“Dont dismiss Colgate because of what is talked about on the internet.” (#18)
It goes beyond the Internet. Colgate is listed by the Princeton Review as a “Top Ten Party School.” That said, I wouldn’t recommend that anyone should dismiss Colgate.
Has she looked at Bard College? It would be a match for her, is test optional, and has a fantastic writing & literature program and strong biology department. However, it is not as open a curriculum as Wesleyan or Vassar - it does have distribution requirements, graduation requirements (a Senior Project) and some required courses (Freshman Seminar, which is like a Core Great Books seminar.)
We did look at Bard, just before Vassar. She’s fairly certain she’ll apply there.