<p>Parent22, I’m sure your son would be a person of interest to many colleges and I’m also sure that the list of colleges that would fulfill his academic wishlist would be long and wide as well. So a few questions to narrow the range a bit:
- Do you need – or want – financial aid? If yes, do you qualify for need based aid?</p>
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<li>He doesn’t seem to be any geographic restrictions, but does he have any environomental preferences: city, suburb, rural, small town? </li>
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<p>I think “preppie” is an outdated describer for many Eastcoast schools. Even the prep schools aren’t preppie any more. Some schools are less overtly political, artsy. Some have more money (and this can be a positive). But the era of the white, Anglo, male dominance is over and diversity of culture, religion, race, economics is pretty much the norm at all of the most selective schools.</p>
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<li>Has he seriously looked into small LACs? I know there are a few on your list, but I’m not sure how much in depth knowledge you or he have of how they work. Again, aside from academic opportunities the LAC experience is vastly different from the atmosphere at a large university or even many of the medium sized schools. I’m not saying one is better than the other, but rather that fit is a critical consideration in an undergraduate education, moreso even than academic offerings.</li>
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<p>I believe that many of the top tier LACs would provide excellent research opportunities. My son is a Williams grad and although he’s in the humanities, many of his colleagues took advantage of research and science opportunities and are now in medical school or graduate programs in the sciences. For a science focus + a humanities sampler, I would definitely take a look at Williams.</p>
<p>Though most of my son’s friends focused on one area, they were all multi-faceted in their awareness and interest in a wide range of disciplines. In the course of getting their degrees in one or two majors, they were also able to take advantage of a wide spectrum of courses from other academic areas. For them, as specialists in one area and generalists in many, the “smallness” of the school and the faculty of the individual departments was never an issue, but personal preference plays a part as well.</p>
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<li>What are his extracurricular activities? These don’t need to be structured or school related, but he does need to account for how he spends his time when he’s not in school or studying. Selective colleges are looking for interesting kids that do interesting things. Beyond the class presidents and team captains and first chairs, kids who develop in depth interests in whatever fascinates them can be very appealing, but they do need to find a way to communicate this pasion in their application.</li>
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