Hi all,
I recently got back from touring a lot of great schools in the New England area. Without going into specifics on where I went(for safety reasons), I want to tell everyone what I learned and look for either schools that might be a good fit or schools that I should consider taking off my list.
Here is my updated list:
Brown
Dartmouth
Cornell
Bucknell
USC
Lehigh
Babson
U of Minnesota
U of Wisconsin Stout
Program is the most important thing for me-- it always has been. A curriculum that gives me more freedom (few genEds) and the opportunity to explore entrepreneurship/product design is absolutely incredible.
New Check List:
-Updated facilities
-College town (bonus), the alternative being a feeling of isolation on campus in a suburban or rural setting.
-Inclusivity (not in the LGBTQ fashion, to clarify)
-Few GenEds
-A visually green campus (not environmental, to clarify)
-Not a nerdy or community, but not stuck up or preppy either. I really liked the people at Brown and Dartmouth, as an example.
-Spread out campus
-Access to outdoors
-Size is great around 4-10k, not a huge deal for me but I’m ruling out big schools (15k+)
-Good sports (varsity hockey/football, specifically)
Great Intramural community with an active student body.
-Thesis opportunities
-Somewhat decent access to an airport (I’m international)
-Project-based learning
-In the Northeast (not sure how American regions work, but I’d say anything Penn and above, and Minnesota and to the east) or west coast.
-Resources to pursue entrepreneurial ventures (product design studios or grants, for example)
Dealbreakers:
-Heavy activist culture. I don’t like politics on campus.
-Heavy nerd culture
-Very urban setting
-Heavy general education requirements
Completely disregarding academic rankings, my ideal school would be the location and community of Dartmouth with the open curriculum and majors (Behavioral Decision Sciences + Entrepreneurship) of Brown and the project-based learning found at some courses at Babson.
If anyone has any comments on my list, or maybe a school they think fits my criteria, please let me know!
You pretty much described URoch except, sorry, the sports vibe is not great. They are 30% international. Just watch our for FA - we learned the hard way it’s not super reliable year to year.
Minnesota is too large and Cornell maybe too isolated? Maybe add Villanova, Colgate, Colby, or RPI. Some of the schools around Worcester like WPI. Maybe Rose Hill Campus at Fordham. It’s in NYC but feels smaller.
@chmcnm I might do a smaller campus like Duluth. Great point, though.
To clarify, nothing is really too isolated. I like the isolation and the ruralness, although the most rural/isolated place I’ve visited is Dartmouth.
I believe I ruled out Colgate because of the GenEds and RPI and WPI for reasons that aren’t coming to me right now. I’ll be sure to check out your other suggestions, thanks!
@taverngirl
I’ll be sure to check it out! Thank you for the suggestion. Financial Aid isn’t an issue for my family, but I appreciate the warning regardless.
@myrna97 I haven’t looked too hard at UW Stout yet, but I know they have a Product Design program and some entrepreneurship resources. I love lake country and these programs, so I think it’s a good fit. I’ll be reevaluating my safeties really soon.
University of Vermont may be a bit bigger than your target size but I think you should check it out based on your other specifications. I’m not sure if they have the type of program you are interested in - you’ll have to research this.
I felt surprisingly comfortable on campus when I toured it. Fairly isolated. I didn’t really like the compact nature of the campus, but the updated buildings, great programs, and reasonable GenEds make it a pretty great pick
Will do. I really enjoyed the Hanover area so I definitely want to explore my options in Vermont. Thanks!
Keep in mind there are a ton of colleges in between Cornell and UW-Stout in terms of selectivity.
I don’t remember if you’ve looked into any private colleges in MN or WI but there are some that are in that range. Ohio, too. Especially if you’re willing to go a little smaller.
Why are you looking for more schools? You have 9 already, plus hopefully your safeties in Canada.
Don’t underestimate the amount of work involved in applying to this many schools. My D applied to 8 schools and wrote 19 essays. Don’t assume that you’ll be able to reuse essays as some are very school specific.
@momofsenior1
I’m not necessarily looking for more schools. I had a list of twenty or more schools and I just widdled it down using a list of criteria. I made this post to get a few more eyes on it because I probably missed a bunch of stuff or didn’t consider some things. I don’t really have anyone to help me or even talk to me about this college process, so I’m just trying to really make sure I have a list that I can move forward with
I’ll try to keep my list short. I really enjoy writing and I can normally pound out essays very quickly, but this is a totally different beast and I’ll make sure I have enough time to put serious effort into every essay!
Mmm. I think I looked at quite a few. IIRC, I couldn’t really find any that checked all the boxes.
What I have been doing is:
Narrow down to set regions → Find a program/curriculum I like (normally something in business with few genEds) → Evaluate whether I’d like the people there (not political, but outdoorsy, motivated, etc.) → Figure out social life (centered around frats isn’t great for me if there is pressure to drink) → Try to think realistically about how well I could adjust (what would I do on campus? how big is campus? etc.) → some other stuff
I’ve only run a few schools through this system as I’m just finishing up with tours, so it might be worth rechecking some of those suggestions-- Thanks!
Then you should re-evaluate Dartmouth, Bucknell and Lehigh…of course this is IMO, but Greek Life and drinking are a significant presence on these 3 campuses. Can one not join a frat and/or not drink to excess at parties and/or not go to parties at all?..absolutely…but Greek Life and/or drinking are a significant part of the social life for many students at these schools.
Not sure why you wouldn’t consider Northwestern.
When looking at public schools I would look at their funding/budget and how much they are spending per student.
I don’t know where is home for you now, but Duluth can be really cold - like 30 below cold and a lot of snow from Lake Superior. Ithaca gets a lot of moisture, but definitely not as cold.
Big drinking scene at the small rural schools on your list. Dartmouth especially has had troubles. Admins are trying to turn that around but it’s had that reputation for decades.
One additional thing you should think about is where your Canadian safeties fall relative to the US safety-ish schools on your list. I don’t know if you have finalized your Canadian schools, but it is difficult for me to imagine a situation where you would choose UW-Stout over one of those schools…no disrespect to UW Stout of course. It might have the outdoorsy feel you like, but I think you may be unsatisfied with the level of focus on academics that you likely desire your peers to have.
Myos1634 gave you some good safety suggestions on another thread.
I did some researching (only a bit, as I just added some of these schools) before I added these schools and I felt like there were plenty of other opportunities for me at the school. For example, I could join many outing clubs at Dartmouth. This drinking/party life isn’t a deciding factor for me, so I think that these schools make up for it in areas like programs offered, location, community, clubs, etc.
To clarify, drinking culture is just a preference and can definitely be accounted for assuming that A. there isn’t much pressure to drink and B. there are some other opportunities on campus. There are much more important factors for me that can outweigh the con of a drinking culture.
I have been considering Northwestern, but I believe they would require me to take three subject tests (online student). I will clarify that moving forward because I think I would really like their location, their campus, their athletics, and their MaDE program.
I’m not too sure what you mean by saying you would look at their budget and how much they are spending per student. I am a full pay, so does this still apply?
Home is Canada, so not a big deal for me at all. I live in that -30 for half of the year, and the snow is welcomed!
