Thanks for the update, but now I'm curious where she's going.

I am the originator of this thread and I want to thank those of you who shared good solid information and experiences.
DD made her choice a few weeks ago and I found so much of what you all shared to be quite helpful. And she in fact chose a school that was mentioned in this thread that we originally knew little about.

The best secret I know of is the Oxford campus of Emory University. It is located just outside Atlanta and provides a smaller campus with much easier admissions than Emory. You then transfer to the regular Emory campus after 2 years and your degree just says Emory. Nice for kids who may want a good school with some size but may need a little time to adjust first.

http://oxford.emory.edu/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My vote is for Kenyon College.

Looks great! Only $50,400 per year to live out in the middle of Ohio.

It's a great school, but it's always had a reputation of being "liberal." Might be what you'd prefer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are going to visit St Marys College next week - Maryland's attempt to create a William & Mary equivalent. But we are having a lot of trouble with this concept. Our junior wants liberal arts, 2-3000 students. She can't get into top tier (e.g., Williams). The options seem to drop off rather quickly.

If you've got $$$, what about Rollins in Florida? It's a great small school but very posh.

Isn't that more of a party school for rich kids? That may be my dated view though.

It still has that reputation (and I think somewhat deservedly so), but it's academic reputation has improved greatly over the last 25 years. There are some very bright kids who go there.

Anonymous wrote:College of the Holy Cross in Worcester Mass

Hmm..I went here. didn't know this was a 'secret'.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My vote is for Kenyon College.

Looks great! Only $50,400 per year to live out in the middle of Ohio.

You know nobody actually pays full freight anymore, right?

Not true - we expect to pay full freight. 65% of Kenyon students get financial aid. If my DC is accepted we will be in the 35% of students who don't.

$180K in family income seems to be the cut-off for financial aid unless you have one than one in college.

College of the Holy Cross in Worcester Mass

Rice, University of York (UK not Canada), Pomona, Claremont McKenna

Bucknell.

Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX - suburb of Austin, TX - great liberal arts school and has a good endowment to help with merit-based aid - and other aid- and coming from the Northeast is an asset to their diversity figures so they may try harder to get you to come.

Anonymous wrote:Scipps College. It's part of the Claremon College in CA and it's amazing.

Those 5 are about as big a secret as Amherst.

Scipps College. It's part of the Claremon College in CA and it's amazing.

College of the Holy Cross is another great, and what seems to be, up and coming school of interest among high school juniors and seniors

I hear Occidental is a real stepping stone.