Hey-- Would love some ideas for colleges for my DS '21. 3.5 UW (from very challenging prep school without grade inflation) 1330 SAT, likely to retake. A nice, chill kid who plays 3 varsity sports (sometimes from the bench). His friends in HS are great (smart, positive, diverse) and he enjoys some teachers & classes but isn’t totally thriving with the workload, etc. He has mild ADD and mild anxiety. He isn’t super excited about college right now because he is afraid it will have the same high workload, stress, etc. He is looking for a relaxed vibe but with solid academics and profs, maybe Midwest or NE, reasonably progressive, with peers that are kind, bright, and grounded.
Ideas for colleges, especially those based on direct experience, would be most welcome! Bonus points if the college doesn’t have a ton of required courses for an undecided but not math/sci guy. Thanks!
Have you a preference for rural/urban/suburban?
Franklin and Marshall?
What is your state flagship?
Clark?
A liberal arts college from the list Colleges That Change Lives? They do tours around the country. https://ctcl.org/info-sessions/
Are you thinking about an LAC or something bigger? If an LAC, I can suggest Denison for a kid who loves sports. The academics are strong, but so far (my son is a first-year) it’s a supportive and relatively low-stress environment. Denison does have general education requirements, but they seem to be somewhat flexible - my own non-STEM kid will be covering his quantitative and science requirements via psychology and sports science classes. Just yesterday I noticed this piece on the school website that was written by a student with ADHD - I know it’s different from ADD, but I found it interesting so maybe you will as well: https://denison.edu/campus/health/feature/134303
Thanks @gardenstategal I didn’t realize that about 3 classes per semester at Union. Very helpful! ! Might take him to Hobart and SLU to see if he likes the vibe. Gettysburg & Allegheny might be too much of a difference from his current school/peers?
@tkoparent I am trying to sell him on Denison but he didn’t warm to it after our visit. Seems like a great place & I am glad your son likes it there. He seems to want a LAC.
@Hippobirdy he doesn’t want a big school, which rules out our flagship. Also doesn’t want a big city. I like Clark but it is a bit too close. I need to read up on F&M. He seems drawn to the CTCL schools but I worry about some of their Niche reviews by current students. No place is perfect but he’d like to learn & live with bright, kind, down to earth people without a climate of stress. I appreciate these ideas and would welcome more!
He sounds much like my son, who has ADD/ADHD inattentive type. He will be attending Gettysburg with a Presidential scholarship this fall, after taking a gap year this past year. We thought he would benefit from some time away from the stress of high school, as well as time to see a bit of the world and accomplish some volunteer things, before launching back into academics. It’s been a great decision.
There are lots of great, small Liberal Arts Schools; you might want to look at St. Olaf. Very homey, smart kids but not a ton of stress, and the administration is really focused on making sure kids have everything they need to succeed. Another one to consider, in spite of it being across the country, is the University of Puget Sound. So many happy kids there. My son ultimately chose Gettysburg because it was the most suited to his strong interest in history/political science/military history, as well as the learning and social environment and the location–close to many things he loves. St. Olaf is more music-oriented (which he is not) but it was still a difficult choice, because the environment there was literally just wonderful.
It’s funny, kids just have their own reactions to schools sometimes, and I guess we need to respect that. If your son didn’t warm to Denison, how about Wooster? Or Dickinson? We know people who’ve gone to those schools and been very happy. Or how about Connecticut College (that was one that my son didn’t take to, but it’s a beautiful campus and is reported to have a relatively relaxed vibe). We also considered Lawrence University (not St. Lawrence) and St. Olaf, although we ended up not visiting. Personally, I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the Niche reviews - they never really seemed to match up with our own experiences.
@Yawnmom it is good to know there are similar kids out there who have found a good fit! Congrats to your DS on the gap yr & scholarship. St. Olaf seems super & DS likes music. Did it seem to lack diversity when you visited?
@tkoparent funny, he did like Wooster! I will check out Dickinson; Lawrence seems interesting. So glad to hear that you felt Conn College has a more relaxed vibe-- it is next on our visit list.
I second the recommendation on a gap year. Both my prep school kids did one and greatly enjoyed the year of experiential growth and learning. Both did apply and get acceptances beforehand, however.
Washington and Jefferson is nice chill school with a wide range of students. Roger goddell and the owners of the Pittsburgh Steelers family are grads. A sporty group and the college has a good record of students moving on to professional schools and med school too.
If he likes music, Lawrence might be a good fit. It’s one of the few colleges with its own conservatory, but non-conservatory kids also have good access to the music programs and groups. One thing to note - some of the schools being discussed here, including Wooster and Lawrence (probably others, I can’t recall), offer Early Action. We found that applying to a couple of schools EA was very helpful - having an acceptance in hand by November or December can really take some of the pressure off while you are waiting for the RD responses. Regarding Wooster, Wooster and Denison are big rivals in track, which is my son’s sport. In case your son is thinking of pursuing sports in college, I really like the NCAC conference. It’s a group of LACs that are all located within a reasonable distance from each other and a nice competitive environment.
@JuliaO, Your DS sounds very similar to mine. My son likes Wooster a lot, and the other school that’s closest on his list in Dickinson — similar sense of mission and purpose that came through to DS more so than some other schools. If you’re looking at Conn College, I would suggest Trinity also. We were very pleasantly surprised — not the best location, but it has a lot to offer in terms of access to internships and off campus opportunities (plus they are building new athletic facilities). We seem to be working from a similar list, so I’m happy to compare notes.
Conn and Trinity both have a lot going for them. Trinity hadn’t been on our initial list and was our CC’s add, and like @CTMom21 , we were pleasantly surprised.
I also like both Dickinson and F&M. I felt like the latter two may have less intensity, if that’s the right word. It may be a regional difference. I think your son would pick up on it pretty quickly and be able to say whether he liked it or not. I would put Wooster in that latter group too.
It sounds like your son is a strong enough student but that he really needs to find the right vibe – one that is a little more chill – so I would really focus on that.
Looked at many of the schools listed above with DS1 who had similar stats (a bit lower SAT a bit higher GPA from very good, but not top 10, boarding school. Here’s how his applications shook out:
Bowdoin ED1 – deferred then rejected
Colby ED2 – rejected
Dickinson EA - Accepted w/merit
F&M RD – accepted (legacy)
Hamilton RD – rejected
Hobart RD - accepted with good merit
Lafayette RD - accepted
Union RD – accepted with good merit
University of the South / Sewanee- EA accept w/merit
UVM EA accept with good merit.
We visited Conn, Skidmore, Trinity and St. Lawrence as well. All are great choices for kids who dig their unique vibes but for a variety of reasons they didn’t click with DS1.
Thanks, all!. I will share these suggestions with my son. I think he’ll be happy to hear some new ideas. For those of you whose kids did gap years, what sorts of things did they pursue?
@Temperantia those details are very helpful. May I ask what your DS’ choice was?
@CTMom21 do you & DS have some more visits coming up? What else is on his list? We might try some MN schools next break.
@JuliaO, I am not sure where we’ll visit next. I would like to go up to St Lawrence over spring break, but I’m not sure — it’s such a long drive, and I’m more interested than DS. We are not looking farther west then OH. We’ll probably visit Gettysburg and F&M early in the summer and will see what further input DS’s college counselor has this spring.
I might suggest doing a tour of this group of Centennial Conference schools, since several are on your list and they are reasonably close to each other. Geographically, I would probably do this order, if they interest your student:
Muhlenberg
Ursinus
Franklin & Marshall
Dickinson
Gettysburg
McDaniel