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I affectionately describe Northfield as rural as someone who lived there for years and loved it. I took trips to the Twin Cities, yes, but it took a bit of planning and wasnāt just a spur-of-the-moment thing. My family members who attended suburban/urban campuses also considered Northfield to be VERY small town/rural.
Anyway, back to the point of the thread, I donāt think it meets OPās suburban/urban criteria based on the schools that have been eliminated.
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True, itās not spur of the moment unless you have a car -you need to plan to take the shuttle and you cant walk there or hop on the lightrail/subway. And itās not the Main line (PAās Eagan) either.
Between Macalester (urban/great walkable neighborhood) and StOlaf (great for voice&music) which would matter most to OPs child, locarion or music strength? - can be an interesting way for OP to look at the colleges, without names but with stats, specificity, type of location, see what are must haves or deal breakers.
I donāt know how OPs would define āruralā - Iāve lived in rural PA and itās definitively not Northfield.
(Northfield feels cute and historical, whereas rural PA feelsā¦bleak, often downtown bled by Walmart, sometimes a dead steel mill on its outskirts. Northfield feels more dynamic than Carlisle, where Dickinson is located and is considered a nice small town.)
Anyway now OP has 2 perspectives on Northfield 
-and thatās not irrelevant when trying to build a good list.
(I keep in mind that it may be too far from home anyway. )
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I was going to mention Puget Sound and Macalaster, but considered geographical preference.
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Agree with Hippobirdy and many others: your Dās rigor is not in the range of the commonly accepted kid at the ivy-plus and other reaches on your list. If her vocal skills or something else really wows them, then she has a shot! But for unhooked kids, the most competitive schools admit kids who took every or all but one hardest course their HS offered. Even the humanities-aiming ones. If they didnt ace the hardest stem courses they tried them and got almost all of not all A- and above. No one is saying donāt apply, just that with her lower than average chance at getting in(when the average chance is already less than 10%!) and her mental health issues this is setting her up for significant repeated disappointment that would be hard even if she didnāt have an anxiety disorder.
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@arewethereyet.24 any progress with the list of schools?
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@arewethereyet.24 just checking in to see if thereās any update. I love to hear everyoneās journey!
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I just wanted to acknowledge what an amazing gift your sharing this information is to me - not sure what your background is, but you clearly spent some time with this and I really appreciate it.
Schools we have added to our list to consider include Skidmore, Connecticut College, Trinity College, Univ of MD, and College of Charleston. She also applied to UMass Amherst, and Pitt, which should be āvery likelyā schools. Then, she rolled dice and REAd to Yale, with a wide range of additional EA public schools, and is tackling the rest of her list of RD schools in priority order. If she gets them all in, it will be 32 schools overall, which sounds insane but has felt necessary given the unpredictibability in admissions. A good many either donāt have or waive fees so that has been helpful too. In many instances, after a period of intensive work on essays, DD has the foundation for easily crafting new essays based on previously submitted ones - and is actually having fun with some of the more creative options. Will update everyone as we go. So far, 8 EA applications filed with Yale, Charleston, UMass Amherst, UMich, UVA, UMD, UNC-CH, UWisc, and 4 RD at Skidmore, Pitt, Wesleyan, and Conn Coll. Stay tunedā¦
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I hope she does end up at a smaller, less competitive school after reading back the chain. I still worry about her lack of desire or actually doing math, which will hit her admission chances and her chances of success in college - where it will be required, even to a low level.
Best of luck to her in her pursuits.
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Thank you - sheās taking AP Stat this semester. No school she is looking at will require a calculus as part of their core requirements, though many do require āquantatative analysis,ā which in all cases Stat satisifes. The mental gymnastics required for calculus are certainly evidence of mental strength and we hope its lack will be offset by the many college classes she has taken in the humanities, and her strength as a musician. 
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Thatās great.
Many smaller schools will have better mentoring/guidance which is why I hope for that for her. . I think mental health services is spotty - deiends on the school. My daughter (at Charleston) needed someone her first semester - ended up off campus for it.
At Charleston make sure to apply for Honors and hope to get selected for the Charleston Fellows.
Best of luck to her.
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Donāt worry about calculus - for ātrueā Arts&Humanities kids (this profile is uncommon but easy to spot) AP stats is plenty.
Seconding applying to Honors whenever possible.
Itās such a joy when kids take ownership of the process and start enjoying essays as part of their growth, personality, creativity, isnāt it?
Sheās done all she could and is clearly listening so you can be sure sheāll end up somewhere good for her. 
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At some schools, a good score on the AP stats exam will satisfy the quantitative requirement (assuming the student is not a STEM major, which would require more math) ā so thatās added incentive to do well in AP Stats!
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Iām looking back to see where the student was math wise - this was noted.
Perhaps my assumption, right or wrong as the thread goes back to early August, was that no math was taken in 11th grade ?
I would expect at least pre calc, even from a social science app to schools like Yale, etc.
OP will find out soon enough.
āWeāre taking AP Stat in 12th, and took Trig in 10th grade. ā
Thank you for coming back and giving us an update. Wishing your daughter all the best as she continues to go through this process. Weāre definitely rooting for her!
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AP stats is fine for a kid with humanities interests and talent in classical voice, even at top colleges, in our experience.
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Yea, it was the overall math and foreign language tracks, plus a few lower grades in AP humanities that has folks recommending the addition of more non reach schools last summer. In any event, I hope this student doesnāt wind up preparing 32 applications, that seems like total overkill and very stressful for any student, let alone one that struggles with anxiety.
I do hope op considers sharing results as there definitely how been differing thoughts on how much the voice talent will be a hook. Might be helpful for future applicants.
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My daughter also applied REA to Yale! Itās definitely in essence a lottery ticket, but who knows. Best of luck to her!
Good luck to them both!!
Weāve employed a dual strategy of using the Common App for schools that do not accept the Coalition App, but the Coalition App for every school that permits it. The added bonus is that the activity descriptions for Coalition are unlimited, so you can provide a little extra color in your application, and after you apply, you can click on the school and direct link to the portal in most cases, which weāve found pretty convenient.
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