<p>We are having a difficult time figuring out what schools to start looking at for son #2. I know there are plenty of programs he can input his stats and preferences into....but nothing is more useful than the wise opinions of parents and students on this site.</p>
<p>When I think about what the ideal school would be for him (if that even exists), I think of a school like Brown University. A highly reguarded and well known university, with a beautiful, safe campus, not too far from a big city. Extremely happy, intellectual kids with plenty of choices for a major (no large core required).</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Brown is virtually impossible to get into, for a kid with pretty good stats and the usual smattering of athletics, drama, leadership and intellectual activities. The only edge he has (if these even help for any school), is going to a top private high school, very high volunteer hours, being full pay and apparently being male helps for some.</p>
<p>Anyone have any schools in mind to compare to Brown, that are a little easier to get into?</p>
<p>Get one of those books like Barrons or “The Top 373 Colleges” that Princeton Review puts out, and start leafing through it. Look at the mid 50% of students’ scores & GPA figures and see where your son falls. Those books tell you what kind of town, etc the schools are located in so you can learn abt the factors such as safe campus, et al.</p>
<p>Thanks, JRZMom, I did get one of those books. But I tell you, they make every single one of them seem absolutely wonderful. Even the ones that are on the top of the “Colleges where kids are the unhappiest” lists. It makes you feel like you really have to filter through every single description, to find the cryptic way they are telling you the truths.
We’re not totally hung up on the safe campus aspect, just staying away from a high crime area would be desireable.</p>
<p>How about Tufts? Culturally similar to Brown, great suburban Boston location with easy access to the city. Tough to get into, but not as tough as Brown. There is no core, although there are distribution requirements.</p>
<p>I’ve heard William & Mary mentioned as similar to Brown before, so I would look into that particularly if you and your son live in Virginia. Academically and culturally the two schools seem fairly similar, although William & Mary isn’t really near a big city (unless you consider the Hampton Roads area a “big city” :P).</p>
<p>My DD’s best friend (from NJ), who had her sights on Brown for many years, did not get in. She is beyond happy at Washington University in St. Louis now.</p>
<p>Wow, this is great, in less than 20 minutes I’m already getting a good list to look at. A number of kids in my sons high school have attended these schools. They all are fairly selective, but not impossible like Brown.</p>
<p>Andevan, we live in the PNW…but by “big city” I suppose I mean, just not completely isolated, far away from a decent sized town. There are some great schools that are far away from any major cultural center, so he may not enjoy that.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link, dstark, I’ll look at it. Nice to see you :)</p>
<p>^^ Beat me to it.
Consider Macalester and other LACs outside the Northeast.
Carleton, Grinnell, Oberlin, Kenyon, Colorado College, Occidental, Whitman, Reed … to name a few.</p>
<p>If he likes the open curriculum Vassar (LAC, but relative large for an LAC) or U of Rochester. If he likes proximity to Boston/medium size city small to medium university not LAC: Brandeis, Tufts, Georgetown, George Washington, American, Washington University St. Louis. </p>
<p>American is a lot easier to get into. U of R, Brandeis and GW not quite as easy, but still easier. The rest are still reaches for a Brown wanna-be, but definitely easier admits.</p>
<p>beautiful Sarah Lawrence College, which some say empties into NYC each weekend? It’s not a university, though. </p>
<p>Just looked at the dstark’s list and there it was, although I had thought of it independently because of OP’s wish for a safe campus/near major city. </p>
<p>dstark’s list describes SLC: “does not have a core curriculum or majors; all students self-design their course of study”</p>
<p>Last I saw data on gender there, I think it was about 30% male, but maybe that’s changed. In some situations, that can be a boost to a male applicant if the large majority of students are female.</p>
<p>Looks like an excellent list of schools we have to start from. Nothing wrong with having plenty of girls around, those sound like good social odds for a boy, that’s for sure. And an admissions bump is always a good thing. The only concern is if the school is too heavily skewed on liberal arts (which often attracts women), the math/business/technical/science side might be neglected.</p>
<p>Most of the colleges being recommended are not at all like Brown. Georgetown and Brown?!!! Brown and Tufts similar cultures??!!!William & Mary “a lot like Brown.” I really, really disagree! </p>
<p>Like Brown? Wesleyan, yes in terms of culture, somewhat in terms of location; Amherst, smaller but open curriculum and 5 college consortium makes it far from isolated; Haverford, not yet mentioned, close to an open curriculum, within a short distance of Philly; Grinnell academically, a bit socially, very different in terms of location. While all of these are LACs, they are in terms of requirements and atmosphere much more like Brown than most of the universities being mentioned.</p>
<p>I am not knocking any of the schools mentioned by others. They just are very different than Brown .</p>
<p>Thanks for getting it back to the point, jonri. I have heard of all of these schools, but haven’t visited most of them…so it’s hard to have an opinion. Will look closely at those you mentioned, except Amherst has a really low acceptance rate, so maybe not that one.</p>
<p>I should have mentioned that it would be important to have a full range of majors, including technical and business ones, that I’m finding some of the smaller LAC’s are missing.</p>