<p>I'm a senior looking for colleges that best suit me (who doesn't?)...I have a high interest in "alternative education" schools like Deep Springs and all the military academies, etc., but this interest stemmed recently and I'm too late to begin their rigorous application processes. </p>
<p>Does anyone know any such schools that have normal (Jan 1st or later) deadlines? I'm looking particularly for schools that stress educational freedom/character building...Where the student body might agree that student typically study to learn, not to get good grades. This idea of alternative education is slightly intangible, so I'm not describing it very well...I hope people understand what I'm getting at? </p>
<p>Anyhow, I'd like the school to be at least <em>slightly</em> recognized, as I may continue into Ph.D/M.D education, and this is easier from "top 100" schools and such. Any suggestions of places that I have a chance to get into and might fit the bill?</p>
<p>Some basic stats about me: 3.9 UW GPA Freshman and Sophomore year at public school; 3.3 UW/3.8 W at an "elite" boarding school. I participate heavily in journalism/music-related after school activities, with decent leadership involvement. </p>
<p>Here was my list before I became interested in alternative schools:
WashU (still am interested)
Northwestern (still am interested)
Carnegie Mellon
Dartmouth
U of Rochester
Case Western
Vanderbilt
Wesleyan (still am interested)
NYU
George Washington </p>
<p>These institutions were chosen carefully, but I've changed significantly (I think) these past few months. So I'm considering altering any of the ones I didn't note as interesting. Thanks for any feedback in advance.</p>
<p>I checked all of these colleges briefly; obviously I'll need to look more in-depth, but I had a few general questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Anyone know of colleges that integrate a job with the curriculum? For example, Deep Springs requires its students to work on the ranch after school, obviously military academies specialize in cadet training, etc..This is what I'm really hoping for; if the school is a 2 year institution that transfers students to "prestigious" schools afterwards, that'd be great, too. (Warren Wilson was obviously one example, thank you for that)</p></li>
<li><p>For schools like College of the Atlantic, Hampshire, and Warren Wilson, will lack of name recognition possibly hurt my future career? Do any of you know people who have attended and graduated from these schools? I've heard of the other two schools, so I'm not worried, but I don't want to sacrifice future job pursuits for current educational interest.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>And Warren Wilson has a work requirement - all students have to spend 15 hours per week on an on-campus job. I know of someone who went there and worked in the campus farm, which may appeal to you if you like Deep Springs. Warren Wilson and Deep Springs are both part of a Work College Consortium that also includes Alice Lloyd, Berea, Blackburn, College of the Ozarks, Ecclesia, and Sterling.</p>
<p>Oberlin isn't as alternative as places like Hampshire or Warren Wilson, but it definitely has a philosophy of active, student-directed learning. In particular, they have a Winter Term, where students are given the month of January to complete independent projects, internships, or study-abroad sessions on any topic that interests them. They also have a program called the Experimental College where students can teach classes, for credit, on everything from Swahili to bicycle maintenance to The Simpsons.</p>
<p>You might also like Marlboro and Bennington. Um, whew! That's a lot of information - I hope some of it is helpful.</p>
<p>Do a google search for "Work Colleges" There is a group of about five or six schools (Deep Springs is one of them) that require every student to work on campus. Warren Wilson in NC is one you might start with.</p>
<p>Here are some other colleges and universities that take a sort of laid back and somewhat alternative approach to their curriculum:
Sarah Lawrence
Hampshire
Bennington
Sterling College
Shimer College
St. John's College (NM and MD)
The Johnston Center at the University of Redlands (CA)
Fairhaven college at Western Washington
New College of Florida
Evergreen State University
Eugene Lang
Cal State Monterrey Bay</p>
<p>Here are some additional schools which, although more traditional in curriculum approach, tend to fit students who are more independent thinker types: Earlham, Oberlin, Reed, Macalester, Beloit, Hendrix, Smith, Grinnell, Lewis & Clark, Carleton, Skidmore, Goucher, Brown, Vassar, Bard, Guilford, University of Chicago, Swarthmore, Goucher, UC Santa Cruz</p>
<p>As for UChicago, I've been thinking of throwing out my Dartmouth reach and replacing it with UChicago? The student body gives a good vibe from what guidebooks can show.</p>
<p>Muffy, "alternative education" must have a certain connotation that I'm not intending...I want a combination of character building and education, whether that comes liberally or strictly regimented is irrelevant to me. </p>
<p>Quare, thank you! Do you happen to know which of the schools (other than Deep Springs) are most selective in this Work College Consortium group?</p>
<p>Thank you Carolyn. Your list pretty much covers what I wanted to get. This is a very active, helpful community when you stop looking at the "chance me" threads.</p>
<p>The only other factor I could use to know: does anyone have personal experience with someone who attended one of these schools? Is it easy to continue on into medical fields (M.D. track) or the likes? Obviously UChicago, Vassar, and Swarthmore wouldn't be problematic, but for less renown schools? Especially for someone who may have the potential to attend "better" alternatives?</p>
<p>And anyone know which work college comes second after Deep Springs in selectivity?</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon is really quirky. The student body there has that sort of cool nerd vibe.
--HOWEVER--
They are anything but laid back...the workload is notoriously heavy.</p>
<p>Beautiful campus in a terribly underrated city, too.</p>
<p>Another one to add to the list is New College of Florida-- NCF, Hampshire, Marlboro, and possibly others are freeform schools in which every undergrad completes a project upon graduation. A lot of these little-known schools serve as launchpads into graduate schools because the undergraduate experience is so research-oriented.</p>
<p>In terms of work experience, check out Prescott College in Arizona. I believe they have some kind of work setup like Warren Wilson.</p>
<p>Take a look at the PhD productivity rates from 1995-2004. This data measures what percentage of students go on to earn PhD's from each undergraduate institution. A lot of the schools towards the top of the list are elite, but they're not necessarily the ones you'd expect. Schools like Reed and Oberlin send a higher percentage of students on to earn PhD's than significantly more selective schools like Harvard and Stanford.</p>
<p>The U of C (my school) is character-building not in a fuzzy, kumbaya way, but in an structured, academic way. When my friends discuss why they chose to come here, the "I want to be a better person" idea comes up pretty frequently. FWIW, a very significant percentage of Deep Springs students transfer to Chicago after DS.</p>
<p>How does Vanderbilt even remotely fit into the same group as Wesleyan or NYU? For that matter, NYU is completely different than Wesleyan (unless you apply to Gallatin, which is probably a closer comparison). GW is also dissimilar to several of your listed schools. Do you care about class size, location, "attitude," political leaning, etc.? Because this list really doesn't reflect a clear choice in what you actually want.</p>
<p>Also, College of the Atlantic only offers one degree: Ecology, I believe. </p>
<p>Hampshire is different that any of these schools in terms of curriculum. Mainly because they don't HAVE set curriculum. If you go to Hampshire, you literally create your own major. Plus, no grades, just extensive "reports," but I think that Sarah Lawrence does this as well. </p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon's requirements are much stricter than, say, Brown or Wesleyan. Keep in mind, when choosing a school, how many classes you'll be allotted to intellectually explore.</p>
<p>UChicago!!! for sure! The school's known for it's emphasis on intellectualism and quirkiness. It's students are apparently renowned for being socially akward as well. But yah... if you're into intellectual schtuff and discussions I think UChicago would be a good match for you.</p>
<p>My older D is extremely happy at New College of Florida. It's a small, non-traditional and highly intellectual public LAC. There are no grades, but students receive written critiques from profs and must satisfy contracts which include both academic and personal goals. Fourth years must complete a thesis in order to graduate. This makes them very attractive applicants to elite graduate programs. All classes are taught by profs, no TAs.</p>
<p>By the way, my D loves the Hillel there (and she never planned to check it out...didn't think it would be her thing).</p>
<p>My younger D is applying to both U Chicago and NCF, as well as a few of the other schools mentioned in this thread (she's really into the intellectual quirky thing!)</p>