Vote for your favorite and help me out!

College Search & Selection
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<p>Wow, thank you all SO much for your help! I really should have clarified though-I am a Junior and haven't yet applied to any schools. Sorry about the mixup. I WISH I had gotten into all of those schools!
Anyways, thanks again for your personal opinions about those schools. </p>

<p>For momrath, here is a bit about my personal interests:
While I am undecided as to my career path, I definitely want to go to a top graduate school, possibly to become a lawyer. I am also interested in becoming a college professor or top administrator at a college. I really want to attend a college with a traditional "college feel" (aka ivy-covered walls, rigorous academics, intellectual atmosphere). A beautiful campus is very important to me. While I do lean towards LAC, I am not against smaller universities (under 6,000) if they offer other advantages. I definitely want few to no TAs teaching my classes. As far as location goes, I would prefer either a medium-sized town (aka Providence) or a small-town location near a big town (aka Swarthmore). I definitely want a social atmosphere, but I also want to have options besides crazy partying for some of the time, and other students who are interested in things besides crazy partying. In other words, I don't want to go to a "party school." Oh, and nice dorms. Yes, sadly enough, nice dorms would probably sway my decision. I have posted my stats under the "What are my chances?" thread, in case anyone wants to look at those before saying I should go for Princeton :). I am liberal, but definitely more on the preppy side(shopping over the outdoors), so I don't want to feel really out of place if everyone is CRAZY unique. On the other hand, I really don't want to be stifled in an environment where everyone is just like me. In that respect, diversity is important. Anyway, that is a bit about me, sorry it got a bit wordy.</p>

<p>Again thanks everyone, and I'd appreciate any advice/opinion anyone has!</p>

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<p>Darthmouth...b/c I regret not applying there...</p>

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<p>lol SS1987, applier's remorse sounds tough. I saw that you got into bates, colby, and carleton though, so life can't be too bad :). Thanks for your vote!</p>

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<p>I still say Brown.</p>

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<p>Jaimie, OK, clear now. Swarthmore, Amherst, Brown, Yale, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Dartmouth, Williams are all wonderful schools with great track records for graduate and professional school placement. As is common, no one school fulfills ALL your wishlist, but you sound as if you know that tradeoffs are part of the selection process.</p>

<p>I hope you know that these are all HIGHLY selective schools. They're easy to fall in love with but hard to get into, so please, please plan to devote an even greater amount of time investigating and visiting less selective, safeties, and sure things. Read and believe the horror stories out there and build your college list from the bottom up.</p>

<p>Secondly, please make sure you are clear about your family's ability to pay for college. These are pricy schools and most do not offer merit aid.</p>

<p>The schools on your list that I visited with my son are Swarthmore, Amherst, Brown, Yale, and of course Williams. These fulfill most of your requirements, some to a greater degree, some less. I think Bowdoin, Middlebury, Dartmouth fit well with this list, but since I don't have first hand experience I'm not commenting on them. For less selectives consider Hamilton, Conn College, Skidmore, Colby.</p>

<p>Visit, talk to the kids, have fun. And work on those less selectives. I think Williams can offer everything you're looking for except location. This isn't a drawback for the kids who end up there, but it's not for everyone. My son started out thinking that Amherst was the perfect college town, but ended up just loving Williamstown. Visit and draw your own conclusion.</p>

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<p>Thanks momrath, your practical advice is much appreciated as I tend to have big dreams that are not always feasible. I definitely realize that I need several safeties, I had actually been looking into Colby already. Do you have any other suggestions for safety schools?</p>

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<p>Look into Grinnell, Haverford, Earlham for less selective schools.</p>