<p>Okay, I went back and re-read your original post, and I think you should take U of Chicago off your list. You said you want a school without harsh weather, you want to be near an ocean, and you want a marching band, none of which Chicago has. You also mentioned lack of school spirit at Columbia as a problem for you – this will also be a problem at UChicago. And you probably won’t have time to visit this fall. Take it off.</p>
<p>It sounds like the campuses you’ve visited and you know you like are Cal and Yale. You visited Stanford and didn’t like it because it was too clean and artificial – but you still intend to apply because of the location and the reputation. Based on that, I agree with whoever said you should consider Duke and USC (though I have no idea how they are for biology, which I think you said you want to major in). You might also consider UCLA.</p>
<p>I’d take off UChicago, Columbia and Pomona. Pomona has the weather you want, but no marching band, and as I said before it just doesn’t sound like it will have the kind of campus atmosphere you want. Certainly don’t spend an app on Pomona without visiting to make sure you want it.</p>
<p>I hope you do have some time to visit campuses – and I think you should go to Seattle and visit UWashington. It is more important to be sure you like your safeties than your reaches, because the odds are greater you’ll be attending one of them. Also, I know you are local to Boulder, but have you actually gone to the campus? No excuse for not making yourself familiar with that campus. You have to LOVE your safeties or you might be a very sad person this April.</p>
<p>@intparent, I’m not sure when this family visited Claremont – it might have been during spring break. But when my daughter and I visited it was when classes were in session and we both noticed the difference in feel between the huge, busy UC campuses we’d visited previously. Mind you, this was a huge plus for both of us! My D1 still remembers UC Davis primarily as the place where you can’t step into the street without being in danger of being run over by a horde of bicycles.</p>