<p>Whitman is not a safety for most kids, either. And it is a pain to get to even from many places out west.</p>
<p>Since this is my first post I need to tell you that I am blown away by all of the helpful information and willingness to share! My son also throws the term ‘hipster’ around, but in a way that lets me know he isn’t one! :D</p>
<p>Maybe Rhodes? They have Greek life, but it’s non-residential, so it’s a lot different from typical Greek colleges.</p>
<p>If a safety is what you’re looking for, Harvey Mudd isn’t it. Pitzer would be, though, and fits the quirky criteria. Personally, I think he’d love Pomona College, and he’d be a good academic fit.
He really should consider the west coast! We are so much quirkier here! :)</p>
<p>Many, many direct flights to LAX from points east.</p>
<p>Oh yes, definitely Kalamazoo, Beloit, Earlham. If a college with 50% of the kids on campus going to Chapel once a week wouldn’t throw him, then Hope, but to me Hope is more like St. Olaf so if he didn’t care for St. Olaf then he might not like Hope.</p>
<p>Just occurred to me Beloit might be too close to home. What about Pennsylvania? Too far away?</p>
<p>My son, with similar stats, was accepted by Pomona, Reed, Carleton, Vassar, Haverford, Macalester, Grinnell (with a merit scholarship), Oberlin (with a merit scholarship), and his 2 safeties, Lewis & Clark and Goucher (with merit scholarships). What are your son’s ECs? Did he take a rigorous curriculum? My son was also looking for the same things as your son. He chose Grinnell and loved it. He chose his list carefully and I think he would have loved any of them.</p>
<p>I’m not sure Pitzer is a safety anymore either.</p>
<p>Tufts, but it isn’t really a safety :-(</p>
<p>We visited U.Rochester and really liked the school a lot, it had a good vibe as well as a surprisingly beautiful campus and excellent engineering facilities/reputation. It is a well-balanced place. Our engineering-major tour guide looked like Sheldon on Big Bang Theory, and was extremely informative and “cool”.
WPI is worth a look, the kids are mostly on the nerdy-geeky spectrum (the bio, chem and business majors less so ) but as my son pointed out: “Yes, but they are happy nerds!”.</p>
<p>From the schools you’ve already seen (and not ruled out, as far as I can tell), I’d guess his chances of getting into St. Olaf and Marquette are pretty high. (I don’t know anything about Drake and Carroll). If he likes either of those, voila, he has a safety. </p>
<p>You can relieve some of your anxiety by having him apply EA to U of C - if he gets in, then he’s got a safety he loves all done before Jan 1.</p>
<p>I think Oberlin, Wesleyan and Univ. of Rochester are all pretty good safetys for him, but I admit none of them might look perfect at first glance, judging by the criteria you have listed. Wes and UofR do have greek life, but not in a problematic way for students who don’t want to participate. Both have some bro culture, but not as much as, say, Williams. Oberlin and Wesleyan do have hipsters, but they also have non-hipsters, and those who are non-hip will not be as isolated as they might be at a place like Hampshire or Bard. And of course, UofR is a research university with graduate students, but it seems much more LAC-like in many important respects than, say, a midwestern state flagship university or a large Ivy. So by and large, I agree with the many posters who have recommended these 3 as possible matches/safeties. </p>
<p>All 3 have plenty of science-y creative, accepting, unpretentious, ‘smart’ kids who like intellectual type discussions. Good luck.</p>
<p>Yes, my son took very rigorous classes (ALL of his senior classes are AP), took a summer course for gifted and talented at UW Madison two years straight for HS credit. His EC’s are swim (club and HS Varsity swim 3 years–but doesn’t want to do it in college :(), Jazz/Orchestra/Marching band (1st chair trumpet, but doesn’t want to minor in music–just wants to play) and Junior Science Olympiad mentor (Science Olympiad not offered at HS level). Lifeguards at the pool for a part time job, involved in service work. Good kid.</p>
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<p>Yes there are multiple categories of quirky :-)</p>
<p>For caliber of kids, Hope and K are very similar but really the kids like one or the other with Hope being a more conservative campus in a more conservative town than K and often the choice for Michigan kids who don’t want the huge UofM. Earlham is just slightly behind stats-wise.</p>
<p>Tough that WI schools are out of the picture otherwise Beloit would certainly be a “safety”. Earlham, too, but perhaps not “quirky” enough? Many of the other schools mentioned so far–and Oberlin and Wesleyan were the first to occur to me–are also potential good fits but not certainties, at least in my book.</p>
<p>Evergreen in WA would also qualify in most respects, including as “safety” if the other coast was in play. But if the west coast is in play, Reed should be looked at, too. Not a “safety” but more obtainable than many of the other schools on your current list.</p>
<p>Maybe he is a hipster-in-training (or hipster-wanna-be). 
He should look for a school that will help him achieve that.</p>
<p>Clark University</p>
<p>Even though it’s a research U and not a small LAC, I really think he’d like U Rochester from what you’ve been describing. It all depends on how much he wants a small LAC. U Rochester doesn’t have a core curriculum that most LACs have. It has one required course - a freshman writing class with SEVERAL options/topics to choose from so kids can find one that matches their passion. Then kids have to do 3 clusters in things like Humanities, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences, but how they fulfill that is up to them - again - many choices. In short, kids are only taking classes because they WANT to take that class - not because they have to. It’s a plus to those who choose to go there as it opens up so many options to explore what they like. One of the clusters is fulfilled by their choice of major, of course. Many choose to double or triple major.</p>
<p>If I recall correctly, U Rochester was at or near the top for freshman retention rate at 96%… it’s a self-selecting group who chooses to attend (and makes the recent 31% acceptance rate cut, but your guy has great stats so I think it would be a “safety”) and those who choose it generally love it there. A visit sold my guy even though he would have preferred better weather. He fell in love with the place talking with the other students (mainly intellectual conversations as opposed to sports or dorm perks that students at other schools focused on) and seeing what they do (music stuff, research).</p>
<p>If you have the opportunity and it sounds appealing, I suggest a visit - with an overnight stay. He’d know if it fit or not.</p>
<p>Blueiguana: my apologies, I read that post a little too quick!!</p>
<p>OP stated:
“His definition of ‘quirky’: creative, accepting, unpretentious, ‘smart’ kids who like intellectual type discussions.
not interested in Greek Life
small LAC”</p>
<p>This describes Vassar - please take time to visit. They have an excellent all-student orchestra and a student/community wind ensemble that is very strong. Also jazz band and many jazz combos. Plenty of good music and strong science for him. The swim team would love to have him - D3 Liberty League</p>
<p>Others to consider: Hamilton, Skidmore…</p>
<p>If OP’s son’s first choice is Williams, it is highly unlikely that he’ll like Vassar, which is the quintessential hipster school. He might like Middlebury, which is very similar to Williams in many respects, but that’s not a safety either.</p>
<p>^^My thoughts exactly about Vasser. Skidmore can be similar…both schools my kids thought were heavily populated with arty/indie/theater types.</p>
<p>Additional schools you might want to look into (more of a spectrum of more options than a list of safeties):</p>
<p>Brown
Swarthmore
Reed
Haverford
Wesleyan
Tufts
Vassar
Oberlin
Hamilton
Kenyon
Skidmore
Bard</p>
<p>From my experience at school, there is definitely a rough Oberlin/Wesleyan/Grinnell/etc. type that comes closest to what many people refer to as “quirky” (a lot of UChicago students are like this, though there are many others as well). It sounds as though your son is looking for schools with this kind of atmosphere, and it surprises me that Williams is on the top of his list–it’s generally seen as being more of a “preppy” LAC, akin to Amherst and Colgate.</p>
<p>Also, you might want to check out potential safeties that offer your son a decent chance at merit-based aid. Ideally your safeties will be cost-effective options, and since your son is looking at out-of-state LACs, merit aid sounds like the way to go.</p>