@MIP750 you asked about Rice. One of my D’s HS classmates is there and my D’s GC had also recommended that as being a good fit for my D. My D’s HS classmate loves his experience at Rice. He finds it very collaborative and the residential college system has been a wonderful experience for him. Rice is known for having some of the happiest kids. One reason why my D chose Brown over Rice was that Rice had so many kids from Texas there, and she wanted more geographic diversity. (I can’t remember the exact #, but it’s between 1/3 - 1/2 Texans). You mentioned that your S is progressive and wants to be in a progressive atmosphere. Rice definitely has a good number of progressive kids on campus, but it also has more conservative kids than you’d probably find in a typical NE school. I think Rice is known for its stem programs. It would be interesting to find out more about its humanities, which your S is interested in.
My daughter is a 2nd year at Bowdoin and loves it. It is known for being more collaborative than cut throat and my daughter confirms this. The student body is really a mix of all types but skews crunchy, liberal, social justice, and environmental types. Bowdoin’s government department is very strong so that might be a plus for PolySci. Being from Honolulu, I was surprised she singled out this college in Maine as one of her top two reach schools, but after visiting the campus on move in day and getting a good feel for the vibe there, I understood why. Bowdoin could be a good fit for your son.
I recommend adding Grinnell (current student). Student body is overall really laid-back and friendly (also probably among least elitist of the top LAC’s due to location). Academics are intense but manageable and the environment is the least cutthroat of any place I visited. No Greek life and students don’t really care about sports (if anything, the school is anti-sport), although if you’re interested there are lots of club teams and you can even walk on to some varsity teams. For me, as opposed to a lot of the schools on the East Coast (and even some others in the Midwest), I just felt more comfortable. If you’re not opposed to the location, it seems like a great fit.
Clark University in Worcester,MA sounds like a perfect fit socially. Small but strong social science research school. No greek life. Highly active in social justice world. Free 5th year masters degree. My brother had an amazing experience with law school advising and got a free MPA on the way! Not as competitive as some of the other schools mentioned, but plenty of individualized attention and less of a cut throat environment so he can actually enjoy the undergrad experience!
Can’t thank everyone enough for all this helpful, detailed info. We have updated the list. Now, in addition to his safeties and a legacy school, it includes Grinnell, Macalester, Oberlin, Occidental, Brown, Vassar. I’d like him to add Haverford and we still need to research Rice and look further at Wesleyan. Wesleyan, Haverford (along with Brown and Vassar) do not have merit scholarships, which is fine, but it would mean more money for us, assuming he might get merit elsewhere. We can manage it, but boy would it be nice to save some money. He had an interview with a few of those LACs in the last couple of weeks and felt really good about them. Seemed to be very good fits. Interviewers seemed to think so, too, apparently. My personal feeling is that Grinnell, Macalester, and Brown would be ideal environments for him. Of course, who knows if he’ll get in!
Hi, everyone. Just wanted to circle back around with an update. S21 got into Macalester EA and was thrilled. We are very happy for him to have this acceptance. He also ended up applying to Wesleyan and Haverford, but of course we won’t know about those decisions for a while. I keep wondering about some of the other NESCAC and little ivies that have come up on this thread. For a student who is a good fit for Mac, Brown, Haverford, and Wes, which of the Middlebury, Amherst, Bowdoin, Bates, Williams, or even Ivies etc are most similar? He’s got the energy for one more reach app before we settle in for the long wait. He is fundamentally a kid who would rather paint than hike, rather go to a museum than a football game, rather hang out with roommates than go to a party, rather wear an old Costco flannel shirt than a Vineyard Vines pullover. I’m confident he’d be fine in most academic settings so am mostly concerned about the social environment. You all have been so great with all of your suggestions and I think you’ve very well figured him out!
As a side note: my older son ended up going to the school he applied to last, had never visited, and didn’t know much about. He is exceedingly happy!
Congrats on Macalester! Williams has the strongest fine arts and art history of the schools you listed. My artsy, thrift store shopping daughter preferred Williams, Middlebury, and Bates of the schools you listed. Something to consider is that Amherst and Williams don’t offer ED2 so they may have a higher percentage of slots to fill in RD. IIRC, Bates usually fills 60-70% of their class from ED1 and ED2. Also, neither Midd nor Bates have supplements, so he could add one of those plus another reach.
Any update? I’ve just found this thread and was fascinated by the choices recommended. I am a Rice alum and was glad to see the good things about Rice posted. My boys went to Skidmore and Pomona - two very different experiences for two very different personalities so I get it. Inquiring minds want to know!!
I posted an update earlier today! Skidmore was a consideration for a while. But since he got into Mac and preferred it, Skidmore slid off the list. Pomona was never on his list. His older brother applied a few years ago and got rejected. That year the percentage of non URM and non first gen that were admitted was something like 2%. So I guess S21 just figured it was impossible.
@vpa2019 Had cut Swarthmore early on bc too many reaches and bc heard from a friend that it’s competitive academically for the current students. Maybe should take another look!
thanks and sorry - I misread the “one month later” and thought that your comment was several weeks ago. You know - the first one may be the perfect one!! Sounds like he’s the kind of guy who will find lots of things to challenge him and keep him engaged. Happy New Year!
Fiske includes overlap schools with its entries, seemingly ordered by predominance. In the case of Haverford, for example, Swarthmore, Hamilton, Davidson, Middlebury, Carleton, Wesleyan, Bowdoin and Amherst appear in the order listed.
I honestly don’t agree that Bates is hard to get to. It’s two hours from Boston, 40 minutes from Portland, which is a cool small city. PWM is an easy airport to fly in and out of and connects nonstop to NY, Charlotte, Atlanta, Tampa, Chicago and other places.
OP, Bates is not particularly preppy and there has never been any Greek life. My daughter attended Bates and was looking for a nonpreppy school.
From what you’ve described, I think Macalester, Carleton and Brown deserve some serious consideration.
Yes, he’s been accepted at Macalester. Applied to Brown. Hasn’t applied to Carleton, though it would suit him. He was interested in another NE school as opposed to another Midwest one.
Love that selectivity list @merc81! I’ll discuss with him.
︎1. Pomona