<p>DS has asked for help expanding his college list. Senior year underway and he's really anxious to move on and find a college with bright, engaged students who are interested in discussing while they learn (and play). How do we pull this info out in the search process?<br>
Schools on his list include several of CC top Nat'l U's - but wants more safeties or matches - he's now willing to look smaller and to waiver from his desire for warm weather, but he REALLY wants inspiring profs and the majority of classmates to be engaged and collegial. </p>
<p>He has good stats, his teachers love him, he is an IB Diploma Candidate at at urban public hs, two sport varsity athlete, drummer in rock band. Not likely to go greek, not conservative, not URM.</p>
<p>I suppose the only way would be to directly ASK students who are attending each school. Generally, I believe the so called “prestigious” schools would have the intellectual, engaging atmosphere that you mentioned–including the not so elite schools. Since you said his stats are good, you might want to look into some 1st, 2nd tier LACs.</p>
<p>Claremont Colleges (Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, CMK)-California
Reed College, Lewis & Clark C-Oregon
Bard College, University of Rochester, CUNY/SUNY schools, Colgate University, Sarah Lawrence College,Syracuse U, - New York State
Oberlin College-Ohio
Lafayette College-Pennsylvania, I think.
Boston C, Boston U, Emerson-Boston</p>
<p>These are some that aren’t on the CC top colleges list; maybe some matches/safeties?</p>
<p>As for non academic info about collegial atmosphere…You could read reviews of college visits here on CC, but I found a good site that has a few student quotes and a brief summary of the website’s take on each school. It’s not a lot, but it helped me quite a bit. I don’t know how trustworthy they are, so best not to rely TOO much on them.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.college-admission-essay.com—%3Esearch”>www.college-admission-essay.com—>search</a> for the school with the search bar.</p>
<p>A personal visit would be the best though, by far.</p>
<p>Talking to students is the way to go. He could do overnight visits, or, if that’s too much when he’s just trying to make a list, he could post questions on those schools’ College Confidential boards, or other online communities. :)</p>
<p>thanks for those suggestions - and we will try that admission-essay site this weekend. </p>
<p>His dreams/reaches are Stanford, Vanderbilt, Penn, Duke - we have visited those but admissions are so unpredictable. Students at Stanford and Vandy made strong positive impressions (Penn visit was summer) He does try to wander campus and talk to random students. </p>
<p>Enomushiki that’s a good list - Claremont on my radar (admissions still so hard) and Rochester is on his list. Colgate is a good add, too … I like Oberlin but he wants out of Ohio!</p>
<p>Personal visit definitely, but even then you won’t get a very good picture. The only real way to find out is to attend the school, and by then it’s too late to change.</p>
<p>I know its impossible to overnight (or even visit) every college you might be considering. And even talking to students doesn’t give you the full sense of the place. </p>
<p>Obviously that’s the way to go, but if you can’t do that, the Fiske Guide to Colleges is probably the best “guidebook” regarding atmosphere. Also, the online resource College ******* Guides is good as well.</p>
<p>Really, did they censor that!? Ugh. The word censored starts with a ‘P’ and the rest of the word is ‘rowler’.</p>
<p>For an Oberlin-like liberal arts college that is out of Ohio, where class discussion and intramural sports are big, check out Colorado College, or Whitman College. If Stanford is a realistic reach, these would be “match” schools. Your words, “bright, engaged students who are interested in discussing while they learn (and play)” describe students there well. Colorado College offers Rocky Mountain skiing and hiking but also ~300 days of sunshine, with low humidity (a good compromise between California warmth and New England cold, with perhaps better outdoor recreation than either.) It has a liberal atmosphere and a pretty good music scene (check out Red Rocks amphitheater), D1 ice hockey on campus, pro football/baseball up in Denver. Check out Whitman’s wonderful “Semester in the West” program if you are willing to go as far away as Washington state.</p>