Are top liberal arts colleges for my son?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
Quirky. Introvert. Music more than sports. STEM.
Sounds awfully familiar. Some liberal arts colleges are top producers of science PhDs. They are great as long as you aren’t looking for engineering. Try: Vassar Wesleyan Oberlin, Kenyon Wooster (strong safety) Grinnell Macalaster Carleton St. Olaf (great safety for that profile) Bowdoin ( it’s a reach. So is Williams) Maybe Bates Not SLAC, but also try: Case, Rochester, W&M, Pitt for rolling decision (a yes from a school in December is really nice) Most of these schools are easier for boys to get into than girls. Because the applicant pool is skewed You probably want to skip the sports amd prep school heavy ones like: Hamilton Colgate Union Middlebury Colby Williams Union Denison Washington & Lee |
Anonymous
My DS has a very similar list (but he’s not sure he wants to go as far as MN and I don’t think he’s interested in the ME schools). My DH and I went to two of the schools you listed so he will definitely apply to those. |
Anonymous
My senior looked at many of these schools, applied to three, and is going to one of them. An additional potential safety to consider is Lawrence University, which is strong in music because, like Oberlin, it has a conservatory. |
Anonymous
| Midwestern SLACs on average have a greater STEM focus that those on the East Coast. |
Anonymous
| Boys have a much easier time getting admission than girls to LACs. But applying to some safeties is wise. |
Anonymous
|
Some years ago, NSF did a Survey fo Earned Doctorates, looking at what percent of grads from different colleges go on to get Ph.Ds. You can find the data various places online, but here's a good encapsulation:
https://www.collegetransitions.com/infographics/top-feeders-phd-programs Top 5, all fields (so highest rates of grads who get Ph.D.s): Reed, Swarthmore, Carleton, Pomona, Haverford Top 5, Chemistry: Carleton, Kalamazoo, Reed, Cal Tech, Wabash Top 5, Physics: Cal Tech, Reed, Swarthmore, Lawrence, Carleton Top 5, Biology: Reed, Swarthmore, Carleton, Haverford, Grinnell On this site, lists are 20 schools long, so they could be a good place to find both reach and match schools of potential interest for students likely to be interested in getting a Ph.D. |
Anonymous
Yes but admissions to the selective ones is still tough |
Anonymous
|
OP, understand that the schools you are listing offer spots to fewer than 10% of the students who apply, and often times fewer than 5%.
As such, it is nice for your kid to look at those schools, but understand that it is highly likely that he won't get it, and it is purely a numbers game. So be prepared to have a robust list of schools of varying degree of admissions percentages and GPA/SAT ranges. |
Anonymous
|
Anonymous
I guess you have not been paying attention to the last few months’ posts. |
Anonymous
Yes. Take a look at some of the threads about “things I wish we’d done differently“ and a big one is- choose lots of safeties/fits and then really like them! Don’t just assume your kid will get into a “top LAC” and then stop looking. If you think a small LAC is a good idea for him (and fwiw, I do, esp if he’s shy) then explore a bunch on the list a PP helpfully provided. I know that it’s tempting to think MY kid will get in, they’re amazing!, look at that SAT score! But sadly that isn’t a slam dunk and you want to have lots of choices next April when it’s decision time. Good luck, OP. Your kid sounds neat. Take a deep breath and step away from the rankings insanity. |
Anonymous
|
For a student like that, I'd also check Wesleyan, Vassar, Bard, Skidmore, Oberlin, Wooster, Lawrence, Beloit, Macalester, Carleton, St. Olaf, Grinnell, Puget Sound, and Whitman.
Some of those are great safeties. My kids preferred some of the safeties on this list over most or all of the reaches on OP's list. |
Anonymous
| Small liberal arts schools have pluses and minuses with respect to science majors. On one hand, big schools get big research contracts and have better science resources and facilities. On the other hand, your kid is going to get smaller class sizes and a lot more individual attention at a small liberal arts school, and will have more opportunities to work in a lab since there are no graduate students to do this work. |
Anonymous
I'm a Williams alum and a big fan of SLACs in general. Reading the sentence highlighted above makes me think your son would definitely find his place at a SLAC. Midd, Williams and Bowdoin are pretty selective, though there's no reason not to put them on your list to discuss with your son's school counselor. In addition, take a look at the the many other SLACs folks here have mentioned. Oberlin sounds like it might be an especially good match. My Oberlin-grad BIL was a science major there, but also participated in music activities, even though he was not in the conservatory. He went on to a very selective medical school and remains a loyal Oberlin alum, as is his lovely wife and pretty much every other Oberlin alum I've ever met. Smart, down-to-earth people with a lot of curiosity about the world. |
Anonymous
| What about Harvey Mudd? |