Schools for my Quirky, Nerdy Kid?

Parents Forum
21

While it’s a reach, I’d recommend Wellesley as its cross-registration program with MIT means she could potentially leverage MIT’s CS/engineering departments while also having the benefits of an LAC environment.

One HS classmate who was rejected by MIT ended up taking most of her CS major classes at MIT through cross-registration at Wellesley.

22

Another vote to look into Carleton. Also, I will say that my D with similar stats and a learning disability still thrived at Harvey Mudd. It was hugely challenging, but also hugely rewarding for her. Her organization skills still resemble an octopus falling out of a tree (just best not to watch). She is a Physics PhD student now. But it really has to be your kid’s desire and determination if she applies to Mudd.

23

Thanks for all the great replies! Here were a few of my thoughts as I’ve been reading your responses:

  1. Good to see Bryn Mawr recommended. She really likes the idea of a women's college, but I think Wellesley might be too preppy for her tastes.
  2. She is adamantly opposed to any schools with a religious affiliation. Personally, I think she's crossing off a huge number of schools with that restriction, especially since many seem loosely affiliated and open to all beliefs. I think St. Olaf's sounds great, but I'm not sure she'll bend on this requirement.
  3. She is not interested in engineering. She would prefer to do pure math, or theoretical physics, but sees the financial and practical value in pursuing applied math, data science, etc. But definitely not engineering.
  4. She thought she wanted a school in a big city, but then we visited some in Boston and she changed her mind. Suburban areas somewhat near a medium-sized or large city now seems to be her preference. That is actually a big reason why Wellesley stands out. It's near Boston, but not right in the midst of the city.
  5. Financial constraints? That's a hard one to answer. Most NPCs we've done show that she'll get a small amount of need based aid, but not much. The amount they estimate we can pay seems shocking to me. She has a 529, and our financial planner has sat down with her to show how far it will go at various schools. For example, she knows that she can attend our local university (Colorado State) and pretty much have it all covered, but if she chooses Bates, she'll end up with some loans.
  6. After our initial reading of your replies, we're definitely going to look into Bryn Mawr, Beloit, Carleton, Whitman (maybe too rural?), Kalamazoo, and Lawrence.
  7. FYI - I mentioned that I'm making her apply to at least two in-state schools. As of right now, she has chosen Colorado State (because it's 10 minutes from home), and University of Denver (which I think could be a very good option).
24

If cost is an issue look at UT Dallas - you really can’t get much nerdier! Fully funded Chess team but no football, founded by the founders of Texas Instruments and they have great merit.

25

Swathmore might be another consideration considering they also have great CS/STEM.

If she wants to study pure math or physics, I’d also give a nod to my LAC(Oberlin).

26

WPI might be a good match.

27

Denver is private, but is a good choice nonetheless.

28

My daughter is a Wellesley grad, and had a minor in Astronomy, so she knew many of those majoring in Physics.

I think your daughter could find the school a good fit, especially given her interest in science and math – why did she think it might be “too preppy”?

(My husband and I are vacationing at a farmhouse with little light pollution - the Wellesley Astronomy Club comes here in the fall to star gaze…)

29

A few thoughts. Amherst College and U of Rochester. If your D were to run out of math/stats/CS courses of interest at Amherst, she could take graduate courses at UMass Amherst.

If you look at the statistics for alumni giving, the schools that have the highest percentage of alumni who give every year are almost all not in cities but are relatively self-contained. I see the percentages of giving as something of a proxy for satisfaction with the school. See https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2016-10-18/10-universities-where-the-most-alumni-donate and https://www.forbes.com/sites/schifrin/2016/07/06/2016-grateful-grad-colleges-the-top-200-show-me-the-money-schools/#71071d174f0e.

My hypothesis is that when you are out in the middle of no place together, you are forced to make enduring friendships. Happened to me at one of the schools on the list and to my son at another. Not to my daughter at an urban school.

30

Oberlin, Carleton, Macalaster, Bard, Tufts, Clark U., Smith, Brown, Lewis and Clark. Pitzer

31

Just wanted to mention that sometimes the larger state U’s can be a good fit for a math/science kid if she/he finds the right “tribe”. And at a larger school there are more tribes to choose from. Just a thought - wishing your daughter the best!

32

My quirky girl is a sophomore this year at Bates! Other schools that she liked were College of Wooster, Bryn Mawr, Agnes Scott (Atlanta) for safeties. Kenyon and Haverford were match/reach schools that she enjoyed visiting.

We weren’t able to visit these but they were on the list: Carleton, Reed, Grinnell, Macalester.

Good Luck!

33

Take a look at Clark U in Mass. If she likes/fits the campus vibe it could be a great choice and with her states it is likely she would like get a good amount of merit aid.

U Roch also sounds like she would be a good fit. Did she take the PSAT last year and any chance of National Merit status? Not sure if it is still true, but my kid got a nice boost in merit aid with that but only a small amount without that status.

If the EFC is too high, you really need to look at schools that offer merit aid and where her stats put her in the top 25%.

34

Some of the suggestions sent your way are on the Colleges that Change Lives website, if you haven’t checked that out yet.

35

University of Puget Sound might be worth a look. Our tour guide was mildly on the spectrum. Small school/campus in suburban part of Tacoma. Lots of quirky kids in this part of the country.

36

One thing…sometimes LACs are the wrong choice for shy kids because many of them really stress class discussion and having to talk a lot in class can be very stressful for some personalities.

37

We’ve thought about the focus on class discussion at smaller schools, and that was the initial thing that turned her off at University of Denver. Our tour guide was an extreme extrovert, and he went on and on about how much class discussion there is, and how great the collaboration is, and how the residents in the dorms just always leave their doors open, so it’s great for extroverts. I don’t think he realized how much that freaked out the introverts in the group. She almost decided not to apply because of this. However, her social anxiety is getting better. She started school on Monday, and she already says her favorite class is AP Physics, because there’s only 8 of them and they just sit around a table and talk about physics. This is huge progress for her!

38

On the flipside, a shy student at an institution with large classes, if not careful/proactive can easily fall through the cracks and end up doing poorly/failing in class because s/he didn’t realize how far behind s/he was or could easily avoid facing the impending signs of it until it was too late.

Also, LAC Profs are much more likely to not only notice, but also take proactive action on their part to gently warn students who are going off-track before it’s too late to change course.

Got to witness this as a student who was asked by one Prof to serve as a messenger to nortify the dormmate the Prof wanted to see him about his missing 3-4 days of an early morning class.

39

Small colleges do have the advantage that your kid will be known and paid attention to by profs. My shy kid got great mentoring from adults at her small college – still very close with 3 of them after graduating (like, they come see her at grad school when they are in the area, and she regularly still asks them for advice). At a big school, a shy kid can go through without ever making a close connection with any profs.

40

I think big schools can be very overwhelming to many neuro typical as well as different drummers. My younger is an Aspie (sophomore in HS). I can’t see her in a very large school but all kids are different. My older neuro typical but introverted wants a small LAC as well after touring our state flagship.