Thoughts on this college list - SLAC with supportive community and mellow vibe

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s Wooster like?

Down to earth kids, but surrounded by farmland and a rust belt economy .

Campus is nice. Prettier than we expected. Facilities felt new. All kinds of kids. More mainstream than, say, Oberlin, but didn’t tip to preppy. Walkable to a small downtown. Seemed like a nice place to spend 4 years.

It has been a few years since my dd was a student but a few points: 1. The student center is new but many of the dorms are very old. Like ancient. There is a big difference between the newer dorms and the older dorms. Assignments freshmen year are random so you cannot request a dorm. Some people get upset bc everyone pays the same price for very different accommodations. This may have changed as it’s been a few years but my dd’s accommodations were truly terrible. 2. There always seemed to be student protests about something they felt was wrong. 3. Very large LGBTQ population. This isn’t bad - the school is very welcoming in this regard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guys, some of you missed that he is a senior. The ED ship has sailed.

OP, please have him visit/tour Dickinson. Since it wasn’t on his original list, I’m thinking you haven’t seen it. Great school, and they’d probably give him some merit for that ACT. Strong student population, and really great vibes.

Agree Dickinson would be a better choice than F & M.

[Anonymous]

I would not consider St Olaf as a safety. YMMV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid has 4.2 and 35 ACT. Very limited ECs. Looking for SLAC with supportive community and mellow vibe.

Bard
Vassar
Union
Franklin and Marshall
Kenyon
Bucknell
Lafayette
Lehigh
Haverford
UMD (as a local option)

Is this a varied enough list?

Those are excellent stats! If he likes Kenyon, you might want to add Carleton, Grinnell, St. Olaf, Wooster, and Lawrence. All strongly academic schools with a low-key, Midwestern vibe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid has 4.2 and 35 ACT. Very limited ECs. Looking for SLAC with supportive community and mellow vibe.

Bard
Vassar
Union
Franklin and Marshall
Kenyon
Bucknell
Lafayette
Lehigh
Haverford
UMD (as a local option)

Is this a varied enough list?

Those are excellent stats! If he likes Kenyon, you might want to add Carleton, Grinnell, St. Olaf, Wooster, and Lawrence. All strongly academic schools with a low-key, Midwestern vibe.

Sigh. We’ve been over this repeatedly. Grinnell is a real reach since it’s too late for ED, and so is Carleton. They are both highly selective schools on par with all but the truly most selective slacs in the NE (Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore). You don’t throw an RD application to either of them on a whim and expect to get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid has 4.2 and 35 ACT. Very limited ECs. Looking for SLAC with supportive community and mellow vibe.

Bard
Vassar
Union
Franklin and Marshall
Kenyon
Bucknell
Lafayette
Lehigh
Haverford
UMD (as a local option)

Is this a varied enough list?

(I have only read the initial post in this thread.)

Bard, Union, Lehigh, Bucknell, and Haverford seem to be odd choices given your preferences for "mellow vibe" & "supportive community".

[Anonymous]

Dickinson College in Pennsylvania might work for OP.

Pomona College, Bowdoin College, Carleton College, Davidson College, Grinnell College, Hamilton College, Skidmore College, Wesleyan University, Bates College, Colby College, Colorado College, Macalester College, Holy Cross, Pitzer, Connecticut College, Sewanee-The University of the South, Gettysburg College, St. Lawrence University, Kalamazoo College, Lewis & Clark, and many others, but I see no need to venture further down the rankings.

[Anonymous]

Great thread! I’m about to take my kid to visit Lake Forest, another Midwest safety. Any thoughts on it? Sounds like people are a lot more enthusiastic about places like Beloit and Kalamazoo.

[Anonymous]

Based on my pre-Covid experience as an alum interviewer for my mellow, supportive NESCAC school, I don't think it's necessary to have a boatload of extracurriculars, but an applicant needs to show some energy and persistence in pursuit of some area of interest. That can be a sport or theatre or music or visual art or debate or whatever, but there's got to be something beyond the GPA and test scores. For NESCAC schools, and I think for SLACs in general, the alum interview can sometimes be a thumb on the scale in support of an applicant who doesn't have a resume showing extraordinary achievement or leadership in an extracurricular. That said, the declined applicant I most remember being sad about was a quiet kid whose major extracurricular was writing and illustrating an unpublished graphic novel. I wrote the most positive interview report possible, but the applicant was not accepted, despite being a legacy who applied early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid has 4.2 and 35 ACT. Very limited ECs. Looking for SLAC with supportive community and mellow vibe.

Bard
Vassar
Union
Franklin and Marshall
Kenyon
Bucknell
Lafayette
Lehigh
Haverford
UMD (as a local option)

Is this a varied enough list?

Those are excellent stats! If he likes Kenyon, you might want to add Carleton, Grinnell, St. Olaf, Wooster, and Lawrence. All strongly academic schools with a low-key, Midwestern vibe.

Sigh. We’ve been over this repeatedly. Grinnell is a real reach since it’s too late for ED, and so is Carleton. They are both highly selective schools on par with all but the truly most selective slacs in the NE (Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore). You don’t throw an RD application to either of them on a whim and expect to get in.

This is wrong information. Grinnell ED1 deadline is Nov. 15. There is also ED2 in January. Same for Carleton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid has 4.2 and 35 ACT. Very limited ECs. Looking for SLAC with supportive community and mellow vibe.

Bard
Vassar
Union
Franklin and Marshall
Kenyon
Bucknell
Lafayette
Lehigh
Haverford
UMD (as a local option)

Is this a varied enough list?

Those are excellent stats! If he likes Kenyon, you might want to add Carleton, Grinnell, St. Olaf, Wooster, and Lawrence. All strongly academic schools with a low-key, Midwestern vibe.

Sigh. We’ve been over this repeatedly. Grinnell is a real reach since it’s too late for ED, and so is Carleton. They are both highly selective schools on par with all but the truly most selective slacs in the NE (Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore). You don’t throw an RD application to either of them on a whim and expect to get in.

This is wrong information. Grinnell ED1 deadline is Nov. 15. There is also ED2 in January. Same for Carleton.

Grinnell accepted 53% of its early decision students last year, so it's a real bump for that school when compared to a 14% overall acceptance rate. Carleton's stats are less different from deadline to deadline--looks like it accepts about 23% of early decision applicants, compared to 17% overall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid has 4.2 and 35 ACT. Very limited ECs. Looking for SLAC with supportive community and mellow vibe.

Bard
Vassar
Union
Franklin and Marshall
Kenyon
Bucknell
Lafayette
Lehigh
Haverford
UMD (as a local option)

Is this a varied enough list?

Those are excellent stats! If he likes Kenyon, you might want to add Carleton, Grinnell, St. Olaf, Wooster, and Lawrence. All strongly academic schools with a low-key, Midwestern vibe.

Sigh. We’ve been over this repeatedly. Grinnell is a real reach since it’s too late for ED, and so is Carleton. They are both highly selective schools on par with all but the truly most selective slacs in the NE (Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore). You don’t throw an RD application to either of them on a whim and expect to get in.

This is wrong information. Grinnell ED1 deadline is Nov. 15. There is also ED2 in January. Same for Carleton.

Grinnell accepted 53% of its early decision students last year, so it's a real bump for that school when compared to a 14% overall acceptance rate. Carleton's stats are less different from deadline to deadline--looks like it accepts about 23% of early decision applicants, compared to 17% overall.

Carleton admit rate last year was 21.75%. Isn’t that the overall acceptance rate? I don’t understand your numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid has 4.2 and 35 ACT. Very limited ECs. Looking for SLAC with supportive community and mellow vibe.

Bard
Vassar
Union
Franklin and Marshall
Kenyon
Bucknell
Lafayette
Lehigh
Haverford
UMD (as a local option)

Is this a varied enough list?

Those are excellent stats! If he likes Kenyon, you might want to add Carleton, Grinnell, St. Olaf, Wooster, and Lawrence. All strongly academic schools with a low-key, Midwestern vibe.

Sigh. We’ve been over this repeatedly. Grinnell is a real reach since it’s too late for ED, and so is Carleton. They are both highly selective schools on par with all but the truly most selective slacs in the NE (Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore). You don’t throw an RD application to either of them on a whim and expect to get in.

This is wrong information. Grinnell ED1 deadline is Nov. 15. There is also ED2 in January. Same for Carleton.

Grinnell accepted 53% of its early decision students last year, so it's a real bump for that school when compared to a 14% overall acceptance rate. Carleton's stats are less different from deadline to deadline--looks like it accepts about 23% of early decision applicants, compared to 17% overall.

Carleton admit rate last year was 21.75%. Isn’t that the overall acceptance rate? I don’t understand your numbers.

The Carleton numbers might have been from a year ago. I was just trying to give analogous numbers to Grinnell's from this table: https://blog.collegevine.com/ed-and-ea-acceptance-rates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, supportive and mellow were the primary attributes. Obviously strong academically but perhaps a year at a local community college? Trying to prepare for self sufficient adulthood.

Community college for a kid with a 4.2?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guys, some of you missed that he is a senior. The ED ship has sailed.

OP, please have him visit/tour Dickinson. Since it wasn’t on his original list, I’m thinking you haven’t seen it. Great school, and they’d probably give him some merit for that ACT. Strong student population, and really great vibes.

We heard it was “cliquey”