<p>My ds is a sophomore. Smart, athletic, but not very tolerant of those who are not on the same level academically as he is. We went and saw Claremont McKenna over spring break and he loved it. Great size, he can play club sports, and seems to cater to those students who are more academically focused. I don't see him at a big party school. Any ideas of other schools to look at that are small and similar to Claremont? or schools where the honors college may be an option? We are in Michigan, but he is willing to go far away if we can find the perfect fit. He sees U of M as his fallback school if all nothing better comes up. But I think he may have a harder time finding his niche there, plus there are so many kids from his high school that go there, he really would rather not be in that group. </p>
<p>I think Michigan is a great choice if he wants a academically motivated student body. It has the reputation and might be on the same level as top private colleges. Pretty cheap since you are in-state.</p>
<p>There are many smaller schools with relatively high selectivity. However, small size can impose limitations on majors and courses offered, so his selection criteria would likely involve checking how the schools are with his possible majors (CS in particular is often limited at small schools that are not science or engineering oriented). Small schools with relatively high selectivity also won’t be safeties for anyone.</p>
<p>It is also not necessarily a given that he won’t be able to find his niche in a large school. The top 500 to 2,000 frosh students at a big school like Michigan may be as strong or stronger academically compared to the frosh students at a school whose total frosh class size is 500 to 2,000.</p>
<p>Of course, you and he need to have the cost discussion and check the proposed schools’ net price calculators before he makes his final application list (probably late junior year, summer, or early senior year at the latest).</p>
<p>Michigan is a great public university and it’s so huge that even if everyone from his high school went there, he might never run into them.</p>
<p>But anyway, there are tons of small liberal arts colleges. If he is CMC-level, he could look into Swarthmore, Amherst, Williams (especially good if he’s athletic), Bowdoin, Kenyon, Grinnell, Reed.</p>
<p>Also, I think it actually may be easier to find a niche at a large public school than a small LAC. Small LACs emphasize broad liberal arts education, and encourage study between several fields. You select a major, but you have to take classes in other departments. Public universities require that too, but they usually have more specialized majors and a wider variety. For example, I was thinking today that if I had gone to UGA instead of my small liberal arts school, I might have majored in advertising or public relations, or statistics or risk management, instead of psychology. But I had choice limitations at my LAC.</p>
<p>I have thought about the fact that he may get somewhere and then change his mind about what he wants to do and be limited by being at the small school. We are going to go look at Indiana U and Wash U. STL as well as Northwestern this summer. Thought about stopping at Miami of Ohio but I am worried about the “greekness” of it. He has also mentioned U Miami Florida as an option? I will look into some to the smaller ones you mentioned as well. He has talked about Swarthmore and Williams, and my brother threw Kenyon out there last week. </p>
<p>How do you help them decide??? not only where to go in the end (as $$$ will play a big part of that - hoping for merit), but even how to narrow down where to apply???</p>
<p>If the course selection is a concern, you and he may also want to check whether small schools have cross registration agreements with conveniently nearby large schools.</p>
<p>For example, Amherst has a relatively limited selection of computer science courses, but has a cross registration agreement with the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, which can increase the options available.</p>
<p>I think once you and your son start researching you’ll find that there are many small liberal arts colleges and medium sized private universities that will fulfill your son’s criteria.</p>
<p>The key point for your family at this point is to clarify your finances. Many of the most selective privates offer excellent need based aid, but no merit, period. First run your figures on a few net price calculators to determine how much need based aid you may be eligible for. If that works for you, then your son can put together a wide list.</p>
<p>If on the other hand you require merit based aid, his list will be quite different. Some excellent schools offer merit aid, but they are harder to find. Many of the colleges recommended on this thread are need only, period. So before your son investigates east coast LACs and medium privates, be clear on your position. Would merit aid be a welcome bonus, or do you absolutely need it?</p>
<p>PS, I’m a Michigan alum and my son went to Williams. I received a wonderful education at Michigan, but my son’s overall experience both socially and academically was phenomenal. If the finances work for you, Williams would be a great choice – as would Amherst, Davidson, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Kenyon, Pomona, Carleton.</p>
<p>Merit aid varies from year to year, but Grinnell is one name that consistently offers both excellent academics and very good merit aid.</p>
<p>Sounds like the kind of students who go to [Association</a> of Independent Technological Universities: AITU](<a href=“http://www.theaitu.org%5DAssociation”>http://www.theaitu.org) schools, some of which are small.</p>
<p>If your son liked Claremont McKenna, perhaps he’d enjoy Occidental. It’s slightly more urban than CMC, but still offers great weather, intelligent students, and plenty of ways to get involved on campus. </p>
<p>Santa Clara University is a medium sized Jesuit school with a wide variety of majors (although not as many as say, U Michigan or Miami Ohio) with intelligent students in Silicon Valley. </p>
<p>If you’d like a slightly larger LAC safety that like CMC is outside of a large city, your son might want to check out University of Puget Sound. Great academics, well run school, and plenty of merit aid. If your son is interested in political science and you need substantial merit aid (which btw basically means he’ll be in the top 25% of students at most schools which awards merit aid), Willamette University is worth considering. It’s literally across the street from the Oregon state capitol so internships are extremely common, and the students seemed extremely engaged when I toured.</p>
<p>For a more selective, but just as well rounded school in the Pacific Northwest, Whitman College is a great option.</p>
<p>Holy Cross near Boston offers computer science program and its grads perform very well in Payscale salary data for high incomes. HC is also need-blind and has beautiful campus 1 hour from Boston.</p>
<p>If a kid is athletic you have to be careful about how athletic the school is and where he will fit in. Yes, Williams is known for its athletics, and Amherst is too, but you have to think about what happens if you aren’t recruited or good enough to play on a team. Will he be OK with that or not? The sports teams at these kinds of schools often are the closest thing to fraternities and may be somewhat closed groups. If an athletic kid is going to do more intramural level participation but also would like to be a spectator then you can’t do much better than schools like Michigan. Actually every school in Williams’ conference (NESCAC) has fairly athletic environments (Midd, Bowdoin, Colby, Trinity, etc).</p>
<p>How about Case Western Reserve in Cleveland. It’s a division 3 school, known for it’s acedemic rigor. While it’s forte is as a stem school, it does have a good business school and liberal arts. It has about 4000 undergrads and typically gives good merit scholarships. Good luck.</p>
<p>If you’re looking for merit aid you’ll need to take look at schools where your son’s test scores and GPA fall into the top 25% of attending students. Schools that offer merit are usually a bit less selective than the tippy-top schools listed in USNWR, but there are plenty of great schools that fit the bill. </p>
<p>I think one attractive aspect of a smaller school is the close knit community that develops between students and faculty. Professors know the students and research is done directly with the supervising faculty, students are often listed as co-authors on papers that result. When it comes time to graduate, letters of recommendation are easy to ask for and are written from genuine knowledge of the students capabilities. If your S is headed to graduate school, that’s a real plus.</p>
<p>Whitman College has a smart, sporty student body; an excellent, engaged faculty; the administration is superb; and the outdoor program is very active. If he likes the west coast, he might really be attracted to the Pacific Northwest culture. Whitman is on the eastern side of the Cascade range, so its quite a bit less rainy than Seattle and Portland.</p>
<p>You have all given me so many good ideas! I have tried to push Case Western, but he feels it is not prestigious enough? I think that here U of M is what everyone strives for, so if he does not go there he feels he has to be somewhere prestigious enough that it was worth bypassing Michigan. I am worried that he only wants to apply to the tippy top schools and that he will not get enough merit at one of those to make it possible, or he will not get in. I do think we need to really look into the athletics atmosphere. He wants to play if he is able but not have the athletics take away from his academic focus. That was a perk of Claremont McKenna, that they require a sport or physical fitness credits so you are not necessarily juggling more than the other students if you are an athlete. </p>
<p>It is crazy to me how much thought we are putting into this for him. When I went to school I never even visited!!! I looked at the brochure and decided I wanted to go to business school at IU and then I was a Hoosier. Loved it there, but never really thought much about how I would fit in there vs. anywhere else!</p>