Please help me rank these colleges in order of preference!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I know it may seem like an eclectic group of colleges, but my personality seems to fit into each one in a way. I'm supposed to rank them in order of preference, for regular decision applications, but I'm struggling....how would you rank them? Also, if one seems like a bad idea, please let me know! Also, if I'm missing a good college, please comment! I need a balanced list of targets, reaches, and safeties.</p>

<p>Personality: I'm not an extreme in any category. I am somewhat artsy, and sometimes like to party, but can also do well with a quiet night in. I care a lot about my studies, and want to have a good experience in college, make a few good friends, like any typical prospective college student would. I've been leaning towards smaller schools, but enjoy NYU and GWU because of their amazing cities -- NYC and DC! That's basically it...please help, I'm so stressed!!! Thank you!</p>

<p>NYU
Colby
GWU
Kenyon
Scripps
Grinnell
F&M
Macalester
Lafayette
Colgate
Bucknell
Union</p>

2

<p>Why are you “supposed to rank them in order of preference?” Is this a class assignment? </p>

3

<p>I just need a solidified list of colleges to apply to regular decision and should I need to cross a few off my list to save admissions fees or for anything else, I could begin with the bottom of the list. It would help me a lot</p>

4

<p>Have you run the Net Price Calculators (NPCs) on any of these schools? That would give you an affordability ranking, to begin with. Or is net cost not an issue?</p>

5

<p>So these seem to cluster in terms of type of school/environment/student, and that may help you identify which are redundant can can drop off.</p>

<p>Kenyon/Grinnell/Macalester</p>

<p>F&M, Bucknell, Colgate, Lafayette (Colby goes here or maybe in above group)</p>

<p>NYU/GW. If you want city life, then would you include Fordham, American? Those could be alternative safeties, depending on your admission profile. </p>

<p>not sure how Union and Scripps fit in,-- are those your safeties? If you want vibrant city life, keep Macalester on the list. How do you feel about Greek life? High participation at Colgate and Bucknell and even F&M. Whereas exists but not significant at Kenyon and is antithetical to life at Grinnell and I am guessing Mac. </p>

<p>Consider organizing your list in terms of safety, match and reach and then make sure you have a representative type of school that you like (city, LAC etc) in each category. </p>

<p>Good luck, we parents know it is a difficult time of year. </p>

6

<p>Thank you! Yes, each of these schools is grouped into S/M/R in my head, but for my sanity, I’d like them in order of preference. Thank you so much for grouping them the way you did, it’s a good way to think about them!!!</p>

7

<p>I’m not sure why Scripps is even on there – am I correct that it’s the only women’s college, and the only West Coast college, on your list? What made you think of it?</p>

8

<p>Have you had the opportunity to visit any of the colleges? Union might be a great fit given your preferences, and NYC is accessible by train from there. Kenyon, Colgate and Grinnell are all pretty rural.</p>

9

<p>I don’t think anyone can do this for you. Preference is personal. They are all very good schools, it just depends if YOU want a city, a LAC etc. Two intelligent and reasonable people could had very different preferences based on what each one is looking for in his or her college experience. There is no correct answer-- there are just different type of experiences.</p>

<p>Personal notes — My D is at Lafayette and loves it but she wanted a LAC experience from the very start. She has great friends, is involved on campus, enjoys her classes and really knows her professors, does research, and is having an overall wonderful experience. My S wanted to be in or near a big city but he didn’t like NYU at all when we visited (no campus, felt too disjointed) but found that Fordham – Rose Hill with its traditional campus, small classes and easy access to Manhattan was the better fit for him (and he also had a wonderful college experience). </p>

<p>There is no right or wrong answer – at this point it is a matter of 1) where you get in 2) where you can afford to go and 3) where YOU want to be. I’d wait to see where you get in and what is affordable and then try to visit your top couple of choices one more time and see what you think.</p>

10

<p>@dustypig I visited it and I loved it! I visited an array of schools, small schools and large, reaches and targets and safeties, west coast and east coast. These are the ones that have made the cut in terms of I could see myself there.</p>

11

<p>@midwestdad3 I have visited all of them except for Union, Bucknell, Colgate, and Grinnell. If I don’t get into my ED tomorrow, I’ll be visiting them and finishing up my supplements! But thanks for the help on location/description, it makes it easier to organize into groups.</p>

12

<p>How I would rank them in order of preference, taking into account academics, social scene, location, etc.</p>

<ol>
<li>Scripps</li>
<li>Macalester</li>
<li>Bucknell</li>
<li>Colgate</li>
<li>Colby</li>
<li>Grinnell</li>
<li>Lafayette</li>
<li>Franklin & Marshall</li>
<li>Kenyon</li>
<li>GWU</li>
<li>NYU</li>
<li>Union</li>
</ol>

<p>My biases: I went to a small women’s LAC in a consortium, and I think it’s an excellent setup. The Claremont Colleges are amazing and Scripps is a women’s LAC in a consortium where you have the option to choose from more classes than you would at a similarly-sized college not in a consortium, and socialize with a lot of college students in a concentrated area. I also think being in the suburbs of a nice-sized setup is the ideal setup - you’re away from the city and city life but have easy access to it for fun - so that’s why I personally ranked Scripps and Macalester so high, combined with the academics and other features.</p>

<p>Bucknell is more isolated, but it’s a great LAC with what sounds like a really fun social life, and only ~1 hour from Penn State for games if you’re into big football!</p>

<p>The next three colleges - Colgate, Colby, and Grinnell - I had a hard time organizing into a ranking. They’re kind of tied in my mind, because they’re all relatively isolated (I know that Colgate is only an hour from Syracuse, but it’s still pretty isolated). I kept switching them around, and ultimately they’re in the order they are simply because I’m from the East Coast and for some reason I think the isolated/rural East Coast is “better” than the isolated/rural Midwest. Also, Colgate edges the other two out also because of the social life (that was a prime consideration for me when I was considering colleges).</p>

<p>I prefer LACs to large universities because the idea of being in a large lecture hall for introductory classes did not appeal to me; I considered NYU for undergrad but ended up not applying because when I visited, I didn’t like the fact that it didn’t have a concentrated campus. New York is also super expensive and, I think, difficult to enjoy as a college student sans $$$. So that’s why NYU and GWU are where they are (I actually love DC, and were this school American that would be much higher on the list). You can indeed get to NYC from Union by train, but it’s a 4.5 hour train ride. It was the mix of academic/ranking/reputation overlaid on isolation that made me rank places like Grinnell and Lafayette so much higher than Kenyon and Union.</p>

<p>I agree with the suggestions of Fordham and American if you like NYC and DC. I also want to suggest Barnard, if Scripps appeals to you.</p>

13

<p>Were there schools that you visited and then crossed off your list? Or are you like my own D and you like every campus you set foot on? </p>

<p>If you’ve noticed that visiting a campus is very important to you in terms of knowing whether you like the school or not, then it’s easy – put the schools you haven’t yet visited at the bottom. </p>

<p>With regard to GWU and NYU – do you actually like the schools themselves, or just the cities they’re in? I wouldn’t apply to a school just because you like the idea of living in that city. Especially since those schools are the outliers – most of your list is smaller schools in small towns or suburbs.</p>