Schools that would be good fit for me? I like Wesleyan, Pitzer and Oberlin

College Search & Selection
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I’m trying to narrow down my college list, and feel pretty stuck right about now. Could anyone give an opinion on the schools I have listed and if they sound like they’d be right for me?

About me: I’m super into social activism, feminism and diversity, definitely liberal. I’m very outgoing and passionate about the things I get involved in. I’m an African American female from the west coast. My highest ACT is a 30 and I’m retaking next week, I got a 4 on my AP spanish test, and I have a cumulative 3.3 (freshman 3.1, sophomore 3.22, junior year 3.58) gpa from a rigorous college prep school. I’m not gonna go super in depth with extracurriculars and stuff because I’m not really look for a will I get in answers, but more along the lines of what schools would I be happy at?

Things I’m looking for in a school: Close relationships with interesting/smart faculty, strong academic/career counseling (I’m very undecided with what I want to do, so advising will be very helpful). I know however that I’m not interested in STEM fields, so I don’t need an outstanding math/science program. I’d like to be somewhere with sense of community/school spirit, and passionate, socially conscious, engaged, politically involved, outspoken students. In regards to location I’d like to avoid places smack in the middle of a city/way out in the middle of nowhere. Basically I don’t want to hear a bunch of traffic and stuff when I’m on campus, but I’d like there to be places to go to get food/have a good time somewhere in the surrounding area. Also trying to avoid super white, rich areas (crossed Skidmore off my list because of that). Decent black population would be a plus

Things I don’t want: Any campus where the students are either apathetic or conservative would not be for me. I’m also trying to avoid frat-y lax bro sorority girl party type colleges. It’ll need to be affordable, because I don’t want to graduate with a lot of debt, so any school that’s notoriously bad with offering financial aid will probably be off my list.

So far, I’m only sure that I want to apply to Wesleyan, Oberlin, and Pitzer.

I’m looking at Earlham, Knox, Goucher, and Seattle University as safeties. Anything you guys can tell me about those? Campus vibe, career support, culture, etc. If none of these sound fitting, any suggestions for safety/match schools for someone who likes Wesleyan, Oberlin and Pitzer, would be awesome.

The other schools on my list are Brandeis, Bates, Macalester, Denison, Occidental, Vassar and Sarah Lawrence.

Please help!!! Any offerings, insights or suggestions would be so helpful!

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Aside from being smack in the middle of nowhere, you should look at Grinnell. Good financial aid, long history of social activism and a diverse student body (25% domestic students of color and 16% international). Also 9:1 student ratio and you will take a writing intensive tutorial (only required course) first semester with your adviser

I like your list of safeties, also think you should look at Beloit. Have you visited any of these schools. With small LACs its very important to visit of possible since every campus has a unique feel.

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I was going to suggest Macalester. While it is in a city neighborhood, it is not a super busy/high traffic area. It seems like a great fit for you.

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How about Bard? I was going to suggest Skidmore, but see you don’t like Saratoga. Connecticut College may interest you.

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I don’t see Conn as a fit – pretty preppy.

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Conn college is preppy but also arty and eclectic

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What do people think more specifically about my safeties? I’m trying to narrow it down from four to two or three.

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Mount Holyoke or Smith might be good.

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I know that my daughter was interested in looking at Earlham and Goucher but we didn’t, unfortunately I don’t remember why. She was admitted to Pitzer, Knox, Bard, and Beloit of the schools mentioned here. She is currently a senior at Knox and she couldn’t be happier.

The curriculum is challenging but professors are supportive and friendly. She’s been to their homes, met their families, etc. They communicate with her via email or text and in person whenever she requests. She also has some LD and they have a department dedicated to helping in that respect as well. They are somewhat flexible in what counts for requirements. The kids are involved and interested in what they are learning, there is a great creative and intelligent vibe there.

Knox is big on community service developed by either the college itself or student designed programs. They have great fine and performing arts programs for majors and non-majors alike. All aspects of theatre is open to all if thats of interest to you as is creative writing.

They are very good with FA and have a lot of good on campus jobs as well.

Pitzer was my daughter’s second choice until she found that they really do use the consortium to it’s fullest extent. Her interest in ceramics would bring her in Scripps (I think) because they had just received a big grant to expand their ceramics program and after numerous emails and inquiries she finally found out that the prof who taught Creative Writing at Pitzer only taught poetry and if she wanted prose or playwriting she would have to take her classes at Pomona (again, I think). Given that she thought one of these two would be her major she couldn’t figure out why she’d be at Pitzer when her major would be a one of the other colleges. (Some would love this, she did not.)

Bard was too stressful - on the Admitted Students Day they spent much of the time telling you how you could get kicked out Freshman year for not passing their pre-Freshman writing class or mid-Freshman science class. Then they said that if you have to defend the major you wanted (they call them concentrations) at the end of your sophomore year and if you didn’t get into it (a real possibility if it was a popular one - creative writing, photography) you would have to either switch what you wanted your major to be or transfer. A little late to do that in the spring of your sophomore year. It was such a bad Admitted Students Day that I received a call from the new Admissions head to discuss how it could be improved. Don’t know the current status.

Beloit eliminated their ceramics department and added printmaking, so we left their Admitted Students Day.

Just re-read your original post. Knox is a great school for you IMHO. Good luck!

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Hi - my younger son attends Bates. Students there seem to be very passionate and we’ve found it to be very inclusive. I don’t think it would be a safety school however.

My older son just graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst MA so that might be a place to consider. He was one who was very interested in Sarah Lawrence, Bard and Bennington for many of the reasons you state. He took advantage of the 5 college consortium when he attended. My older son is very quirky, very smart, very independent so Hampshire was perfect for him. The Amherst/Northampton MA area is a vibrant one - very busy and a fun place to attend college but no so big that you’d get lost.

@amtc - we felt the same as you did about Bard. On paper it seemed like a nice match for my older son but it left him a bit “meh”. Ditto for Sarah Lawrence. He had a hard time choosing between Bennington and Hampshire but ultimately made the right choice I think.

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I was going to suggest Earlham, so I’ll just second that choice. Denison used to be known as a conservative school but has changed a lot in the past decade, becoming both more selective and much more diverse. Still, it’s definitely to the right of Earlham. Earlham’s only negative in your list of wants is the location - it’s pretty rural.

I’d also look at Hampshire. Also sort of rural but in Amherst which is IMO a pretty cool progessive town with things to do - Northampton even more so and close by. Amherst has two other schools, and you can take classes/join clubs/visit-hang out at 4 besides Hampshire.

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Have you run the online net price calculators for the schools on your list and discussed the estimates with your family?

Most of the schools you’ve mentioned have very high sticker prices. Unfortunately, the ones with the best need-based aid also tend to be the most selective. Your GPA and scores are on the low side for Wesleyan. Pitzer and Oberlin are more realistic but are still reaches. Schools like Earlham, Knox and Goucher may be admission safeties, but probably are not financial safeties. Have you considered public colleges in your home state as back-ups?

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Safeties: College of Wooster? Don’t know how much social activism is there but offers good merit money. Often mentioned in the same academic category as Denison. Probably a shade more competitive than Knox, Goucher, or Earlham.

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You might want to look at Evergreen College in WA state. It’s a public LAC (so lower sticker price), has the political/social bent you are looking for and is a member of Colleges That Change Lives.

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Haverford & Bryn Mawr fit your description.

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Oberlin sounds like the perfect fit. Have you been able to visit? For a financial safety (great merit aid), but with excellent academics, Denison. It is more diverse now than it was 5 or 10 years ago.

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According to Evergreen State’s online net price calculator, for an OOS student whose family income is $45K, the estimated total net cost is ~$31K/year. That would be a very high price for recently divorced parents in that income bracket. The OP should be able to get much lower costs at an in-state public school.

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My son has visited Knox, and is heading to Earlham soon, and has also visited Denison, Wooster and some others on your list.

Knox is a surprisingly wonderful community – we really weren’t familiar with it at all, but I had a very impressive grad student from Knox and that put it on my son’s list as something to investigate. Knox is very diverse, both in socio-economic diversity and ethnic and racial diversity. Though there is “greek life,” all the students we talked to said it is nothing like big school or “traditional” greek life. I was on campus on a Sat night waiting for my kid, and there were no hordes of roving drunk kids or anything you might expect to find on some campuses. Galesburg is not much of a metropolis, but there are some neat little restaurants and shops, and the college (if you haven’t visited) is adjacent to town, so you can walk to the drugstore etc – not isolated in a rural area where you need a car or shuttle to make a drugstore run. We talked with the President of Knox at a campus event, and she is very impressive. Knox struck as a gem of a school whose fortunes are on the rise.

Earlham strikes me as a very similar community, diverse, progressive, service-oriented. Denison is surprisingly diverse as well, with good merit aid, they work hard to create and maintain a diverse community, and have good merit aid. Wooster is another one with good merit aid, somewhat larger, like Denison, whereas Knox and Earlham are smaller.

For someone coming from the west coast, consider ease of travel in and out. Knox is on Amtrak line, about 3 hours from Chicago, and I think I’ve heard something about shuttles to airports at break time, but I’m not positive. Earlham is maybe an hour from Indianapolis, Wooster is about 45 minutes from Cleveland, Denison about the same from Columbus.

Lastly, consider the impact of trimester system at Knox – 3 courses a term, each term is 10 weeks, 3 terms a year, rather than 4-5 classes for two terms. Admissions talked about using, I think, the second trimester, which starts in January, as an immersion term, combining internships and classwork etc.

You should be eligible for significant merit aid from Knox, Denison, Wooster, and Earlham, which is an essential part of my kid’s application strategy. He loved Bates, Grinnell, Vassar, but we need merit aid, so he identified a second cluster of schools that will offer a similar community and opportunities, but with merit aid.

Good luck, I am sure you will have some wonderful options come spring.

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Here’s my vote for Goucher, which meets most everything on your check list.
Diverse, progressive, beautiful bucolic campus, with involved professors and administration that take an interest in your success. Close enough to Baltimore that you could easily take advantage of the culture and the city. Also central enough to get into DC, Philly, or NYC without much stress.
Check out their study abroad requirements, as well as the Net Price Calculator on their FinAid pages. With your statistics, you would probably qualify for a sizable merit award.

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For some of these schools, i think you need to check to see how often students really do go off campus / what the immediate surroundings are like. Yes, Macalester is perfect for what you say you want. Oberlin and Wesleyan? If you’re thinking of Oberlin because of its proximity to Cleveland, then please think again. I’m pretty sure that students rarely go into the city. Wesleyan, too: I’m not that familiar with Middletown per se, but I think that life is campus-centric there, too.Unfortunately, LACs within a close enough proximity to a city that students use it frequently for excursions are not that easy to find.

I am quite familiar with Sarah Lawrence. There is not much in walking distance of SLC, but yes, students do go into NYC, if that is of interest. Yes, it has the social justice / outspoken /feminist culture, but honestly, i don’t see it as really the kind of campus vibe you are looking for. It feels fragmented to me. It does offer some really wonderful volunteer and internship possibilities though.

If you’ve got schools like Oberlin, Vassar and Bates on your list, then I agree with poster who suggested Grinnell. I know you don’t want “in the middle of nowhere,” but at these LAC’s life is campus-centric and bring a ton of things to do onto campus. The immediate surrounding communities are not going to offer that much more, IMO, than what you can find in Grinnell. Grinnell also just announced a new initiative where each student is going to be paired with a mentor from the career services office right from their first year. I’m a parent of a Grinneliian, just to clarify.