<p>My D will be happily attending St. Olaf and had a different visit experience. She sat in on physics and a great conversation class and found the students very engaged in both. She and a friend who will also be attending (from the west coast) are both IB diploma students, AP scholars with distinction, etc. You may be underestimating the students at StO.</p>
<p>On the question of why not accepted at some of the others . . . if a school has a freshman class of around 400, the chances of any one strong student being chosen is not great. You appled to reach LACs on the coasts, but neglected the heartland where you would have provided some geographic diversity (assuming you are from NY area) and may have had an admissions boost. Agree that Grinnell could be an alternative as it is more diverse in terms of geographic origin of the students. However, their admissions have tightened up this year.</p>