Good college but does not attract competitive, wealthy student / families

[Anonymous]

Beloit college if you're willing to go to the Midwest. I am an alum and more than willing to answer questions. Carleton.

[Anonymous]

My son's counselor urged him to look to the midwest, saying he'd be in demand as an east coaster and the schools are filled with smart, down-to-earth people. She suggested Beloit, Miami of Ohio, Earlham, Cornell College, a few others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elon

No

[Anonymous]

This is a rather odd question. Aren't EDs supposed to be binding, especially at the highly selective, excellent colleges. Surely you should have done your research into the college and its atmosphere when you initially applied ED? The RD deadlines at most good colleges are coming up very soon, you have only a few weeks. You're more likely to rush an application to a college out of panic and later regret it.

"atmosphere of hypercompetitive kids with rich parents" is almost always a subjective view. All "good" colleges are going to have hard working students because that's what makes them "good colleges. But there's only a handful of colleges that I'd call truly competitive - MIT, Swarthmore, a few others, and those are competitive based on high-volume coursework and high academic standards for grading, not cutthroat attitudes. The rest, including most of the Ivies, are as competitive or laid back as you want to make it. All "good" private colleges will also have plenty of wealthy kids paying full freight and to be frank, based on what I've observed and heard from others, the most "competitive" and "cutthroat" atmosphere are among Asian-American students driven by Tiger moms and many if not most won't be wealthy kids but on financial aid (usually first/second generation Americans). Certainly my own college experience backed this up - the rich and UMC students were the laid back ones.

As it is, good luck but I do think you probably panicked and rejected the ED offer on illogical fears.

[Anonymous]

Elon may not be rich in the sense of other schools, but it seems to attract families that are money and status oriented (in a Tory Burch/Vinyard Vines sort of way).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD just rejected an excellent school (highly selective) for ED with coach's support because it had an atmosphere of hypercompetitive kids with rich parents. So made me wonder ... what small to midsize colleges with good science & liberal arts programs are there that don't have the competitiveness? Public or Private schools preferably D3.

I think your problem is your daughter's stereotypes, not the schools themselves. Any decent size school is going to have communities that welcome all types of students.

The proposed solution to go to a mediocre school in an undesirable location to avoid "wealthy" people is beyond ridiculous.

Agree with this PP. It's dumb to turn down a college because you think the kids are wealthy. Every school is large enough that there are a variety of students. I could see avoiding a college because do high crime, but rich people, seriously?

[Anonymous]

Case Western Reserve U. in Cleveland

[Anonymous]

She needs guidance here. Sports can be used to get into a better school than she may have otherwise, but to lower the academic bar just to play her sport is a mistake. She is going to school to learn, not to play. Sports can be a tool/job - it can get her in the door, it can pay the bills, it can provide amenities like tutoring and support - but the goal is the education. If she is not able to use soccer to put her in a better situation, then she should just play club.

Soccer is not going to be a career for her, it can be a tool or a game, and she should not harm her future for a game.

[Anonymous]

OP here. To clarify, she did not apply ED. She went thru preread and was told by coach she would get in with her support if she applied ED2. She decided not to do that. It was small D3 school. Thanks for the good recommendations - some she has already looked at but some she might consider although time is almost up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD just rejected an excellent school (highly selective) for ED with coach's support because it had an atmosphere of hypercompetitive kids with rich parents. So made me wonder ... what small to midsize colleges with good science & liberal arts programs are there that don't have the competitiveness? Public or Private schools preferably D3.

I think your problem is your daughter's stereotypes, not the schools themselves. Any decent size school is going to have communities that welcome all types of students.

The proposed solution to go to a mediocre school in an undesirable location to avoid "wealthy" people is beyond ridiculous.

Worth it to avoid folks ike you

Ok, your child should be happy with their mediocre, non competitive career then, but hey, she'll always have soccer.

All of the schools named feed into top notch grad schools. I guess if your kid is just getting a BA/BS and not going to grad school then it matters a lot where they do it. If you are headed for a profession, then not so much.

[Anonymous]

Fairfield
Villanova

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a rather odd question. Aren't EDs supposed to be binding, especially at the highly selective, excellent colleges. Surely you should have done your research into the college and its atmosphere when you initially applied ED? The RD deadlines at most good colleges are coming up very soon, you have only a few weeks. You're more likely to rush an application to a college out of panic and later regret it.

"atmosphere of hypercompetitive kids with rich parents" is almost always a subjective view. All "good" colleges are going to have hard working students because that's what makes them "good colleges. But there's only a handful of colleges that I'd call truly competitive - MIT, Swarthmore, a few others, and those are competitive based on high-volume coursework and high academic standards for grading, not cutthroat attitudes. The rest, including most of the Ivies, are as competitive or laid back as you want to make it. All "good" private colleges will also have plenty of wealthy kids paying full freight and to be frank, based on what I've observed and heard from others, the most "competitive" and "cutthroat" atmosphere are among Asian-American students driven by Tiger moms and many if not most won't be wealthy kids but on financial aid (usually first/second generation Americans). Certainly my own college experience backed this up - the rich and UMC students were the laid back ones.

As it is, good luck but I do think you probably panicked and rejected the ED offer on illogical fears.

Or resorting to a bizarre search strategy because of kid's reaction to one school.

[Anonymous]

University of Rochester

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD just rejected an excellent school (highly selective) for ED with coach's support because it had an atmosphere of hypercompetitive kids with rich parents. So made me wonder ... what small to midsize colleges with good science & liberal arts programs are there that don't have the competitiveness? Public or Private schools preferably D3.

I think your problem is your daughter's stereotypes, not the schools themselves. Any decent size school is going to have communities that welcome all types of students.

The proposed solution to go to a mediocre school in an undesirable location to avoid "wealthy" people is beyond ridiculous.

Worth it to avoid folks ike you

Ok, your child should be happy with their mediocre, non competitive career then, but hey, she'll always have soccer.

All of the schools named feed into top notch grad schools. I guess if your kid is just getting a BA/BS and not going to grad school then it matters a lot where they do it. If you are headed for a profession, then not so much.

Not at the top notch grad school I attended. Better off attending a good public college than a random small lac, especially if a kid has the credentials to get into a better regarded school. If the kid is a mediocre student, and these schools are the best they can do, different story.