<p>I ordered Don Asher's Cool Colleges book from Amazon a few weeks ago, and fell in love with Deep Springs. I also thought the profile on the Merchant Marine Academy was interesting where kids spend their summers on sea. So, I'll be applying to go to school on a ranch and on the ocean this fall. Do any other out-of-the-box programs come to mind that are life-changing? Do you guys have any suggestions for back-up schools, because I understand admissions to both schools are extremely competitive. So far I have Swarthmore because I like the intellectual atmosphere, University of Chicago, because I like the Great Books program, and RPI, because I received a medal for math and science achievement for $15,000 per year. My parents want me to apply to all of the Ivys, and MIT as well, so that makes a total of 14 schools. Thanks for any help. If you need information about my academics/activities, let me know.</p>
<p>Isn’t there some sort of service requirement with the Merchant Marine Academy? I remember looking into it when I was interested in a service academy, and I believe that although you don’t have to join the military afterwords, I think there was some other requirement to be fulfilled after you graduate, so you might want to check on that.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in Internationl Business at all, I always thought that USC had a neat program. Their IBCE track allows you to study at the Unviersity of Hong Kong during your sophomore and senior years of college and spend two summers in Hong Kong. It’s even more neat, because you can have internships in both the US and China. It’s definitely not what I would call your typical college experience, though it’s highly competitive. Only 20 students are chosen.
[IBCE</a> Track | The Moore School of Business | University of South Carolina](<a href=“404 page not found | University of South Carolina”>404 page not found | University of South Carolina)</p>
<p>I know Northwestern has a special program called Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences, also for 20 people. Do you know of any other colleges with good honors’ programs, or foreign exchange for that matter? Thanks.</p>