<p>Smallish or at least not too big in the south with strong academics...Davidson, Vandy, Wake, Wash/Lee, Duke, Emory</p>
<p>I hear those are really preppy though. I'm not unkempt or anything, I definitely care about my appearance, but preppy style/attitude doesn't really suit me</p>
<p>I do think a Northeastern Jewish kid might get a little affirmative action at some of those schools though!</p>
<p>I was glad to find Bates on your list; it sounds as though it would be a good match. If you are willing to go south consider Davidson, which is both very academic and very social and tied with Bowdoin this year in USNWR (and has been consistently among top ten LACS for a number of years). Politics are somewhat more conservative than at comparable northern schools but it does give the classic northern LACs a run for their money.</p>
<p>I'll definitely look into it, thanks a lot mattmom. I also want to thank everyone for giving such good input, I really appreciate it</p>
<p>I don't know, Davidson is much more conservative/ religious/ southern than the northern LACs (people flock to church on Sunday, try that at a Northern LAC). </p>
<p>If I were you:</p>
<p>Reach: Brown, Dartmouth, Amherst
Match: Vassar, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Carleton, maybe Emory (much less preppy than the other southern schools), Maybe Wesleyan (more militant liberal than the others though)
Safe Match: Macalester, Grinnell
Safety: Tons of options like Skidmore, etc.</p>
<p>Yea after reading more about Davidson, I decided it's not for me. Slipper, you're very good at this! I think you made a very good list right there and I will work off that. I don't have to worry about it too much now, but I want to narrow my list down to around 12 or so. I just looked at my first post, and I though I had mentioned that I am not in honors math, but it look slike I left it out :-(. I hope that doesnt change anything too much. I've always been afraid that hardest course selection possible is the most important admissions factor, and I might be in trouble because of that.</p>
<p>david, From your soundbites: small school, nice community feel, great conversations, intellectual people, quirky/intellectual" but [not] protesting all the time, good mix between academic and social, personality [is considered in admissions], political science or philosophy, as a career probably something more business-oriented, these are the Northeast LACs that Id recommend:</p>
<p>Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Hamilton, Trinity, Conn College, Haverford. Id add Brown and Dartmouth in the ivy-with-LAC-feel category</p>
<p>I havent personally visited Bowdoin or Middlebury, but Ive been to the others and I can tell you that the preppy label is a bit of red herring as it doesnt really mean anything concrete. Dont get distracted by stereotypes. You will find intellectual quirky kids at all of these colleges. From your profile, you have a shot at any of these if you present yourself well in your essays and recommendations.</p>
<p>Thank you so much! I greatly appreciate everyone's input, and it means a lot to me that you are all willing to help me out. I will surely do the same for you. Such a nice community here.</p>
<p>Look at the Claremont schools too.
If you are interested in discussion, St. John's College (<a href="http://www.sjca.edu%5B/url%5D">www.sjca.edu</a>) might excite you.</p>
<p>Yea, Pomona and McKenna interest me out of the Claremonts, but I doubt I'd go all the way out to California unless it were for Pomona</p>
<p>Colgate, Bowdoin or Holy Cross.</p>