Def check out Grinnell too.
I would say there are a few on that list that don’t sound like what your son is looking for.
Davidson
Claremont McKenna
Wash and Lee
Colorado College
Obviously women’s colleges are out.
2 Likes
Yes. He did apply to Grinnell. It’s up thread somewhere. I’m thinking Middlebury, Amherst, or Swarthmore may be what we add. Just one.
Swarthmore is intensely academic. Amherst is a good choice.
1 Like
@MIP750 I would take a closer look at Amherst if you’re only adding one reach. He just sounds like he’ll find more of his people at Middlebury, Williams, Bates, Carleton, and Bowdoin. (FWIW, my D applied to all of those schools except Carleton, only due to location, and didn’t apply to Amherst because, despite its diversity, the students felt more mainstream with a smaller arts scene on campus.)
I have two friends with first-years at Amherst, one is a recruited athlete the other is not. Both of them said that their Ds felt the athlete/nonathlete divide was real. This was probably exacerbated by COVID since almost all activities were virtual except for teams working out together. Both said that they found Amherst’s closed campus and COVID protocols overly strict considering the low number of cases, the fact that students were not allowed to leave campus except for emergencies, and that there were only first-years and sophomores on campus. The athlete exclusively socialized with her team whom she had met during the recruiting process. The nonathlete said that she hardly knew an athlete beyond those in her dorm. The most telling thing is that the athlete will be going remote for second semester when she’ll be living in a house with her teammates. The house is not in MA, but is in a town where other Amherst teams are renting houses. The nonathlete is going back.
I am sure there were similar issues at other peer schools, but Middlebury, Williams, and Bates invited all years back to campus and adjusted their policies as the semester went on and positive tests remained low.
Edited to add some CC experts who will have valuable insight:
@RosePetal35 has a D who is an RA at Amherst
@MWolf has a D at Middlebury (sophomore who dances, I think)
@Contented_Panther Middlebury student or recent alum
3 Likes
Thanks @gotham_mom. I’ve been trying to read through some comparison threads. Everyone has such different takes. Many say Williams and Midd and Bowdoin have more of a pre-professional vibe (consulting/business?). Maybe less diverse? All running together at this point! He had Carleton on the list but reading more about the three semester blocks turned him off a little. Seemed more intense? I haven’t looked much at Bates. Will momentarily. Midd and Amherst require no additional writing for him, so those are easy. Just the app fee basically. I really like the towns of Amherst and Northampton so maybe that’s my subconscious interest. He would like them too. We live in a city so he is partial to that environment.
I like Amherst and Northampton, too. My D loves Northampton and is a city kid through and through, so I was surprised that she didn’t apply to Amherst. It just felt bland to her (and we visited when school was in session). She had enough reaches on her list, so it wasn’t worth pushing it. Yes, Williams and Midd have their fair share of econ majors with their eyes on working in finance or tech, but if you look at the break out of majors, you’ll see that there are lots of students majoring in other disciplines. FWIW, my D loves to draw and paint and go to museums and it’s hard to top Williams in those areas. (Vassar was a close second in her mind.)
Of course, these are all wonderful schools with a huge overlap in applicants so their differences are probably much less than I’ve made them out to be. Your son sounds terrific, and like someone my D would like, which I’m sure makes me less than objective.
Last thing I would suggest is to have your S look for the Instagram accounts for the campus newspaper and academic departments and extracurriculars that interest him. Some schools even have “Humans of [school]” accounts. These can help give him a better sense of the community.
2 Likes
They do sound similar! I was just looking at the apps for Williams, Amherst, and Midd. The former two have the option of uploading a paper (and he has a great one for this) instead of a new essay and Midd has no supplement. He may just apply to all three and hope that we can get a sense of the school culture through Instagram, as you mention, and some others. I’m increasingly not optimistic that the vaccination roll out will be fast and organized enough for April trips.
1 Like
Sounds like a great strategy. Williams didn’t let applicants submit a paper last year, and applications were due Jan. 1, so I had to really push to get my D to write one more essay. Thank goodness she did. Happy New Year!
1 Like
For comments on several schools that appear to be under consideration, see replies #6 and #12 in the topics below:
THANK YOU! I’ve been digging around on CC linking out from those threads.
I think S21’s list so far is 12 long. And that included safety and two that I forced him to apply to for various reasons (legacy, for one). Adding three more would put him at 15, which doesn’t seem crazy. He’s going to do a little investigating tonight.
You may want to consider whether this response from a Hamilton College professor captures your son’s preferred environment:
(For this response in context, see the link in reply #25 in this topic.)
1 Like
He might like Oberlin. It has a big arts scene and isn’t too far from Cleveland, OH. The application is free and there’s no essay so you might as well throw it in!
Of the top New England schools, Wesleyan is probably the least preppy and sporty. Again, there’s no application essay, so it’s super easy to toss in an application if you haven’t yet.
Amherst is a close second for not being prep-schoolish. It’s also more diverse than any of the New England schools (including Wes). I also agree with others about the good location—there are lots of college students in the area so the downtown is lively and catered to young people.
Wesleyan and Amherst both have open curriculums (like Brown) which very positive (in my opinion).
2 Likes
I thought I’d circle back with an update (so far!). We have yeses from Macalester, Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon, Haverford. Still waiting on Vassar, Brown, Wesleyan and a few others. Haverford has lost its luster after S21 talked to a friend at BMC re the protests last semester. We have some campus visits planned but wow time is getting tight. With the delays in notification dates and May 1 not far away, it’s going to be a race to the finish line. If he gets yeses to some of the NE schools, we will be doing to mad dash there. He has never been to ANY of these schools, nor have we. I so appreciate all the help you folks have provided. I don’t know that we’d have looked at some of these colleges without your input. Of his current admissions, he is very keen about Macalester (the big city helps!) with Oberlin in second place. I suspect only Wes and Brown might trump Mac. But those are pretty long shots for admission. If anyone has an opinion about the yeses so far based on what you’ve read about my kid, I’d love to hear it. Thanks again, everyone!
8 Likes
OP, congratulations on some fine choices.
If there was anything on the list that struck me as an outlier based on what your kid is looking for, I’d be the first, second and third to tell you. All of them sound like solid options, and places he’ll find his “peeps” and challenge himself.
Good luck and thanks for the update!!!
2 Likes
Congrats! Last year my daughter got into 4 of the 5 schools you listed as yeses (she only applied to Midwestern LACs, so no Haverford). She ended up going to Kenyon, but all are amazing options. We visited them all in 2019, so feel free to pm me if you have any questions.
1 Like
I don’t know that you’ll be able to visit Vassar due to Covid restrictions but I hope it stays in consideration. Good luck!
1 Like
@Motherprof Thank you! I definitely will pm with questions. We couldn’t get a tour at Kenyon bc they were snapped up so this one will be just exploring.
@elena13 I had to really dig to find the tours at the other schools and they were only for admitted students. Hopefully some of the NE ones will do it that way. But we are fine to lurk on the periphery if necessary!
I hope you get to see some of the school at least. My D17 and I visited many LACS when she was in high school, but due to timing in April of senior year and play rehearsals she couldn’t miss, we were never able to visit Vassar. She still chose it anyway and is a happy senior (except for Covid 
).
1 Like
Hey! I’m pretty late to the game it seems, but hopefully can still be of some use. I’d say I’m a really similar applicant to your son, and applied to some of the same schools. Brown was always always the most appealing to me, the vibe is so collaborative and “casually intellectual” as a friend called it. Personally, that would be my #1. Just got into Oberlin, and again it sounds like a great fit for your son.
Sadly I won’t be attending any of these schools- I’ve already committed to Cambridge in the U.K. (my dream school from forever). But if I had decided to study in the US, Brown would’ve been the go-to.
2 Likes
Macalester & Oberlin are great options.
Several months ago, I responded to this thread. I wish that I had encouraged your son to consider the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Although not known for being liberal and not known for a social justice warrior type community, the school places high value on intelligence and fosters those who really want to pursue policy making type endeavors. Growth is promoted by exercising one’s mind and not so much by being in a community of like-minded thinkers.
1 Like