<p>First time posting here, but I've been a lurker for ages. I applied to Swarthmore ED, and I'm trying to grow my college list, in case I don't get in ED. Here's what it looks like as of now, in no particular order; Swarthmore, Princeton, Brown, Pomona, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Grinnell. Just a little bit about what I do, I'm a musician who intends to major in STEM. I love everything academic about Swarthmore, and I love everything social/extracurricular about Brown. Is there any way that I can get the intellectualism, undergrad focus and challenging but supportive academic environment of Swarthmore, but with the artistic, kinda more laid-back but still awesomely intelligent social milieu of Brown? I'd prefer not to talk about stats, but to narrow down the choices I will say that I have it on good authority that both Hamilton and Grinnell are safeties for me. So basically if you could just throw out any ideas on that level or above that would be great. </p>
<p>Reed, perhaps. Maybe Macalaster too, don’t know much about it. Pomona is probably the closest one. You won’t find anything exactly what you’re looking for really since the criteria is rather specific, but the list you have now is certainly on the right track.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m not really hung up on the strict “LAC” organization; all I really care about is that it’s undergrad-focused, and usually, LAC’s are best in this dept. So universities are fair game too.</p>
<p>As “musician who intends to major in STEM” seeking academic rigor + social/extracurriclar options, Williams is notably absent from on your list. Excellent for both sciences and the arts. Many overlaps with others on your list. </p>
<p>I’d also look at Kenyon, Davidson, Bowdoin.</p>
<p>The usual "counterpart of Swarthmore is Pomona. Wesleyan, Grinnell, and Oberlin are not in the same “academic rigor” category, and Reed is simply way too different to be considered with those criteria. </p>
<p>A musician with STEM aspirations looking for the next Swarthmore with a hint of Brown? The closest in addition to Pomona is … Yale.</p>
<p>Regardless of this, a good application list should contain reaches and safeties, and that means that the pecking order after the ED choice matters … for zilch, nada!</p>
<p>Yes, I was going to say “The usual counterpart of Swarthmore is University of Chicago”… Although I don’t think of U of C as really what the OP is looking for, it doesn’t have the laid back part you are looking for.</p>
<p>We visited Swarthmore three times. My S just found the students too stressed out each time, especially the science students (which is what he will be next year). He chose to apply ED to Oberlin instead, which also has a great science department. We visited Oberlin a few times as well and each time S found the students there were enjoying learning in their classes and enjoying being a student there. The campus just seemed to him to be alive.</p>
<p>Haha, my dear friend friend John Wesley the Circuitrider is fighting back with a salvo of big words. A bit of Cartesian “Je pense donc je suis!” could not be worse than the healthy reliance on what has to be hearsay in your comparison of Pomona and Stanford. Unless I am mistaken, I doubt your statement is supported by personal experience or intimate knowledge of the academic rigor of either school. </p>
<p>If my solipsistic opinion that dared to mention Wesleyan along the likes of Oberlin as opposed to Swarthmore happened to offend you, I must apologize. But you’d have to admit that you countered with an even better example of the genre.</p>