<p>Jkeil, thanks, nice advice. Luckily, we aren’t too worried about the financial side, and that gives her more options. And I like your optimism that she might one day thank me for my help:-). I know a lot of people say that the kid should do everything. My thought is that, being the indecisive and extremely busy person she is, if I can at least help her get a basic list going, she can then do,the research. In fact, I have already discussed this post with her. She is now intrigued and will soon be reading it to see what suggestions people have offered. And I should have mentioned in the OP that she is very shy and is finding the thought of,the whole process a little daunting. If I can help her worry about one less thing, then I am happy to do it.</p>
<p>OP, I grew up in NY but now live in the Midwest. Both DDs attended LACs, one in OH, one in OR. There are some good suggestions on the thread </p>
<p>What do you mean when you say cool?</p>
<p>A student with little tolerance for partying may have a hard time at Reed… Try to get her to visit a women’s college or two – Mount Holyoke, Smith come to mind as good fits. Women’s colleges tend to have a bit more of an academic focus. Macalester might be a good fit, too (in the city, but a really nice neighborhood, and I feel like she would fit in from your description of her). Maybe Haverford or Bryn Mawr (right next to each other, easy to visit in a day). A copy of Fiske and a pack of post-its is actually a great way to generate a list or just get more info on the colleges suggested out here.</p>
<p>Mills College, Oakland, CA. Maybe she’ll be interested in northern California? </p>
<p>Yes what is cool? to me, I think cool means worldly and hipsterish and intellectual which is what I found attractive at that age. Is that what you mean? My daughter stayed in sub free dorm freshman year just in case there was excessive drunkenness her first year and did not like it at all, those were not her people. She would not advise it and moved out the next year. It may be worth a try though.I just think she, or you, is overly focusing on that aspect when it is a marginal issue of who you decide to hang around with.</p>
<p>I was just going through the college selection process with a friend’s kid who is quite shy. She did after-acceptance visits to Cornell, Weslayan and Notre Dame. She was extremely impressed with the brainy and friendly students at Wesleyan. Absolutely loved the visit and went to many formal events, a dorm party and a house party. She was talking to me on the phone and calling “hi” back to people who passing by. I couldn’t believe it from this shy girl. She also stayed with a student who had graduated from her HS year before at Cornell. Most of that girl’s sophomore classes were 15 students, but she went to the psych class of 150-200 and said it was an engrossing lecture by a great professor and that put her at ease for classes that size, she said it just didn’t feel that big. At ND she found the students less conservative than she–an Asian non Catholic-- feared and felt comfortable even though she is in a much more diverse HS and ND is over 70 percent white–that’s where she ended up choosing. I guess the point is that there are preconceptions and misconceptions and maybe visits will help with that and, like everyone is saying, defining what she does like instead of what she doesn’t.</p>
<p>Public schools tend to have a much wider range of students than privates. But even at publics there are honors students/dorms and such. If you give an idea of what tier of school her stats fit, it will be easier to make suggestions. There is a great thread on the Parent’s forum. college for Jewish B students, which certainly fit non Jewish too–, they just have some Jewish community resources-- and certainly have A students, it is just a very thoughtful thread with good inside information. Very long but worth reading.</p>
<p>I am not sure why, but Emory University in Atlanta comes to mind. Not too big, not too small, not isolated, lots of smart students. Big city but Emory is in a high income residential neighborhood, not downtown.</p>
<p>I would also add Tulane University in New Orleans. Has a reputation for having smart “cool” students. Partying is available but optional at Tulane. Like Emory, Tulane is in a prosperous neighborhood, not downtown. No city in America has better restaurants than New Orleans, and of course the music scene is fabulous. It is unquestionably the most unique city in America. Absolutely distinctive.</p>
<p>Tulane has a ton of students from the Northeast and California. Texas too, but the rest of the South is way underrepresented.</p>
<p>Carleton could possibly work- the kids that go there seem like they may be a fit for your daughter. It is in a small but not tiny town about 45 minutes south of Minneapolis.St Paul. Actually, Macalester might be worth a look. It is in St Paul, but ST Paul is not a huge city. The Twin Cities offer a lot, I think it is a decent college town, Smart, slightly quirky/hipsterish kids are common there, and they are not know for an excessive party scene. </p>
<p>Brown parent, you hit the nail. Cool is what you said. Hip, intellectual, worldly. Yes, she is shy, but she is quite worldly, as she has dual citizenship and has been all over the world. So she is very aware of life outside the US, and is also considering a few British universities. she probably wouldn’t mind a school with lots of foreign students either. She is probably not going to be super comfortable at a college where everyone is local and has maybe never even been out of the state. and yes she is shy, but she really does want to meet people, come out of her shell and have fun at college. as i said though, not to be stuck in a drunken melee. I am SO appreciative of all these great suggestions from all of,you. you have given us some great ideas and places i hadn’t heard of or though of yet. And i appreciate that a couple of you have suggested a couple of ivies. She is a very good student, but it is unlikely that she is going to get into an Ivy, though she might give Brown or Cornell a shot. What is a sub free dorm? Sorry, I am still learning the lingo. </p>
<p>Sub free dorm refers to substance free housing.</p>
<p>If she’s into “international” colleges, Mount Holyoke may be worth a look. With a 26% international student body, MHC is one of the most international colleges in the US. The consortium is there if she wants broader course offerings (UMass, Amherst etc).</p>
<p>Yes, even if she THINKS she doesn’t want a women’s college, ask her to please visit Mount Holyoke with you. Both of my D’s were quite unsure about the women’s college idea, but both loved it when they visited, applied, and where admitted (one with great merit aid). Neither ended up attending, but it was definitely in the final 2 for my oldest.</p>
<p>And given your further description, I think Macalester is a very good fit. Again, a strong international vibe, quite a few hipsters, plenty of students who do not party, and the resources of the Twin Cities available for entertainment and internships.</p>
<p>Also worth mentioning that we live in NY, where the competition is fierce. I understand that schools such as Tulane really push for the good students in the North East and might offer good scholarships. Any other universities that this might be true of?
This is a big question, but a few of you have mentioned both the Claremont Consortium and the Massachusetts one. Does this mean that students can take classes at the other colleges in the consortium? Could they easily transfer to another school in the consortium?</p>
<p>Transfer, no. But you can take classes at other schools in the consortium. The Claremont consortium runs like butter; the 5C Consortium, not as much but it does the job.</p>
<p>One of my kids attends a Claremont Consortium college. The colleges are sort of like lego blocks fit together on a larger campus – about 5,000 students total, but each college has its own section of the campus, own dorms, own dining facility, etc. It takes about 15 minutes to walk all the way across in each direction. Each college has its own admission requirements and degree requirements. It is common for students to take some classes at the other colleges, although the one my D attends requires a certain number and certain courses to be taken on campus. I assume the other colleges are the same. It is pretty easy to cross register; my D is a rising sophomore and has registered for 2 course at the other colleges for next fall. She also had quite a few students from the other schools in some of her intro core courses this year. They keep a common academic calendar and finals schedule across the colleges to make it easy to cross register. They also share common facilities (health center, gym, library, bookstore), many of the sports and clubs cross all the colleges, and students can eat in any dining hall. I think it is pretty cool – they get the benefits of a 5,000 student campus with the benefits of a smaller LAC as well.</p>
<p>Regarding transferring between the schools, it does happen. But it is not like cross registering, a student needs to apply as a transfer student and be accepted. I don’t think it is any easier to get accepted as a transfer because you are at another Claremont school, although I assume the student would be more sure of the fit at the transfer school and that could come across in the application. I suspect it is more common for a student to just take a lot of classes at the second college and hang out there socially a lot vs. transferring. Easy to do because of the close proximity of the colleges.</p>
<p>My kids were both also accepted to Mount Holyoke. Students also can cross register there, and transfer if they choose to apply (but again, no easier than getting in as a transfer from outside the consortium, I expect). The schools are a van ride apart in the Massachusetts consortium, which makes it a little harder logistically to take many courses at the other colleges. I have heard that many students take a few courses at the other colleges, but it does preclude you from scheduling back to back with courses on your own campus, so taking a lot of classes at the other colleges can be logistically challenging.</p>
<p>Here is my suggestion. However, it is in the middle of nowhere, the winters are terrible and the students do tend to have outrageous parties (lots of weird theme parties). My Suggestion? Grinnell</p>
<p>Why? D graduated from Grinnell. The place is a home for intellectuals. No one brings a laptop to class or fiddles with their cell phone, a “fun” evening could be staying up late in the science center and discussing modified genes, most graduates go to grad school (ranked #8 in PhD productivity nationally by one measure), emphasis on social justice and service projects for breaks (no group trips to party in Florida or Mexico), very few multiple choice tests-lots of writing, research courses where the student is told to solve the problem and not given a cookie-cutter manual to follow (even with lower division courses), most classes are seminar-run like grad school. If you are fairly liberal and like the challenge of “big” ideas, it is a wonderful school.</p>
<p>And Grinnell is great for shy people. It totally transformed my daughter from a hesitant mouse of a girl who help back on expressing great ideas to an articulate woman who loves to lecture, mentor and has meticulous lab skills (she’s now taking a break and doing a NIH post-bac. The lab loves her).</p>
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<p>My kids are/were taking notes on their laptops – they went to a high school where laptops were provided, you got in trouble if you forgot yours. They think it is silly to take paper and pencil notes (and I agree, my workplace is mostly paper-free in meetings, everyone is taking notes and looking things up on laptops, using laptops to project things we are talking about, etc). Having a laptop in class has NOTHING to do with “coolness” or not being productive, IMHO. My kids would have not dreamed of attending a college where they couldn’t use a laptop – and one graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and the other is at a very tough STEM school.</p>
<p>I think LACs for shy kids might be very appropriate. Also, I know lots of kids think they want to be in a big city, but the reality is the more “isolated” schools tend to offer tons of stuff to do that is easier and cheaper what is available in the city. Don’t discount them out of hand.</p>
<p>My two suggestions for schools with hip, creative, smart cool kids are Oberlin and Brown, but as others have said, they exist in lots of places. </p>
<p>Grinnell is indeed an amazing place for shy kids. But honestly, different shy kids want different things. There was a thread on here about how a young woman suffered at Sarah Lawrence because she was essentially being forced to offer her opinions and had to deal with lots of “in your face” sorts everyday. I believe she dropped out and is going elsewhere.</p>
<p>Selective =/= Non-partying</p>
<p>Examples: Dartmouth and UVA</p>