Anonymous
12/12/2025 13:05
Subject: Re:College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
Anonymous wrote:Although Wesleyan is “only” 25% athletes, as a larger NESCAC, the male athlete proportion is higher: 32%. The proportion of freshman athletes is always greater due to attrition, so you are still looking at 35-40% of your male peers as a freshman being athletes…
https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/details
PP with a kid at Wesleyan. He’s not an athlete. This has not been an issue AT ALL for him. There are tons of activities and friend groups around those activities, and crossover among groups. My kid is friends with athletes, even if they aren’t his main “group.”
OP, I would recommend listening to people with actual direct experience with the specific school, not people making assumptions and guesses based on statistics.
Anonymous
12/12/2025 13:01
Subject: College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
-new posterAnonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (suburb of Chicago) might be a great school to consider. Has one of the best debate teams/programs in the nation. Super academically. Mature hard-working students.
However, the weather does get a bit nippy during the Winter months. Good for studying, but bad for swimming in Lake Michigan.
And quarter system. Which is not a system for all students.
Anonymous
12/12/2025 13:01
Subject: College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
Anonymous wrote:Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (suburb of Chicago) might be a great school to consider. Has one of the best debate teams/programs in the nation. Super academically. Mature hard-working students.
However, the weather does get a bit nippy during the Winter months. Good for studying, but bad for swimming in Lake Michigan.
And quarter system. Which is not a system for all students.
Anonymous
12/12/2025 12:35
Subject: Re:College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
Although Wesleyan is “only” 25% athletes, as a larger NESCAC, the male athlete proportion is higher: 32%. The proportion of freshman athletes is always greater due to attrition, so you are still looking at 35-40% of your male peers as a freshman being athletes…
https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/details
https://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/institution/details
Anonymous
12/12/2025 12:26
Subject: College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (suburb of Chicago) might be a great school to consider. Has one of the best debate teams/programs in the nation. Super academically. Mature hard-working students.
However, the weather does get a bit nippy during the Winter months. Good for studying, but bad for swimming in Lake Michigan.
However, the weather does get a bit nippy during the Winter months. Good for studying, but bad for swimming in Lake Michigan.
Anonymous
12/12/2025 12:25
Subject: College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
Anonymous wrote:First of all, best wishes to all senior parents who are waiting on ED news right now. My son is a junior and we’re starting to get serious about pulling a list together. He’s a straight-A student with 1500 PSAT and rigorous schedule at a top public. He’s a champion debater and strong writer who dabbles in some other creative ECs. Open to various school settings but not excited about anything athlete or Greek-dominated, and would prefer to stay in the Northeast-Mid-Atlantic region, although we also have some family in the Midwest and I think he’d consider that, too. We’re full pay if it matters. He’s thinking about a career in law but not dead-set on it.
Major?
Highly recommend that any non-sporty boy avoid NESCAC (except for Tufts, which is not a SLAC) due to the predominance of athletes. At the smaller NESCAC, the majority of white domestic students are athletes. Just stay away. Even the larger ones - Wesleyan and Midd - have more than you think.
Check out Vassar and Carleton — much lower athlete percentages. Reed (no athletes at all), or the 5Cs (shared sports so lower athlete percentages).
Even SWAT has 25-30% athletes…I highly recommend a SLAC for an intellectually-minded kid like this, but the northeast largely does not work…
Anonymous
12/12/2025 12:24
Subject: College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
Anonymous wrote:Thanks you all for these good suggestions, and great to hear about schools where your kids are having good experiences! Since the school has been mentioned here, I should note he’s a legacy at Brown, but I’m mindful of not wanting to push it too hard and am not sure how much legacy counts if you’re not a big donor anyway.
It counts; they reaffirmed that last year when they returned to test required. But of course lots of legacy kids apply, and most still won’t get in, so you’re right not to get too attached.
I’m one of the people who suggested Wesleyan; my kid is there, and he just loves it.
Anonymous
12/12/2025 12:19
Subject: College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
Thanks you all for these good suggestions, and great to hear about schools where your kids are having good experiences! Since the school has been mentioned here, I should note he’s a legacy at Brown, but I’m mindful of not wanting to push it too hard and am not sure how much legacy counts if you’re not a big donor anyway.
Anonymous
12/12/2025 12:15
Subject: College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
Anonymous wrote:He sounds like me at 18 and I was very happy at Chicago.
It’s kind of fratty now though.
Anonymous
12/12/2025 12:07
Subject: College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
W&M and maybe check out their program with St Andrews (you do 2yrs at each school & degree lists both schools)
Anonymous
12/12/2025 10:57
Subject: Re:College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
He sounds exactly like my son who is now a 3rd year at UVA. He is an Echols Scholar is very involved in the Jefferson Society.
https://jeffersonsociety.org/ He is a history major and plans to go to law school.
UVA certainly has its share of sporty boys and there is Greek life, but there are also a lot of kids like my son who love UVA and have found their people.
https://jeffersonsociety.org/ He is a history major and plans to go to law school.
UVA certainly has its share of sporty boys and there is Greek life, but there are also a lot of kids like my son who love UVA and have found their people.
Anonymous
12/12/2025 10:42
Subject: College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
Vassar, Hamilton.
Anonymous
12/12/2025 10:13
Subject: College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
Brown (high reach)
Wesleyan (low reach)
Carleton (low reach)
Vassar (low reach)
Macalester (likely)
UVM (likely/safety)
Wesleyan (low reach)
Carleton (low reach)
Vassar (low reach)
Macalester (likely)
UVM (likely/safety)
Anonymous
12/12/2025 10:06
Subject: College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
what about St Johns in annapolis?
Anonymous
12/12/2025 09:56
Subject: College suggestions for intellectually-minded, non-sporty boy?
I have an intellectually-minded (although sporty) boy who fell in love with Carleton . . . we hear about ED on Monday. We visited in September and were really impressed with it. It's the only non-East coast he considered, and it was love at first sight.