<p>My DD is a high school junior who is putting together her list for applications next year. She visited University of Chicago last fall and positively loved it, but of course their admission rate is pretty discouraging. She is trying to come up with schools that have certain traits in common with Chicago but are not as hard to get into:</p>
<p>-students who are serious about their studies but who also have a sense of fun
-an urban environment where the school is in a nice area and the offerings of the city are easily accessible by public transport
-a social scene that is not dominated by Greek life (doesn't necessarily have to be Greek-free)
-good opportunities for students who are not majoring in music to participate in musical activities</p>
<p>We toured Macalester College in St. Paul a couple weeks ago and she had a great visit! Mac seems to have all of the above qualities and is definitely going on her list.</p>
<p>Can anybody recommend similar schools? Right now she is planning on majoring in Linguistics or, if her school doesn't offer that, French.</p>
<p>I was going to say Mac, but you beat me to it. Another two I’d suggest are Goucher, near Baltimore and Lewis & Clark, right outside of Portland, OR.</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, Haverford (train ride from Philly)
Washington University of St. Louis
Barnard (NYC)
Reed (Portland)
Pomona/Scripps/Claremont McKenna/Pitzer (Outskirts of L.A)
Smith! (Northampton is a lively city)</p>
<p>Your mention of music makes me think of St. Olaf - of course, I wouldn’t exactly call it urban - yet, I think it’s <em>reasonably</em> accessible to Minneapolis. I think your other criteria would fit too, although I do not recall if they offer linguistics. You were near there, though, you may have already crossed it off the list of possibles?</p>
<p>Thank you, everybody, for the suggestions (and feel free to keep them coming!).</p>
<p>Havaviolet, we drove through both St. Olaf and Carleton on our way to St. Paul, but they were on spring break so everything was pretty quiet. All things being equal, she would love to be able to get on a bus or train and get to a major city while still living in a nice part of town. The musical offerings at St. Olaf are very attractive though!</p>
<p>I have to mention Grinnell even though it is not at all urban. They have shuttle buses to Iowa City and Des Moines some weekends, I think, but they bring so many, many activities, speakers and performers to campus that I know my son never felt the lack of a city.</p>
<p>I’ll throw St. Thomas out there just because it is down the road from Macalaster and would give you a similar feel to the urban/campus/activity/transportation thing. I would also suggest Creighton in Omaha. It’s just blocks from downtown but is similar to Mac in that when you are on campus you feel like you are on a college campus and everything else is removed, until you walk a few blocks to downtown. St. Olaf would be a much better fit for the music side of things than Mac. </p>
<p>Luther in Iowa would also be a consideration if you are looking in the midwest for music programs but not as accessible to any major cities. An odd suggestion since you mentioned music would be the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. They have a VERY well respected music department, 300 piece marching band and are only an hour from Minneapolis/St. Paul with easy access. It’s a pretty campus too.</p>
<p>What does she plan on doing with her degree? Would something in the federal government be what she is thinking? What about one of the schools in Washington DC?</p>
<p>I thought Chicago was not for the student who had a sense of fun? ;)</p>
<p>Anyway, if Chicago is fun, Johns Hopkins could qualify. Although known for the sciences the humanities really shine and at least some of the kids enroll in courses at affiliated Peabody Conservatory. The student body is nothing if not studious, Greek life is available but not dominant, and Baltimore is more pleasant than people think.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Not every small college has Linguistics available as a major, and even those that do may have very meager course offerings. I know Swarthmore and Carleton have Linguistics as a major, because I know people who have majored in it there, or taught there. But Swarthmore’s Linguistics department, which is large and high-quality for a LAC,has four people in it, plus a few adjuncts.</p></li>
<li><p>Some others to check out:</p></li>
</ol>
<p>-- Tufts, Brandeis, Wellesley, Boston College: all on the edge of Boston/Cambridge, all high quality, none quite as tough to get into as Chicago these days.
– Sarah Lawrence, artsy LAC right outside of New York City, easy-peasy train ride to Grand Central
– DePaul in Chicago: great location, great music programs (but maybe tough for non-majors)
– Tulane! Vanderbilt! I have no idea what their Linguistics or Music programs are like, but I can’t imagine better locations for music students.
– Emory
– If you are looking for great Linguistics, and great extra-curricular music programs in an urban setting, perhaps the best of all possible places would be MIT.
– Don’t forget about the University of Toronto or McGill University.</p>
<p>SteveMA, the answer to “what does she plan on doing with her degree?” is probably “going to graduate school” at this point. :-D</p>
<p>One thing that makes this is a little challenging is that we are military and while we currently live in Kansas, we will be moving the same summer she graduates but don’t know where to. As a result, it makes all geographical locations more or less equal in that we have no idea how close to or far away from home any college will wind up being.</p>
<p>She visited our son at Florida State (we’re FL residents) in February and had a wonderful time. If she were going to go for a big State U, that would probably be the one, and in fact I’m quite certain she’ll apply there. </p>
<p>JHS, not having Linguistics isn’t a dealbreaker as long as they have French. We’re going on vacation to San Diego later this month, and she’s planning on touring the University of San Diego, which came up on her radar in a very roundabout fashion. No linguistics program, but she liked what she saw online of their French offerings.</p>
<p>Continued thanks for all the suggestions! We’re going to be keeping Google very busy!</p>
<p>I think Western Washington University may be something to look at. No greek life, a semi-large city with a “small town” community feel to it. While the city may not be big enough (approx 80k residents) I would still consider looking at it. I just confirmed my enrollment so I am a little biased. Lots of opportunities to join music groups, etc. Definitely has an artsy, outdoors feel to it.</p>
<p>Did she look at Rice? No Greek, in a major US city with all it has available, Linguistics is there, and they do not have to be in Shepherd to have great music experiences. They are available all over campus in addition to the non-major groups in the music school. .</p>
<p>Singersmom07, can you give me an idea how easy it is to get around Houston without a car? It seems we’re finding southern cities to be less efficient with mass transit than a lot of northern cities. I don’t plan on sending her off with a car that first year and don’t want her to feel stranded either.</p>
<p>Northwestern also. Chicago is very accessible from Evanston (30 minutes on the EL), and it’s a lovely mix and has great departments and world class music school.</p>
<p>There is Greek life there, but there is also a large amount of non - Greek.</p>
<p>Kathieh1, we stopped by Northwestern when we visited UChicago and thought it was lovely. My daughter had read somewhere that Greek life was quite dominant. Nice to hear another point of view!</p>
<p>If you are interested in a LAC that has qualities similar to Chicago but is somewhat less selective, yet has a robust linguistics department, then probably your best choice is Reed College. For a slightly larger school (larger than a typical LAC that is), check out Brandeis. </p>
<p>Swarthmore and Rice are worth considering but they are also quite selective.</p>
<p>Oh, then there’s Barnard, maybe. Somewhat less selective than Chicago. I don’t know about its own linguistics department, but you’d have access to Columbia University courses. As well as everything NYC has to offer.</p>
<p>My daughter will probably be attending Univ San Diego in the fall. My southern Cali friends tell me that SD is easily accessible from campus and a fair amount of kids have cars; there are also zip cars for the students to use. An undeniably gorgeous campus (which, fairly or unfairly, wrecked my daughter for other campuses) and an intimate feeling community. Pretty good merit aid, too.</p>
<p>Reed is known as being very intellectual with top notch academics and Portland is a great city. L&C campus is gorgeous and camp-feeling, quirky. Reed known as a pot-smoking kinda place. </p>
<p>I second taking a good look at Northwestern. Such a great location. </p>
<p>As an Iowa-born and longtime Wisconsin person, I’d say that Grinnell and Beloit, while top-notch schools, would not be considered very urban by any means. And we lived very near Appleton, where Lawrence is. Not only not urban but pretty far from any urban center.</p>
- yet, I think it’s <em>reasonably</em> accessible to Minneapolis. I think your other criteria would fit too, although I do not recall if they offer linguistics. You were near there, though, you may have already crossed it off the list of possibles?</p>