Safety that isn’t a party school?

[Anonymous]

UMBC mom here. Rochester was another option for my DD. Also serious academics and no party atmosphere. Really cold and gray though, and not as much merit aid as the SLACs she applied to. People seemed driven like at Chicago. Good luck, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. Thanks for the ideas. Her dream school is University of Chicago but we couldn’t afford that even if she got in. What keeps bothering us is the conflict between her really liking a SLAC but it not bring worth it to pay so much for a non-top tier school.

Consider lower tier schools that award merit aid. Oberlin, Denison, Kenyon.

Are you thinking about the expense in terms of the brand, or in terms of her experience?

Denison is a party school

[Anonymous]

Your DD sounds a lot like my son, likely STEM, but not CS or engineering. I’m glad to see from this thread that we are on the right track in terms of schools he’s going to consider.

Our current list of safeties/targets/reaches (we can full pay and I know are fortunate in that regard although merit aid certainly would be nice)

Tufts
Case Western
Pitt
Oberlin
Wooster
SMCM
UMBC
Rochester
W&M
Mary Washington
Brandeis
Bowdoin
Wesleyan
JHU
Rice
Franklin & Marshall
Swarthmore
Vassar

This is just the “consider” list so some are likely to fall off after visits.

The Minnesota schools would also be on the list but DS feels the weather is just too cold, and he’d generally prefer to be closer to home.

[Anonymous]

Furman

[Anonymous]

SMCM definitely has parties in the townhouses. I used to go every year for World Carnival weekend when my friends went there, I was actually impressed at how such a small school went all out partying for that weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMBC

+1. My DD is there and loves it. Had no interest in a party school and finds plenty of school spirit. Her dorm floor is constantly doing things, there’s stuff planned on the quads on the weekends. But no gross frat/party life. It was her safety but she ended up choosing it and is very happy.

+1 My DS is there and feels same about the place (and is enjoying his peers in the honors college).

[Anonymous]

There are tons of schools like what she seeks.

One idea: go to UNIGO, which shows survey results for each school for both how much pressure there is to party AND how much of a greek presence there is on campus.

Juniata?
(If her stats are strong) Mount Holyoke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UMBC

+ 1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Scripps, Bryn Mawr

I am moderately liberal. And DD and I pulled Bryn Mar and Haverford off her list after the students strikes after George Floyd’s death. You want to refuse to attend class or your on campus job, that’s fine. You bear the consequences. But, for three weeks, they lobbied professors not to teach (many didn’t) and were very aggressive about pressuring kids not to attend the classes. Many kids said they wanted to go to class but were threatened not to.

They started with the demands of having the bust of a school president who oversaw racist policies removed and some xtra money for BSU. Fine. Reasonable goals. In the end, they had a 27 page list cost millions and the president caved to everything.

I’m all for peaceful protest and social justice on campus. But it takes an unbelievable amount of privilege to attend a $40,000 a semester college your parents spent years saving for (or that he college is giving you for free or that you took out loans for) and then protest by not getting an education. We are giving up a lot for a LAC education. I have zero interest in academic classes being stopped for 3 weeks so kids privileged enough to attend a Seven Sisters school can cosplay social injustice.

Plus, they either ha significant racism problem. Or an inmates running the asylum problem. I suspect it’s some of both. But neither are a good sign for the college long term.

I know as part of their demands, they got amnesty from a negative impact to their grades and kept their campus jobs and were subject to not consequences. That isn’t real life, where your boss will say, attend a BLM protest on your own time.

Absolutely agree. + 10000

[Anonymous]

My near perfect stats kid chose his safety, St.Olaf, and he loves it. Yes, some partiers there, but lots who don't. And it's bigger than most small colleges, at 3000 kids. Good merit, too, 30K.

Narrow these suggestions down by major of interest. I like to look at grad school placements to understand relative strengths. Some of these schools have out sized success in certain fields. Here's a good site: https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-phd-programs#physics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMBC

+ 1

+2 My HFA kiddo is loving it partly because he can just focus on his studies and there isn't a party scene in his way. That said, he comes home on weekends so I'm not sure what's happening then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SMCM definitely has parties in the townhouses. I used to go every year for World Carnival weekend when my friends went there, I was actually impressed at how such a small school went all out partying for that weekend.

One weekend out of the school year does not make a "party school."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These threads become meaningless real fast. Everyone is just throwing names around. It makes no sense and not helpful at all.

Agree.

However, I think that SMCM and College of Wooster are useful, on point suggestions. (I really do, but I recognize the irony of my post.)

So are St. Olaf, Dickinson Juanita and some of the lower ranked seven sisters (not Barnard or Wellesley, yes Sarah Lawrence (now coed) and MHC). Yes, Mary Washington for instate VA. Guilford College in GSO, NC is Quaker and a nice choice. A 1350-1400 SAT kid with a mix of As and Bs and a couple of APs the last two years should get into these schools and have a good chance at enough merit to make it in state comparable.

What are you up to?

[Anonymous]

So what do students do at SMCM if it isn't partying? I always got the impression that schools out in the middle of nowhere did a lot of partying because there wasn't much to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your DD sounds a lot like my son, likely STEM, but not CS or engineering. I’m glad to see from this thread that we are on the right track in terms of schools he’s going to consider.

Our current list of safeties/targets/reaches (we can full pay and I know are fortunate in that regard although merit aid certainly would be nice)

Tufts
Case Western
Pitt
Oberlin
Wooster
SMCM
UMBC
Rochester
W&M
Mary Washington
Brandeis
Bowdoin
Wesleyan
JHU
Rice
Franklin & Marshall
Swarthmore
Vassar

This is just the “consider” list so some are likely to fall off after visits.

The Minnesota schools would also be on the list but DS feels the weather is just too cold, and he’d generally prefer to be closer to home.

Just FYI, if your kid likes Bowdoin, Rochester and Case, then the weather shouldn't hold him back from the Minnesota schools.