Need college list advice for D

Parents Forum
21

You can look into Brandeis, Tufts, URichmond (a larger LAC).

FWIW my S liked the exact same type of schools and many that we found happened to be Jesuit. He went to Fordham and loved it. I don’t think Fordham has a Hillel but there was a Jewish Student Organization on campus if I remember correctly. You absolutely don’t have to be Catholic to feel comfortable on campus but your D would have to be OK seeing some Catholic symbols on campus and students must take 2 theology and 2 philosophy classes.

22

Would Barnard be a possibility? It’s a good mix of LAC/research university – and even with the larger presence of Columbia, definitely not a party atmosphere. Diverse, urban. School spirit, not so much – but students are highly engaged. Just that there’s a lot more going on than campus based sporting events, so students tend to get involved with all sorts of different stuff both on campus and in NYC. Still a little on the reachy side – but if you are going to visit Brown, Barnard is more realistic. Strong Jewish presence.

23

@happy1 she would be ok with some catholic symbols. Her dad is catholic. Also, philosophy and theology classes interest her so that’s not a problem. Will look into Fordham.

I know BC and LMU have Hillels and know Jewish kids who have gone to them so I think she’d be ok. But not at a Pepperdine type school.

24

She could be a candidate for Georgetown as well if you are OK with Jesuit schools. I think Gtown has a decent sized Jewish population.

25

@happy1 my husband and I went to Syracuse which is Georgetown’s rival. We toured Gtown with my oldest D. At one point in the tour, my H ducked into the chapel. He came out and said he prayed she wouldn’t go there. Lol! She didn’t end up applying.

26

Vanderbilt?

27

That size is hard to find. Here are a few schools in that general range with at least some of the other things your daughter is looking for: Gonzaga (Spokane); Willamette (Salem, Oregon); Marquette (Milwaukee); University of Dayton; Elon University (Elon, North Carolina); Wesleyan (Middletown, Connecticut).

28

Have to agree with #19. Note that some other schools besides UCs and CSUs also require or recommend a high school art course for frosh applicants.

http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/freshman/minimum-requirements/subject-requirement/index.html#art indicates that a 3 semester or 4 quarter unit college art course that is transferable to UC will meet the art requirement. Check for such courses in the summer offerings of the local CCs.

29

@Marcie123 Lol at your Gtown visit. I will share the story with my Syracuse sophomore!

30

Clark University in Worcester MA is a wonderful school, and quite international/diverse. It is one of the Colleges that Change Lives. Goucher in Baltimore is another one. You might want to look at the Colleges that Change Lives website .

31

deleted my suggestions

32

Check out the thread “Colleges for Jewish B students”. She is probably above that (33 ACT is strong) but could give you some good options for matches and safeties and lots of info about how active and large Jewish populations are at different schools.

33

Difficult size, so some fitting colleges with smaller classes:

  • Northwestern in Chicago, 10k undergrads, 52% white, 77.3 percent of its classes with fewer than 20 students.
  • Upenn in Philly, 10k undergrads, 44% white, 68.4 percent of its classes with fewer than 20 students.

Her potential majors are also more likely to be close knit, for what it’s worth.

34

Thanks everyone. I am not surprised that her criteria is difficult to match. She’s always marched to her own beat under her own terms.

My oldest wanted a LAC so we focused on those. My son 2020 will have lower stats than his sisters but will want a large sports school so that search will be easier.

She says she doesn’t want a LAC but her sister thinks that’s where she’d be happiest. I’m going to take her to the CTCL fair this summer and see if that sways her at all. My personal favorite ctcl school is Whitman but she says too small and too remote.

35

How about Rice University? 4000 undergrads, in a big city, pretty diverse. Division I athletics.

36

Ithaca College is the right size.

37

@daffodilpetunia Do you think she has a chance at Rice? It looks very selective. She’s not keen on going to school in a conservative state but I’m making some progress in convincing her that colleges will be more liberal.

38

University of Pittsburgh is bigger, but in a great city. With her being URM, she might be able to get a diversity scholarship. She should visit.

39

Since she didn’t like dealing with all the testing, have her look through the list of no-test and test-optionals at fairtest.org

Also a plug for the women’s colleges. They tend to really like independent-minded, slightly cranky young women.

40

@happymomof1 she does hate testing but has a 33 ACT. At one point, she wanted to not take any tests and only apply to test optional schools but there weren’t any she wanted to put on her list. She still studied for it, she just hates the philosophy behind them-elitist, advantage to those who can afford to pay for tutors. And she proved her own point, she had a 29 baseline, had a private tutor and raised her score to a 33. She doesn’t think it’s fair that kids like herself have an advantage over kids who can’t afford it. She actually wrote about why she dislikes testing on her ACT essay and got an 11 on it!

Her sister is at a women’s college and also thinks my D would like one as well but my D says no.

Another issue is that she only has 2 free weeks this summer where she doesn’t have practice or is traveling. One week we are touring Boston schools and the other more local schools. In the fall, she may have one weekend where she doesn’t have a game but that’ll be it. So we won’t be able to tour many more schools. I know tulane really tracks interest.