<p>My main interests are STEM and music (specifically electronic music/jazz piano), and I've been accepted to all these great colleges (and waitlisted at Williams). You may wonder why I include CC, and that's because I think I can easily be near the top of my class there, go skiing, enjoy the block plan, and in general have a jolly good time (basically be a big fish in a small pond) . I still have to visit Carleton, Vassar and CC, but if you guys could start discussing their relative merits (and perhaps things that I should investigate during my visits), that would be great. </p>
<p>It’ll be easier for us to advise you after you’ve visited. What matters to one student may not be what matters to another – too many variables here. For example Carleton is in a nice college town with good music venues for amateur performers (as well as professionals) and is 45mn away from the Twin Cities, whereas Vassar is 1h30 from the City but Poughkeepsie isn’t the best town. Carleton students are generally more laid back than Vassar studens but less so than Colorado College students. etc… There are trade offs for each but you’re the only ones who’d know whether these trade offs would matter. There isn’t any wrong choice, they’re all fantastic.</p>
<p>These expectations aren’t completely off-base but they do need some adjustment.
Academics at CC are quite intense. These days, they are picking and choosing from strong applicants. They employ the same kinds of professors, from the same big-name PhD programs and with the same high expectations, as you’d find at the NESCAC schools. It’s a work hard, play hard kind of place.</p>
<p>As for the skiing, it is certainly world class but the major slopes are not very close to campus. They can be a good 2 hours away by car. Of course, that is still a lot closer than you’d be to good skiing at Carleton (and you have the 4.5 day block breaks to get to them). Other outdoor recreational opportunities (hiking etc) are superb. The town isn’t bad, either. Colorado Springs is more attractive than Middletown or Northfield, in my opinion (or than Poughkeepsie from what I’ve read).</p>
<p>What majors are you considering? Carleton and Colorado College have two of the highest rates of PhD production in earth sciences; both (along with Wesleyan) are members of the Keck geology consortium. CC’s location (and the block plan) make it a great place for any science program that emphasizes outdoor field work (geology, botany, zoology, or environmental science.) </p>
<p>I can comment on Vassar and Wesleyan. If music is important to you, Vassar and Wesleyan are both strong. the concerts a Vassar are well attended with students, friends, parents, faculty and community people including the jazz ensemble concerts. The college president attends every orchestra concert. Skinner, the music building at Vassar is gorgeous. Wesleyan’s music building are cement 1970’s modern. That said, Wesleyan will be stronger in electronic music - I am not familiar with their jazz program. I have heard many excellent jazz pianists as part of the ensembles at Vassar. For STEM, Vassar is building a new science building. S1 was a science major at Vassar and is now at a top grad school in his field. Vassar prepared him well. Wesleyan is also strong in the sciences. The ‘vibe’ is slightly different at each school, so you probably really should visit, they are only about 2 hours from each other, Vassar is set apart from Poughkeepsie with a few lakes on campus, a farm and a golf course. There is a small area of shops and restaurants adjacent to campus. Wesleyan’s campus is more compact and integrated into the small city of Middletown. There are larger mountains to ski closer to Vassar than Middletown but it certainly isn’t Colorado! Hope this helps. </p>
<p>Why would you think you could be a big fish in a small pond at Colorado? The students at Colorado College are roughly comparable to the students at Vassar, Carleton, and Wesleyan. The acceptance rates are the same, and their GPAs and class ranks are the same by proportion (with the exception of Carleton - the other schools have roughly two-thirds of their class in the top 10% of their high school class, but 79% of Carleton’s incoming class was in the top 10 percent of their HS class). With that said, though, none of that actually matters. The students are comparable but your ACT scores and HS grades cease to matter the minute you step on your college campus; what matters from here on out is what you do, and motivation, hard work, and perseverance are more important. I was literally the top incoming student at my SLAC, but I was not at all motivated to the the big fish. While I graduated with honors, I wasn’t anywhere near the top of the class.</p>
<p>I used to live about 30 minutes from Poughkeepsie. It’s not a great town, but most colleges are a kind of oasis even in crappy towns so that might not affect you too much. I have a friend who’s a Vassar alum and was very involved in the musical theater scene there, and he seemed to be quite happy with it. It’s 1.5 hours from NYC, but I think college students think they will visit NYC more than they actually do. Carleton is closer to a large city with good music and supposedly a great vibe (I dunno…never been to the Twin Cities). Colorado College is actually in a city, but I’m not sure what CS is like for music. Wesleyan’s relatively close to a bunch of cities in the Northeast, but again, I think anything that takes more than about 30-45 minutes to travel to is a city that students probably think they will go to more often than they actually do.</p>
<p>Honestly, you can’t go wrong with the choice; just visit first, and it’ll be much easuer for you to decide.</p>