I have the opportunity to visit 5 schools, help me pick which?!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My parents said "pick your 5 favorite schools, and we'll fly you out to each one." </p>

<p>So far I am positive I want to visit....</p>

<p>1.) Lawrence University
2.) Rice University</p>

<p>I also would really like to visit....</p>

<p>1.) Grinnell
2.) U Chicago</p>

<p>So as you can see, I am down to one more school.... (and Grinnell and U Chicago might change)</p>

<p>These are the schools that I really want to visit that are fighting for that 5th slot....</p>

<p>Dartmouth, Princeton, Stanford (#1 choice,) Davidson, Kenyon, Colorado College.</p>

<p>With the schools picked, I have...</p>

<p>A safety school, which I might even pick over some of the top schools (Lawrence)
A School with a great student body mixed with great academics and athletics (Rice)
A school that is super hardcore on academics, but turns out the best students (U Chicago)
A very lenient school, with so much money (Grinnell)</p>

<p>As you can see, I am trying to visit 5 very different schools (although Lawrence and Grinnell are very alike.) I feel like Stanford is almost too much like Rice to visit, and I would still have to worry about getting in (although my family has connections....) Dartmouth and Princeton are just ivies, I hate the thought of ivies... -_-, but they are soooo excellent (I hate Harvard and Columbia, etc)
Davidson I think would be a good investment of time, kenyon i feel is like grinnell a lot, and Colorado I feel is almost a safety school as well.</p>

<p>So which one of these schools should I pick ???</p>

2

<p>Go with Dartmouth!</p>

3

<p>Why Dartmouth? I know that it has a high rate of content students and they make more money than any other college in the country, but why is that so important?</p>

4

<p>I never said anything about how much money they make.</p>

5

<p>I’m just pointing out the idiosyncrasies I’ve found. What do you like about it?</p>

6

<p>Have you checked to see if any of these colleges will be doing an information session in your area? While nothing is a good substitute for a campus visit, it is certainly better than nothing. </p>

<p>One possible strategy:</p>

<p>(1) Visit/apply to Lawrence, Rice, Grinnell, and Chicago.</p>

<p>(2) Pick one of Davidson, Kenyon, and Colorado College to visit.</p>

<p>(3) Pick one or two of Princeton, Stanford, and Dartmouth to apply to (but not visit).</p>

<p>That gives you ~7 schools to apply to, a reasonable number. If/when you do get into Stanford or one of the Ivies, you can decide whether to visit then. (Surely you can work and save up money by April?) Personally, I think that if you’re pretty confident about Stanford being your top choice, it’s better to just apply and see if you get in. No point in falling in love even further, given its admit rate these days!</p>

<p>Alternately, just do some soul searching. How good of a shot at Stanford do you have with your connections and stats? Are you sure you like the one-course-at-a-time policy at Colorado College? Your schools range from urban (Chicago) to decidedly out of the way (Grinnell) – do you have a preference? What about size, athletics, location?</p>

7

<p>I would use your visits for schools where it could make a difference for your being accepted…so I wouldn’t waste it on a Stanford or an Ivy, because they could care less if you come visit, and you can visit if you win the lottery and get in.</p>

<p>I would use the visits at schools that might consider your failure to visit as a strike against you, that would think you are merely throwing out an application as a safety measure without any real desire to attend unless it is your only choice.</p>

8

<p>*warblersrule , thanks for the info. I think I have a really good shot at any one school (because of the connection,) I just have to pick what my favorite is. I really like princeton now, but I feel like the students there would just blow me out of the water.</p>

9

<p>Get a variety of schools. The post above is pretty fantastic. But what do you have against Ivies?</p>

10

<p>Definitely vist UChicago- Davidson is a great school, but I don’t think it’s nessesary to visit. It doesn’t have a very polarizing environment, and is situated in a small college town. I would pick schools that have a very polarizing or distinct environment.</p>

11

<p>Will your parents visit two schools in one day one on plane trip? For example, you could easily visit both Chicago and Northwestern in the same day … would this be OK and only count as one trip?</p>

12

<p>Maybe … I’ll have to see. Does anybody know anything about Pomona? (ignore the fact of admissions for a moment.) I hear that it is like the best of both worlds: Incredible academics in a great atmosphere.</p>

13

<p>^ There are not so many selective LACs West of the Mississippi and its border states (Minnesota, Iowa, etc.) You’ve identified 2 of them (Pomona and Colorado College). Others include Claremont McKenna (and the rest of the Claremont colleges), Reed, and Whitman. Of these schools, Pomona is the most selective. It has the advantages of Southern California weather and the freedom to attend classes at the other Claremont consortium schools. It’s within fairly easy reach of both beaches and mountains. It seems to be the most “balanced” liberal arts college of the Claremonts (not focused on science & technology like HMC or on social science like CMK). So yes, if you want a LAC in the Western states and you have the stats, it probably belongs on your short list.</p>

14

<p>Thanks so much tk21769
I think my list is now Lawrence, U Chicago, Grinnell, Pomona, Rice.
Thanks everyone, you were of so much help!</p>