I am a very motivated student who will be either the valedictorian or salutatorian of my senior class next year. I always fill my summers with camps and other educational-enhancing programs, and my school year is filled with volunteering and extracurricular clubs. My goal is to go to either Northwestern University in Illinois or Duke University in NC. I have been trying to look for safety schools, so I won’t be stressed next year if my goals don’t come true. I visited Wake Forest today and really enjoyed the academic feel and idea of a small school with a close together campus and small class sizes. The only problem I see with this school is the stereotype of preppy-ness with it. I am not that kind of person and do not necessarily enjoy being surrounded people who always want name-brand everything. I am trying to search for other schools that have the same academic rigor, small classes, and acceptance criteria of Wake, but are possibly less stereotypical. Any suggestions? Thank you!
Brandeis, Case Western, and Lehigh (though I’ve heard Greek life is big there, so it could potentially have the same kind of preppy atmosphere?)
There are also plenty of small LACs that match this criteria. Check out Grinnell, Macalester, Kenyon, and Skidmore. Oberlin and Bard are also wonderful schools and could probably be described as the epitome of anti-preppy.
I would urge to consider all of these as matches or low matches rather than safeties.
Okay, Thank you!
Are there any recommendations for schools that are in Illinois, North Carolina, or California?
In California there’s Occidental and Pitzer. Also Whittier which is definitely more of a safety.
In NC there’s Davidson, though admission there is probably more competitive than Wake Forest.
Holy Cross, Bucknell
UVa, UNC.
OP, this may be parsing words, but stereotype is usually used to mean an oversimplified description to allow/persuade people who haven’t experienced a phenomenon to judge it. You’ve now been there and seen for yourself, albeit only briefly. What do YOU think? How did it feel in terms of fit? Were your impressions the same as the stereotype you’d heard before visiting?