Need recommendations for my sister :)

Parents Forum
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<p>Last year, this forum was an incredible resource for me in my college search. I am currently a freshman at the University of Southern California where I received a half tuition presidential scholarship for National Merit (found out that USC offered that from College Confidential!) and I am incredibly happy here. My little sister is a junior in high school, and my mom asked me to help them with the college search.</p>

<p>My sister is an above average student. Her test scores are good (she was scoring in the 2000-2100 on SAT practice tests) and in high school she has had mostly a mix of As and Bs. She goes to a small high school (about 200 kids in her grade) and desperately wants to be somewhere larger to find people she vibes with better. She is super quirky and awesome, but it can be hard for her to find peers in such a small school. She loves improv and drama, gets super involved with whatever her current interest is (for example, this year she's really into Rocky Horror and she's seen the movie dozens of times and is dressing up like one of the characters for Halloween...) and has a quirky sense of humor. I think she'd prefer a school without a heavy drinking culture or greek culture, though of course she wouldn't be obliged to participate if she went to a party school. </p>

<p>My mom would love some recommendations about which schools they should visit over the next few months within driving distance of NYC. Schools further than that aren't ruled out but right now she is specifically looking for schools they can drive to so that my sister can start to develop preferences for different types of schools.</p>

<p>Thank you so much!</p>

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<p>A few questions:

  • Does she have any idea what she wants to major in?
  • What kind of cost limitations does your family have?
  • What state does your family reside in?
  • Does the school have to be large? Or would she consider a smaller school if the population was more “like her”?
  • Any interest in women’s colleges, like Smith?</p>
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<p>I would also list your definition of quirky–that means many different things here :D. List some traits she has that makes her quirky to you.</p>

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<p>If she can break 1400 on the SAT (reading/math), then she could qualify for full tuition scholarship at University of Alabama. Definitely a large school (30,000). Don’t know anything about their drama dept.</p>

<p>[Out-of-State</a> Scholarships - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html]Out-of-State”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out_of_state.html)</p>

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<p>When I see quirky, I think of Vassar, Skidmore and Muhlenburg. They are all small (compared to USC) but commutable to NYC. Columbia or Barnard would fit too but, like Vassar, perhaps a bit of a stretch. If the school is large enough it’s bound to have a quirky element - Rutgers, Penn State, Syracuse.
Good luck to you and your sister/parents!</p>