<p>When we toured Lawrence, we definitely were not interested in the conservatory, so no, I don't think that it is for musical instruments only, or the 90% of students experiencing the one-on-one would be impossible. My understanding is that they'll gear a program around a student's interest, not necessarily teach a class to one kid. If a kid is interested in, say a particular branch of psychology and how chemicals in food exacerbate a condition (totally making this up), a prof will help the student design a program to allow him to focus on that interest. </p>
<p>Do consider Earlham. It is Quaker-affiliated, which in practice means that it's essentially nonreligious--the Quakers were founded on peace and tolerance. And unlike some Christian/Protestant colleges, tolerance truly means not trying to convert people to your faith.</p>
<p>I really, really liked Oberlin, and it will be my first choice for transfer if I dislike wherever I go -- should I replace my Lawrence/Goucher conflict with Earlham? Judging from that last post, it sounds like it.</p>
<p>First, throw an application at Oberlin even if you think you have no chance. It does meet full financial need.</p>
<p>Among Lawrence/Goucher/Earlham, I would eliminate Lawrence if you really want a liberal atmosphere--it's more traditional and moderate. Goucher has an artsy/creative reputation, I don't know about political leanings but most likely liberal. Baltimore would also be warmer and more cosmopolitan than Richmond, Indiana.</p>
<p>From my impressions of you on CC, I think you would be better suited for Earlham--I see flashes of myself in you ("bookish and nerdy and not good at socializing with people who aren't like me") and I loved the idea of Earlham but ultimately ruled it out because it didn't fit with my particular academic goals. I don't recall what major you were considering; Earlham is strong in the natural sciences and social sciences, but weaker in humanities (except foreign language), math/CS, and fine arts (art/music/creative writing). Goucher is strong in the fine arts and humanities, has an interesting study abroad requirement, I don't know about hard sciences or social sciences (their CS program tends toward applied vs. theoretical, but I doubt you care). Earlham also has stricter distribution requirements than Goucher.</p>
<p>Both Earlham and Goucher seem like good fits for you, so I would vote for killing for guidance counselor first (assuming that you've already sent in your other apps--e.g. H&WS is preppy) but Earlham as long as you fit with its academic strengths.</p>
<p>I did, I sent in every application except the two incomplete: Lawrence and Goucher. However, it seems that Lawrence may be more suited for my recycling bin. My application summaries were due at the guidance office on Tuesday, so my counselor may not be willing to send any more out because she was already unhappy about 16. She doesn't understand why I applied to so many. If not, this weekend can be used to sharpen my powers of persuasion. [Plots]</p>
<p>Thanks a ton, Keilexandra. You're always helpful. :**)</p>
<p>Okay! My decision is thus: work on Goucher and Earlham today (although I'm a bit worried about what "crunchy granola" means!) and turn in my forms to guidance on Monday. She already wrote her rec, so I don't have to worry about her mentioning something about stressing her out. ;**) Would anybody be willing to read over my short answers?</p>
<p>I don't know how much help I'd be, but I'd be happy to read over your short answers! Like I said though, I can't promise that my opinion would be worthy, haha.
By the way, I read through the thread, and I think you made the right choice. Also, it's very nice to see someone who has such a solid sense of where they want to be =).</p>
<p>Well, thank you! I appreciate the compliment. :**)</p>
<p>Goucher has only one short answer, a "why Goucher in 100 words" question, and I'm not feeling very creative:
"At risk of sounding pretentious, a rose by any other name would not smell as sweet. The first thing that caught my attention about Goucher was its name, and I learned from there that everybody else is just as quirky! Diversity runs through the superior vena cava of Goucher's system and branches off to inspire every capillary that branches out to the fabric of its students; its multicultural clubs sound of siren for the purple-haired student clawing her eyes out to escape from a homogeneous high school in the middle of Podunk, Nowhere, 00000. Goucher find itself a worthy peer of every institution in Baltimore, from Johns Hopkins to Towson, despite being one of the hidden gems of the American collegiate system. When given the choice between a large, well-known university that breeds anonymity, or a small one where one could be certain to be happy, which is the obvious choice?"</p>
Goucher find itself a worthy peer of every institution in Baltimore
Let's play find the subject-verb disagreement!</p>
<p>Also, the cliched beginning actually kind of works as a lead-in to discussing Goucher's name. In the last sentence, I would revise the phrase "or a small one where one could be certain to be happy" because you are not certain to be happy anywhere; instead, consider mentioning the close professor interaction or class intimacy of LACs.</p>
<p>"The first thing that caught my attention about Goucher was its name, and I learned from there that everybody else is just as quirky!"
I think you mean "everything" not "everybody". "Everybody" implies that all other colleges are just as quirky.</p>
<p>"Diversity runs through the superior vena cava of Goucher's system and branches off to inspire every capillary that branches out to the fabric of its students;"
I kind of don't like "inspire" here. I wouldn't say that capillaries can be inspired.</p>
<p>"its multicultural clubs sound of siren for the purple-haired student"
"of" is not the correct word. Perhaps "a" instead?</p>
<p>"Goucher find itself a worthy peer of every institution in Baltimore, from Johns Hopkins to Towson, despite being one of the hidden gems of the American collegiate system."
I wonder if Goucher maybe thinks a bit bigger than this? You make it sound a bit parochial here, like it's some local school that can only dream of being well thought of in Baltimore, rather than say nationally. They might be rather offended by that characterization!</p>
<p>It feels like a really wordy way of saying "I like Goucher because it's small and diverse" You might be better to cut some of the wordiness, picturesque though it is, in favor of something a bit more specific, particularly in the last 2 sentences.</p>
<p>Dude(tte), you really need to rethink your overall application strategy, Skullduggery. You say that you want a quirky, liberal, tolerant atmosphere, but then half the schools on your list are very preppy, Greek, jock-oriented, and/or conservative. Penn State, Va Tech, De Pauw, Elmira, and HWS make absolutely no sense, and you are basically just wasting your time applying to those schools, b/c they are totally the opposite of what you seek.</p>