My son had a similar profile without the super high test scores of yours. We, including him, had pretty much the same attitude about picking a school. He’d just as soon go to a school that gave a nice break in price unless it was a dream school which he did not have when we started the process. As it turned out, he visited a number of schools, and found the ONE. He chose to apply ED there after consulting with us, and also applied to a bunch of EA schools. He did get a smattering of merit offers as well as a possibility to get merit if he lasted out the admissions season as many of the schools gave out final award in the spring, even for EA applicants. All a moot point because he did get accepted to the ONE, and that ended it all.
However, after going through the process, and before getting that final (yes, the ONE was the last to respond), he decided that he ilked the second choice in the batch enough and with a half cost scholarship with a chance to compete for the full ride, he’d go there and he was done with the college app process. The original plan was to apply to a new batch of schools in December if the ONE did not happen.
I think he, and your son as well, would do well most anywhere. It all comes down to his and your choices in terms what you all want to do. My son also was an avid high school athlete who decided that sports would take a back seat in college. He would have likely been a good D3 competitor,but didn’t go that route. However, he has been extremely active in club sports and intramurals. A great outlet for him and he really enjoys himself in doing so.
“He is a quiet, introverted kid that I think will do best in a more ‘intellectual’ environment, although college may bring him out of his shell.”
Rice, with its residential college system and smart-but-laid-back student body, is a great place for bringing somewhat shy students out of a “shell.” It would make an excellent warm-weather option for a student with your son’s interests and background.
With respect to an omission in the first reply, note that Macalester belongs with the highly selective colleges listed from the PR sampling.
One poster suggested Dartmouth.
@arcadia – Davidson is 1/3 students of color which may surprise some folks. ( I don’t know that number at Middlebury.) That was also my shorthand for her sense that it was very affluent and had a New England prep school vibe. These were impressions and subjective, but you have to make cuts from your list somehow and that was her gut reaction so she moved on. She also wasn’t keen on the cold winters.
I thought Middlebury was beautiful and I really liked our tour guide.
If St. Olaf is on the list, perhaps add Carleton College? Looks like an intellectual culture that’s not uber competitive, from what I have read.
I have a S19 (senior) with similar stats, ECs and interests. College tours were really helpful for him to to figure out what he wanted in his college experience. Our tour road trips were also a fantastic mom-son time. We talked a lot and had many interesting conversations as S tried to sort out what was important for him.
Trip #1&2 (with travel for sports). California. Goal was to visit different types of schools.
UC Davis, Stanford, U Santa Clara, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, UC Irvine, UCSD, and USD
At the end of this, S decided that #1 didn’t want really small school. Didn’t want a STEM-centric school (I didn’t expect that). Liked Pomona better than Harvey Mudd (?? didn’t expect that!), liked medium sized (Santa Clara) better than huge but huge was ok, didn’t want to be locked into a major and really didn’t like having to apply to a major on entry.
Trip #3 (just to see colleges)
Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Dartmouth, U Vermont, Middlebury, RPI, Williams.
Definitely decided against STEM centric school. We visited visited 3 different types (MIT, Harvey Mudd, and RPI) and he was not drawn to that at all. All the maker-spaces and cool projects were interesting, but for someone different. But when he heard about the classes as Williams with 1 prof and 2 students where you take turns writing papers and debating, that sounded great! Huh? He and I learned something about his interests there. Note this is a math geek kid.
During trip #3, we did hiking every day and talked about what drew him to each school and what he didn’t like. Then we played a game where I paired schools and said he had to choose (i.e. he was only admitted to those). That was a really telling game for him and got him thinking deeply about what he wanted in his college experience. The best pairs are when I paired schools that have different pros and cons for him. For example, MIT and U of Vermont lead to a really good discussion. He picked MIT but it took awhile as he struggled with his desire to be in mountains in a school with strong outdoor culture and not an IT against his desire for ‘eliteness’ (which he struggled to define but definitely felt).
By the end of these trips and the many interesting discussions, he had a very clear sense of what he was looking for and actually ended up applying ED to a school.
My D17 was similar to S19 except not an athlete. She wanted much smaller school and was turned off by ‘eliteness’ vibe and turned off if school was described as ‘intense’. She ended up at a mid-tier LAC that is strong in STEM.
Regarding the Williams tutorials with 2 students, he may want to check the regularity of offering, since a course that attracts that few students may not be offered at all if the instructor is needed for a higher demand course.