Reply to My DD wants to avoid applying to most competitive top 25 "usual suspects" colleges

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Reply to "My DD wants to avoid applying to most competitive top 25 "usual suspects" colleges - which LACs considered part of T'25?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My DD has good stats (1500+ SAT, A/A- grades, top rigor)  but doesn't want to compete for what she calls top 20-25. Is this the list to avoid? Where do LACs fit in?

Top 25 National Unis:

1	Princeton University		
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	
3	Harvard University	
4	Stanford University	
4	Yale University	
6	University of Chicago	
7	Duke University	
7	Johns Hopkins University	
7	Northwestern University	
7	University of Pennsylvania	
11	California Institute of Technology	
12	Cornell University	
13	Brown University
13	Dartmouth College	
15	Columbia University	
15	University of California, Berkeley	
17	Rice University	
17	University of California, Los Angeles	
17	Vanderbilt University	
20	Carnegie Mellon University	
20	University of Michigan—Ann Arbor	
20	University of Notre Dame	
20	Washington University in St. Louis	
24	Emory University	
24	Georgetown University

Top LACs:

1     Williams
2     Amherst
3     US Naval Academy
4     Swarthmore
5     US Air Force Academy
5     Bowdoin

[/quote]
Think of WASP-B as equivalent to top 10-15 (but higher than Chicago and Johns Hopkins, which are not the same caliber as the other top 10.[/quote]

The above sentence is incorrect.

U Chicago & Johns Hopkins University are superior to Williams, Amherst, Pomona, & Bowdoin. Swarthmore has similarities to U Chicago.

If your daughter does not want a competitive school environment, that differs somewhat from competitive admissions.

If your daughter does not want to engage in competitive admissions, then just eliminated schools which accept 20% or fewer applicants.

If your daughter doesn't want a competitive academic environment, then avoid the Top 25 National Universities. LACs are in a different, less competitive league (although she might want to avoid Swarthmore & Harvey Mudd LACs).

So which is it ? Does your daughter want to avoid competitive admissions or competitive academic schools ?[/quote]

Agree with most of the above, but will add that whether a Williams/Amherst/Swarthmore is preferable to a U Chicago or JHU depends on the student's priorities and goals. If the goal is to work in a high impact lab as an undergrad, obviously UChicago or JHU, or heck even a good state flagship like UMD would be better. If the goal is good quality teaching in courses all around, combined with high levels of student support and advisement, then go for an LAC. [/quote]

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