@calmom - happened upon this old thread and enjoyed reading through it. i have a question about your comment: “We could name the particular niche quality that would make my daughter stand out from other applicants, and we knew which colleges would likely place value on that quality; my daughter was strong in a department that was severely underenrolled at some” - how would I go about gathering information as to whether a department is underenrolled? My D is also interested in a major that usually has a small # of students, and we are narrowing our search to schools that are strong in that area of study. Hope your daughter is thriving!