Trying to Find Schools Similar to...

College Search & Selection
21

Sorry for late replies. Canada Day weekend = no internet up here.
Also, here is a quick update from my searching in Fiske’s:
-Bentley seems a lot like Babson, but with a higher acceptance rate. Looks great.
-Colby seems like a great fit for me.
-Vanderbilt is great in every single aspect for me.
-Pomona looks like a pretty great environment for me.
-Stanford might be at the tops of my list and it seems to be a near perfect match both ways. I think I have a better shot at this than, say, Northwestern.
-No clue about ED yet
-Some schools like Boston College, Bowdoin, and Colgate looked promising.
-I definitely like a school with good dorms, good intramurals, outdoorsy-activities (unless west coast), good food, a good amount of people living on campus, campus-centered social life, decently strong drinking policies (I’m not a drinker-partier), and friendly people.

Also, just throwing it out there, I love lake-life. I’m strongly considering UofMinnesota for this reason alone. If there are any places you guys know of where lake-life has a big influence, lmk!

@Lindagaf I’ll definitely look into Europe. I’ve never been and it’s so far that it could cause some personal problems for me, but it’s worth checking out regardless.

My plan is to apply to like 6-10 top schools in the states and like 4 relatively safe schools in Canada, including a state college that is almost open admission.

@RockySoil I definitely looked at Wharton. I’m not too sure if that school would be best for me because I worry about falling into a self-centered a-hole. No offense to those at Wharton, but I’m just not sure if the culture would do more bad than good. I don’t want to sacrifice my personal qualities for a top job with high salary. It might be tough for me to fit in(?). Regardless, it’s worth taking a second look at-- thanks.

@cptofthehouse
Noted. As mentioned in the start of this reply, I don’t plan on applying to many ‘match’ or ‘safety’ schools in the states because I would prefer to stay in Canada at that point. I’m trying to get a wide range of great schools with the hope that one adcom will like me enough to accept me :wink: I will look into lower end colleges, though.

22

Also, as a reminder as this hits three pages, almost all the schools I am interested in have at least one of these two basic requirements: great entrepreneurship resources and/or product design major/minor, and my favorite schools have both. My ideal course would probably be something like USC’s Business Admin with Entrepreneurship concentration and a minor in product design.

My main worry with almost all of these schools being suggested is the programs. I’m not an economics guy. Or, at least, I don’t know I am-- I take AP Econ next year. I don’t know what else I would really take. If it wasn’t relatively easy to double major, then I doubt I would go to a school that didn’t give me Entre or PD. If I can double major with ease, such as with schools that have no distribution requirement, it’s not a huge deal cause I can take something like Psych/Econ or Psych/CS and appeal to my broader interests that would propel me to great grad programs.

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Hint: you keep emphasizing colleges that would be great for you. But they select the best applicants for them. It’s time to start asking yourself, “They would want me because…?” And that neds to line up with what they look for. It’s not random nice guy with good grades. Or how much you want some major or other. Or how hard you worked to overcome. It needs to show in breadth and depth, in the tangible record of academics and every other peice.

What have you done in the past months to fill in the gaps?

You do not need to answer me.

24

Univ of Rochester has an open curriculum

25

Colgate has a core curriculum, and Bowdoin, like Williams, has distribution requirements. Same with Colby. I would not recommend Pomona for someone going into business—look at Claremont McKenna instead.

I’m curious—if you’re not an econ guy, then why apply to LACs at all? Seeing as how you also said in a previous post that you didn’t want a school that was too small, it sounds like you’d be unsatisfied at one.

I think you’re misunderstanding what distribution requirements are. They’re very flexible, and are designed to be that way. It’s easy to double major and fulfill them. Williams has distribution requirements, and 40% of Williams students double major. Brown is famed for its open curriculum, but only 20% of Brown students double major. Having an open curriculum is not as huge of a difference as you seem to think, although it does have a certain appeal. Just avoid colleges with core curriculums (UChicago, Columbia, Colgate, etc) and you’ll be fine.

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Also, when you’re researching colleges, you can’t just rely on Fiske. Research graduate/professional outcomes, try and get in touch with current students there.
Is your end goal to work on Wall Street? If so, remember that Wall Street companies recruit from a specific pool of schools.

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@FakeName1332 The University of Minnesota (main Twin Cities campus) is a great school. It’s in a pretty urban environment, right in the middle of the Twin Cities, so make sure it’s what you’re looking for. That said, there are lots of lakes and parks not far away and there are definitely outdoorsy kids who go there. I think Canadians probably fit in pretty well there; they have tuition reciprocity with Manitoba so I knew students from Winnipeg back when I attended and they seemed happy.

You apply to a specific college within the university so you’ll want to narrow down what major you want, and if it’s in one of the more-selective colleges, pick a backup major in one of the less-selective ones.

Have you also looked at University of Minnesota-Duluth? It’s somewhat less selective and it’s smaller, but still a good school, and it’s a lot less expensive. Duluth is right on Lake Superior. Lots of great hiking nearby.

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Colby’s a great school but I’m not sure why it’s on your list if you want an open curriculum, product design courses and business courses. You’d most likely be an Econ major at Colby, although you could double major.
Here are Colby’s distribution requirements (number of courses):
First-Year Writing (1)
Foreign Language (up to 3)
Arts (1)
Historical Studies (1)
Literature (1)
Quantitative Reasoning (1)
Natural Sciences (2)
Social Sciences (1)
Diversity (2)
Wellness

29

Thank you all for the replies and all the information. Some more information for everyone:
I don’t care too much about writing, quantitative reasoning, econ, cs, logic, or anything similar to that. I just hate FL, History, and Science, so I would prefer to replace these with classes like business/entre/econ/psych/cs/product innovation.

@lookingforward
I couldn’t care about finding a school that wants to fit me if it means sacrificing even a little bit of my wants and needs. I am not a typical applicant on this forum. I am not willing to go to a school like Princeton and I am not too concerned about getting into top schools. Of course, I would love to go to a school like Stanford, but it’s because I would love it there. I do not want to look for schools that ‘want me’ because I would prefer to go to school in Canada than go to a great school in the states that I don’t love.
Finding top schools that I love = top priority.
Finding top schools that want me = bonus, but not worth sacrificing that love.
Getting into one of these schools = Life changing and awesome, but still a bonus.

In the past few months, I’ve studied for like 60 hours for the ACT, took it, started up two small businesses, started working on a patent, and did some volunteer work, all on top of summer school and grade 11 (ends late in July, so big overlap). I’m not trying to brag or anything-- it’s a lot worse than what a lot of people are doing-- but I am taking steps to fill the gap that you mentioned.

@writingpumpkin03
Great question. The basic answer is simply having options. I don’t know what size I like, given that I am a fully online student. I want to apply to one, two, or even three smaller schools to see if I would be more comfortable there.

I can check out Claremont McKenna. I thought Pomona could be good because the environment seemed like a great fit for me; I could see myself there tomorrow.

Okay, my mistake. Distribution requirements != core requirements. Core requirements are what I should avoid but distribution requirements aren’t a big deal. FYI, it wasn’t the double major that made Brown so appealing, it was that I could take literally whatever courses I wanted. The time spent on some required courses that I wouldn’t want to take is instead spent on exploring the two main fields I have an interest in. I would be able to major in Behavioral Decision Sciences, take a ton of entrepreneurship/business classes, and fill the course requirements with stuff that I would really enjoy (more psych/business with maybe some CS or Econ).

I’ll take Colgate off my list-- I didn’t research it too well. The reason why all my research over the past few days has been through Fiske’s guide is that my internet has been absolutely awful (Canada Long Weekend = busy network = no internet). I’ll get back to good searching tomorrow :slight_smile:

@myrna97
Thanks for the info. Yea, I love the location of the Twin Cities campus. Easy access to a lot of entertainment and sports, yet you still have the ability to go to a friend’s cabin and do some wakesurfing and fishing every so often. I can also see my family buying a small cottage in MN. It wouldn’t be a stretch for me to live (half of, cause immigration) the rest of my life in Minnesota. The people and weather is pretty much the same as where I am now, AFAIK.

@Sue22
Thanks for pointing that out. Colby is definitely an anomaly, but I think it’s fine to have one or two schools on my list that can offer an alternative. Though I am certain that the more open the curriculum the better, schools like Colby can put me in an environment similar to the one I am now. If I start to get really nervous and uncomfortable next spring, a school like Colby could offer a lot of relief. I don’t know how I’m going to act when I have to move countries and start a new life. I might want something really small, but I also might want something really big. Options are really important for me, so a few anomalies in my list shouldn’t be too much trouble for me.

30

You might want to look into the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Richmond.

https://robins.richmond.edu/centers/entrepreneurship/index.html

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Good luck with your college search!