Very preliminary list - any more we should consider? (Likely math major, finishing sophomore year)

College Search & Selection
1

This is for my middle kid, who is just finishing up sophomore year. We are CA residents. Will not qualify for FA. Merit money would be nice but not essential. GPA UW likely to remain in the 3.7-3.8 range. Tests very well (10th grade PSAT was in the 99th % without studying). Took 1 AP this year (Euro), 3 next year (Calc AB, Physics 1, APUSH), and probably around 4 senior year.

Kid is interested in math (most likely) or physics or CS major, and possible music minor or at least, opportunities for choral performance and interesting music classes. ECs are all in music (choir and piano) and foreign language (summer camp and self-study of extra languages). No major hooks or big awards. ABRSM level 8. Exploring gender identity so needs a supportive environment for that. Hates hot weather.

Schools read about in Fiske and liked: Brown, Carleton, Macalester, Tufts, Oberlin, Boston U, Washington U -St.Louis (I’m an alum), Harvey Mudd, U. Oregon, U. Washington, U. Colorado-Boulder, UC Berkeley (hubby and I are both grad school alums), UC Davis, UCSB, UCSC, Wesleyan, Colorado College

Schools read about in Fiske and are ‘maybes’ - U. Chicago, Whitman, Carnegie-Melon, Brandeis, Case Western, U. Edinburgh, Trinity (Dublin).

Schools read about in Fiske that didn’t appeal - Swarthmore, Princeton, St. Olaf, Harvard, Northeastern, UCLA, UCSD, Scripps, Williams, St. Andrews

We’ll probably end up dropping those international schools anyway and several of the reaches. I’m thinking U Washington might get axed as well since I’m kind of putting it in the ‘backup’ pool but Colorado and Oregon are both easier to get in and more likely to give some merit aid, I think. We’ll be visiting Brown, Tufts, and B.U. this summer.

Any other schools that we should be considering? I just started looking at Wesleyan recently (it’s not a big draw on the west coast, but a friend’s kid just decided to go there and I really like how it’s mostly a small (but not tiny) LAC but does have some grad students)… are there any other places that have that feel/size and around that level of selectivity that are strong in math or physics? Any other suggestions for a safety-level LAC that’s good in math? I’m not quite sure why St. Olaf was a ‘no’… maybe it sounded too conservative in Fiske or maybe because my niece goes there and kid just wants more anonymity. But maybe if we go visit Macalester and Carleton next year we’ll do the St Olaf tour anyway.

2

Wesleyan for sure. Tufts will be good. Brown perhaps. While you’re in Mass take the drive up to Brunswick Maine to see Bowdoin too. Vassar Barnard and Hamilton in Ny All super schools with wonderful, accepting students. and definitely not hot!

3

Hamilton sounds very preppy/Greek, and Bowdoin sounds very sporty… am I wrong? Vassar actually sounds like a good fit… how does one get there from here? Lol. Do you have any idea if they run student shuttles to LaGuardia or Albany or ? We talked about women-only colleges but kid is not currently interested.

4

I’m not sure of the current Hamilton vibe. But all my friends and their children who have gone are amazingly bright and warm people.

Bowdoin is sporty in a “go on hikes or kayaking” sort of way because of the location. The popularity of its student outdoors club is very high. But in totality it’s very very accepting and intellectual. One of the leaders/founders of Black Lives Matter is a grad as an example. Not what one would expect from a super preppy old New England college.

5

Drop Davis because of the weather
I would add Notheastern back and explore further because of its excellent CS program and they have an excellent minor in women’s gender studies. My D goes there, had similar grades and interests and loves it there. She got a lot more merit aid than my S did.

6

How about Rice and Northwestern? and second Bowdoin, Bates, Vassar.

7

Northeastern could be a great fit for my youngest (although he’s just entering high school this fall so his career path could change) but he’s very interested in CS and engineering/inventing /hands-on stuff… so maybe we’ll go tour while we’re there. Don’t really want to spend the whole vacation just seeing colleges but if it saves us a trip later I suppose it makes sense.

And yeah, Davis, Harvey Mudd, and Wash U are all weather fails. Davis at least is just one more tick (and $75) on the UC application. I’m not even going to suggest Rice, even though it also seems like it would fit in many ways.

8

Northwestern near Chicago.
We are looking at colleges with strong math and music too. Contrary to your S, we are a bit turned off by the cold weather, esp this past winter. Lol.

9

I would definitely recommend looking into Bard, Bates, Colby, and Vassar.

10

“We are looking at colleges with strong math and music too. Contrary to your S, we are a bit turned off by the cold weather, esp this past winter. Lol.”

My kid likes the idea of a real winter. My kid has only ever spent 6 days consecutively anywhere with snow and has does not understand how depressing it is in late March when you haven’t been truly warm since October. ;-). It will be a learning experience.

11

I think the “preppy” discriptor for north east colleges is a bit of a red herring today. Even the traditional prep schools aren’t especially preppy or traditional any more. If you’re going to be in the Boston area I’d suggest that you try to visit a few prominent New England LACs to get a feeling for their individual personalities, for nuances that are hard to pick up in guidebook thumbnails. Plus it’s a beautiful part of the country if you haven’t been there.

If Wesleyan appeals, then consider Swarthmore, Vassar. Smith if you’re in the neighborhood, even if women’s colleges aren’t immediate draws. Bowdoin, Hamilton, Williams, Amherst, Middlebury may have more of an outdoorsy vibe, but are still academically rigorous with more diversity than you might expect.

I would take another look Williams for the strength of their math, physics, CS and music programs. Double or even triple majoring is common and music performance opportunities are plentiful even for non-majors.
https://music.williams.edu/special-admission-information/

12

Math major in college is different from Math in high school. Calculus is not even a foretaste of what Math is. Let me use another example. Students get A in Java Programming still not seeing how Computer Science look like. My point is don’t make decision so early about Major. With that in mind, we don’t need to find a school really good at Math or Engineering. Any school ranks top 70 is good enough.

13

Harvey Mudd, UChicago, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Hamilton, Bowdoin, Reed, Carleton and Macalester are among those colleges that appear in a Princeton Review sampling, “Great Schools for Mathematics Majors.” This source might not be bad for supporting some of the listed choices, or perhaps for adding others.

14

U of Rochester should be on your list - very music-oriented campus (Eastman is part of UR though it has a separate campus, and many non-Eastman students are involved in music) and top-notch math and science. Not as liberal as Berkeley or UCSC but liberal enough, I think. (Unlike Lawrence, which I wanted to suggest but I couldn’t see sending a gender-noncomforming kid to Appleton, even though the college itself is probably fine.) Santa Cruz sounds like a good in-state default - mostly-cool weather and just about the most accepting place you could possibly hope for. I know a non-binary student who graduated recently, and the community and support services were great… and the school is excellent in your kid’s areas of interest - and Honors is likely with their stats.

15

P.S. We visited URochester in the same summer trip with Brown, Tufts, and Northeastern - very easy nonstop between Boston and Rochester, and UR is less than 15 minutes from the airport. Rochester and Brown are very similar in their “open curriculum” approaches. My d’s comment was the Rochester was “like Brown with better music and less ‘attitude’.” (Rochester also gives out quite a bit of merit aid, unlike Brown. ) They had the most coherent admissions presentation of any school we visited - really articulated their philosophy and the student experience they’re trying to craft. Campus was a little dead in the summer (although our tour guide actually knew the one kid we knew there from my d’s CA high school). Nice place, particularly for those who don’t mind cold! If you go, definitely schedule an on-campus interview while there. (It’s a very friendly chat with a current student, highly encouraged by the school.)

16

Not really. Brown has no general education requirements except for two writing-intensive courses (in various subject areas). Rochester requires three courses in each of humanities, social studies, and science/engineering.

17

Yeah, winter lasted in the NE for a very long time this year. Usually, the big payoff of having four seasons is the tantalizing possibility of a early spring. Wesleyan and Brown are about as far north as I’d want to go to school and still have that opportunity.

18

look into grinnell. if your child can get past “being in the middle of nowhere” (a “con” about the school i think is severely over exaggerated), they may just love it. it has an open curriculum (the only required class is a writing tutorial your first semester of freshman year), great graduate school placement, is super diverse, very liberal (i think i’ve said this on many a thread, but grinnell is so, so supportive when it comes to its LGBT+ students. the current president is black, gay, and has [i believe] two kids with his partner. when i visited, i felt an overwhelming sense of acceptance when expressing my sexuality, something i’ve never really felt comfortable expressing to anyone besides my super close friends back at home. grinnell’s a great place to be gay, straight, cisgender, transgender, and every little thing in between.), has great facilities, strong academics (computer science is a very good department at grinnell! :wink: ), amazing financial aid, and an unpretentious atmosphere. it reminded me a lot of brown, which is why i started looking into grinnell in the first place.

19

Vassar does indeed run student shuttles to the major NY airports for school breaks. You can also take the train to NYC & connect with the NYC airport shuttles at Grand Central or Penn Station. There is a also a limo-share system from Stewart Airport (about a 25-30 minute drive up the road, in Newburgh) to Vassar. Fun fact: Norwegian Air now flies non-stop from Stewart to Dublin & a few other European destinations, with super-low fares (think $250 return to Dublin),

As for math / comp sci / physics, the departments are small, but I know graduates from last years class in each of those majors who are now at Google / the NSA / in top-10 PhD programs / etc. A lot of departmental support, including in developing Independent study options.

The only caveat (and from your other comments, I think you already get this) is that LACs can look really similar on paper yet have very distinct personalities. IMO, Vassar - even more than most LACs- really is a ‘fit’ school.

20

Just to add to @aquapt’s comment re. Rochester—great math and physics programs. Math majors I know of have gone on to grad school at places like Chicago and CalTech. And their optics program, in particular, is top notch. After D’s first visit there, it actually nudged out Brown and Tufts (among others) and became her first pick. I don’t think it would have been in the consideration set if she hadn’t visited. She’ll be graduating next year (not in math or physics, but in microbiology/public health). Good merit aid and flexible curriculum played a role in her decision (no language requirement was a big deal to her).

Their “clusters” approach, while not exactly “open” allows for a lot of flexibility. A student’s major automatically fulfills one of the three cluster requirements, leaving two clusters (thee classes each) in the two remaining areas. Engineering students are only required to complete a single cluster (three courses) outside their major. D, who, like many students at UR, has a double major, only had one additional cluster to complete. It gave her a chance to explore topics she might not have otherwise (religion and philosophy) and because she was able to choose that herself, it was more like a set of electives than a required core.