<p>Really Keilexandra? Based on D’s naviance data, Skidmore is less competitive (as in taking lower grades/scores) than Bard. I wonder if a lot of this may be school specific?</p>
<p>My school doesn’t have Naviance; this is just my impression. Skidmore appeals to a wider variety of people, I think, and thus garners more applications from the “normal” subset.</p>
<p>True, my D certainly liked Skidmore A LOT better than Bard.</p>
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<p>Actually, QM, a closer look at our school’s scattergrams forces me to backtrack. Yes, more of our Bard applicants were accepted, but they were also a stronger group (at least in terms of SAT scores; the GPA ranges were about the same). And the samples are very small in both cases: 5 applicants to Bard, 8 to Skidmore, out of a class of around 350. So there’s really not enough information to say which college is more selective at our school.</p>
<p>My son liked Skidmore a lot better than Bard too. It did feel a bit more “normal” than Bard, but not in the sense of jock/preppy so much as just straightforward and relaxed.</p>
<p>But what schools (beyond Goucher and the others on D’s list) would be good match/safety options for a student w/o the grades/scores to get into Skidmore, Bard, Oberlin, etc.?</p>
<p>What about Manhattanville? A very diverse student body, and looks like a good match for your daughter, with 65% of student body with <3.25 GPA and median combined SATs in the 1100 range. </p>
<p>They do have pretty standard distribution requirements, but otherwise they seem to line up fairly well with your daughter’s wish list.</p>
<p>From our school:
Skidmore ave GPA (weighted) 96.01, ave SAT 2083, lowest SAT accepted 1890, lowest GPA accepted ca. 91
Bard ave GPA (weighted) 93.97, ave SAT 2083, lowest SAT accepted 1450, lowest GPA accepted ca. 88 (Bard is SAT optional, I think so they may not have seen that low SAT score and it was someone who applied ED)
Sarah Lawrence ave GPA (weighted) 93.38, ave SAT 1980, lowest SAT accepted 1790, lowest GPA accepted ca. 89</p>
<p>Skidmore has accepted anywhere from 0% t0 33% of those who apply, Sarah Lawrence 75% or more, Bard, usually around 50%. Many, many fewer kids apply to SL and B however - so it’s probably more self selecting as well as less selective.</p>
<p>I haven’t got suggestions, but one of the guides has a student’s who applied here also appled to xyz box for each college. Usually some of those cross applications include some that are less selective and some that are more selective.</p>
<p>foolishpleasure - my D is at Ursinus. </p>
<p>She runs with a different crowd than it sounds like your D is looking for, so I’m not sure I can help. I have seen instances of black clothes / dyed hair on campus, and know of some vegetarians, but I wouldn’t think “quirky” if asked to describe the typical Ursinus student. (But that might be due to me spending most of my time with D1 and her friends/teammates, who definitely aren’t quirky.)</p>
<p>I think you would have to visit and let your D decide if it’s the right atmosphere. If you have specific ??'s you can PM me.</p>
<p>nightchef, D visited Manhattanville last Feb. and HATED it (too conservative - - the guy at the admissions desk was ROTC, the other prospects on our tour were interested only in whether frosh were permitted cars, curent students appeared very girly-girl). </p>
<p>Manhattanville is a certainly a good choice in terms of D’s stats, her academic interests (educat, soc, psych), geog and diversity - - that’s why we visited. But socially it so missed the mark that I didn’t even list it among schools D didn’t like. My admittedly unflattering review is posted on the “college visits” board; the one other Manhattanville review (8/09) is also unflattering. D loved nearby SUNY Purchase (how could she not - - the first complex of buildings visitors encounter is Fort Awesome). </p>
<p>mrsref, thanks for offering to answer questions re: Ursinus. “Quirky” is not be the first, second or third word I’d use to describe the typical Ursinus student. A visit would be best, but I’m trying to decide which schools are “must sees” and I haven’t been able to get enough of a handle on Ursinus to fingure out where it fits in our visit rankings.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your suggestions.</p>
<p>Perhaps Manhattanville, outside NYC, or Towson, outside Baltimore</p>
<p>Interesting about Manhattanville, foolishpleasure. This is why it’s so important to visit–I would never have guessed that from their website. My son had a similar reaction to George Washington U–he liked the urban setting and the facilities, but the social vibe was way too MOR, all buzzcuts and pastel polos. And I didn’t get that from their website, either.</p>
<p>How about Eugene Lang (LAC of the New School in NYC) ?</p>
<p>Thanks for the Manhatanville feedback. I second Drew. Perhaps Ithaca, Hobart, Arcadia?</p>
<p>I thought Hobart was one of the least quirky schools we visited. Nary a skinny leg black jean or severe hair in sight. I’m not saying it’s not there, but we sure didn’t evidence it. We saw much more diversity of kids at Alfred but Alfred is remote, maybe not as much as a few that have been mentioned, but Alfred is a very small town with not much close.</p>
<p>Perhaps take a look at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown,WV. It is a public LAC in a small historic town, but with access to DC. It appears be a match for your d’s stats.</p>
<p>momof3boys, we visited HWS in the summer. The few students we met were pleasant and polite, but definitely more formal and reserved that at other campuses we visited. I advised D to keep an open mind b/c students the summer tour guide pool is likely less racially, economically and stylistically diverse than both the pool of guides available during the schoool year and the overall school population. (Still, the vibe was palpably different than the other 4 schools we visited during the summer.)</p>
<p>As I said, we were very much surprised by how much “at home” D felt at both Clark and Wheaton, neither of which is know for having a significant quirk quotient. Also surprising was Bennington, where all the students on campus (guides and RAs) were surprisingly button-down - - to quote Momof3, nary a skinny leg black jean or severe hair style in sight. (For D the deal-breaker was the fact that van service to town stopped at 8pm.)</p>
<p>The campus visits have been profoundly helpful - - and I appreciate all of your suggestions of other schools for D to consider/visit.</p>
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<p>Fendrock – we live in NYC, so Lang is out of the question for D, who wants to “go away” to school.</p>
<p>I can’t give you any first hand input on Ursinus…but…I hope your D will take a closer look at the website and consider visiting. It’s a fairly easy trip from NYC.</p>
<p>As for Clark…just anecdotal…but I know a very “in crowd” jock boy who is there and loves it, and also know an “alternative -type” girl (into Video games, some goth stuff - not a girly-girl/prep type at all) who is there and loves it…so… your D’s initial impressions could be spot on for what she’s looking for.</p>
<p>Agreed, 2boysima. The niece of a close friend is a junior at Clark. She’s a really nice kid, not especially quirky but not especially “straight” either (certainly nothing preppy or girly-girl about her), and kind of on the quiet/introverted side. She seemed to have an iffy first semester, but since then we hear that she’s been loving it. I get the sense that it’s a pretty eclectic, live-and-let-live social environment.</p>
<p>^^^ That’s very much what D is seeking - - she doesn’t want students crossing the street just b/c of her somewhat eccentric style.</p>
<p>FYI - - there are some very interesting write-ups on the “College Visits” board (I found the Bard posts particularly informative).</p>
<p>I second Earlham. VERY similar to Guilford, a bit more edgey. In Indiana however. How about Hendrix in Conway, AK? Supposed to be a bit of a liberal school w/in a conservative state. Wheaton will be a reach. Check out colleges that change lives schools. My daughter sounds similar to yours, she had a bit better stats and is at Oberlin. Her safety was UVM (we live in VT), and she applied to a few out west…is that out of the picture? If not, try Pitzer, Lewis and Clark, Univ. of Puget Sound and Willamette. The first 2 may be reaches but not Willamette.</p>