spring break visits near Boston - natural sciences?

My sophomore daughter and I will be in the Boston area over her spring break to visit my son at Northeastern. We also hope to swing by another college or two. Since my D is a sophomore, we don’t yet have scores. Based on current trajectory I expect that she will have very good standardized test scores and good but not outstanding grades from a very competitive magnet school (many AP classes, most rigorous curriculum) similar to her brother. Her current interests include the natural sciences - biology and chemistry with a environmental bent.

My daughter doesn’t think she wants a LAC because of the small size but I hope to win her over. University of Vermont is on my radar as are Colby and Bates (these two could be done on same day). Both are still a drive from Boston. Tufts and Boston College are close. We visited Wheaton during the summer (almost no one on campus) because one of my nieces attended but my daughter was in 7th grade. Wellesley and Smith are also options (I’m a Bryn Mawr grad).

Thoughts? Suggestions?

You have some good ideas already (Tufts, UVM, Colby, Bates, BC). I might add Clark University in Worcester though it’s not large. BU?

Colby and Bates are a long drive up from Boston if she’s still early in her college thinking. Why not look at Brandeis and Wellesley and still have time that day to do some fun Boston things???

How about Stonehill? Or maybe one of the schools in RI like Providence College. Those are about an hour from Boston. Colby and Bates are a much longer drive.

Why are you trying to get her to consider a smaller college when it appears she wants something larger?

@blossom Good point. I do worry that we won’t be making it up to New England from Texas all that often even with our son and other family in the Boston area. Also true that we don’t want to spend all our time in the car.

If she doesn’t want small, I’d go to BU. Maybe Tufts as well. Hard to know without scores. Is she even interested in an all girls college? If so, then Wellesley. If not, then maybe BC. Some of these schools are quite difficult to get into without really top grades and scores. I’m sure you already know that but wanted to mention as you have limited time.

@ultimom ,
If you decide to go west to visit Smith, please check out Mt Holyoke College, too. Both are really good colleges.

They are about 2 hours from Boston. UVM is a 3.5 hours away to the north.

Yeah, Bates wouldn’t be too bad but Colby would be a haul.

@thumper1 I’d like her to consider some smaller schools because of the usual small school perks. Having attended a small college, I know from experience that it doesn’t feel the same as high school which is her concern.

@Happytimes2001 Yeah, some of these schools are reaches. Based on outcomes from her high school (and her older brother’s experience), she should have a chance T 30-50 schools. She’s taken the PSAT at school the past two years and recently took a practice ACT. In any case, she’ll have some safeties closer to home since some of the Texas state schools will admit on class rank and test score rubric alone.

Whether the grades are an issue may depend on how well your school is known.

My son went to Tufts and had mixed grades, but a pretty high rank and SAT scores that were 100 points apart. (Very high verbal in his case.) I think Tufts took him because he came off as a creative and original thinker with a lot of potential who got the global citizen thing.

His girlfriend went to Wellesley and I have been so impressed with both the education she got and the community of friends she has.

Some people find small colleges suffocating. I know I did. Transferred from a small LAC to a large public university. I didn’t like being in a small college at all.

I LOVED going to UT-Austin, where there were 50,000 students. It’s not like you see all 50,000 people at once, except on football game days which are awesome. It’s like living in a city with lots of neighborhoods. I hung out in the engineering building most of the time. I had a tight-knit group of friends and could always talk to profs when I wanted to. Wonderful six years (BS and MS).

@ultimom Yes, many of the schools on your list are reaches. I honestly don’t know all of them in terms of T30-50 ( but Clark and Stonehill are much further down the list than Tufts and BU). Would she consider medium sized? WPI might fit the bill. They love Women in STEM. Don’t know what their programs look like. I do think they are stronger than Clark and Stonehill and more focused.
You could visit. It’s about 45 minutes from Boston. Similar in campus feel ( IMO) to Tufts ( not in the city but not suburban). Tufts is closer to Boston and WPI is close to Worcester (which might be a lot less desirable).

@MaineLonghorn
I did my undergrad at Bryn Mawr and my MA and PhD from UT Austin. I TAed classes at UT Austin and later did some teaching at Texas State. Based on those experiences I realized how much more advising and special attention I got at Bryn Mawr compared to any undergrad at either UT or Texas State. Plus, my department at UT was in flux and I got terrible advising as a grad student until I switched advisors.

And now, years later, I still live in Austin. It is an easy place to live, at least for me.