<p>I just had a conversation with a friend where we were talking about what we liked and disliked about our current college, and now I am curious if our "dream school" exists. </p>
<p>We like most aspects of Bryn Mawr, but we are looking for a more selective college with more challenging science classes and a generally more nerdy/geeky and quirky student body. Here are the aspects of Bryn Mawr we value the most:</p>
<ul>
<li>Its small size: Our dream school should have no more than 5000 students.</li>
<li>The campus: It's gorgeous and it's a separate unit from the surrounding city. We don't have to cross a high-traffic street to get to class.</li>
<li>Quiet dorms: Parties are fun, but the dorms are quiet at 11 pm. Always.</li>
<li>Graduate programs: It's not unusual for undergraduates to sign up for graduate courses. The existence of a graduate program in math is a must.</li>
<li>The male/female ratio: It doesn't need to be a women's college, but we would appreciate more than 1/3 of the student body being female.</li>
</ul>
<p>Can anyone think of colleges that fit these criteria?</p>
<p>Caltech fits all these criteria easily, though what you find fun at a party can be very subjective, and having quiet dorms at 11pm depends on which Hovse you’re in. And before anyone says it, our guys to girls ratio is actually 2:1 now, meeting your criteria for at least 1/3 the student body being female.</p>
<p>It’s definitely very challenging, and has a nerdy/quirky student body.</p>
<p>Well, MIT is small (4000 undergrads), has fabulous graduate programs, and is about 55-45 (male-female). </p>
<p>Students choose their dorms, which are all quite distinct in personality, so although most dorms wouldn’t be quiet at 11 PM (particularly because nobody would be sleeping at that time – work to be done!), if you wanted, you could pick a quiet section of the dorm.</p>
<p>The idea of the size limit was that I don’t want the college to feel too large, both physically and in terms of the number of students around. I am more comfortable when I know the majority of people at least by face. So yes, the number of graduate students matters to some extend, and 5000 is about as large as it should get.</p>
<p>The graduate programs don’t need to be very large as long as they offer the standard first-year courses in the subject. We will have exhausted most of the traditional undergraduate curriculum in the subject by the end of our sophomore year, and it would be nice if we could take a few graduate classes in our junior and senior year (or at least that’s what we would do at Bryn Mawr).</p>
<p>By the way, neither of us is currently set on transferring, but we started considering the option after realizing how out-of-place we feel here.</p>
<p>^ So if you’re at Bryn Mawr and mostly like it but want more challenging math & science, why not just take some advanced math & science classes at Swarthmore or Penn? You’ve already got your small school, gorgeous campus, etc.</p>
<p>Swarthmore’s undergraduate class offerings are just as limited as Bryn Mawr’s, and it’s extremely difficult to build a schedule around a class at Penn due to transportation issues.</p>
<p>I will probably stay at Bryn Mawr, but right now I am curious about what else is out there.</p>
<p>Def. look into Wesleyan. We have more extensive grad programs them most LACs in science (we’re actually a “University”), with a student body that sounds like what you want. 50% of the student body is female. It doesn’t have everything you value about Bryn Mawr (there are a few streets that you might have to cross, for instance), but it is probably worth looking at for you.</p>
<p>I think that one of the things you will have to consider while there are now more options for FA as an international student, many of the options are only for incoming freshmen and may not carry over to transfer students. </p>
<p>While many of the elite schools take in overall a very small number of transfer students, the # of international students admitted as transfers will be even smaller.</p>
<p>If $$ is going to be an issue, be sure to check the FA policies regarding transfer international students.</p>
<p>Of course, Rice and CalTech are not colleges but small research universities, which may be really what you are looking for. Other small research universities that might fit the bill are Johns Hopkins, Brandeis, Chicago, Rochester…</p>
<p>JHU and Chicago are actually quite large when you add in the graduate students. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Caltech fits all of your criteria. </p>
<p>Brown, Princeton and Dartmouth fit almost all of them, barely missing out on the size requirement, with 8000, 7300 and 5800 total students respectively, including grad. They may also not feel nerdy/geeky or quirky, especially Princeton and Dartmouth which are quite upscale and preppy.</p>
<p>University of Rochester fits the bill.
-4500 undergraduates, 2500 graduate students, not including medical students. Medical school across the street from undergraduate campus.
-Well-known for its science programs, including top programs in such fields as neuroscience and optics.
-Beautiful campus. (Quote overheard on a tour of Rochester: “Now this is what Harvard should look like!”). Only have to cross internal streets to get to class for all freshman and most other dorms. There are a couple of upperclass dorms a bit away from the heart of the campus, though.
-Undergraduates can take graduate school classes for which they are qualified.
-Lots of research opportunities for undergraduates.
-You can sign up for a quiet dorm - how quiet dorms get always depends on the students in them.
-Male-female ratio is 1:1.</p>
<p>Have you looked into the Pomona/Harvey Mudd/Claremont Colleges? Nice campus, smart students, and all the math and science you could hope for. Perhaps the students aren’t quirky enough though.</p>
<p>Oh we are quirky at Mudd. very very quirky,.</p>
<p>As for everything else:<br>
Its small size: Our dream school should have no more than 5000 students.</p>
<br>
<br>
<ul>
<li><p>The campus: It’s gorgeous and it’s a separate unit from the surrounding
city. We don’t have to cross a high-traffic street to get to class.</p>
<br>
<br></li>
<li><p>Quiet dorms: Parties are fun, but the dorms are quiet at 11 pm. Always.</p>
<br>
<br></li>
<li><p>Graduate programs: It’s not unusual for undergraduates to sign up for graduate courses. The existence of a graduate program in math is a must.</p>
<br>
<br></li>
<li><p>The male/female ratio: It doesn’t need to be a women’s college, but we would appreciate more than 1/3 of the student body being female.</p>
For JHU, this is technically true, but misleading as far as undergraduates are concerned. It’s true that there are lots of JHU graduate and professional students – but most of them don’t share the same campus as the undergraduates. </p>
<p>JHU is really a somewhat loosely connected [system[/url</a>] system of scattered schools and campuses:
<p>There are thousands of additional graduate and professional students at the medical campus in East Baltimore, or at SAIS in DC, or in enrolled in night school in Montgomery County. But an undergraduate at the Homewood campus won’t see them.</p>
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