STEM girl realizes that LACS exist, now how to find the right one?

College Search & Selection
1

I am an incoming senior, and so I’ve been looking at schools. Origionally I thought that I would want a large university, but after visiting a some schools I realized that that is not what my idea of college is. After some thinking, I redefined my priorities of what I want a college to have:
IMORTANT Aesthetics/ Campus Life:
Defined campus, very clear where campus begins and ends, preferbly no store mixed in with dorms and classes
Jewish Student Union//Hillel House- accepting community for Jews
In or near a city, or with a cool college town
research oppurtunities
more then 2000 undergrads

Academics:
I am intereseted in scientific fields, mostly genetics and enviromental science, but really any biology field is interesting. My immediate goal is to do research and be a working scientist that way, and eventually apply to be an astronaut. I also really like History and Politcs, and disscusion based classes, which made me realize that a LAC might be more the way to go.

One of my favorite schools i’ve visited was Wellesly, it mathched my idea of what college should be. The campus was enclosed and beautiful, and I could see myself hanging out in the library or on the grass. All the students seemed very happy and sure of themselves. Additionally, the town is very cute and Boston is not too far away. The crossover program with MIT and other engineering schools was very appealing as well. So schools like Wellesly, but coed, are the type I’m looking for.

Phew. That was a lot of writing. So this is partly for me to record my own college search cause i loove reading those on here, and also if anyone has school suggestions or insight, that would be greatly appreciated.
So far my list is:
UC- D, SB, SD, and B
Wellesly
MIT
Univ. of Chicago

Stats:

Gender: Female
State: CA
School Type: Public
GPA: 4.2 weighted/ 3.8 non weighted
SAT: 1460 (700 M) (760 Reading)
ACT: 33 (will retake this one to improve math section score)
Subject Tests:
Math 2: 660 (definetly studying more and retaking)
Biology: 760
US History: 730
APs:
10th: Euro (5)
Chem (4)
11th: Calc AB
English Lang
APUSH
Bio
12th:
Econ, Gov, Stats, Physics, Enviromental Science, English Lit

Extracurriculars:
Professional Circus Troupe: I’ve preformed internationally and nationally mostly for charity events. While I dont have an official leadership position (they don’t exist) I do a lot of stage manageing and organizeing shows. I’ve preformed with this troupe since 8th grade
Cross Country: 3 years
MESA: 3 years
JPL Invention Challenge: 2 years, finalist this year
Research Internship Program: develop an independent research project pertaining to the local ecology. In addition to presenting research and writing a paper, this program focuses on community outreach and getting citizens involved in nature (2 Years)
CJSHS: another research presentation competition (1 year)
Junior Southern California Science Academy Research Training Program: I use my research project from my internship, but this program gives more oppurtunity to present and publish and potentially attend the national confrence.

2

Your size requirement and more urban will limit your list.

Here are a few worth considering:

Colorado College - very strong in Environmental Sciences, History and Poli Sci. They are on a block plan so make sure that appeals to you.

Barnard College (not coed)

Davidson College

Macalaster

Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Swarthmore - all smaller than your ideal but beautiful campuses with super easy access to Philly and all strong in the sciences. They are all part of the same consortium. At Haverford and Bryn Mawr specifically, it is super easy to take classes at either campus and the schools have a lot of joint programs and ECs making each school feel bigger than it is.

3

You sound like my D17; STEM girl, biology, probably environmental science, loves research. SoCal resident, high ACT score. She also realized that LACs fit her style more (plus there’s a much much better chance of doing research as an undergrad at a LAC). Her perfect fit was where she’ll be going in the fall, Colorado College. Give it a look!

If she wasn’t going to Colorado College, her next-in-line favorites were Bowdoin/Bates/Colby. Would you consider going all the way to Maine?

4

Smaller universities like Brandeis (47% Jewish) and Tufts (24% Jewish) are worth a look.

I recently posted [lists of urban LACs and large-ish LACs](Small schools that don't feel isolated or too small? - #4 by warblersrule - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums). Very few colleges meet both criteria.

5

Have you looked at the Claremont Colleges?

Your stats and interests are almost exactly my D16’s. Unless you can get your math scores up to 34+ or 750+, it will be very difficult to get admitted to MIT or that tier of school. I would use early decision or action to apply elsewhere.

6

@warblersrule, if it was a simple as providing what the customer wants, I would develop 2, 3, or 4 more top LAC’s that had 3000-4000 students and were in great towns as my twin DD’s asked for that spec…

7

Good suggestions above. I would learn to spell Wellesley before you apply. :slight_smile:

8

How much can your parents afford to pay and have you run NPCs on any of these schools?

9

Another Seven Sister to consider is Vassar.

https://vsa.vassar.edu/activities/organizations

http://farm.vassar.edu/

https://biology.vassar.edu/
https://ursi.vassar.edu/

https://science.vassar.edu
http://info.vassar.edu/news/2015-2016/160504-integrated-science-commons-completed.html

http://hillel.org/college-guide/list/record/vassar-college

Vassar #15 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/28/beautiful-college-campuses-2015_n_6374822.html

Vassar again is # 15 http://www.collegerank.net/amazing-college-libraries/

10

Surprised that no one has mentioned Reed (which is extremely strong in the sciences) or Occidental yet. Those two are probably the only urban LACs of any renown on the West Coast.

11

Oh wait, there’s also Lewis&Clark.

12

I’d say the Claremont Colleges qualify as “near a city”, and Claremont itself is as cute as Wellesley.

13

Vassar appears here along with Wellesley, and would be reasonably connected to New York City by train:



http://www.bestdegreeprograms.org/best-beautiful-small-college-campuses-america



I’ll say, however, that the 2000+ enrollment figure might, in cases, be a counter-productively limiting figure for LACs.

14

@warblersrule I looked at Tufts and did not like it. It did not have the enclosed feelig that I like. My semi- illogical criteria is that if I’m gonna go to a private school, it should fit my imagination (to a reasonable degree), if I want the super big campus then I have the UCs, which I would be very happy to go. Tufts was one of my original top choices though, until i visited.
@bouders @intparent For no good reason I really don’t want to go to the Claremont colleges. They are very far away from the water, and I just don’t like the area. If I am going to stay in CA, I would rather attend a UC.
@suzyQ7 I have not run NPCs yet. Luckily paying for college is not an issue, and my parents will be willing to pay for any school I choose as long as it has the programs I want and is well regarded. I will be trying to get some merit aid, which would of course help, but I’ll need to improve my test scores.
@intparent oops! I’ll have to work on my spelling.:slight_smile:
Thank you all so much for the info!

15

@merc81, ah yes as of the top 25, excepting the two service academies and three women’s colleges, there are 5 over 2000 with two at 2500, and the other 3 at 3,000.

16

@Chembiodad Is 1500 a more reasonable number? My high school has 2000 students, so it seemed odd to go to a college that was smaller. If its smaller than 2000 but is in a consortium (like Haverford) and meets the other criteria then I would definetly look into it. Thank you!

17

By relatively recent historical standards, prominent LACs typically enrolled ~1600 students. For a quintessential LAC experience, this figure may still be serviceable. LACs with both wide-ranging academics and full sports programs (as an indication of extracurricular diversity) typically currently enroll ~1800+ students, however.



These colleges would be among those strong in biology:



http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/lists/list/colleges-to-consider-if-you-want-to-study-biology/117/



These would be among those near cities:



http://www.newsweek.com/25-most-desirable-suburban-schools-71867



Oberlin might suit you, as might Haverford.

18

These would be among those in cities:



http://www.newsweek.com/25-most-desirable-urban-schools-71889



In terms of a size comparison to your HS, note that LACs with lower total enrollments may nonetheless feature over 100 buildings and hundreds of acres. Even if nothing else, then, the spatial experience could be much different from what you might imagine at some of them.

19

Reed has great sciences with lots of research opportunities (they have to provide such opportunities, because senior theses are mandatory). And Reed probably outscores most other LACs in the “in or near a city, or with a cool college town” category. Portland OR somehow manages to be a large city with a cool college town vibe throughout.

Sadly, Reed doesn’t meet the “larger than my high school” criteria; it only has about 1400 students, and no consortium partners. Also, the Reed atmosphere isn’t a fit for everyone; there are probably more tattoos, piercings, and neon hair than you would find at, say, Williams or Wellesley.

Reed is also a poor fit for anyone who values rankings (although Reedies might argue that this is a feature, not a bug). Reed takes pride in its low USNews ranking – they refuse to cooperate with USNews, so in the absence of accurate data, USNews assigns low default values that kill their rank. They were actually in the Top 10 for national LACs, before they decided to tell USNews where they could put their rankings.

20

Would agree that Reed is worth considering - excellent sciences, substantial number of students are Jewish and in a cool urban area but only some 1400 students. Wesleyan as well, larger but a substantially less desirable location.