OK, Denison looks like a solid option. I added it to “mom’s suggested schools.”
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Question - Swarthmore, Grinnell, and Washington & Lee all came in with good numbers on NPC. All reaches with regard to admission rates, but do any of them ping as a school we should look at in lieu of something else on the reach list?
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All 3 are quite different so one might attract her more
- Swarthmore is very intellectual, students have A LOT of work and being overworked/stressed is a badge of honor. Very liberal. Outside a big city.
- Grinnell is smart&quirky. Environmentally conscious. Rural but with a ginormous budget for student entertainment.
- W&L is more conservative, especially in the fiscal/economic sense. Greek life is prevalent with many different styles and vibes. The name may carry a stigma so the college does a lot to offset that.
Did your family end up looking at the suggestions from the previous thread (such as these)?
I would take a look at the Common Data Sets of each school, particularly sections H1 and H2 which is where financial details are included. You can get a sense of what percentage of students are receiving financial aid, what the loan picture looks like, whether students with financial need are also receiving merit aid, etc. I would also look at the schools to see which ones have eliminated student loans from financial aid packages, as that could sway opinions about one reach vs. another.
Also, I would look to see if any of the schools have rolling admissions. Not only can an early acceptance feel great, but it can also give you a sense of how your application might appear elsewhere, especially for any schools that say they meet 100% of need but that are need-aware. (If a school doesn’t say they’re need-blind, they’re generally need-aware). That would mean that a school that would normally accept someone with your daughter’s profile might hold off because of the amount of financial aid it would be required to provide. Of course, I think that most rolling admission schools don’t promise to meet 100% of need, so it may not be quite the same thing in terms of what kind of a reading it might get, but it’s just something to be aware of. Due to that I would make sure your D shows a lot of demonstrated interest to the schools she plans to apply to. I would also consider (though maybe not follow-through) with more than 7-8 schools if there are need-aware schools in play rather than an automatic scholarship that she qualifies for that will get the school within the necessary price range.
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Yes, we did look at most of those. A few moved to the list we have now, a few were too close to home for her taste, and I the others are still on a long sub-list that we are keeping.
Good point! We’ll keep that in mind. And thx for the other advice about CDS, etc.
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To consider the updated list statistically, it seems generally quite appropriate. Your daughter’s ACT score, for example, places her above the posted medians for all the schools on her list except for Williams and Hamilton. Your daughter’s academic record, such as reflected in her class standing, appears to place her in good position for admission as well.
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Thanks for the confirmation. I told her the academic/testing part is taken care of (her senior schedule is fine for rigor), time to move onto the next step - finetuning the list and essays.
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I just looked at one for the first time, and thanks - a wealth of information! I’m pointing D24 to them as well for the faculty/major/class data.
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Any thoughts on Skidmore? I don’t know much about it, but their art program seems to have some depth. CW is only a minor, though.
Based on this, Grinnell would be her type of place.
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I think that Skidmore would be a great school to consider if the NPC is showing it as affordable.
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Then skidmore would be a great “less reachy reach/high match” 
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They do at the moment, even adding 4-5% for tuition increase. I do have concerns with the changes to FAFSA, as well as NPCs in general, but at the moment all of the schools still on the list (including Skidmore) are within our price range. Which is all we can go by at the moment, of course.
I’m just thankful for the advice I received here and that my daughter was as willing to consider affordability in a reasonable way. Trimming schools off the list and knowing we can definitely afford what we have is such a good feeling!
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Fantastic. thanks!
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For studio art and a “strong art community” among the eastern LACS on your updated list I would give priority to Kenyon, Hamilton, Williams. I would agree that Skidmore would be a good addition as would Connecticut College. Plus Smith if she’s open to a women’s college. There may be a reason that Wesleyan and Vassar haven’t been included; I’d suggest giving them another look.
Animation and illustration are not widely supported by LAC art departments. Traditional fine arts media (painting, drawing, sculpture, print making, photography) are the foundation of these departments. Though most LACs offer some degree of “new” media, especially video, generally speaking programs with commercial focus like graphic design, illustration and animation are rare.
Among LACs, Wesleyan and Skidmore seem to me to offer the most depth in the digital/graphic category. There may be others, but I’d suggest a deep dive into the individual course catalogues and faculty profiles to make sure.
Your daughter might also consider Tufts with its affiliation with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Even with an undecided major, she should submit an art portfolio, especially if art is her primary extracurricular interest.
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Hamilton offers a minor in Digital Arts. This seems to be uncommon among LACs.
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Hamilton’s Digital Arts program would certainly be of interest from the point of view of analyzing the history and social impact of the digitalization of art, especially video based performance and digitally manipulated photography.
But it’s different from courses which offer instruction in the process of using computers to produce commercial media such as animation, game design, web design or illustration.
In the traditional media, I would rate Hamilton’s studio art program highly. It offers a balance between intellectual concept and hands-on process. However their current approach to digital art appears to be focused more on analysis than creation.
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In following links related to that posted by @apple23, I came across an animated short film, “Cordium,” created by a Hamilton student through her senior project. Your daughter, @M_Fun, might be interested in viewing its style of presentation as an indication of animation opportunities at Hamilton. She can watch the film here: Cordium - YouTube.
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Thank you! She will definitely be interested, and I am sending it over. Hamilton is one of her favs thus far and this will probably excite her. Many thanks!
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You have all been so helpful and provide a wealth of information, so I thank you again. I thought I’d post an update as her list continues to change. She has decided on a top 10, with a handful as backups. I think her strategy is going to be to apply to one or two reaches, two safeties, and maybe four targets. She’s meeting with her CC for final guidance this week.
Here is the latest list:
Reach:
Hamilton
Bates
High Targets:
Smith
Skidmore
Reed
Brandeis
Targets:
St. Olaf
Mount Holyoke
Safeties:
Bellarmine
U MN Morris
All of these schools fully meet (or come incredibly close) to her 8 main criteria. AND they come in beautifully under budget - according to NPCs anyway. Like, well under budget. Unfortunately, visits aren’t super feasible but I hope to see at least a few of them in the next couple of months. That’s my only real regret is that I can’t get her on campuses to see if she has a clear ED. As it stands, she may apply RD to all of them instead of taking a gamble sight-unseen. (Though her brother did just that and it worked out for him.)
Again, thank you thank you, and I’ll keep you posted!
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