<p>My daughter is currently a junior in high school. We're on the west coast and she's always been interested in the east coast and is looking at schools there. She thinks she wants to be in a city (or easy access to one). Smallish school, high "quality of life", etc. Not much into the jock/frat/sorority scene. She's happy to party sober. She likes kids who're engaged in life, interested in politics. She's thinking of a major in business (though of course most of the nice LACs don't offer it, so she may consider saving it for graduate school) but is also very interested in continuing to study French. A strong study abroad program would be great, too. </p>
<p>Her GPA will likely continue to be about 3.6-3.7, and I imagine her SATs will be in an equivalent range - pretty good, not amazing. She does a lot of volunteer work and plays a couple of instruments well, in case that matters. ;-)</p>
<p>A question is if/how colleges factor it in when a student is going to a academically challenging high school. Her high school is #1-#2 (depending on the year) in our state and so managing a 3.6 at this school compared to a "regular" public school is equivalent to a higher GPA. </p>
<p>Right now Skidmore sounds like a really nice place (though she'd prefer it to be closer to NYC!). Haverford does too (though no Business). </p>
<p>What schools can you recommend?</p>
<p>Partly because of the long distance, do you recommend we visit the schools she's considering prior to applying, or wait and visit the ones to which she's accepted? How does ED work, and what's the deal with it improving chances of acceptance?</p>
<p>I was intrigued by the discussion of how William and Mary is reportedly nearly impossible to get into for out of staters. What is the reasoning behind that? Especially when someone is paying in full (not us, hopefully!) you'd think they'd want the out of state tuition. </p>
<p>Thanks for any education you can provide. :-)</p>
<p>What majors is she interested in? What geographic locations are of interest? What size school, if it matters? Is she taking mostly honors and AP courses?</p>
<p>she's always been interested in the east coast and is looking at schools there. She thinks she wants to be in a city (or easy access to one). Smallish school, high "quality of life", etc. Not much into the jock/frat/sorority scene. She's happy to party sober. She likes kids who're engaged in life, interested in politics. She's thinking of a major in business (though of course most of the nice LACs don't offer it, so she may consider saving it for graduate school) but is also very interested in continuing to study French. A strong study abroad program would be great, too. </p>
<p>Size of school can be whatever is small enough that its not impossible to get into classes, professors might have time to actually speak to their students... I suppose 2000-5000 is ideal. </p>
<p>She is taking all available AP courses, yup.</p>
<p>
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How does ED work, and what's the deal with it improving chances of acceptance?
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you apply and agree to withdraw any other apps if accepted. Its considered binding and is difficult to get out of; the only acceptable reasons are financial. ED improves chances considerably; do a google search to find out more.
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Partly because of the long distance, do you recommend we visit the schools she's considering prior to applying, or wait and visit the ones to which she's accepted?
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I'd wait to visit if it is a cost or time burden to go, although visiting schools of the type could be useful. So if you're thinking of LACs then go see some on the west coast to make sure its the environment she wants. </p>
<p>There are lots of other ways to look into the schools. Read thru the insider guides, read the school papers online to see what kids are talking about, look at live-journal entries from the school, ask the admission office to put you in contact with students from your area when they're home on Xmas or summer break, attend college fairs, getting some of the "walking tour" videos from Collegiate Choice, etc.</p>
<p>Also I'd recommend getting one of the college guide books that lists hundreds/thousands of colleges so that you can start with a broad survey rather than the same 100 schools everyone else is looking at too. There are plenty of fine schools outside the top 100! And since she's a junior you have plenty of time to consider the options.</p>
<p>An interesting book to read, BTW, is "The Gatekeepers" in which a reporter follows the adcoms for a year at Wesleyan. While not intended as a how-to guide, the book gives a lot of insight into what adcoms look for in an app and how the whole process works. Another interesting site is <a href="http://matt.mitblogs.com/%5B/url%5D">http://matt.mitblogs.com/</a> which is the blog of an adcom at MIT; while not the school she's thinking about, it helps you see how things look from the other side of the table.</p>
<p>Thanks for taking the time to respond. So ED would be used for an absolute first choice, so if accepted, the idea is that the student would be happy to withdraw the other apps. </p>
<p>I recommend the US News Ultimate College Guide -- the big, light blue book, not their slenderer college guide.</p>
<p>I also recommend the US NEws Ultimate College Guide web site, which is well worth the $15 annual fee. You get tons of info on colleges, and even can use a spreadsheet to compare up to 6 colleges of your choice.</p>
<p>You are looking for a similar school to what my D wanted. She liked Haverford & Skidmore too. </p>
<p>The drinking/partying aspect is the hardest to avoid-- it is very present at most colleges. However, the acceptance of non-drinkers and the number of options for non-drinkers vary. </p>
<p>In general, schools with 95%+ of kids living on campus four years seemed to correlate with lots of "campus life." Greeks= drinking. Isolated also = drinking.</p>
<p>Others we looked at:</p>
<p>Vassar
Kenyon
Wesleyan
Trinity
Hamilton
Carleton
Grinnell
Smith
Bryn Mawr
Lawrence (WI)
Beloit
Allegheny</p>
<p>I think smallish, LAC, business school and city are a tough combo on the east coast. Northeastern U provides small class sizes. It is in Boston and has a good business program and coop program for job experience. There is Fordham, also has smaller class sizes. It is in NY. It has 2 campuses and there is a bus to shuttle students when they would like to go to the other campus. American U is a smaller school and is in the DC area. It offers a business program. Bentley and Babson Colleges are in the suburbs of Boston are mainly business schools. These are small schools, but Babson is much smaller than Bentley College. The downside about the last 2 listed is that she really needs to be sure that she wants some type of business major unlike my previous suggestions. Students say that they have easier access into Boston from Bentley than from Babson if they do not have a car.</p>
<p>None of these schools are very frat/sorority focused. Some I don't even think have them. When you get onto rural campuses I think you find more drinking and greek life, as there is less to do w free time.</p>
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I'd recommend "Looking Beyond the Ivy League" by Loren Pope; while almost 10 years old, it makes a strong case for LACs. Also I like "The Fiske Guide to Getting Into the Right College"</p>
<p>Sushi,
D1 is a sophomore at Haverford this yr. She will probably be declaring chem as her major. With 3 children, we didn't visit until after she was accepted. That trip seem to have clinched it for her. Good luck!</p>
<p>I'm looking to transfer to Boston University School of Management and possibly Bentley College from Penn State.</p>
<p>I can tell you Penn State has a HUGE frat scene as we are located in the middle of Happy Valley aka The Absolute Middle of Nowhere, Pennsylvania. I'm looking to transfer to a city school.</p>
<p>Boston University's School of Management, I found is the best business program in the Boston area after M.I.T. and is at the same level as Boston College's Carroll School of Management. BU also has several very strong programs in communications and sciences so if your S/D changes her/his mind the other schools are very well respected. Also BU has a nice national reputation as being the school right in the heart of the best college city in the world.</p>
<p>The only negative to Bentley is that it is outside of Boston in the suburbs and although access to Boston is very easy from the hourly shuttle you still feel "out of the city action." Also at Bentley you have to make sure that you want to study business because that is the only thing they offer. The same goes for Babson</p>
<p>Babson is an extremely small school with only 1,700 undergrads and is also oustide of Boston. Getting into Boston is a lot harder from Babson than it is from Bentley. Babson is #1 for entrepreneurship, but Babson's exclusive focus on that once business concentration will never let it rise into a well rounded nationally known top school.</p>
<p>I feel in the Boston area, Boston University's School of Management is the best for business right alongside with Boston College's Carroll School of Managment. I would consider Bentley and Babson to be one notch below for their strict business focus and they also don't have the feeling of being right in the city which is what you fill find at Boston University.</p>
<p>Sushi,
D really found a home at Haverford. She attended the Tri-Co Summer Institute where some 1st yrs from Bryn Mawr-Haverford-Swarthmore spent time getting to know one another before heading off to their respective campuses a couple of days prior to the arrival of their classmates. It gave them time to move into their dorms and get acclimated. Customs was great...and she really enjoyed the 1st yr living arrangements....and met some wonderful friends from every place imaginable. Last yr she was in a suite of 4...each having their own room. This yr, D was lucky enough to get a single. I can only speak about math/science...not for the faint of heart at Haverford. Many of her classmates also take classes at Bryn Mawr. She lucked out and landed a job TA-ing in the gen chem lab. She gets to review chem and also meet the 1st yr students! So far, so good. She is contemplating going abroad next fall.</p>
<p>How is the search going? Your D sounds quite a bit like my junior D, but my D is also willing to consider schools out west, midwest and down south. Do you or your D have any opinions about Scripps/Pitzer, Whitman, Lewis & Clark? On her list for east coast schools are: Reach-Tufts, Haverford, Wesleyan. Match- Lafayette. Safety-Clark. Also, does your D know about Babson? Business college in MA.</p>
<p>I don't think that Brandeis is accredited by AACSB International. That accreditation can be important for grad school admission and to some future employers for students majoring in business.</p>
<p>My daughter decided within the past few months that she probably doesn't want to major in business as an undergrad. This has increased the options for LACs. </p>
<p>I've read that Scripps/Pitzer (and other colleges in that group) are quite good. My younger daughter plans to visit Whitman when the time comes. Lewis & Clark's campus is very beautiful but I know little about it academically firsthand.</p>
<p>Mikemac suggested earlier "to look at live-journal entries from the school"
How do you do that? I haven't found that available for most colleges or perhaps I don't know where to look? Guidance please....</p>