Are top liberal arts colleges for my son?

[Anonymous]

Hello, my son, a junior, is researching colleges and is interested in top liberal arts colleges such as Middlebury, Bowdoin, Williams, etc. Isolation is not a major issue since he likes nature, but having a 'college town' is a plus so he won't be completely bored.

He has a high GPA and a 1510 SAT. He is very involved in music. He has a passion for geography, but he is stronger in math and science than in humanities. He plans on majoring in something STEM related, and is unsure about his future job.

He is quirky and very shy, so he hopes that liberal arts colleges will help him get out of his comfort zone. He also values school spirit, but more in a community sense than sports sense.

Should he research more into the top liberal arts colleges? Or should he focus more on bigger universities?

[Anonymous]

Has he visited any of these schools? At the very least, he should visit a few different types of schools to get a sense of how they feel to him, and how they differ from each other.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like he would be a good fit for a liberal arts college. Also look at Wesleyan.

[Anonymous]

Do you have 250k set aside for college? If so, the yes. If not, the no

[Anonymous]

My daughter did well in the small setting, because it was less intimidating and required her to step up.

Having said that, you are falling into the trap of only discussing very selective schools. Remember to visit and praise some less elite schools also, or we may be hearing you lament one year from now like many who have come before you.

(Check out St Olaf’s for example)

[Anonymous]

With a 1510, OP’s kid can be selective. The only reason to move down the list would be if they need merit aid

[Anonymous]

I went to one of the schools you mentioned and think he would fit in fabulously. Tons of quirky kids and he’d likely find a group of friends quickly. I liked that there was still a college town as far as cute things and friendly locals but the small size made everything easy. Sports were equally respected and popular as other activities.

[Anonymous]

Better do ED. Essay needs to be quirky. Midd doesn’t have supplementals so make sure he has an extra recommendation. They seem to prefer certain schools over others from the DMV, usually privates of course and they LOVE their athletes, as do the others.

You should really have closer to $300,000 set aside for those schools when extra costs are added in.

Could I plug USC (hear me out)? My child was offered a tempting merit scholarship, McCarthy honors dorm and the humanities scholars program as enticements. They seek geographic diversity but also extremely strong students who will boost the school’s academic profile after Varsity Blues. Their Comp Sci is great. Interdisciplinary programs abound and CA still has so many opportunities. Yes, there are rich kids, but there are so many incredible, interesting young people doing really cool things, especially serving Los Angeles at large, that I couldn’t help but be impressed. Have your son take a look and maybe you’ll think about somewhere other than the NE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With a 1510, OP’s kid can be selective. The only reason to move down the list would be if they need merit aid

This is so not true. Many applicants to top liberal arts colleges with high SAT scores are rejected. No one can assume admission to a college with acceptance rates in the single digits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter did well in the small setting, because it was less intimidating and required her to step up.

Having said that, you are falling into the trap of only discussing very selective schools. Remember to visit and praise some less elite schools also, or we may be hearing you lament one year from now like many who have come before you.

(Check out St Olaf’s for example)

I think that friendly big schools can be as good for shy kids as small schools are, but I think any small school that has good science programs will be better for STEM kids (with the S being defined so as to exclude social sciences majors) than most big selective schools.

The problem is that (after adjusting for socioeconomic status, test-taking anxiety, etc.), a kid with 1510 on the SATs is just OK in terms of academic readiness when compared with typical STEM student at a T40 school or in the honors college at a solid state flagship. A big school will be focusing on turning the kid into an economics or poli sci major.

I think that a small school that’s fine with STEM kids staying in STEM is a lot more likely to let regular bright kids stay in STEM.

If a kid likes geography and likes STEM, maybe one approach would be to major in logistics or agribusiness at a big, friendly state school. My guess would be that those programs are easy to get into, attract many shy students, tend to require scientific literacy, and lead to fun, useful, lucrative jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With a 1510, OP’s kid can be selective. The only reason to move down the list would be if they need merit aid

This is so not true. Many applicants to top liberal arts colleges with high SAT scores are rejected. No one can assume admission to a college with acceptance rates in the single digits.

Very true! Definitely shoot for top 20 schools he's excited about, but know that they are lotteries, and that he also needs to look lower on the list for likely schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With a 1510, OP’s kid can be selective. The only reason to move down the list would be if they need merit aid

This is so not true. Many applicants to top liberal arts colleges with high SAT scores are rejected. No one can assume admission to a college with acceptance rates in the single digits.

Very true! Definitely shoot for top 20 schools he's excited about, but know that they are lotteries, and that he also needs to look lower on the list for likely schools.

+1 He might want to add places like Skidmore, Wesleyn, Reed, Vassar, Antioch...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With a 1510, OP’s kid can be selective. The only reason to move down the list would be if they need merit aid

This is so not true. Many applicants to top liberal arts colleges with high SAT scores are rejected. No one can assume admission to a college with acceptance rates in the single digits.

Very true! Definitely shoot for top 20 schools he's excited about, but know that they are lotteries, and that he also needs to look lower on the list for likely schools.

+1 He might want to add places like Skidmore, Wesleyn, Reed, Vassar, Antioch...

Some of these schools are very hard to get into too. Wesleyan had a 15% acceptance rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With a 1510, OP’s kid can be selective. The only reason to move down the list would be if they need merit aid

My nephew had a perfect SAT score and an unweighted 4.0 in an MCPS magnet and was rejected at Bowdoin, Williams, Swarthmore, Amherst, and a few others. He is at a comparable school, the only one that admitted him.

No one is a slam dunk at these schools.

[Anonymous]

"slam dunk" admission days are over at the top 20 Liberal Arts Colleges unless you are a recruited athlete.