Hello everyone! Writing in from India. Daughter is a high school junior. Liberal arts candidate - English, international relations and gender studies are areas of interest as of now. Very bright and soft spoken, works hard, varied interest )non sporty though), not aggressive. Looking at a small or medium top LAC, Brown is also on the radar. My concern is personality fit - how does one assess it? We live continents away so just want a good fit, the rest will then fall in place. Any tips will be helpful, TIA.
Have you got a Fiske Guide to Colleges? What are her stats? Is she an international? Can she come visit in April after acceptances before making a final decision? (Or do you plan to visit earlier?)
Wellesley comes to mind.
“Wellesley comes to mind.”
I second that.
Thanks a lot!
Yes, she is an international student.
The first book I bought was the Fuske guide 
Has an internship so tough to travel… her exams get over mid may so even if we come by then, kids are off on vacations. We did visit the Claremont consortium when we were in LA last year.
Wondering if we need to come by for a quick visit to the east coast this year… sight unseen is a tad scary!
Wellesley is on her list… ty again.
She also likes Pomona and Wesleyan… am encouraging her to consider brown, college counsellor wants her to look at Dartmouth. She doesn’t want big univs or an environment that is all type A and super aggressive / competitive. She will do her research also to get a feel, but all your inputs would be valuable also.
I am assuming you can afford full pay for these schools (let us know if you can’t). Without her stats, and knowing for sure if she is full pay, it is hard to make recommendations. Does she need some matches and safeties? Even with very high stats, the very top LACs are reaches for almost every student.
Dartmouth honestly does not sound like a fit to me. Brown does. But, of course, it is a reach for everyone.
Would like part financial aid if she can get it. Converting from rupees to dollars, it’s a huge outlay. But will do full pay if we have to. May not be eligible for aid.
Stats - she is an A student. Her first new sat attempt was 1430 (710 and 720), has given it again.
Has a good resume but I expect that of every applicant to these super selective colleges!
Will have to surely do a combo of reach, match and safety colleges. Don’t want too remote a location and diversity is also important for this mom’s mind to be at rest.
So many permutations and combinations… am wondering if we need a quick college visit after all. But if the students are all away, may not get the full picture, so confused about it.
Dartmouth is a bit more rah-rah than the others and it has a much larger Greek scene, but it is of course a great school (like the others…) and is large enough that she would likely be able to find her group.
Here are some more LACs that might suit smart type B (nice, polite, collaborative, not too sporty/competitive) kids fairly well:
Haverford
Hamilton
Grinnell
Oberlin
Bryn Mawr
Vassar
Reed
Davidson
Ty!
Agree on Bryn Mawr and Haverford. Would also add Swarthmore and Carleton. Also, with her focus on International Relations, take a look at Dickinson and especially Macalaster for slightly less selective options to round out her list.
FWIW, Middletown (Wesleyan) has a very tight-knit South Asian population.
I agree with that list. Swarthmore is more competitive than Bryn Mawr and Haverford, though, even though they’re in the same consortium. She might not like it as much as the other two.
Brown is my favorite college : )
Tufts is good for international relations and is a great school, small, nice campus, but two subways stops away from Harvard Square. Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Bowdoin. (Tufts and these 4 are “Little Ivies” as is Wesleyan.)
Clark University is well-respected and has many international students, I believe. Davidson is excellent and nurturing from what I hear. Vassar, Sarah Lawrence and Skidmore tend toward artsy. Connecticut College. Oberlin, Grinnell, Kenyon, Macalaster, Carleton, Lawrence.
Women’s colleges would include Wellesley and Smith, maybe Barnard if she likes NYC.
I always suggest the Colleges that Change Lives website (and book by Loren Pope).
Otherwise, there really isn’t enough information. Does she want a city? What are her extracurricular interests? Art, theater, music, debate, medicine, social action or service, animals…??? What area is her internship focused on? (You listed academic interests…)
I do think a visit is a good idea. Yes it is less useful when students are not on campus but still essential in my opinion. Do info session and tour but also hang out under a tree on a green and try to soak in the vibe (even without students).
Swarthmore, Pomona, Carleton, Vassar, Grinnell for co-ed LACs. And just about any top women’s college (Barnard, Wellesley, Scripps, etc).
Based on her current SATs, Swarthmore/Pomona may be difficult to get into- they’re just difficult to get into, period. Their median on the old test was a 730-740 per section, so it’ll likely be around a 740-760 on the new test. But her stats will be fine for most other LACs.
I would say that test scores need to meet a benchmark and after that it is all about other things at selective colleges, where admissions tend to be “holistic.” I don’t think a student with a score of 750 has a better chance than a student with a score of 720, in other words: it depends on their activities, interests and character. And often schools are interested in assembling a class, so the way in which the applicant contributes to or fits in the class is most important.
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Mt. Holyoke yet. It attracts a sizable international student population and has a reputation as a kind and caring place. I think your daughter would have a good chance of getting accepted there.
If you did visit the east coast of the US, it would not be too difficult to visit Brown, Wesleyan, Mt. Holyoke, Smith and Wellesley as they are all within a reasonable driving distance of one another. Amherst too, which is very competitive but does offer good financial aid to international students.
Sorry to be a nay-sayer, but many of the suggested schools are going to be tough with a 1430. Plus as an international needing financial aid, I cannot see Swarthmore, Pomona, Reed, Carleton, Wesleyan, Wellesely, Brown, Amherst, Vassar, Tufts, and Bowdoin as being very likely at all.
Bates, Dickinson, Oberlin, Skidmore, Goucher, Clark, St. Olaf, Lawrence, Colgate, Beloit and the like are better choices IMO for realistic chances.
She has taken the SAT again, so scores may go up. Not sure Swarthmore would be a great fit, but agree that Carleton could be, especially if her scores go up a bit.
Agree that needing FA would make it harder to get admitted at all these. None of them are need blind for internationals. If there is need, then I’d agree that Dickinson or Mt. Holyoke are good adds. Even if her stats go up, I think they are good choices.
Do not think Swarthmore is a great fit. Competitive intellectually and it seems dour. Dartmouth as others have mentioned is really party-hard and isolated. I think she would hate that.Wellesely is pretty competitive among its students
She should look at
- Connecticut college
- Wheaton in Mass
-Whitman,
-Lewis and Clark in Oregon,
-Mills in California may be a great fit,
-Agnes Scott is very cooperative, takes her scores and is a little cheaper plus it has cross registration at Emory, an excellent research university and it has a super cool astrophysics dept.
-Hendrix is a nice LAC; - Southwestern U in TExas is also really nice and would take her scores;
- Centre college;
- Muhlenberg which is academic offers great merit and has arts and is laid back small LAC;
- Occidental (where Obama started his college career) in Los Angeles
Thanks everyone for the great inputs!
Her internship is with a Publishing house, English writing is her passion. She would be fine with an urban or semi urban college campus. Rural won’t cut it for her.
Some competition is fine - just not cut throat.
Have read colleges that change lives, recommend it to everyone here. But when I spoke to the school counsellor, while she agreed with the book, said diversity in many of those schools may be an issue. So have to research that a little more.
Fingers crossed, her SAT will improve, been scoring over 1560 on her practise tests. Let’s see how it goes. Aid would be nice but not a deal breaker. Very few are need blind, so have to be strategic in applying for aid.
Will make notes based on all your inputs and take it from there.
Thanks again, much appreciated!