<p>If she really hates math and science Vassar is another open curriculum school she might want to look at. They are pretty selective though - and more selective for girls than boys.</p>
<p>If she likes Brown, she may want to look at other medium size universities like Tufts and Brandeis. Again, a lot will depend on how scores and grades pan out. </p>
<p>At this point the most valuable thing you could do is identify safety and match schools she likes. It’s very easy to like Brown or Yale. The CTCL is a good place to start. My younger son felt they were all too small.</p>
<p>As others have pointed out Brown is a super reach. But having said that your daughter could use Brown as a starting point for building a list of schools in a range of selectivity that share ambience and characteristics with Brown.</p>
<p>I would say those characteristics would include intellectual focus, liberal bent, urban setting, unstructured curiculum. If that’s correct then some of the schools that I would recommend would be: Haverford, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Barnard, Smith, Clark, Macalester. If the urban/suburban part is less important, then Mt. Holyoke, Grinnell, Colby, Bates.</p>
<p>One thing that I’d like to clarify: your daughter’s experience in India will be viewed as a type of EC. This will be one of her most valuable assets and she should make sure that her global perspective – especially in a developing country – is highlighted in her application. In applying to LACs, more is better, so include extra recommendations, essays, supplemental materials, resumes. </p>
<p>Brown and many LACs, even the most selective, are quite quirky in admissions. Profile and life experience can often trump (or at least equal) grades and scores.</p>
<p>Demonstrated interest is also important, take a deep breath and visit as many options as you can, even if it means a detour to the midwest. No Northern California schools come to mind, but if possible I’d look at Reed, Whitman and some of the Clarement schools, like Pomona and Scripps.</p>
<p>Pomona is a reach for anyone. Scripps is more realistic.</p>
<p>I’d recommend getting one of the college guides, such as the Fiske Guide, though there are many others. These guides are more descriptive of the students from their own points of view and the social life on campus. The schools’ own websites are helpful in other ways. When we started looking with my son, I went through the Fiske Guide and put a stick note on the schools that sounded like him: unconventional, geeky-not-Greeky, etc. Then he went through and picked which schools to visit.</p>
<p>These guides will also quickly tell you the acceptance rates of each school and other statistics that can help you and your D estimate her chances of admission. You are getting a good early start and your D will do fine.</p>
<p>Hi all,
Thank you for all your ideas and suggestions.
When we say dream reach and safety, here is my understanding-
*am i looking for colleges by their SAT scores (most closely matches D2 projected scores)
- their acceptance rates (selectivity)
- their financial aid %
- the common data sets?
- search on selectivity?</p>
<p>i think this will help me plan the schools to visit given the shortage of time. </p>
<p>thanks again!! And apologies for the silly q!!
a</p>
<p>Not a silly question. The terms used here a lot are: reach, match and safety; safety meaning financial safety too. My advice would be to skip visiting any reach schools until you get the acceptance letter. She can visit those after acceptances. If she hopes for merit aid, she’ll need to apply to some schools where she is in the top bracket, for that school, with grades and test scores. As I said, I helped my son narrow down the field by highlighting schools where the students “sounded like him” but I made sure there were some reaches, some matches and some safeties (for him) on his final list.</p>
<p>Don’t think that Skidmore has been mentioned but if your travels take you out that way, you might want to consider it. And to add to bethievt’s advice, even if your D doesn’t visit her reaches, she should still make contact with them, i.e., request information/view books. Good luck!</p>
<p>I want to reiterate that I REALLY think you should look at Bard and Sarah Lawrence!</p>
<p>I made an Excel spread sheet and then sorted by average SAT score, or selectivity and percent of the class in the top 10% (which I thought was more helpful than GPA). I found that schools really only moved up and down a place or two, but it was easy to get a sense of how the schools compared with each other. For younger the percent in the top 10% and the percent accepted were the predictor of where he got in, SAT scores much less so.</p>
<p>Public LAC to consider - SUNY Geneseo</p>
<p>[SUNY</a> Geneseo | SUNY Geneseo](<a href=“http://www.geneseo.edu%5DSUNY”>http://www.geneseo.edu)</p>
<p>Dear CC community, </p>
<p>It has taken much to long to post an update since returning home from the US afte settling (?!) my daughter at BU. I am currently fighting a shoulder injury (a tear) and have been unable to type long.</p>
<p>For those joining in lately, we live in India and I have been part of this community during my older daughters college search. The community has been invaluable in navigation the byzantine maze of the college admissions process. I had such good advice for my younger D who is a liberal arts type and we did manage to do a few college trips. There were many more on the list and being our first time, quiete a few errors in planning. For everything I am so grateful. So my next post will contain my impressions of the schools I visited: bryn Mawr, Holy Cross, Clark University, Amherst college, Smith and Brown. </p>
<p>I am doing this offline and will post in a few hours. </p>
<p>Thanks for everything,
a</p>
<p>Dear CC Parent community,
Here is part 1 of the promsed post - as I explained earlier, somewhat late.
I am currently fighting a shoulder injury (a tear) and have been unable to type. While the college process for both girls went well, I had a car accident in NJ in sept in the car with my father and brother who was driving. The rear passenger side where I was too the low velocity impact, and that caused some shoulder injury. We liteally walked away though the car was totaled. A 72 year old drunk driver (BA level 1.90) was where he should not have been as my brother was making a left turn he came from the opposite side.
For those joining in lately, we live in India and I have been part of this community during my older daughters college search. The community has been invaluable in navigation the byzantine maze of the college admissions process. I had such good advice for my younger D who is a liberal arts type and we did manage to do a few college trips. There were many more on the list and being our first time, quiete a few errors in planning. For everything I am so grateful. So here goes, my impressions of the schools I visited: bryn Mawr, Holy Cross, Clark University, Amherst college, Smith and Brown. </p>
<p>Bryn Mawr:
D2 LOVED it!!! From the very first second!! Trying to locate the school entrance we drove through the town of Bryn Mawr and it is a small town. Downtown looked alright, not rundown or anything, but once we entered the gates, we were transported. The office was welcoming and warm. Due to all my earlier communication via email they knew my name and D2!! Was quite surprised. The info session was on when we walked in. Did not have any expectations, except that D2 was a bit over dressed perhaps the other girls were older, summer attired. D2 was the youngest (10th grade currently) and wore slacks and a baggy shirt.
The tour guide was effervescent, really into it. The dorms were beautiful, wooden flooring, fire places and huge. This is on hindsight after seeing BUs when we got there
The Dean of admissions was walking around the waiting area and had a nice chat up with her. D2 also had an interview of sorts. Was not required but just something to get her going. Now it is all real even though we have two more years to go. </p>
<p>Holy Cross:
Visited HC since it was so close by to where we were staying. It was the alma mater of the one of the relatives that we stayed with. Saw many happy faces amongst students there for various activities during the summer. There was a lot of construction going on. Do did not see any structures. Also not formal tour we had our inhouse tour guide. Its Worcester so might put people off a bit, but it will stay on our list. </p>
<p>Clark:
We drove through Worcester from HC to Clark. The drive was off-putting. We went through a seedy stretch of downtown and suddenly in front rose the magnificent structures of Clark. There was something happening on campus so it was lively. But the location was a no no</p>
<p>I am not even going in to scores and courses - this is just first impressions.
Amherst, Smith and Brown will be the next post my arms are Killing me!!</p>