<p>You are very smart to look for that "bounce" outside of the NE, and I happen to be a big fan of the top LACs Ohio west to Iowa (Kenyon, Oberlin, Grinnell, Carleton, Macalester and others). Your D would be a very attractive candidate at any of them. However, her list should have some reaches, and if she likes the schools, I would certainly put some of the usual suspects in that category. . .with track and URM status factored in I'd expect acceptances in the reach category per below. Given those factors, I think the ratings below are pretty conservative.</p>
<p>Reach: Amherst, Williams, Bates, Bowdoin, Wesleyan
Match/Reach: Oberlin, Carleton, Macalester
Match: Grinnell, Kenyon
Safety: College of Wooster </p>
<p>Track programs are not stellar at several of these places though. Bonus at those schools of course is going to be increased interest in a student/athlete like your D.</p>
<p>These statistics are both fascinating and baffling, not so much the acceptance rates but the numbers of applicants. Why are so many Black kids applying to Colgate, Vassar and Smith? Any one have a corresponding matriculation chart? I'd like to see if they end up attending in the same proportion as their applications. Looks like a lot of these LACs need to increase their diversity recruiting.</p>
<p>In the case of Colgate it is a matter of using their athletic recruiting to kill two birds with one stone; many of their top D1 athletes are black.</p>
<p>"Oberlin's Allen Art Museum is one of the top few college art museums in the nation. It has a very unique lending program which allows students to literally borrow an original Picasso for a semester."</p>
<p>That says a lot about the climate that I myself felt when I visited: Oberlin is a fetish school, and that translates clearly into its student body's perception of self. If you think about it hard enough (well, maybe not that hard) its pretty transparent, in all the permutations of the word.</p>
<p>I have no idea what robin1621's post means.</p>
<p>But as an Oberlin alum, I urge the OP not to take TheCity's characterization of Oberlin too seriously. There are many, many students at Oberlin who do not have green hair or enjoy headbanging music. Oberlin students enjoy and appreciate each other's diversity, and they are far more different from each other than the stereotypers would like to suggest. I hope your daughter does visit and has enough time to look around and see for herself, rather than rely on quick and superficial impressions.</p>
<p>Are you sure she wants a rural location, NYC? I think she sounds like a California girl! How about giving Claremont McKenna a shot?
In terms of geo-bounce, Ds school -from the east coast- had almost a perfect acceptance rate there! CMC has lots of school spirit and they really like outgoing types (your D sounds like a people person) Your D would have the chance to attend very small classes and get lots of individual attention! You can also check out Pfitzer while you are out there. Claremont is easy to get to from NYC via Jetblue and its only 12 miles from the airport. By the time you fly to the midwest and rent a car, its another 1 plus on either end. And just think, you can visit in sunny CA rather than the rural midwest. To put it briefly, a very "appealing" place! Good luck and don't stress too much--she seems to be a wonderful kid with lots of strengths!
(Hey, do they play scrabble in French at Swat? Now that would be real
fun for my D.)</p>
<p>visited both schools with son and found them quite different. Academics great at both, but dominant cultures very different. Kenyon felt more like a boarding school. Seemed to be a lot of jocks and not much to do on campus aside from dorm parties (w/ what appeared to be a good bit of drinking) Oberlin felt a little more edgy and urban, despite its rural location and there seemed to be more going on on campus from a cultural standpoint. </p>
<p>My son (who is not a hippie, and increasingly less liberal) chose Oberlin for those reasons.</p>