I haven’t looked to see there Niche scores, but have you thought about Wheaton (MA) as a likely? Not that you need more schools in the other areas of your list, but Bryn Mawr & Skidmore were two other schools I thought of as other possibilities that have much higher admit rates than some of your other schools. Bryn Mawr is a 25m ride on public transportation into the heart of Philadelphia. Saratoga Springs is not a major metro, but does seems to get good reviews as a charming town.
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Yes, pretty darn quirky. But historically no slouch. Its grads are in the top 2% of institutions whose grads head to graduate school.
Would she consider Bryn Mawr? I think it might be slightly stronger in her preferred area of study and a bit surer than some of the others in the group including Conn.
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Agree with @AustenNut in suggesting Smith. The vibe sounds like the right fit, the curriculum is very open, and Northampton might work in terms of surrounding town/small city for what your D is looking for. Very well resourced school, too. It was my D23’s favorite of the historically women’s colleges, and she came pretty close to choosing it - lots of energy, great house system, beautiful eclectic campus, amazing library…since you have Barnard on the list, Smith might appeal, too.
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Now that you teased it… and only if you are comfortable sharing - which one did your daughter end up choosing?
Trinity in hartford ct is in a grim inner city underclass slum. The campus itself is lovely, but the area around it is high crime, without much to offer, other than access to the state capitol for those interested in politics, and several hospitals for premeds.
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I don’t think my D’s final choice would be a match for what OP has described she is looking for, so I don’t want to derail the thread but will pm you 
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Vassar sounds like a great fit, except if easy access to Boston is desired. With a car it’s not a bad drive, but public transportation requires going south to NYC and then north to Boston. 6 hours at least. I’ve heard it’s a pain.
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Thank you all! You have made some great suggestions and I especially appreciate insight into particular schools. It is great to know the Anthropology classes at UMass are wonderful!
I looked up very school suggested and a lot of them look wonderful! On further inspection, some didn’t have an Anthropology or Classics department so would not be a good add to the list, and some the location is not great.
She has an individual meeting with her school counselor tomorrow and I think the tentative list to be discussed will be:
High Reach
-Tufts - ED1
-Barnard
-Wellesley
-Brown
Reach
-Vassar (a favorite)
-Wesleyan (love it on paper)
-Boston University
-Smith
Target
-Brandeis
-Mount Holyoke
-Connecticut College
Likely
-UMass Amherst
-UConn
-Sarah Lawrence
Hopefully she will have a good meeting and some more guidance on narrowing the list
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Don’t skip HS calc if you’re looking for a T50. She will have to take it as a gen ed. and it’s better if college calc isn’t the first time she’s hearing about derivatives and integration. Stat is great but in addition to calc not as a substitute.
If she wouldn’t be happy attending, strike from the list. Don’t waste your time and effort. Find another likely
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Colgate? Swarthmore?
The bit about Calc is not true. My kid took AP Stats instead of Calc and got into 8-10 T50 LACs, most of which are generally considered T25 or 30 or so (she didn’t apply to many universities). Her strengths lie in other areas, and stats made more sense for her. And college distribution requirements often do not require calc. I cannot speak to every school, but some have open curricula, and others have distribution requirements that have a quantitative element that you can satisfy in many ways other than taking calc. In fact, of all the schools we considered – not just the ones she applied to – not a single college or university would have required her to take calc.
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What are her two sure things for admission that she would be happy to attend, and are affordable. I don’t see those listed here. I suggest two, because if the other colleges don’t work out, it’s nice to have choices.
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Never said it was a requirement for admission. Rather, I was making the point that it will make her better prepared for when she takes it in college.
Sure some schools may not require calc, but many in the T50 do. If the student is locked into one that doesn’t, great. But it sounds like she’s far from knowing where she’ll attend.
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Those were the schools we were considering, and they didn’t. For some majors, yes, but not for humanities and social sciences. There are surely schools that require it, but distribution requirements are more common than specific general studies requirements, and it’s very easy to graduate without taking calc, even at a top college or university, even at a school with a quantitative requirement, depending on the school you choose. I’m just saying that for this OP (artsy classics, anthro), it is not absolutely necessary to take calc in HS or college, even in a top college, if she wants to avoid it. It’s not for everyone.
If you want to get into a T10? Yeah, you should probably have it to show maximum rigor. But elsewhere in the T50s? It’s not essential if you have clear strengths in other areas. Calc is not the only way to show rigor.
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Some schools require it while others don’t. For example, Tufts doesn’t require calculus as part of distribution requirements.
https://math.tufts.edu/resources/course-advising-new-students
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One of my kids didn’t take math analysis, precalc or calc and got into a top 5 school, nor did they have to take any of those in college. There was a mathematical reasoning gen ed for humanities majors.
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Is there any school other than MIT and Caltech that require it? 1
MIT does not require calculus.
Most freshman have taken it; some have progressed far beyond it. But there are students who show up from HS’s which did not offer it, and they take it first semester.
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MIT does require calculus for graduation. @DadSays indicated that T50 schools will require it for the general education requirements IN COLLEGE. Other than MIT and CalTech, I know of no other school that requires calculus for their general education requirements.
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