LONG LIST! colleges like St. Lawrence U

College Search & Selection
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Hi everyone, first time poster here. My D is entering her senior year and finally(!) has asked for my help with her college search. I have been lurking on here for ideas, but she hasn’t shared her list with me until now. It is quite long and she wants help narrowing it down before she gets really into her college apps.

She really loves St. Lawrence U (NY) and wants a school with students like it: athletic, social, outgoing, down to earth, preppy/outdoorsy people with a healthy social life. SLU is a safety and finances aren’t an issue. Please help us out and let us know your reasoning behind suggestions for “apply-to” schools and eliminations. Thanks in advance!

Schools she’s considering:
Conn College
Whitman
Skidmore
Fordham
Holy Cross
Brandeis
Boston U
Wooster
Wittenburg
Lake Forest
Denison
Davidson
Wheaton (MA)
Union (NY)
Lafayette
Dickinson
Allegheny
St. Olaf

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Forgot to include Willamette too :wink:

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I’d say keep Whitman because it offers a setting similar to SLU’s.

Denison tends to overlap with schools such as St. Lawrence, and makes sense for her list.

Skidmore, Connecticut College and Wheaton offer attributes similar to each other in some ways, while comparing to SLU in others.

Lake Forest seems like a safer admit that could offer her a reliable choice in April.

With respect to Southern schools, the University of Richmond should be considered alongside Davidson.

If St. Lawrence represents a safety, then Hamilton and Colorado College might be within reach.

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If SLU is a safety, then for those criteria… Colby, Middlebury, Holy Cross, Colgate, Bucknell, Trinity, Hamilton.

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I see Lafayette and would therefore add Lehigh, Bucknell and F&M.
Denison then also Kenyon
Dickinson then also Gettysburg

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If St Lawrence is a safety and she loves it, then you can probably remove Lake Forest, and Wittenberg.

Why the two Catholic schools, plus BU and Brandeis? Those are 4 urban schools, very different feels from St Lawrence. If she is looking for a little bigger, a little less remove, then maybe keep Holy Cross, as it has the same kind of overall nice kid vibe, and Worcester is somewhat more accessible than say, Boston or NYC. I’d take BU, Brandeis and Fordham off the list if “outdoorsy” is a priority.

Union is a trimester system, with engineering, so that can affect the academic feel to the school (we never visited, so I’m guessing here).

Consider keeping Conn Coll, Skidmore, Whitman, Denison, Dickinson, Lafayette, Union, St Olaf as matches. You can argue about whether any of those might be more like safeties, I don’t know Whitman’s admissions, so can’t add to that, Dickinson hovers in the low 40% so while may be fairly reliable, not a safety, and Denison is below 30% so not a safety. Keep St L, Wooster, maybe Allegheny as safeties. Davidson is likely a reach for almost everyone. Consider adding Richmond as a match, maybe even Wake Forest as another reach. For overall nice kid vibe plus outdoorsy, consider adding Hamilton and maybe Colby which is very popular and an increasingly tough admit.

Safeties: St Lawrence, Wooster, Allegheny
Match: Conn Coll, Skidmore, Whitman, Denison, Dickinson, Lafayette, Union, St Olaf You could drop St Olaf and Whitman if she doesn’t want a longer plane ride; add Richmond; could drop Union if the trimester plus engineering vibe isn’t of interest.
Reach: Davidson, Hamilton, Colby.
Holy Cross goes in there too!

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BU is an outlier; BC seems more closely aligned with the others. Agree with the suggestions of Hamilton (really any of the NESCACs), Colgate, Gettysburg, F&M, and Trinity.

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What are some test score and class rank/UW Gpa info? What sort of courses has she been taking?

Can just list more selective LACs if SLU truly a safety school. Is a very small school away from city, the sort of environment she prefers?

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Hobart and William Smith would be a safety as well and their merit aid is comparable.

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Agree with @cptofthehouse that we need more info re: GPA, test scores, home state. Also, what does she hope to study? Lots of good suggestions here but hard to classify as safety, match, or reach without more info.

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@merc81 , thank you. What is similar about Skidmore, Connecticut College, and Wheaton? I’m not familiar with these schools. She has already considered the University of Richmond, but didn’t like the separation between male and female students.

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@Midwestmomofboys so many great thoughts! A few questions on my end:
Why do you say remove Lake Forest and Wittenberg? Are they just other safeties not keeping on the list or don’t have the same feel?
I questioned the same thing with the city schools. We have now removed Brandeis, BU, Fordham, and Union because of your comment. Holy Cross remains on the list though.
What are your thoughts on Davidson? I question if it is too big of a reach for her & if she would like the environment. It seems very similar to her high school now, which leaves her quite stressed under all the pressure…

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@cptofthehouse @4Gulls , 32 ACT (not sure if there is a higher superscore), no class rank available, UW GPA is a 3.45 and she has taken 5 APs + several honors classes in the past two years. I know the GPA seems low, but she went through all the schools with her counselor on Naviance to classify them as safety, match, reach.

She does not want to add more schools to her list, just trying to narrow it down with this post. It is definitely an environment she likes, but she is open to other options.

She is undecided on major as of now.

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Skidmore, Conn College and Wheaton all have a more artsy, “putting the liberal in liberal arts” kind of vibe. Very cool if that’s what you’re looking for, but different than the preppy/outdoorsy/athletic/social vibe that I would heavily associate with a Colby, SLU, Holy Cross, Bucknell, etc.

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Don’t remove Union! Add Hobart William Smith. If SLU is what she likes, those 2 may fit the bill. The trimesters at Union are set up so students take 3 classes at a time, and it provides some scheduling benefits for a kid who wants to do an internship during the year, etc. There is quite a bit to recommend Union, and there are a number of things that are a little different from SLU, so it’s a good option. I agree that Colby sounds like it is what she wants. (Its acceptance rate dipped into the single digits last year, so definitely a reach.) Davidson is a good reach.

I agree with your decision to drop Fordham, BU, and Brandeis. I might have taken off Holy Cross, but there can be some value to having a bit of variety in the final choices when decision time comes. Some students experience some shifts (or maybe more clarity) in what they want during their senior year, so this could be the app that preserves that.

Whitman is a great choice. Lake Forest and Wittenberg are probably not necessary if SLU is a safety unless there is something compelling about them. Denison and Dickinson are good choices. Lafayette as well.

Skidmore is worth considering. Different vibe than many of the others. Conn is the halfway house between it and SLU so a solid choice.
Allegheny and Wooster are both solid CTCL schools. Nice choices.

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@lawrence827 With Wooster, Allegheny and St L on the list, I just think Lake Forest and Wittenberg would be superfluous and can come off. I don’t know Wheaton, MA, but based on what others have said, that may be worth keeping. I tend to agree with almost everything @gardenstategal says, so keep Union! I don’t have direct experience with Davidson, just know people from there, so take it with a grain of salt, but my impression is that it doesn’t have the chill vibe of St Lawrence, if that’s what she is looking for. This may be off the mark, but Haverford is a school of nice kids, not grade-grubbing, Quaker influence with emphasis on building a community. Very tough admissions, but for the kid who “gets” the Quaker thing, it can really feel like home. May be worth exploring, with the idea that it could replace Davidson. Colby is fabulous school, as @gardenstategal said, admissions now below 10% so a reach for everyone. Personally, I found Conn Coll very “nice kid” and, while it is known for its fine arts and modern dance, the campus felt very mainstream to us but we were there to meet with coach etc. for recruiting so primarily saw one particular “slice” of campus.

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Do any of these schools offer EA? I know Dickinson used to, but they’ve now switched to ED. I’m a big Dickinson fan. You should try and find one or two schools that fit your description that offer EA. It’s a HUGE relief to get in somewhere by December/January. Otherwise, it’s a very long stretch to the end of March. Two schools you might look at that have EA: Ithaca College and SUNY New Paltz.

You’ve got a lot of small LAC that will fill a lot of spots with ED. I’m thinking Skidmore, Lafayette and Conn College particularly. If she is in love with one of the reach/match schools and you can financially play the ED card, consider it.
I do think you’ve got safties on the list that she will get into and she has a chance at all of the schools. Which schools has she visited so far? Good luck and keep us posted.

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If the student like the Richmond Coordinate system, they are not likely to like the Hobart William Smith infrastructure.

Colorado College accepted 14% of their applicants last year. Hamilton, 16%. Those kind of admit numbers are reaches for most anyone. Especially if not applying early because those are composite accept rates. With your D’s academic profile, definitely reaches.

I like @Midwestmomofboys’and @xhaavic ‘s input and agree.

My kids did not tend to pick schools in terms of matches and safeties. We all knew most of the Reaches as such , and if there had been too much of a cluster around those as we too often see on this board, we would have had to have started looking harder at accept rates, but they, and I, had no problem with schools admit rates if they were realistic. It’s those lottery tickets we had to understand were such

This past admissions season’s preliminary results have placed schools Id have considered matches as true reaches. When schools are only accepting 30% of their applicants from combined early and regular admissions, those are likely to be tough admits except for the top applicants. When the accept rate is in the teens, it’s no one’s match or safety, IMo. No reason to just eliminate them. Just understand they are hitting lottery ticket status, especially if the applicant is not in the top quarter of stats. These smaller schools, the LACs also tend to favor makes a bit. I see no reason to drop a school from the list because it falls into safety range. The happiest kids I’ve seen at the end of the season have a bunch of choices. It’s great to nail that name brand, ultra selective reach, but it doesn’t happen that often even with the top kids. I knew the college machinations of the top 10% of my youngest’s high school class, and though the school has great name brand college acceptances, there were a lot of kids who applied with very top heavy lists, left with the one or two schools they tacked onto their lists as safeties when the acceptances were released.

It’s not been that long since I went through this, and yet there have been shifts in school accept rates that might have tempered my kids lists. Several match schools are now in the Reach category even for a 4.0UW, 34 ACT kid. I’m looking at 18% accept from BU, Colby at 10%, Tulane at 13% as well as the rates I shared above.

I wouldn’t take a school off the list just because it’s in the safety category rather than Match. Unless a kid really likes the reach schools on the list, that’s where I’d cull if I wanted realistic choices at the end of this trail

One last thing here, do take a look at the Colleges That Change Lives Website. Some good treading on schools that don’t a lot of narratives. I think you have some on your list already.

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@4gulls Thanks for the update on Dickinson no longer offering EA, that is good to know. Wooster offers EA, so an EA decision from there by mid-December would relieve some pressure.

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I agree about the EA. It can really makes Senior year and the effects the college app process has in it a lot more pleasant rather thsn downright stressful.

I was just thinking that Lawrence, in Appleby Wi (always loved the name of that town) has EA and itsva school that gets great reviews from visitors. Cornell college in Iowa offers the block system as Colorado College does, but it’s accept rate is a bit more generous. I believe it has EA as well. Colorado College has both EA and ED.