Match S25! Initial List

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • US Citizen

  • State/Location of residency: Washington (no geographic preference though)

  • Type of high school Private Catholic

  • Other special factors - Washington and Lee double legacy, multiple generations on one side

**Intended Major(s)- Econ, Business, Accounting

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.3 (out of 5.0)
  • Class Rank: n/a
  • ACT/SAT Scores: n/a (rising Junior, got 1260 on PSAT 10, so maybe mid 1400s on SAT?) keeping test optional as an option for now

Coursework
*HUGS (5), World History(4), taking APUSH, Physics 1, and AP E Lang Junior year (will take AP Bio, AP E Lit, AP Spanish, and Calc AB Senior Year)
All other classes are honors except for Spanish, PE, Band, and Religion where it isn’t offered.
Johns Hopkins CTY Summer Program

Awards nothing crazy
National Honor Society
Top Honors from High School every semester
Service Award
Numerous Climbing Awards
(anticipate AP Scholar of some kind)

Extracurriculars
-Club climbing team - Nationally ranked rock climber, often 1st in our region and top 10 in our division (five states), multiple 1st place finishes, takes up a ton of time, climbs 12+ hours a week
-Founded high school climbing club
-Weekly hospital volunteer - over 300 hours to date
-JV Captain of Knowledge Bowl Team should be Varsity Captain Senior Year
-Student Government class rep
-loves guitar, origami, sailing, fishing, hiking,

Essays/LORs/Other
Will likely be quirky but good
LORs are trickier, he’s very quiet but I think 9/10 from Math Teacher, and 8/10 from English. Just a guess

Cost Constraints / Budget
None but merit is always appreciated

Schools
I’m stuck at home today and trying to come up with an initial visit list for S25. He’s only a rising junior but he has a difficult list of preferences so I thought I would go to the great hive mind of CC and see what you all think. Really just trying to plan out tours with his school schedule at this point. I have explained that the perfect school doesn’t exist and he is going to have to likely make some sacrifices.

S25 would like to study business, accounting, or economics at a small school. This school must have a climbing club or team and access without a car to a climbing gym.

S25 is conservative (we call him Alex Keaton) in an old school California Republican kind of way if that makes sense. He doesn’t want to go to a school like Liberty or Hillsdale but he also won’t consider Whitman or Colorado College which would be perfect for his climbing. To make it even more difficult, he probably won’t want a particularly fratty school, although I’ve found that’s unavoidable with the other parameters he’s given me.

S25 is quiet and probably won’t interview well. We will practice with him but he’s very shy. Despite this, he is actually very social and has a girlfriend and large group of friends. It’s kind of perplexing honestly :slight_smile:

So here’s what I’m thinking. It’s all over the place, reach heavy, and too long, help us out with where to look and anywhere we should cut out please! Early Decision is certainly an option too if he has a favorite after we visit.

Likely
Gonzaga
IU - Kelley (doesn’t fulfill the small school but great climbing and business and I think he’ll be a Kelley auto-admit)

Match
SMU - Cox
St. Olaf
U of San Diego
Pepperdine

Reach
U of Richmond
W&L
Wake Forest
William and Mary
Claremont McKenna
Notre Dame

I don’t know anything about some of the Pennsylvania schools like Lehigh, Bucknell, or Lafayette, would those be good options for him? I don’t want to wind up with a gigantic list :slight_smile:

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I was going to mention William and Mary, but I see it’s already on your list. It’s always a reach OOS, but my son is heading there OOS this fall and was test optional. They love students with unique interests, and “quirky” is a word you will hear in relation to students there. They do have a climbing wall and a climbing club. Very low key Greek life. - TribeLink

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Yes! W&M does seem like a great option. He’s been following their climbing club on Instagram and it looks great. Just seems like a hard reach for a pretty typical smart kid.

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A reach, but may be attainable. My son is an elite level competitive dancer and played that up in his application. WM wants a student body that is diverse and interesting. Unique students have an edge, I think, as long as their academics are strong. An interview isn’t mandatory especially if you don’t think it would strengthen his application.

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Congratulations to your son!

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How about Babson College?

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The University of Utah would be another good safety, and cheap with WUE/merit/residency. D18 loved the climbing there, both in the gym and around the state.

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Yes! I should have added Utah. They actually recruit climbers from S25’s gym. Some of their top climbers are ex teammates, ultimately though I think it’s too big. But you’re right, a good safety.

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Politically and socially it would seem to be a good match, not a fratty place, and very middle of the road politically, most students are more interested in outdoor activities.

The honors dorms are gorgeous and new, and the setting is great. There’s also a good collection of talented students with merit aid (D’s friend group were all 4.0/34+ ACT and spent a lot of time climbing, skiing etc).

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I think Baylor is a match. They have a climbing team and a good business school and a bouldering pit and the largest collegiate rock climbing wall in Texas. They also have a dorm that focuses on outdoor adventure that includes some climbing activities/trips.

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A couple clarification questions.

Does it need to have undergraduate business and accounting majors, or would only econ be OK?

If everything else looked good, could he be OK with Greek stuff being a big part of campus life as long as he could opt out?

That last question pertains to schools like Bucknell. Assuming it is good for climbing (I will let you handle that), it otherwise sounds like a solid fit.

But as I understand it, maybe half of eligible students (I think first-years can’t rush) join. But that means half don’t. I think people could reasonably think everything from that’s fine to that’s way too much for me, so I wanted to calibrate that.

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Econ would great and is probably his first choice major. The frat thing is hard to tell. My husband and I went to W&L, and he does seem interested in it as a choice too. But when I ask him about fraternities he isn’t interested, it just doesn’t make sense to him. But I think he’d probably occasionally go to parties, he’s a yes on parties :joy:. Outdoor clubs, climbing team, a sailing club are all more in his wheelhouse though.

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Baylor is amazing, my D23 almost attended. I think we should take S25 to visit but I think it is probably too big and too much of a sports school.

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This really opens things up because virtually every selective LAC and smaller university is likely to be good at a core subject like Econ. There may be some exceptions but I think they will be rare.

That said, I think Rhodes College has a Business major (no undergraduate Accounting, as far as I know). Again I don’t know about the climbing but it might be worth checking out if you have not already.

It looks like Furman has both Business and Accounting.

But I am pretty sure I am naming more places with at least quite a bit of Greek life, which leads me to . . .

Which of course is fine, but I do know people will go to places like Bucknell with zero interest, and then end up rushing because they make some friends and actually come to value it.

So maybe some of these places might be worth a visit, again assuming the climbing was satisfactory.

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Oh, one more, then I promise I will stop.

Rochester? Undergraduate business (and econ), and I think you can also do a 4+1 and get a masters in accounting. R1 university but on the smaller side–I think it is the sort of university people cross-shop with William & Mary, say, but is not quite as hard to get admitted. And in fact they offer quite a bit of merit aid.

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That’s an interesting suggestion I hadn’t thought of, thank you!

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The Honors College could make it feel smaller. He might really enjoy their programming, such as the Praxis Labs where students engage for a full year on teams addressing “pressing societal challenges” Praxis Labs – Honors College Terrific financial deal too, as already noted. I’d look closely at Honors specifically before ruling it out - could turn out to be a better fit than he thinks.

Also seconding Claremont McKenna as a great reach option!

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Thank you! I’ll forward for him to look at.

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@Izzy74 I second BC. Not sure about the climbing but BC has great campus and campus life and easily accessible to donwtown Boston by T. Carroll School of management ranks very and has great graduate placement while econ is in the school of A&S. No Greek life but there is plenty of fun including D1 football(albeit not very good of late) and tailgating. They also have a sailing program and climbing areas cant be too far away anywhere in NE. I am a BC grad myself.

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What about Trinity U in San Antonio? Great smaller campus in a fantastic city with club-level rock climbing and plenty of great climbing terrain in the nearby Texas Hill Country. It has Greek life but isn’t known as a heavily Greek campus (Greek wasn’t even mentioned on our tour a few years ago), and students who lean more conservative wouldn’t be out of place at all - you’d likely find a pretty wide range of political and cultural views. It offers several levels of merit aid to help bring costs down, and there are even full-tuition awards available on a competitive basis.

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