<p>Each year, I encourage my advisees (at least those who aren't admitted to Early Decision colleges) to apply to at least one "Think-Outside-the-Box" college. This is a school that, for whatever reason, doesn't fit some of the key criteria on their initial preference list. In other words, it could be a college that's much bigger--or smaller--than what this student claims to want. It could be more rural (or urban) or many miles farther from (or even closer to!) home than originally planned.</p>
<p>I always assure these students that I certainly won't try to force them to attend the black sheep school ... and, of course, many don't. But, over the decades, a number of my advisees actually have, and never once that I know of has a student been disappointed. Recently I heard from a student who had just graduated from such a school (McGill University in Montreal) who thanked me for my Think-Outside-the-Box edict. </p>
<p>This welcome missive reminded me that, as another admissions season heats up, it's again time to urge students and parents to strongly consider at least one college that offers some appealing traits (an atypical major? cool campus? intriguing location? etc.) but which, otherwise, may stand out from the rest of the target-college list.</p>
<p>That’s a really clever concept. I know with my own college searching I was originally under the impression that I needed to go to a liberal arts college, which was completely shaken after visiting and absolutely loving UCLA (which OOS is somewhat unrealistic, but it’s started me looking at large state schools too).</p>
<p>I agree, Sirensong. I mean, I’ve seen that happen before. For instance, one young woman I know applied to a number of similar-seeming schools in the Northeast (e.g., Connecticut College, Trinity, Colby, Bates) but then tossed University of Michigan onto the list, too. In April, when she was weighing her choices, she felt that all of the LAC’s that had accepted her seemed a lot like her high school (also in the Northeast). She surprised her family by heading off to Ann Arbor, and she loved it.</p>
<p>Of course, what counts as a Think-Outside-the-Box school for one student may be standard fare for another. Many CA students, for instance, might chuckle to think that UCLA would be somebody’s anomalous choice.</p>
<p>To just bring up some names I don’t hear about on CC that often:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>St. Mary’s College of Maryland, New College of Florida, Truman State, SUNY-Geneseo, Georgia College and State University. All are public; all are “liberal arts colleges” in that they are under 6,000 students. Tuition is lower than most privates for OOS students, and Geneseo has a sky-high SAT midrange. </p></li>
<li><p>Schools with well-established co-op programs in cities (the two that come to mind are Drexel and Northeastern). Many of my high school friends are less book people and more “on the job” people, and both D and N have given them excellent opportunities to experience the real world as part of their degree program. It wouldn’t be my cup of tea, personally, but I think it might be time well spent for a lot of students.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>^ Re: point 1, don’t forget about University of Minnesota-Morris, another public LAC. In-state tuition for all, automatic full-tuition scholarship for National Merit Finalists. Only catch is the cold.</p>
<p>Some excellent suggestions here–places that aren’t constantly mentioned on CC. </p>
<p>But keep in mind that a “Think-Outside-the-Box” college can be ANY school (even the usual CC suspects like HYP et al) that doesn’t fit in with the rest of a student’s list but which does offer some quality (or several) that might be mean a good match nonetheless.</p>
<p>I took two different online college matching quizzes and found a bunch of colleges I had never heard of and now I will be applying to two schools that are “outside of the box”. I used myUsearch.com and petersons.com to get ideas and I guess college confidential also has a college search. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>The way things work out, I might have a few last-minute “outside-the-box” applications… considering Smith (sole women’s college) and/or Cornell (BIG… would only apply if I got into Telluride House though, giving me a small residential community).</p>
<p>I read in a book somewhere that this can be good for admissions purposes too. If a person from the Northeast applies to all northeast schools, or cluster schools, as this book called them, they risk being denied by all the schools as they are a fairly common applicant. If the person thinks outside the box a bit, applies to a school in the midwest or south or west, they may look a little more appealing to the college.</p>
<p>rocket, what is it that you like about U of Alabama, if you have mostly focused on LACs? Have you visited? What attracted you? S has received info from them, but said “no way” to the deep south, even though a friend of his will be a freshman there this fall (he was originally from Alabama). I have followed up on comments I have seen here on CC about their very generous merit aid for NM semifinalists and finalists, and that really interested me!</p>
<p>I just graduated high school and i’ll be heading off to college this week, when choosing schools to apply to, i wanted big state universities that offered anything and everything from huge football stadiums, big lectures, huge buildings, and a well known business program.
So this is a list of schools i applied to (i got into all of them)
PENN STATE - big state school 40+ thousand students
UMASS - big state school
U of DELAWARE - fairly large state school
U of Florida - same as penn state
Rutgers - same as penn state
SUNY ALBANY - medium sized in a city
SUNY BUFFALO - big (20+ thousand students) in my state (NY)
SUNY BINGHAMTON - medium sized just outside a city
James Madison U - medium sized, state school, fairly close to D.C.
SYRACUSE U - private, but offers the same environment as the others i applied to</p>
<p>and the small public LAC in the middle of no where, with no football team, big stadiums, only about 100+ grad students, 5000 undergrads, very small departments/class sizes, but the most competitive public school in new york, if not the northeast (in terms of gaining admission) SUNY GENESEO</p>
<p>so i had 10 big state schools with all that stuff, and the small public LAC Geneseo, guess which one i picked lol</p>
<p>I definitely agree with this philosophy of applying to at least one thinking outside the box college. I am mostly applying to top medium sized colleges/universities on the East Coast such as Dartmouth, U Rochester and Brown, but I plan on applying to one West Coast college, Pepperdine. It’s a definite change of pace from most of my typical universities.</p>
<p>I completely agree with the outside-of-the-box school idea. My D came up with Michigan a while back for that reason (she is mostly interested in LACs right now) and also because of the early response option. I am talking to her about either McGill or Toronto as another outside of the box idea. Right now she finds them too big and the large classes in the early years a turn off. But they both have strong programs in her field of interest and by senior year spring she may find the idea of being in Toronto/Montreal in a very cosmopolitan atmosphere a big attraction.</p>
<p>Ah, I think I misinterpreted the point of this thread. I brought up smaller state schools and co-op schools as a “happy medium” or “something for everyone” kind of school, but when I was applying to colleges, I had a few colleges that weren’t anything like the others.</p>
<p>What I wanted in a college, from most important to least important:
– Academic, liberal arts focus
– Offbeat-ish personality
– Social scene inclusive of non-Greeks and non-drinkers
– Midsize or larger
– City or suburb</p>
<p>My top contenders were Chicago, St. John’s College, and Reed (Chicago won). However, I had a lot of schools on my list that didn’t necessarily follow from those criteria, including Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, and Berkeley, and a truly “out of the box” contender was Colgate.</p>
<p>Ds had an OTB school; I called it the “parental prerogative” – a school he had to apply to because I loved it, thought it was perfect for him and knew he’d never apply on his own. Guess what happened? He fell in love, too, and is applying there of his own accord.</p>
<p>So now, I’m looking for a new parental prerogative! :)</p>
<p>But do be aware that your guidance counselor may NOT. Some counselors will question students about why “oddball” picks turn up on the list or even urge them to apply only to similar schools. So be prepared to explain the black sheep.</p>
<p>Understandably, when a college list seem completely inconsistent, the counselor may wonder whether the student is simply applying to the first dozen places that sent free applications or brochures. ;)</p>
<p>I think that an inconsistent choice or two is wise, but just be ready to explain your rationale, if asked about it.</p>