Colleges w/ very strong academics but a more laid-back student population

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would look at big state schools - Wisconsin, Michigan...

This is what I was thinking too - large public schools.

I think the same - and try to get into the Honors College in one of these schools to have the cohort she may be looking for (i.e. intellectual type)

the honors colleges at big 10 schools are filled with those who used it as a safety OR got into lower ivies and couldn't afford it.

BUT they still are driven to want the same jobs/end results as those who go to penn for example.

people who are saying go to large publics are wrong. the upper tier of large publics have lots of 'chip on their shoulders' kids who are smart but know they have to grind 5x as hard as 'target school' kids because they have teh same aspirations.

OP's daughter would do best at a small private lac where there are way less gunner kids.

[Anonymous]

Carleton

[Anonymous]

Not Columbia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Carleton

Yes, though for this particular OP, it depends on what her daughter thinks is the middle of nowhere. It's about an hour from a big city (Minneapolis), but the town itself is small, and I think Oberlin is slightly closer to Cleveland than Carleton is to Minneapolis.

[Anonymous]

Throwing these out there though I'm not sure if they fit, but ones to take a look at as possibilities because they fit her location request and may fit the feel of student body (look at the Princeton Guide for student self-descriptions of the campus feel - that's anecdotal but gives an idea of which schools have a more intense feel, which led us to skip Carnegie Mellon and Swarthmore when touring - great schools but not a great kid for our kid)

I could definitely be wrong about the feel of these schools, but just based on things I've heard, and their locations as not "in the middle of nowhere," I put them on this list.

LACs to look into and see if they fit her wishes: Emory, Davidson, Haverford, Macalester?

Larger schools to look into: Rochester, Northeastern, Boston College, Case Western, UNC, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Claremont McKenna?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Throwing these out there though I'm not sure if they fit, but ones to take a look at as possibilities because they fit her location request and may fit the feel of student body (look at the Princeton Guide for student self-descriptions of the campus feel - that's anecdotal but gives an idea of which schools have a more intense feel, which led us to skip Carnegie Mellon and Swarthmore when touring - great schools but not a great kid for our kid)

I could definitely be wrong about the feel of these schools, but just based on things I've heard, and their locations as not "in the middle of nowhere," I put them on this list.

LACs to look into and see if they fit her wishes: Emory, Davidson, Haverford, Macalester?

Larger schools to look into: Rochester, Northeastern, Boston College, Case Western, UNC, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Claremont McKenna?

michigan is anything but laid back!

[Anonymous]

Vassar might be a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Throwing these out there though I'm not sure if they fit, but ones to take a look at as possibilities because they fit her location request and may fit the feel of student body (look at the Princeton Guide for student self-descriptions of the campus feel - that's anecdotal but gives an idea of which schools have a more intense feel, which led us to skip Carnegie Mellon and Swarthmore when touring - great schools but not a great kid for our kid)

I could definitely be wrong about the feel of these schools, but just based on things I've heard, and their locations as not "in the middle of nowhere," I put them on this list.

LACs to look into and see if they fit her wishes: Emory, Davidson, Haverford, Macalester?

Larger schools to look into: Rochester, Northeastern, Boston College, Case Western, UNC, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Claremont McKenna?

michigan is anything but laid back!

Michigan is everything. There are smart kids who are laid back. There are smart kids who are driven. Pretty hard for all 30,000 undergrads to be the same. I think Michigan would be a good option for the OPs kid as long as she doesn't choose Ross or COE.

[Anonymous]

Depending on field, check out the "lesser" UCs -- San Diego, Irvine, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara. Chill intellectuals certainly won't be the norm for undergrads, but laid-back people and strong academics coexist in these schools. Each has some first-rate departments/faculty, but they all have different strengths. And they aren't in cities in the east coast sense -- they're beach-ier and more car-oriented, but none feel like the middle of nowhere to me.

UWashington Seattle might be a good pick if the UCs aren't urban enough for her.

[Anonymous]

I think she should try a jesuit school. These often emphasize service to the disadvantaged and that live is more than material possessions. She would find many mellow people there. There would of course be some very religious people, but most of the students would be more interested and inspired by service to the world than by religion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My first thoughts are Sarah Lawrence, Hampshire or Mount Holyoke.

Mount Holyoke, yes, or perhaps Smith. Sarah Lawrence and Hampshire are highly idiosyncratic and Sarah Lawrence is obscenely expensive.

For coed, perhaps Reed, Wesleyan or Wisconsin.

[Anonymous]

Tufts, Haverford, Middlebury.
UNC Chapel Hill, UT Austin, NYU

[Anonymous]

Davidson

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tufts, Wesleyan.

Not Dartmouth.

Wesleyan is very intense.

[Anonymous]

Denison
Clark
Case Western
U of Rochester