Matches Needed

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My son is applying to Oberlin, Williams and an Ivy league (legacy) plus a safety.
He hasn't been able to find other schools he likes that are matches. He wants to study chemistry, <6000 students, no/few distrib. requirements, accepting community, liberal, doesn't like big cities, in northeast possibly midwest; not a frat or party school. Want schools that meet need and/or might give him merit aid. Applying Regular Decision. </p>

<p>SAT 2330
SAT II Math II 800 Chem 800
AP Chem 5 BC Calc 5
GPA 4.1 unw /5.? weighted; at least top 5% school doesn't rank Rigorous public school
all honors classes, 5 AP classes
One National Honor</p>

<p>Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. He really likes the schools that he is applying to and doesn't want to do another application but I'm worried he could end up at his safety.</p>

2

<p>For science he should consider Middlebury, but it does have distribution requirements. Wesleyan for a more open curriculum. Carlton for the midwest.</p>

3

<p>“He wants to study chemistry, <6000 students, no/few distrib. requirements, accepting community, liberal, doesn’t like big cities, in northeast possibly midwest; not a frat or party school. Want schools that meet need and/or might give him merit aid.”</p>

<p>Sounds like Grinnell. S is a chem major there and raves about it - no class bigger than 25 students (including the intro chem, bio and phys) and amazing science faculty with whom he has personal relationships in many cases. 1,600 students, no distribution requirements, liberal, rural but campus is two blocks over from the center of a small college town, no frats, not a party school and very, very generous merit and financial aid. Grinnell’s endowment is huge, resulting in palatial facilities (the new athletic facilities are stunning), lots of money for student activities, research and internships, and to top it off, really excellent food in the beautiful student center.</p>

4

<p>Depending upon whether or not you consider Providence to be a big city, Brown could be a good option if it isn’t already the ivy that he is considering.</p>

5

<p>For Science, Geneseo is a good option.</p>

6

<p>He wants few/no distribution requirements…</p>

<p>Well, if he’s coming in with a good number of AP credits and a school will let you apply them to these requirements, why should this matter?</p>

<p>For example…My kids’ school has distribution req’ts, but their AP credits took care of all but 2 classes. </p>

<p>So, if your son also has a lot of AP/Dual/IB credits and a school will let him apply them to requirements, then would that be ok?</p>

7

<p>His APs are in math and science so they will not fulfill literature, art, language etc.</p>

8

<p>my high school senior S did a lab research program last summer at rockefeller u in NYC. among the college students in the lab were guys from grinnell and bowdoin. bard would obviously be another safety for him but check it out: it has a relationship w/ rockefeller u such that undergrads get amazing research opportunities.</p>

<p>amherst of course is a reach for anyone but it doesn’t have any requirements.</p>

<p>and oddly enough, although my own son also isn’t interested in frats/party scene, he fell in love w/ dartmouth - beautiful campus/location, great science curriculum and facilities.</p>

<p>colby in maine would probably be a safety for someone w/ his stats.</p>

9

<p>Thanks everyone. Grinnell looks great but it’s too far. My son looked at Wesleyan website and thought it looked promising.</p>