<p>Hi, my daughter will be a junior in Sep. Smart, great grades in the 90's, all AP and Honors courses, etc... She wants to start researching colleges this summer. She wants to go somewhere where there are few dumb-dumbs, to put it bluntly. She has little tolerance for partiers and wastrels. She is definitely liberal, but she is not a hippy, so not into Birkenstocks, etc...(I would describe her as normal with a punky edge, likes indy music.) For her, it will be really important to go somewhere with like -minded students, but definitely not a huge school. Suggestions please. </p>
<p>Two that come to mind are Reed College and Lewis and Clark, both in “crunchy” Portland OR</p>
<p>Of course “cool” means different things to different people. There will be partiers at every school in America. The important thing is wherever she ends up that there is a group of like-minded students. Some of the LACs like Wesleyan, Vassar, Oberlin, Kenyon might work well. </p>
<p>Erin’s dad, I did think of Oregon. Grandma lives there. You don’t happen to be in NY do you? And Happy, of course there will be partiers, and she wants to meet people and have fun. But she will hate being surrounded by drunks all the time, definitely. Thanks for these suggestions, more from anyone?</p>
<p>I would look for some old threads on how to do college tours junior year. Start by looking at everything, even things she claims not to be interested in. She (and you) might THINK you know what you want, but until you see it, you sometimes don’t really know. And even visiting a college you hate tells you something. No matter where you live, there’s always a set of schools that span the spectrum of possibilities, although the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic, if you can get there, provides the highest concentration of schools that span the spectrum and you can cover a lot of academic territory in just a few days. </p>
<p>Two schools a day is the general rule, and take notes, otherwise things tend to blur together. Try and have the kid always talk first after a visit about their likes and dislikes, before you put the parent perspective in. (The parent perspective does count, you often see things the kid doesn’t.) Be aware that some kids always fall in love with the last school they visited, while some kids hate every school they visit. Both eventually start to assemble a “super school” in their minds, made up of the best parts of everything they’ve seen. Once you start to take care of the major items, LAC vs. University, big vs. small, urban vs. rural, Greek vs. no Greek, coed vs. single sex, etc. you’ll quickly be able to zoom in on a more specific list of schools and only visit solid contenders after that. And then you can start to look at cost. </p>
<p>Some may disagree on that last point, but I say when first looking, cost is not an issue, as you’re just looking, not buying. Once you determine the type of school, you can then look for an affordable one. But I would say definitely limit the tour to schools that she at least has a shot at attending from an academic standpoint, although if in the area, everyone likes to see an Ivy. There is no sense seeing schools way out of your child’s league, either too high or too low, as that is not really going to help filter the schools.</p>
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<p>That’s how we started our search too. Find the style you like, then see which brand is affordable.</p>
<p>Are you in NY and wondering what’s there or in the northeast? </p>
<p>It’s tough to find a school where there won’t be some wild partying and some wastrels. Maybe you think about Smith/Holyoke and the Consortium, which includes the possibility of classes at Amherst. My two chose the crunchy route, fairly liberal- but found political and social diversity, nonetheless. To limit slackers, D1 chose slightly above her stats. Neither of mine was interested in outdoors or the environment in college, nor the hippie thing. But for one, the chance to do some community engagement became important (both ended up doing this.) The other valued the music possibilities. What happens, even at a school under 2k students, is that kids tend to find their own. D1 partied, D2 didn’t and spent more time in the library. </p>
<p>Try to get a college guide like Fiske (or sit in a bookstore and browse for one you like.) They usually give some social scene hints. Agree on this: often, kids just need to get on a few campuses, any campuses, mega, medium and smaller, even if not a target, to start forming more ideas about their likes, preferences, what they can put up with or can’t tolerate. These can be very short visits. Since we’re in the NE, at your stage, we were doing day trips to various local colleges or U’s. Kids don’t realize what matters, the little things, til they get there. D1 quickly realized she wanted to see the libraries and how many kids were studying there or in other areas. Like so many parents on CC, ours sometimes knew, just driving in, that a place didn’t lure them. That’s ok. Sometimes we stayed for a tour; after the first two info sessions, we started skipping those.</p>
<p>I agree the big elements like size and rural vs city come first. But then you focus right away on financial aid opps, if you need that. Run a sample Fafsa. No point in letting her fall in love with that school that may have limited money for aid. its also important to check on the strengths in her possible major. And flexibility, if she discovers new interests. Good luck.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.collegedrinkingprevention.gov/niaaacollegematerials/panel01/highrisk_05.aspx”>College Drinking, Changing the Culture; describes college characteristics associated with binge drinking:</p>
<ul>
<li>Historically black colleges and women’s colleges. (less) </li>
<li>Presence of a Greek system on campus. (more generally; more for participants)</li>
<li>Importance of athletics on campus. (more generally; more for athletes)</li>
<li>Two-year versus 4-year institutions. (more at 4-year)</li>
<li>Substance-free residence halls and campuses. (less)</li>
<li>Commuter versus noncommuter schools. (more at noncommuter schools)</li>
<li>School size. (more at smaller schools)</li>
<li>Location. (more in northeast and north central; slightly more at rural schools)</li>
<li>Alcohol pricing in local area. (more where prices are lower)</li>
<li>Outlet density and drinking venues. (more where density is higher)</li>
</ul>
<p><a href=“http://www.samhsa.gov/data/nsduh/2k10nsduh/2k10results.htm#3.1.4”>http://www.samhsa.gov/data/nsduh/2k10nsduh/2k10results.htm#3.1.4</a> indicates (not restricted to a college context since it is age 12 and older) that black and Asian people have lower rates of binge drinking than white and Latino people, and white people tend to have the highest overall drinking rates compared to all other racial and ethnic groups.</p>
<p>Your daughter sounds a bit like my daughter, who is going to Smith.</p>
<p>Quite frankly, quite often the highest ranking schools are some of the biggest party schools. Virginia and Madison are probably in the top five public universities in the country and both have been ranked #1 Party schools in the past. Your daughter won’t bypass the party atmosphere by going to an academic University. </p>
<p>Look at the Claremont Consortium in Claremont, CA. Each of the five colleges has its own “vibe,” but there is a lot of social mixing among them. If she has a bang-up junior year, and scores high on the ACT/SAT, she might have a shot at Pomona. Claremont-McKenna is more straitlaced: it’s often characterized as “conservative,” but that’s only relative to the neighboring colleges and the greater, Southern California community. Pitzer is “crunchy Birkenstock.” Scripps is a more traditional women’s college. Pomona is one of the most selective, prestigious liberal arts colleges in the country. Harvey Mudd is a first-rate STEM college. The campuses are all adjacent to one another. Each college is small, but the 5-college total is about five thousand students. Unfortunately, the price-tags are high, if you are concerned about finances. Occidental sounds like a fit, but it’s also pretty expensive. Would she be interested in an urban college, or does she want a more conventional “campus” environment? Barnard, NYU, BU, Penn,and University of Chicago would be target schools (assuming she has the right stats a year from now) if the former. Cornell, Swarthmore, Haverford, and Middlebury would be possibilities if the latter. If it doesn’t look as if she has a clear shot at the most selective tier of colleges, look at “Colleges That Change Lives,” and try to attend one of their regional fairs. My younger son applied to six of them. He was waitlisted at Reed, but accepted at Guilford, Eckerd, New College of Florida (where he will attend), Whitman, and Willamette. He received merit scholarships at all five colleges that accepted him. </p>
<p>By order of suggestion (not necessarily prestige, although they’re all a bit prestigious).
-Reeds College
-University of Oregon
-Claremount McKenna <em>probably spelled wrong</em>
-Columbia University
-University of California, Berkeley
-University of Pennsylvania
-Wesleyan
-Stanford University
-University of California, Santa Cruz (a VERY liberal school)
-Pomona College
-Smith (all girls)</p>
<p>But in actuality, all universities have groups of girls like yours. These colleges are just more prevalent with “smooth liberals”.</p>
<p>“University of California, Berkeley”</p>
<ul>
<li>Big party school. If that’s something you want to avoid, I wouldn’t go to Berkeley. </li>
</ul>
<p>I don’t think CMC would be a good idea. It’s really nothing like, say, Vassar or Reed. Your daughter could look into UChicago for a huge reach school? Smith is probably worth a look.</p>
<p>Thanks so much everyone. Lots of,great suggestions and advice here. We will of course look at some schools even if she says she isn’t interested, if nothing else, to affirm why she isn’t interested. Sadly, she isn’t interested in California, because she has spent lots of time there and doesn’t like it. Imagine that! Also, she is shying away from a LAC’s because many of,them tend to be isolated. She is shy and wants to be somewhere where she can meet friendly people but also have reasonable access to cinemas, shops, restaurants, etc… I appreciate the feedback, more suggestions welcome.</p>
<p>Isolated in what sense? From human contact? Well Grinnell is probably out, then (lol). If you mean LACs are in their own bubbles, that’s a different story.</p>
<p>I just mean she doesn’t want to be out in the sticks. She also prefers not to be in a huge city ideally, and she ideally does not want a huge school. She is aware that her shyness makes it harder to meet people, so she does want to avoid lecture halls with 200 kids if she can. She is going to be a nightmare, she is picky!</p>
<p>Maybe take a look at Carleton. Quirky, smart students. I get the impression there’s not a lot of blowout partying going on. It is not exactly “in the sticks” but it is in Minnesota :-)</p>
<p>How can you get more “cool” than the University of Alaska Fairbanks?</p>
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<p>During the course of the two-year search, we learned how important financial aid was to us. So do check that out early.</p>
<p>OP, your D sounds a lot like my D in terms of her wants. D was picky, too, but she learned to not only give up things she could not get but to find things she didn’t know she wanted in a college. It was a growing experience for her but she didn’t like it. I couldn’t have hoped for more from the search (if I’d found a money genie, she wouldn’t have grown so much). She’s still picky, but she’s also aware that she can improve her options by introducing flexibility and looking for opportunities. In some ways, UPitt, where she ended up, is not the school you’re describing, but she found that within the school there are people she wanted to study AND socialize with because UPitt was bigger than she had wanted. It’s been an exciting and rewarding search for me; but picky patty will tell you it was primarily aggravating and frustrating. Be the constant in her search: firm, encouraging, reasonable, never angry or too happy, never too low or too high. If you can do that, you’ll be happier with the search and some day she might thank you for your help.</p>