Where would you suggest for my DD?

Parents Forum
1

<p>I have a few ideas, but I'm having a hard time coming up with a suggested list for DD2013. I'm not sure what would be both good "fit" schools for her, and good admissions matches (if there such a thing anymore!)</p>

<p>Here's her info</p>

<p>UW GPA (currently 3.9, but on the safe side, at the end of this year - 3.85.)
All Honors Freshman Year
Because of a serious health issue, 10th grade she dropped back on some courses, which meant that she also had to scale back in 11th due to pre-reqs(in our school no APs til 11th grade)
10th grade:
Eng& Alg2 (H)
Hist, French & Chem</p>

<p>11th grade:
Eng, Physics, Precalc(H) - (not in AP English)
Hist & French (couldn't take AP History b/c it was a 2-year sequence)</p>

<p>12th expected:
AP euro history
AP Calc
AP Bio
(H) Eng</p>

<p>current rank - 11/180, so top 10%, but may drop to top 20% after this year because no APs (rank weighted)</p>

<p>SAT 650CR 640M 700W (retaking, but I'm not expecting a huge jump)</p>

<p>ECs - 2 varsity sports (w/ club/travel for both), NHS, 1 yr Science team, 1 yr comm serv club.</p>

<p>DD is quiet, but not timid. In some ways she leans towards the quirky/ geeky kid, but not exactly. She's an athlete, but not interested in a "big 10" atmosphere: creative but not in the artsy crowd; very interested in health fields and not at all squeamish.<br>
Smart and intense, but gets overwhelmed easily with schoolwork and she is very hard on herself.
Because of her health issues, she is very focused and grownup in many ways, but socially she missed out on some things.
She isn't a big party kid and she enjoys a smaller crowd. She doesn't do well with "girl drama" and tends to have a few good friends.
At this point, she wants something in health studies/biomed, but I know that this could change when she gets to college.
She wants a student body where most people are serious about what they study, are excited about academics, and where's there's an intellectual atmosphere.
She is more interested in a city, but would also do well with a "college town" but not too rural.
Size-wise, I think 4K- 7K would fit her best socially, but I also think a smaller LAC could provide her a more nurturing academic experience.</p>

<p>So, does such a school exist for her? Any ideas? Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Are finances going to be a concern? Also, is there a particular part of the country she wants to go to or stay away from?</p>

3

<p>Finances are a concern, yes. But not the biggest factor. I expect some FA - efc will be 20 -30K, but that will go up when ds finishes.
Single mom in the bubble, so merit aid would help tremendously.
Dd wants to stay north of SC. I prefer midwest and east.</p>

<p>Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using CC</p>

4

<p>Would she consider a women’s college? Bryn Mawr might be a possibility for her. I think they attract a fairly academically serious cohort. And my sense is that there’s not as much “girl drama” at some of these women’s schools, even though you might expect there would be. </p>

<p>Bryn Mawr does offer merit scholarships to students without demonstrated need.</p>

5

<p>Rose Hulman, Case Western</p>

6

<p>Is she planning on playing whatever sport in college? Is a sports scholarship attractive or is she more of a D3 player? The first school that came to mind was St. Olaf but that isn’t in a city.</p>

<p>I would suggest looking at Creighton in Omaha, sounds like a good fit (D1 in sports though so may or may not work for that).</p>

<p>By “health” do you mean going to medical school or into nursing (or similar)?</p>

7

<p>Thanks, some good ideas so far!
Re sports, because of her own medical problems she isn’t a d1 contender. She’d like to play d3 but some d1 schools with a club team should be on her list too.
She isn’t sure about career yet, she varies from premed,prenursing, pt etc. </p>

<p>Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using CC</p>

8

<p>Is this medical condition something where she would need to be pretty close to major medical care?</p>

<p>Also, what sport if you don’t mind sharing.</p>

9

<p>I thought of bryn mawr. Dd isn’t crazy about a womens college, but I’m going to try and get her there to look. Funny, I thought of St Olaf for ds, but hadn’t considered it for dd. </p>

<p>Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using CC</p>

10

<p>Some ideas:</p>

<p>East Coast:</p>

<p>University of Richmond
American U
Marist
Fairfield
Clark</p>

<p>Midwest:</p>

<p>Oberlin
Kenyon</p>

<p>South:</p>

<p>Tulane</p>

<p>West:</p>

<p>Occidental
Scripps (Claremont consortium)
Pitzer (Claremont consortium)
Univ of San Diego
Pepperdine</p>

<p>Disclaimer: All those schools are private colleges of small to moderate size. I haven’t looked at the entrance statistics for them in a while so some that I think are matches are probably reaches in today’s space. The three I like the best given your description of DD are Tulane (LA), Kenyon (OH) and U San Diego.</p>

11

<p>Oh, another we are considering is Truman in MO–DII for sports though. Not sure of distance for you, but a possible option with very low costs in comparison to other schools like it.</p>

<p>We also looked at Bradley, Butler and University of Dayton but have not visited so not sure of the “atmosphere”.</p>

12

<p>If you’re checking Bryn Mawr, you should also look at Haverford and Swarthmore.</p>

13

<p>For solid ideas on places where she might get merit-based aid, pop over to the financial aid forum. There are several threads there on just that topic.</p>

14

<p>Haverford and Swarthmore are a notch more selective than Bryn Mawr, so if merit aid is a priority, they might not be the best targets.</p>

<p>I’d suggest Brandeis but they no longer have much merit aid.</p>

15

<p>From what I read here (never visited personally), Earlham, with its Quaker connection historically, may attract and foster the student culture you describe. Perhaps too rural for her, but you’re looking holistically now. </p>

<p>Look at Macalester, too.</p>

16

<p>SteveMA, Hopefully, the medical condition is resolved and won’t be an issue, so I’m not that concerned.
She plays softball and f. hockey. (the hockey is her real love, but not available at many schools, so in the end, it may not be the deciding factor.) </p>

<p>Vince, I think Kenyon would be ideal, but given the admissions race the last few years, it looks like it’s probably a long reach, no?</p>

17

<p>Good point, DeskPotato. I forgot about the FA part.</p>

18

<p>On Earlham College: Richmond, Indiana is the county seat, home to 4 colleges. I think that makes it more “college town” than “rural.” If there’s a report on Earlham in the CC section for visits, that might shed light on the feeling of the surrounding community. Sorry I’ve never visited.</p>

19

<p>Bard and Knox. </p>

<p>As a female going into sciences in a LAC she may have a bit of an edge going in which could help with both admissions and FA. I would be careful of the female/male ratio also, keep it no greater than 60/40.</p>

20

<p>It sounds like LACs would be a good choice, something along the lines of Claremont College. I can’t think of a 4K-7K place that would fit her stats, but I’m only aware of the private schools of this type that are in the top 10-15. She seems overqualified for state schools with 4K-7K people (typically the branch schools have less people.) </p>

<p>She can try for Northwestern, though that may be a slight reach with her SAT scores.</p>

<p>BTW, Knox isn’t known to the general public outside the midwest, but they have a good record of placement in grad school and/or medical school.</p>