Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:47     Subject: Can you rank these schools in terms of...
Anonymous wrote:Williams and Amherst dead heat for happiest students and fostering an environment of intellectual curiosity, followed by Yale and then Rice. Would include Vandy but kids from OPs school may never get in there, thus the list..


OP: thanks for reading my OP. Yes, that's exactly it: the list contains schools top kids from our school get into year after year. DC is in that cohort next year so asking about this list. Her schools seems to have no issue getting accepts at Y, P and P year after year (mostly not legacies) but never H, M or S. Also does very well with WASP.
Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:44     Subject: Can you rank these schools in terms of...
Williams and Amherst dead heat for happiest students and fostering an environment of intellectual curiosity, followed by Yale and then Rice. Would include Vandy but kids from OPs school may never get in there, thus the list..
Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:38     Subject: Can you rank these schools in terms of...
You should look into state flagship schools—start with your in-state flagship.

Most of the schools on your list are known for grinding.
Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:33     Subject: Re:Can you rank these schools in terms of...
What a dumb post. Who has enough intimate knowledge of all of these schools, hell even half of them, to say anything relevant.
Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:27     Subject: Can you rank these schools in terms of...
Anonymous wrote:being most conducive to learning/intellectual curiosity vs. pre-professional, most collaborative, with the smartest yet also happiest students, where they work hard but it's not a grind. I know I am describing almost a unicorn college. Please rank top 3 that fit this blue sky college description.

Penn
Princeton
Yale
Cornell
Rice
Williams
Amherst
Swarthmore
Pomona
Harvey Mudd
Middlebury
JHU
Northwestern
Carnegie Mellon

Excluding other colleges that may fit the bill like Brown and Stanford where no one ever gets in from our HS. Kids from DC's school sends at least 1-4 seniors each to above list consistently. Science major (not engineering)


Kids are smart with virtually identical academic profiles at any of these schools so you can take that off the table as a differentiator. Mudd and Cornell are both known for grinding. Swat is often referred to as the SLAC "where fun goes to die" but the kids that I know who are there are thriving and love it. Middlebury, Williams, and Amherst are considered to have the heaviest workloads among the NESCACs with Middlebury and Williams being a bit more pre-professional than Amherst and maybe having a bit more "work hard, play hard" cultures. I don't know as much about the others but top schools, top students means work in most cases.
Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:23     Subject: Can you rank these schools in terms of...
Anonymous wrote:being most conducive to learning/intellectual curiosity vs. pre-professional, most collaborative, with the smartest yet also happiest students, where they work hard but it's not a grind. I know I am describing almost a unicorn college. Please rank top 3 that fit this blue sky college description.

Penn
Princeton
Yale
Cornell
Rice
Williams
Amherst
Swarthmore
Pomona
Harvey Mudd
Middlebury
JHU
Northwestern
Carnegie Mellon

Excluding other colleges that may fit the bill like Brown and Stanford where no one ever gets in from our HS. Kids from DC's school sends at least 1-4 seniors each to above list consistently. Science major (not engineering)

Cant imagine anyone knows enough about these 14 schools to provide you a "list". People will trash or praise the 1 or 2 schools with familiarity. Someone claims to know more is just bs-ing.
Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:21     Subject: Can you rank these schools in terms of...
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yale and Rice. I know that is only two but some of the others are extremely pre-professional (Penn) and some of the LAC's are socially tough because of the divide between athletes and others


These would be my pick too. My kid is a STEM major at Rice. It's a happy place.


OP: I think Rice is the perfect school for DD, except the part where Greg Abbott thinks he owns your body. DD does not want to be in TX
Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:20     Subject: Can you rank these schools in terms of...
Anonymous wrote:being most conducive to learning/intellectual curiosity vs. pre-professional, most collaborative, with the smartest yet also happiest students, where they work hard but it's not a grind. I know I am describing almost a unicorn college. Please rank top 3 that fit this blue sky college description.

Penn
Princeton
Yale
Cornell
Rice
Williams
Amherst
Swarthmore
Pomona
Harvey Mudd
Middlebury
JHU
Northwestern
Carnegie Mellon

Excluding other colleges that may fit the bill like Brown and Stanford where no one ever gets in from our HS. Kids from DC's school sends at least 1-4 seniors each to above list consistently. Science major (not engineering)


From this list, just Yale and Rice. Maybe Middlebury but I'm not too familiar with it. The upside to Pomona and Harvey Mudd is that you have access to the other schools in the consortium, which all have very different vibes. I'd add Vanderbilt and Duke as schools that seem to do a little better about getting the balance right.

But if the student is interested in engineering or CS, that will be a very different list of schools when it comes to balance and a healthy environment. There's a huge difference between studying engineering at Cornell and CMU compared to being an English major.
Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:13     Subject: Can you rank these schools in terms of...
Anonymous wrote:Yale and Rice. I know that is only two but some of the others are extremely pre-professional (Penn) and some of the LAC's are socially tough because of the divide between athletes and others


These would be my pick too. My kid is a STEM major at Rice. It's a happy place.
Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:12     Subject: Can you rank these schools in terms of...
Yale and Rice. I know that is only two but some of the others are extremely pre-professional (Penn) and some of the LAC's are socially tough because of the divide between athletes and others
Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:11     Subject: Can you rank these schools in terms of...
Why just this list? It’s hard to find those qualities in the schools that people apply to because they prioritize prestige. (Think of all the people applying to Ivies solely because they’re part of that athletic conference.)
Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:11     Subject: Can you rank these schools in terms of...
Anonymous wrote:What does your son/daughter want to study ?

If engineering, then it will be a grind everywhere.


Not engineering. Wants chemistry or neuroscience. Thanks!
Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:09     Subject: Re:Can you rank these schools in terms of...
Not Cornell. We were just up there for parents weekend. Everyone is grinding.
Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:09     Subject: Can you rank these schools in terms of...
What does your son/daughter want to study ?

If engineering, then it will be a grind everywhere.
Anonymous
Post 11/11/2025 11:06     Subject: Can you rank these schools in terms of...
being most conducive to learning/intellectual curiosity vs. pre-professional, most collaborative, with the smartest yet also happiest students, where they work hard but it's not a grind. I know I am describing almost a unicorn college. Please rank top 3 that fit this blue sky college description.

Penn
Princeton
Yale
Cornell
Rice
Williams
Amherst
Swarthmore
Pomona
Harvey Mudd
Middlebury
JHU
Northwestern
Carnegie Mellon

Excluding other colleges that may fit the bill like Brown and Stanford where no one ever gets in from our HS. Kids from DC's school sends at least 1-4 seniors each to above list consistently. Science major (not engineering)