, who several of my friends did research with and help write his book focusing on the role pyschology plays in international relations, especially with face-to-face negotiations.The college really emphasizes interdisciplinary study and research. You can even design your own major if you feel like your interests lie in multiple different areas.

Social: William & Mary strikes a good balance between the two. It is probably one of the more academically driven schools on your list, but students know how to have a good time. Some students participate in greek life, but it does not dominate the campus and there are plenty of other opportunities to be social. Clubs for instance have their own parties, mixers, and bigs-little systems. Likewise there are many campus-wide events planned by AMP, the students activity planning board.

Setting: The college is in the city of williamsburg (which is honestly more of a town, but hey I didn’t name it). There is a few beaches nearby, Busch gardens, restaurants, colonial williamsburg, movie theaters, and the like. Williamsburg is about an hour away from richmond and virginia beach, but there are some closer cities nearby. The campus is pretty green and is beautiful, which I like.

Academics: Driven but not competitive. Yup describes the W&M community perfectly. Most students are smart and incredbily accomplished, but also humble and willing to help eachother out. The campus community is definitely close-knit. I have met some of the warmest and most genuine people here. When it comes to academics, most students are cooperative rather than competitive, which in my opinion is a good thing.

Climate: W&M is pretty liberal, although it contains students from different perspectives. I’d say it’s pretty welcoming to LGBT students, there are multiple organizations dedicated to LGBT issues. But for this particular area, I’d recommend speaking with the students or contacting the club representatives themselves. They are likely to able to provide a better perspective on this than someone that is just an outsider.

Study abroad: W&M has a really thorough study abroad and languages program. There are language houses with a tutor in the language and focuses in on it with internationalization built into the general curriculum, which encourages study abroad. Most recently I think W&M ranked #1 in study abroad participation among public schools.

Out of the other schools on your list, Tufts and Brown look like they could also be a good fit. Of course they are also competitive to get into.

5

I think Brown would be a very good fit for you. It has a very large LGBTQ presence and the students are very liberal. Also, it is set atop College Hill which overlooks Providence. It’s quite a quirky school too. I’m going to be applying ED because I love all of the aspects of the school. The school is very accepting of everyone and even though it is an Ivy, it is very laid back.

6

In order to help you narrow down your list, we would need to know your likelihood of admission as there is fairly wide selectivity sped amongst these schools - so test scores, GPA, course rigors, EC’s need to be understood

7

My son is a junior in Vassar and declared a major in cognitive science . He loved the professors so much he changed his major into this. He is staying on camp us because he got a paid internship doing research in cognitive science this summer. Your description of what you want in a school is a description of Vassar. Vassar being lbgt friendly is a stereotype. It has been voted top five most liberal colleges. It is beautiful and the dorms are fantastic with lots of public space and there is always someone playing the piano. It is in Richmond witch is just outside of Poughkeepsie which is a small city that is actually has some nice parts. There is a street of restaurants and shops right across from campus. It is non competitive and very idiosyncratic. Has no frats and everybody just does there own thing. If I would sum it up it is a college full of theater nerds. Students are very active on doing things and there is always something going on just not frat parties.

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Update! Sorry for a lack of replying, as you can tell by my post count I don’t frequent here too often. Anyway, my list is looking more like URichmond, UVA, W&M, Vassar, UChicago, Pomona, and Brown right now (UPenn, Swarthmore, and Stanford are all maybes, but I thought I needed to cut down on my reaches). My stats can be viewed in my Chance Me (Vassar 2021) thread…my test scores are laughable by CC standards which is why I didn’t include them in this thread.

My question: Out of UPenn, Swarthmore, and Stanford (as well as any other college…Dartmouth being considered highly lately as well), which schools seem to fit me outside of the 7 definite I’m applying to (again this list doesn’t include any safeties, but I do have some in-state safeties where full-ride is basically a guarantee). Again looking for strong cog sci (though I know it isn’t always offered, I’ve heard strong programs can still exist if good Neurosci/Psych/Linguistics departments)/international relations, liberal environment, LGBT friendly, not preppy, quirky, generous with aid, good study abroad, not smack dab in the middle of a city (I know namely UChicago goes against this, but that is an exception), not public OOS, laid back. Which schools fit this, whether it be the ones I named above, or others that are just begging for me to consider them? Again, safeties are covered, so please provide some reach schools :slight_smile: Thank you in advance!! Sorry for reiterating much of the same in this comment, I just wanted to give an update on how I shaved down my list and some insight on whether that shaving was good, or that I accidentally took off the perfect school for me.

9

I’m going to put a plug in for my own school, Connecticut College. Fairly liberal, campus is separate from the city of New London, maybe a bit preppy. I don’t know about the IR and I don’t think it has cog sci, but we have neuroscience and they actually have a Master’s program in Psychology (although it’s a LAC). Good fin aid. Good study abroad; there’s yhr “study away/teach away” program in addition to regular study abroad programs. It would be a match, and you’d get a bit of an advantage since you’re male.

10

What are your stats?

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OP has a 31/4.0, high weighted/course rigor

12

@berkdork

Dont put to much emphasis on the LGBT issue, most of the colleges listed are pretty liberal. I would add Yale due to the major you wanted.