<p>Hi, my d is looking for schools strong in all 3 areas to start her list. She has a great GPA, and will probably test well on the ACT. She'll have a semester abroad, and another summer study trip she won through testing well on a national language exam. She'd love some help starting her list (10th grade). Thanks for any help.</p>
<p>Any preferences (location, size, etc.)? U Chicago, Harvard, and U Penn immediately come to mind, though.</p>
<p>Cornell University
Harvard University
Indiana University-Bloomington
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Chicago
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Pennsylvania
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Yale University</p>
<p>All of those universities are very strong in all three fields your daughter is considering. You've got reaches like Harvard and Yale, matches like Chicago and Michigan and safeties like Indiana.</p>
<p>In my opinion, the initial stages of college hunting should focus on the big picture stuff, rather than arcane details like individual departments.</p>
<p>For example, a starting point should include at least drive by visits to representative small college/mid-size private/large public campuses as well as rural/suburban/urban campuses.</p>
<p>Figuring out preferences on those big picture continuums, along with geographic considerations and financial considerations, will go a long way towards whittling down a college list to a semi-manageable numbers. These, and similar criteria, are much more important to matching the overall college experience to the personality of a student than whether or not the geology department shows up on somebody's ranking list.</p>
<p>For example, let's say that after some casual visits, the preference is for a large public, ideally in the midwest. Does it really matter if U Michigan's history department is or is not on somebody's list? It's a great school that fits the big-picture criteria of the individual student. So, of course, it would be a prime candidate and whether its history department is ranked #1 or #27 is really irrelevant. The University of Alaska could be #1 across the board, but if you want a warm-weather school, then it's not a good choice. Likewise, UMich could be best school in the world and it wouldn't matter if the preference is for a small undergrad college in Southern California!</p>
<p>Sticking with general, big picture surveys is particulary important before you have an ACT or SAT score to factor in. Until then, the last thing you want to do is get your child locked in to focusing on specific, individual colleges.</p>
<p>There are exceptions to this overall advice, especially when a students interests are so firmly established and so specific. For example, if you already know that you are seeking a professional musical theater program. But, to worry about the history department as a starting point is probably not focusing on the important stuff.</p>
<p>Odds are that, if a 10th grader likes history, they won't be a history major by the time they declare a major four and a half years from now!</p>
<p>Not to say that you would never sit down and look at the course offerings in particular fields. But, I'm having a hard time seeing that as the starting point in the college search for a 10th grader -- although it's amazing how many here seem to approach college selection that way.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. She's been a history nut since 6th grade and just keeps getting deeper into it so I think it's safe to look for a school that has a strong history department/programs. </p>
<p>Other desirables: not too far out in the country (no Dartmouth/Williams); not too small (likes obscure things like playing with a middle eastern music ensemble, opportunities that might be more available at a large school); closer to the NE part of the country than the west; strong international programs/community; coed school (no Smith/Wellesley). Also: we won't qualify for financial aid or need a huge amount. Thanks!</p>
<p>Chrism, My daughter also is a history nut and I started off the same way you are when she was in 10th grade. But, I quickly realized that there are literally hundreds of schools with excellent history departments available and decided to follow Interesteddad's excellent advice to focus first on the larger picture of what types of schools would fit my daughter, her personality and learning style first and then narrow them down by her interest in history (by the way, she has since decided that she may not pursue history as a major in college). Bucknell and Oberlin both have excellent history programs, but are very different schools. Same thing with Notre Dame and Brown. So, it IS important to think a bit about broad issues like what type of person your daughter is, and what type of school she'd feel most comfortable at.</p>
<p>You've given us some broad information about location, but you haven't told us anything about your daughter besides that she likes history.
How would you describe your daughter? How would her best friend describe her? How would her favorite teacher describe her? Her least favorite teacher? </p>
<p>And, some more advice: try to build your daughter's list from the bottom up, not the top down. While you're gathering names of schools, be sure to include some less competitive schools with good history departments as well as the very competitive ones. It's hard to go back and add in safety and match schools after you've already fallen in love with your reach schools.</p>
<p>With all that said, during my daughter's college search, I have looked closely at the history departments at schools at all levels of competition across the country, so if you'd like to PM me to pick my brain, please do so. I also just put some information about schools for history on my website - you can get there by clicking on my name to the left and then see Carolyn's website.</p>
<p>Penn is very strong in all three areas.</p>
<p>I agree with carolyn, but Archaelogy and Linguistics are relative specialties compared to History. Follow their advice and look for fit, but keep in mind these specialty programs.</p>
<p>Great advice. Thanks, everyone.</p>