nonpressure cooker/well adjusted yet prestigious schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: A prestigious (highly selective as defined here) school without pressure is like magically delicious chocolate cake without calories.

And if you find either one, please let me know.

+100
If you want true door-opening prestige in many areas, you have to go to a pressure cooker school and avoid being in the bottom
1/4. The caveat is that for the top students, they do not see them as a pressure cooker, because success comes more easily to them with their drive and intelligence, even if they come from poor or modest backgrounds. The rest fight it out to keep near the average. They will still be successful because of the “name” factor and alumni connections of these schools. The ones who struggle are the bottom 1/4 of these schools who do not have any family connections.

In short, choose the school that you can, with the effort you put, get the GPA you are striving for in your field of study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stanford. Pretty laid back
Good chance of admission if you have above 1500 in SAT

.

Yes, & after your 1500 gets you in the door without much trouble, & you glide through an undergrad program, you can probably easily transition to a low-pressure job like astronaut or Hollywood movie director.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stanford. Pretty laid back
Good chance of admission if you have above 1500 in SAT

I agree with Stanford being pretty laid back. But wouldn't say good chance of admission if above 1500 SAT. The admit rate is below 4% and i'm sure a lot get rejected with 1500+

[Anonymous]

Stanford is not laid back and is virtually impossible to get into even with a 1600/36.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're DC is looking for a SLAC, it's hard to beat Davidson for work/life/prestige balance. Amazing career services, too.

Really? I crossed it off my list early because I have always thought it seemed really harsh.
I know they have the honor code and you can take tests where you want but I assumed workload was tough

My kiddo just graduated from Davidson and says his time in HS in NoVA was more stressful. He had a ton of fun, left with a large tight knit group of friends, graduated with honors and 3 job offers and matured into a good human being that cares. What more could a mom ask for for their kid's college experience?! He says 90% of doing well in class was just showing up for class, doing most of the assigned reading and contributing where you can to the class discussion. Many of his class assignments were group projects and most exams ("reviews") were self scheduled. Davidson's location near Charlotte and Lake Norman were huge plusses. He is sad to leave!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're DC is looking for a SLAC, it's hard to beat Davidson for work/life/prestige balance. Amazing career services, too.

Really? I crossed it off my list early because I have always thought it seemed really harsh.
I know they have the honor code and you can take tests where you want but I assumed workload was tough

My kiddo just graduated from Davidson and says his time in HS in NoVA was more stressful. He had a ton of fun, left with a large tight knit group of friends, graduated with honors and 3 job offers and matured into a good human being that cares. What more could a mom ask for for their kid's college experience?! He says 90% of doing well in class was just showing up for class, doing most of the assigned reading and contributing where you can to the class discussion. Many of his class assignments were group projects and most exams ("reviews") were self scheduled. Davidson's location near Charlotte and Lake Norman were huge plusses. He is sad to leave!

Major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of SLACs fit the bill—unless not enough prestigious for you?

Which ones?
I have a kid who is a great athlete who is being recruited at two Top10 SLACs and several Top30.
I know Haverford, Swarthmore, Carleton and Colgate put on the academic pressure and I don't want that for my son who has ADHD and feels serious AP burnout in high school as he ends his jr year.

I'm always on the lookout for a SLAC that has a decent reputation but isn't out to kill these kid's spirit. I don't just mean that they give support. That's part of it. I mean which schools don't pile on the work to the point of exhaustion. My opinion based on our own tours is that it might depend more on the professor than the school. The major also matters. Kids on a premed track who have to take organic chemistry are going to suffer no matter where they are.

If someone disagrees, I'd love to hear it.

went thru this exact dilemma with my kiddo - asked the T5 SLAC coach this question during a meeting in his office when I was dropping him off for overnite weekend in the fall - I felt my kid may be in over his head there - coach shrugged pulled up the preread results and said nah admissions thinks he’ll be fine - we passed on his offer of support, and my kid about to graduate from a 10-20 ranked SLAC with a 3.9 gpa (econ major) and six figure job he got from a campus onsite interview. I’d say go with your gut - we did and i guarantee our result was better with this path - if you’re concerned you’re probably right

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're DC is looking for a SLAC, it's hard to beat Davidson for work/life/prestige balance. Amazing career services, too.

Really? I crossed it off my list early because I have always thought it seemed really harsh.
I know they have the honor code and you can take tests where you want but I assumed workload was tough

My kiddo just graduated from Davidson and says his time in HS in NoVA was more stressful. He had a ton of fun, left with a large tight knit group of friends, graduated with honors and 3 job offers and matured into a good human being that cares. What more could a mom ask for for their kid's college experience?! He says 90% of doing well in class was just showing up for class, doing most of the assigned reading and contributing where you can to the class discussion. Many of his class assignments were group projects and most exams ("reviews") were self scheduled. Davidson's location near Charlotte and Lake Norman were huge plusses. He is sad to leave!

Congratulations!!! Davidson is an amazing school and is one of my kid’s top choices. Appreciate the first-hand feedback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're DC is looking for a SLAC, it's hard to beat Davidson for work/life/prestige balance. Amazing career services, too.

Really? I crossed it off my list early because I have always thought it seemed really harsh.
I know they have the honor code and you can take tests where you want but I assumed workload was tough

My kiddo just graduated from Davidson and says his time in HS in NoVA was more stressful. He had a ton of fun, left with a large tight knit group of friends, graduated with honors and 3 job offers and matured into a good human being that cares. What more could a mom ask for for their kid's college experience?! He says 90% of doing well in class was just showing up for class, doing most of the assigned reading and contributing where you can to the class discussion. Many of his class assignments were group projects and most exams ("reviews") were self scheduled. Davidson's location near Charlotte and Lake Norman were huge plusses. He is sad to leave!

Major?

Economics

[Anonymous]

Almost all top 20 LACs are laid back, easy to get in and provide non pressure cooker environment. Bowdoin, Middlebury, Colgate, Harvey Mudd.. to name a few

[Anonymous]

For Econ majors - Carleton and Macalester, Minnesota nice is real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stanford is not laid back and is virtually impossible to get into even with a 1600/36.

Everytime I ask my easy-going DC who is at Stanford (undergrad Engineering school) how things are going with classes, they respond "good" or "chill"...I'd say their experience is way more laid back than sibling who attended peer school on East Coast. Getting in is definitely the hardest part

[Anonymous]

How is Boston College on these dimensions? Well-adjusted? Prestigious?

DC is a possible science + business major. But not pre-med or CS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is Boston College on these dimensions? Well-adjusted? Prestigious?

DC is a possible science + business major. But not pre-med or CS.

BC is well-adjusted because it is filled with kids who would never get into a T20, and would never go STEM or pre-med. The vibe is distinctly upper middle class, white, suburban catholic, from goody two-shoes families. I'm not sure everyone would agree it is prestigious in the way they think Ivy, Williams, and MIT are prestigious, but if majoring in business, your kid will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For Econ majors - Carleton and Macalester, Minnesota nice is real.

+1, but not just for Econ