<p>I’d suggest a look at Hobart& William Smith as another school a tier down which might be of interest as a match or safety (depending on stats).</p>
<p>These schools attract such different students that it’s hard to imagine the student who would WANT to apply to all of them. Wesleyan and Middlebury!!! Now THERE"S an odd duo–at least based on the kids that apply around here.</p>
<p>Jonri - interesting observation about kids who apply to Wesleyan vs those who apply to Middlebury - how do they differ?</p>
<p>I think many kids would fit in at Wes and Midd. I know both of mine would.</p>
<p>Yeah, one of my virtual nieces applied to both. She liked them both, although she worried that Wesleyan was too alternative for her. She didn’t get into Middlebury, though, and is perfectly happy at Wesleyan with all the other kids who worried that Wesleyan was too alternative for them, too.</p>
<p>My d wanted to know how Wesleyan differed from Vassar and I told her it had a reputation for being more alternative - she said that was okay with her!</p>
<p>My very square S1 was quite happy at Wes. Of course, his politics are liberal, but he believes in live and let live.</p>
<p>I’m dealing with stereotypes and admit that. But college lists around here would look like this:</p>
<p>Brown, Wesleyan, Vassar, Oberlin</p>
<p>Dartmouth, Williams, Middlebury, Bowdoin</p>
<p>Well, S1 agonized between Bowdoin and Wes, and eventually went to Wes because of the weather. He thought he would be just as happy at Bowdoin.</p>
<p>jonri, for 2/3rds of the kids, the lists would break out like that around here. But the other 1/3rd would mix and match.</p>
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<p>Too bad! Academically Oberlin is on par with Wesleyan and Vassar, but it is a more likely admit for a New Englander. One does have to visit and write an informed “Why Oberlin?” essay. Oberlin has a nice film program, but probably does not have rowing.</p>
<p>But do the one-third of kids who mix and match actually understand what they are doing? I suspect some do and some don’t. </p>
<p>The reasons which lead kids to choose certain schools vary. There are kids who are only interested in one or two facets of a school. They don’t care if the school is big or small, rural or urban, politically aware or apathetic, as long as it has a strong program in linguistics or they can play a particular Division 3 sport. </p>
<p>It can make perfect sense for kids like this to apply to a Wes and a Middlebury. I’m not denying that. </p>
<p>But for kids to whom the “culture” of a school is important, it would make less sense to apply to Wes and Middlebury because my understanding is that the cultures of the two are very different. So, it’s just true that the kids I personally know who apply to Wes and Middlebury–and I know one heck of a lot more who apply to Wes–are very different kinds of kids.</p>
<p>Jonri, my S was one who mixed and matched, got accepted to W and B, visited both, agonized over both and decided solely on account of the weather and partly on account of Wes being slightly bigger. He was fully cognizant of their different reputations and knew people at both. As I said, he was/is quite square and would fit the Bowdoin profile a bit more closely. But he was happy at Wes.</p>
<p>For the rowing, you should give Connecticut more consideration. Her sport might be a tip there.</p>
<p>Orangeone: What a shame to hear about Vassar Crew – The Poughkeepsie Regatta was once THE stop on the college crew tour. That was a long, long time ago.</p>
<p>jonri, I think the difference is that some kids know exactly who they are, and who is like them, some kids don’t really know that and could go any number of directions, and some kids wind up at somewhat incongruous schools because of completely different factors. The result is that the schools are in fact far more varied than their reputations would suggest. </p>
<p>I know ten kids at Wesleyan now or just graduated. Over half of them you would never imagine were Wesleyan students without talking to them at length. Two are frat-boy recruited athletes – who by the way love it there, and feel perfectly comfortable being part of a minority subculture. Three are well-to-do legacies, two of whom were slotted for Wesleyan at birth, notwithstanding their extreme preppiness. Two are smart, suburban JAPs, who love their clothes and accessories, but for whom complete conventionality is a kind of drag they put on and take off as the mood strikes them. Only one is a genderqueer left-wing activist, who wouldn’t have considered going to Middlebury.</p>
<p>Glido - yes, it is a shame. There does seem to be an effort to bring back rowing competition on that part of the Hudson, however. The VC team participated in the Quadricentennial Poughkeepsie Regatta this October, which was part of this effort. I believe that Marist College has a pretty active crew team.</p>
<p>fendrock, has she considered Tufts? </p>
<p>My senior D is a rower and has many of these schools on her list and has also had older teammates go to many. Some of the crew programs, Midd and Bowdoin not sure of others, are club teams and not varsity, Midd has lowered the funding of their program, it is still my D’s top choice school for other reasons, and she hopes she could row as a bonus. The size of the team is smaller than the HS team.</p>
<p>Colgate is another school my D is looking at, it might be too greek for your D but although they are D1 they have many walk ons to their crew team including many who have not rowed before.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>jackief, the drawback with Tufts is that the film courses are at the Museum School, so there would be a need to do a lot of commuting back and forth from Medford to Boston.</p>
<p>And of course it is also hard to get in at Tufts!</p>
<p>JHS, </p>
<p>Isn’t what you are saying true of every college? I know a frat-belonging, sport playing kid who spent a lot of time his first two years at UChicago getting drunk who found a group of kindred spirits and was very happy there. If you had talked to him while he was a student there, I doubt that you would have guessed he was a UChicago student either. So, yes, kids can be quite happy at schools where they aren’t in the majority culture. I don’t think I’ve ever claimed the contrary. </p>
<p>And, I’m not saying either, marite, that there aren’t kids who mix and match and know what they are doing. </p>
<p>I said that the kids I know who apply to Wes and Middlebury tend to be very different. My impression, based on the kids I personally know who go there–and far more go to Wes–is that the campus cultures are very different. There are kids who really don’t care that much about campus cultures. There are kids who do. IMO–and obviously not only YMMV, but it does vary–very few kids for whom campus culture is an important consideration would be happy at both schools. Would there be kids who could be? Of course!!! But in my limited experience, these aren’t the kids for whom campus culture is a significant factor in choosing a college.</p>
<p>jonri, so how would you describe the differences in culture between Middlebury and Wesleyan?</p>