<p>davidthefat and Deziky: I’ve also heard good things about marlboro (not the cigarette haha) and reed</p>
<p>Check out Colleges that change lives, there are alot of awesome schools in there:
[Colleges</a> That Change Lives | Changing Lives, One Student at a Time](<a href=“http://www.ctcl.org/]Colleges”>http://www.ctcl.org/)</p>
<p>I applied to Reed and Hampshire, two colleges on that list. Hampshire has no grades or majors, and Reed is very open academically and has a really intellectual environment (which sounds like something you want)</p>
<p>Marlboro sounded awesome! Although when I visited there -this is totally biased but it sounded like A TON OF WORK - more so than anywhere else. Like Swarthmore on steroids lol.</p>
<p>I personally think New College of Florida is great for a safety school. It has rolling admissions, is very unique, has an academic atmosphere, and has great financial aid (if that’s a consideration for you)</p>
<p>Have you thought about Haverford? It’s about 30 minutes from Swarthmore and has a very similar academic atmosphere- although it’s a little less competitive. At Haverford you also have a consortium, so you can take classes at any of 4 different colleges, and they require a senior thesis of everyone.</p>
<p>Is financial aid a consideration for you? Because for me, when I applied I was looking for a unique college, but at the same time I didn’t want to go into debt for the rest of my life. The problem with alot of really unique schools that are off the radar is that they often don’t have the funds of more well known colleges, and therefore will be much more expensive to attend. I got into Reed and Hampshire, but Reed gave me terrible financial aid and Hampshire gave me mediocre aid so I ended up going to a higher ranked but less unique school with a better package. I guess my advice would be to apply to some schools with large endowments just in case the more unique schools dont pull through, you can still have options</p>
<p>Just curious; what do you mean by “Reed is very open academically”?</p>
<p>Reed says it has “A traditional, classical, highly structured curriculum.”</p>
<p>What does “higher ranked” mean? Ranked by whom?</p>
<p>ivysaur93: Marlboro swarthmore on steroids haha i’ll look into new college for a safety school.
vonlost: valid questions you’re asking</p>
<p>This seems unique:</p>
<p>Quest University in Canada</p>
<p>“At Quest, we started from scratch to build a university centered on you. Your classes are all seminars with fewer than twenty students. You take one class at a time - a new intellectual adventure each month. You sample many realms of knowledge, and then build your own major. You use our spectacular natural environment as an extension of our classrooms. You question everything. We did - and created a transformative education for students from around the world.”</p>
<p>[Quest</a> University Canada - Welcome](<a href=“http://www.questu.ca/]Quest”>http://www.questu.ca/)</p>
<p>I’ve heard things about the Merchant Marine Academy, and most aren’t to good. The school is always ranked high in list such as 'Dorms like Dungeons ', ‘This is food?’ , and others. I wouldn’t put it on my list, but if you are interested in the Merchant Marine you should go right ahead.</p>
<p>I would also look at Grinnell. It is a small but very prestigious school in the middle of nowhere Iowa. It attracts a lot of kids because of its unique location. I believe there isn’t any basic requirements to get your degree and it ranks very high in Peace Corps volunteers.</p>
<p>I find it hard to fathom the concept of attending the MMA merely for a unique experience. You need to spend a bit more time thinking about what you want to do after college and how you can achieve that goal.</p>
<p>Apologies for not reading the whole thread-- but do a search on ‘Great Books programs’. Several schools have a program for 2 years (which counts as getting your general ed. course), and there are several universities other than St. John’s who have 4 year Great Books programs: Thomas Aquinas, St. Mary’s of California (called the Integral Program), University of San Francisco (the name of the program is something like 'the Ignatian Program?).</p>
<p>If you are looking for some odd electives, there are many colleges that offer flight training and private pilots licensing as electives. I have a brother who went all the way to Oklahoma (OSU) for two summer terms to get his pilots license.</p>
<p>cjaneread: i’m keeping my list of schools w/i the us of a. but quest sounds cool!</p>
<p>iowanboy: i’ve seen some bad reports about the mma too. grinnell looks like a good rural school</p>
<p>nemom: thanks mom</p>
<p>Karen Colleges: didn’t know other schools had G.B. programs</p>
<p>bowtiefratty: that’s so cool!</p>
<p>run4 glory-- S insisted on doing a a 4 year GB program, so we searched pretty hard for one. I don’t know why they don’t call them by the same name.</p>
<p>One correction, I’m not sure if the USF program is a 2 year or 4 year program. </p>
<p>Thomas Aquinas is 4 years, no other major offered.</p>
<p>St. Mary’s of California Integral Program is 4 years. (One of the benefits of SMC is that you don’t have to change schools if you want to change majors.)</p>
<p>karen colleges: yeah, good point. thomas aquinas and smc sound exciting- 4 years of reading!</p>