<p>A couple of places that may fit the bill for your daughter as safeties:</p>
<p>Guilford College (given your daughter's stats, I think you could put Guilford in the safety category)</p>
<p>Warren Wilson College - you may have seen in another thread to Rotarymom where I suggested that she take a look at WWC for her son -- she seemed to at least be impressed with their website. It certainly would meet your daughter's criteria for artsy quirkiness. As I indicated to Rotarymom, this college fascinates me and is a place where, if I were personally applying to schools now, I would definitely submit an application.</p>
<p>University of North Carolina at Asheville - With around 3,000 students from what I can tell UNC-Asheville is basically a liberal arts college in the guise of a state university. Supposedly crunchy, but probably less so than Warren Wilson.</p>
<p>Antioch College -- there is seemingly always some sort of crisis at Antioch (usually financially related), yet it seems to endure. I have a cousin who went there and my college roommate's brother went there as well. They were both very happy with the education they received at Antioch. They both went onto grad school -- one in the sciences and one in the humanities. </p>
<p>Yellow Springs is a very nice little town with a vibrant downtown area. This summer, I spent a day in Yellow Springs and walked around the Antioch campus. To be frank, the campus could stand some sprucing up (when I was there it appeared that the grass was at least 5 inches tall and in desperate need of being cut). The students I met there were friendly and engaging. If my memory has not failed me, I think that Antioch is going through some sort of major educational reorganization -- though they are keeping their co-op program. For the right student, I think that Antioch is still a wonderful place. Given your daughter's statistics, Antioch would be considered a safety. </p>
<p>These are the places that come to mind as to safeties. </p>
<p>Carolyn, has your daughter considered Pitzer? While it is obviously not a safety for your daughter, it seems to me that it might be a nice match for your daughter's interests. Just curious.</p>
<p>infopls, my daughter ended up applying ED to Denison, and has not regretted her decision - at least, not that she's told me! Her interests lie in sociology/psychology, and she's always been very much involved in community service. The fit was right for her at Denison. She participated in a pre-freshmen orientation in the middle of August: 20 incoming freshmen, as well some upperclassmen and teacher, spent a week serving in Washington, DC, soup kitchens, health clinics, shelters, etc. She loved it, and some students who went on this trip ended up becoming her core group of friends. She's applied to become a Big Sister in a nearby town.</p>
<p>She's enjoying all her classes - no problems getting the ones she wanted - and has found that there's a big difference in high school and college homework.</p>
<p>She also does a sport, so that is where many of her non-classroom/study time goes.</p>
<p>The town of Granville - and it's a real town, with a Saturday-morning farmers' market, book store, banks, restaurants, some shops, and the best ice cream we've ever had - is a walk down the hill.</p>
<p>We were both aware that Denison has had a "party" reputation, but that's not something she looks for. Hanging out with friends is her idea of a great time.</p>
<p>My daughter is not in to big drinking parties either but got impressions from host that the shift from party school rep has gone so far that school security are always on lookout for any infractions...so much so that students hang out in rooms in small groups. if campus is that strict and not much sirrounding it...what about dances, big gatherings on Sat nite, etc.</p>
<p>Icemaker - I'll check out Warren Wilson. Antioch would probably not be her cup of tea - definitely too edgy for her. Do you know anything about Kalamazoo? Seems like a neat school but I know absolutely nothing about it beyond that they have some great study abroad programs.</p>
<p>My daughter has looked at Pitzer and on paper liked it --- but she's heard from friends that have visited that the campus is kind of ugly so she was turned off. Still, We'll probably visit Pitzer and Scripps along with the other So. Calif. schools like Occidental and Whittier at some point.</p>
<p>Carolyn - You could add College of Wooster to your trip - about 3 hrs from Earlham; fly back from Columbus or maybe Cleveland. Pretty middle-of-the-road student body there, but friendly and accepting. Faculty does a great job of working with students on an individual basis.</p>
<p>I think you and your D have a really good assortment of schools lined up. As a good CCer, you do need to have a true safety, but you may already have two if your D goes Early Decision or Early Action: Earlham's ED acceptance rate (class entering 2003) = 97%!!; Knox EA acceptance rate = 90%. (And note that Lawrence's EA acceptance rate = 81%.) Can't recall what you have indicated about financial concerns, but even though these schools are not usually found at the top of the aid generosity list they are not at the bottom either, and from what I understand early applicant aid and regular decision applicant aid packages would be similar.</p>
<p>bxian, Denison is about 40 minutes from the Columbus airport. The school runs shuttles to and from the airport during breaks. While it seems there are quite a few students from the Midwest, there are also kids from the rest of the country. Her roommate is from Arizona, and some of her good buddies hail from Boston (go Red Sox!), Maryland, Pennsylvania, and California.</p>
<p>infopls, my daughter has not complained to me about feeling that security is on the prowl to break up parties. They recently had Denison Day ("D-Day"), and one of her favorite bands played at the school. She has gone to other events - lectures with guest speakers, concerts, etc. - on weekends, and in general is very comfortable with what the campus has to offer. I am pretty sure they schedule formal-type dances throughout the year, too. Her sport takes up time on the weekends, as does studying to stay on top of her courses. (Lots of reading.)</p>
<p>Again, the fit for <em>her</em> is great - students for whom the college experience means big parties and dances every weekend might find that atmosphere at the bigger universities, or at schools where fraternities and sororities dominate the social scene, more to their comfort level.</p>
<p>Reid, Thanks. Daughter will probably apply Early Action to Goucher, her first choice. They accept something like 88% of EA applicants and her stats are probably going to be just slightly above their median so it may be safe to consider that a safety (They are also about to increase the size of their student body to 1500 in the next two years as they add dorm space). I hadn't thought that it might be a safety/match for her but it could be.</p>
<p>We went to the college fair at her high school last night - over 120 schools were there. The only two mid-western schools were Creighton and Marquette (her h.s. is a Catholic school), although there were quite a few east coast schools there. She did get a chance to talk with the admissions rep from St. Mary's of Calif. where we will visiting (and which would be a safety for her) and came away impressed with their Great books program. We'll see how she likes it when she visits in a few weeks. It's a very pretty campus - spanish style buildings surrounded by mountains about 15 minutes from San Francisco.</p>
<p>You asked about Kalamazoo College. I have about a thimble full of knowledge concerning Kalamazoo College, but I am willing to share what I know.</p>
<p>I knew one person who went there about 10 years ago. He was a very impressive and intelligent individual who was awarded a Truman Scholarship -- a quite prestigious national scholarship award given to select student during (I believe) their junior year in college. If I recall correctly, he had spent quite a bit of time overseas and was very enthusiastic about the education he received at Kalamazoo. I think the idea of the "K Plan" is to combine your internship and your class work into a senior thesis. If I remember correctly, through the Truman Scholarship program he was placed at the Department of Health and Human Services to work on immunization issues. </p>
<p>I was always under the impression that Kalamazoo was fairly religious, but I think that I was simply misinformed about that. The big school in Kalamazoo is Western Michigan -- sometimes not so lovingly referred to as "Wasted Michigan". While I doubt that there is a significant overlap between the two student bodies, having a school of 20,000 in your back yard provides some additional recreational opportunities.</p>
<p>I believed I answered your question in another forum. In short, I loved my experience at Ohio Wesleyan. The academics were VERY challenging. The social life was not bad. A lot of events going on during the week. I studied at JHU after Wesleyan and I thought JHU was a joke...The students were pretty liberal and very artsy. The location is not the best and perhaps that's one of the worst things about the college. </p>
<p>THe school is very similar to the other Ohio 5 Colleges that it is in consortium with (Kenyon, Oberlin, Denison and Wooster). Wesleyan is certainly the most international from all of them. It was overwhelmingly international and diverse and I think that's due to that fact that the administration loves giving money to international students there. </p>
<p>I'll be happy to answer any specific questions about it.</p>
<p>Weenie, I will ask my daughter about the music ensembles. She just started taking guitar lessons at school, and is getting more and more interested in music. I know she's talked about going to listen to her guitar teacher play at the campus coffeehouse.</p>
<p>Thanks! Son plays trumpet and is interested in playing in a quality jazz band and orchestra. Love to here your daughter's opinion. We are headed to Denison Nov 7 for their overnight. Hope it's fun!</p>
<p>weenie, I heard back (finally) from my daughter. She has "absolutely no idea" about jazz groups at Denison, but reports that "their a capella groups are really good, though."</p>
<p>I checked the website, and found that they <em>do</em> have a Denison Jazz Ensemble, although I don't know how big/small/active/etc. it is. I'm not sure if it's OK to post a direct link, but this is where I found it: denison.edu; Community; Student Activities; Campus Organizations; Entertainment. The office would know who to contact for more information.</p>
<p>Thank you flatlander! Son will investigate further on visit. I'm going to miss the overnight due to my younger son and 2 dogs that need watching. Husband will go, but he's along for the driving mainly (ha ha). Thanks!</p>
<p>Your question was about Ohio Wesleyan's location. From all Ohio liberal arts colleges, it probably has the best location since it is only 30 minutes north of Columbus. What I meant when I said that its location is not its forte is...that it is in Ohio. :) There are quite a few more exciting places than the state of Ohio and I don't think anyone will disagree.</p>
<p>Loren Pope is positively lyrical abut a number of midwest LAC's in <em>Colleges That Change Lives</em>. He lists Antioch, Beloit, Cornell College, Denison, Earlham, Hiram, Hope, Kalamazoo, Knox, Lawrence, Ohio Wesleyan, St. Olaf, Wabash, Wheaton, and Wooster. The descriptions in the book are very helpful in describing the individual characters of the school. Perhaps you have read the book?</p>