Is early decision part of your thinking?
Possibly, yes. If there’s a clear top choice (right now that would be Oxy), then ED is on the table. If not, then we’ll just have to see what happens in April. Hoping to make a final call about that in 3-4 weeks.
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A school like Bates seems to be real good fit. Probably a bit of reach but with Early Decision makes it a little more reasonable. I think Occidental is a smart choice. In our experience if you can find most of what you are looking for and keep it pretty close to home is a good way to go.
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They can. My older daughter took 4 swimming lessons per week when she was 2-3 years old, because she had no fear of the pool at all. She saw a pool and she jumped right in. She had no body fat so she immediately sank. Not a good combo.
My mother wanted us to swim because she grew up at the ocean. She’s a world class floater but can’t really swim in a pool or lake and that scared her.
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Hello again,
Back for an update, and to share some thoughts and impressions with anyone still interested.
Did the final three in-person visits this past week, and, as expected, the list got shuffled (again), epiphanies were had, and (thank goodness), decisions were made! 
This was the midwestern swing: Oberlin, Lake Forest, and Lawrence. Oberlin had been a bit of a question mark for him going in. Seemed like a very good fit socially, but he was getting confused about the accessibility of the music classes he wanted as a non-conservatory student. To say that he loved the school would be an understatement. It goes to show how helpful a visit can be, because he really got a feel for the culture of the school, and the vibe of the town. The city of Oberlin was much smaller than we anticipated, and there’s not a whole lot going on there (outside of the school of course). Yet it had a delightful charm and peacefulness that made it feel like a lovely place to spend four years. The tour guide we had was terrific, and she assuaged many of his concerns about being a musician from outside the conservatory. Sounds like Oberlin is moving strongly in a direction toward making the Con. resources more available to all students. By the end of the visit, S22 told me that he had come to two conclusions. First, he decided 100% that he wants to apply ED1 to Occidental. He’d been leaning in that direction for months, but he realized that even after such an amazing impression at Oberlin, he was still completely confident that Oxy was the place he wanted to be. Also (even more surprisingly) he said that he wanted to strongly consider Oberlin for ED2 if he didn’t get in to Oxy. This was a big surprise, as Oberlin had been toward the middle of the pack for most of his search. It’s truly amazing how a few hours on a college campus can bring such clarity.
Next stop, Lake Forest. In short, this was a pretty big let down for S22. Lake Forest had been among his top few choices all along because they offered a particular subset of music classes that really got him excited and were hard to find elsewhere. Because of that, he was hoping that the school itself would match up well in person. Everyone there was very nice, and the campus is truly lovely (especially the town, which has some of the poshest neighborhoods you’ll ever see). But the overall impression he had was that the students were way preppier and more preprofessional than he was comfortable with. The kids seemed like a very kind mix of athletes, partiers, econ majors, and pragmatic kids who were trying to get into law school or internships. Nothing wrong with any of that at all, but it definitely isn’t him, and the contrast seemed even more stark after the previous day at Oberlin. He’s already applied to Lake Forest EA, and we agreed that it’s still a place that he would have a very nice experience at, but it fell to the bottom of the list.
Final stop: Lawrence University. This one had bounced up and down his list for months, because the midwest is such a unknown to him, and because he was having a difficult time figuring out how well they treat musicians outside the Conservatory.
Lawrence kids were soft-spoken, kind, welcoming, passionate, and genuine. Unfortunately, he consistently got the impression that the best parts of the musical offerings were really there for the conservatory kids, and that there would more hoop jumping to access them than he wanted to endure. Also, Appleton was a bit underwhelming as a town. It is probably 2-3 times larger than Oberlin or Lake Forest combined, so there’s definitely more civilization and choice, but frankly devoid of much charm or character. The campus itself is really lovely, and one of the smaller campuses we’ve visited (which is a plus for him), but Appleton itself was kinda meh (deepest apologies and caveats — to each his/her own – to any Appletonians reading this). We also had a long time to talk during the 3 hour drive from Lake Forest to Appleton. Every few miles we’d pass another Trump sign, ad for a gun range, strip club advertisement, or Pro-life billboard, and it would prompt another discussion about the range of political views around the country. S22 has lead a very sheltered and bubbled life on the West Coast, and he doesn’t have a ton of interaction with folks whose views are dramatically different from his own. And while I’m hoping he’ll have those kinds of experiences in colleges, I’m also understanding about him wanting a community where he feels understood. Also, COVID restrictions (levels of masking, vaccination, safety precautions) have sadly become a reasonably proxy for political beliefs (not trying to start a discussion about that here), and as we have moved around the country, it’s been easy to discern the very different experiences of the pandemic that many Americans are having. I’ve read lots of interesting discussions here on CC about how these restrictions are informing parents’ views on college choice. I won’t go into this quagmire any further, except to say it’s something that has been in the back of my mind (much more than S22’s) throughout the search.
So, with travels completed for the time being, EA/ED applications having been filed, and little but the waiting and worrying left, here is his final list, in approximate order of preference:
Occidental College (ED)
Oberlin College (ED2 ?? will wait for news from Oxy to decide for sure)
Skidmore College
Pitzer College
Lewis & Clark College (EA)
Bard College (EA)
Dickinson College
Whitman College (still haven’t visited, so a bit of a wild card)
Lawrence University (EA)
Lake Forest College (EA)
The searching and exploring has been a blast, made easier by the kind folks contributing on this thread. S22 is pretty exhausted though, and more than ready to be past all of this. Dad is, confidentially, very sad, because it’s making the empty nest denial harder to sustain 
Would love to hear thoughts, comments, questions, suggestions, from any folks out there considering similar schools and paths.
Happy Hunting!
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Sounds like a successful trip to me.
As I tell me daughter when she didn’t like a school - good!! Not liking is equally as valuable as liking.
But after the trip, why are Lake Forest and Lawrence still on your list?? Seems they aren’t needed or should be subbed out.
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I see Bard is tagged for EA so just wanted to chime in that if your S has a strong essay he should fare well. My own S21 had Bard shortlisted due to writing and music but opted for a city experience. Pre-app he enjoyed listening to their podcast, post acceptance they had a virtual session focused on creating campus bands. I got the impression they get a lot of NYC kids and the train access is pretty good in case it starts to feel too remote. Good luck!
As a middle to left leaning person who has grown up between those 2 schools I understand the concern. There’s plenty non Trump lovers in WI and IL but they just aren’t as loud.
Glad he found guidance on his tour!
Sounds like a really helpful trip. Curious what you learned about music opportunities at Lewis & Clark.
It was, thanks. L&C didn’t have anywhere near the depth of music opportunities that the conservatories had, obviously, but S22 was impressed that they covered many of the basics very well, especially for such a small school. He’s very interested in ethnomusicology, music & technology, electronic music, music theory, music history, etc (basically, most things outside of classical), and they seemed to check quite a few of the boxes. He also sensed that there were a number of good extracurricular music opportunities to be had (good radio station, performance venues on campus, practice rooms, etc.) Also, the proximity to Portland would seem to offer a number of great musical experiences, too. Hope this helps.
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It does - thank you!
I hope you’ll update us in the end–I’ve enjoyed reading this (maybe because we are West Coasters too).
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Absolutely. Hope it all has a happy ending. Where are you looking?
My daughter wants to study kinesiology/exercise science/health (depending on the school). Our list is somewhat random, no real common thread.
Cal Poly reach
SDSU match I think
Chico safety
UCD high match but daughter not too interested
Willamette probably match
Chapman match I think
Occidental reach
Northeastern super reach
Simmons match
DePaul match I think
We’ve only toured Cal Poly, Chico, and Northeastern. Daughter refused to talk about college until late summer, so I feel we’re late on much of this.
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I forgot, Gonzaga is on the list too.
Interesting list! I wish you the best of luck. I’m more familiar with the privates than the publics, and I obviously don’t know your daughter’s profile. That said, my hunch is that Chapman is a bit tougher an admit these days than Willamette or Simmons. Although, for what it’s worth, I’d personally choose both Willamette and Simmons over Chapman, depending on the personality of the student.
I was very taken with Willamette when we visited, tried hard to keep it on S22’s list, to no avail. 
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Yes, you’re right about Chapman. I haven’t visited either Chapman or Willamette, but I think I would prefer Willamette too.
Just wanted to say that I really appreciated this thread, especially the focus on fit. In terms of personality type as well as the application generalities, my S22 sounds like a similar kid to yours, minus the music. He’s applying to many of the same schools (Lewis & Clark, Bard, Dickinson, Pitzer, Skidmore, Oberlin, and a few others, w/ED at Bates.) Hope this brutal process treats all our kids well!
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Really appreciate this thread and the healthy focus on his EXPERIENCE. So refreshing! We too are from the West Coast ( Bay Area) and my son is looking at some of the same schools. Oxy is up there on his list but he goes hot and cold on it. I’m curious what about it was so interesting for your son. ( Apologies if that was in the thread and I missed it). I have a hunch my son might like it there more than he thinks, and seems like your son’s perspective might help us.
I’m also curious if he looked at other 5C schools than Pitzer?
My son says he LOVES two schools equally- Pomona and Willamette. He really really clicked with the guides on both tours so I think that had a lot to do with it. I’m sorry to hear Willamette fell off your son’s list. We really liked the feeling we got there and can picture my son thriving there.
Again, kudos for your healthy approach to all this. Feel like I’ve found a kindred spirit family.
Best of luck to your son!
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Thanks so much. Best of luck to your son at Bates! Hope you’ll keep us posted.
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