Anonymous
Post 12/07/2025 06:23     Subject: Smart and curious kids but not super competitive
Anonymous wrote:Look Midwest. Carleton, Macalester, etc.


St Olaf
Anonymous
Post 12/06/2025 21:06     Subject: Smart and curious kids but not super competitive
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm looking for ideas for colleges with smart, curious, and engaged students (on the nerdier side is fine) that aren't super competitive environments (either on the admissions side or once there).

Ideally Mid-Atlantic/Northeast but interested in hearing about this type of school anywhere. Kid is very bright but more interested in a collaborative type school.

Does Juniata fit this? Clark University?


I think it’s tough to find intellectually curious along with a collaborative school environment and not super competitive admissions. When touring I would say on the whole school level, I saw it with a particular women’s college. I think you can also find pockets of it within a school if there is a specialized program or interest that would attract that type of student. For example, Michigan State (mid-west) has residential colleges https://rcah.msu.edu/news/us-news-ranking.html that will attract a certain type of student within the larger university. A good, does not have to be perfect, student would likely get in and something like the residential college would likely attract other students similar to your DC.


I was going to suggest a women’s college if the student is a woman. The OP described my daughter (very bright, very good stats but not competitive, as in did not want a competitive environment not that she could not get in somewhere with competitive admissions). A women’s college (Smith) was the perfect fit.
Anonymous
Post 12/06/2025 16:44     Subject: Re:Smart and curious kids but not super competitive
A service academy!
Anonymous
Post 12/06/2025 15:22     Subject: Smart and curious kids but not super competitive
(pp again) I mentioned the "unusual double majors" culture at Skidmore because I thought it showed that some students end up pursuing one area that's career-focused and another out of curiousity or pure interest. I guess in some cases they could both play into a career path, but in many they might just make a more varied college experience.
Anonymous
Post 12/06/2025 15:08     Subject: Smart and curious kids but not super competitive
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think schools like Dickinson and Skidmore fit this description, though they’re still fairly tough admissions (but attainable for solid students). Your student’s options will really depend on GPA as there are a range of colleges for smart and curious students that don’t want a cut-throat environment.


This has been similar to my dc's experience at F&M too.


Also for our kid at Skidmore. (Had 3.95 GPA, 1510 SAT, totally allergic to application-padding activities in high school.) Skidmore had a great tour with friendly student guides, and impressed my kid with how many students had double majors or minors in disparate fields (like, biology & history; chemistry & theater; neuroscience & music) and still had time for extracurriculars. It's been good so far, and they're in a lab doing research with a prof that might end up in a published paper.
Anonymous
Post 12/06/2025 14:42     Subject: Smart and curious kids but not super competitive
These schools are competitive to get into but Bates, Colby, Bowdoin.
Anonymous
Post 12/06/2025 14:36     Subject: Smart and curious kids but not super competitive
Anonymous wrote:Reed in Oregon is all about the intellectual without the competition.


That's what Reed used to be. Sadly, now, it's gone insanely super-woke, many students are into heavy drugs, and they are forcibly re-designing the curriculum to eradicate anything by dead white males (even in, say, Russian Literature). It was such a jewel but now has spiraled into hyper-progressive psychosis. --PNW prof
Anonymous
Post 12/06/2025 12:53     Subject: Smart and curious kids but not super competitive
Reed in Oregon is all about the intellectual without the competition.
Anonymous
Post 12/06/2025 12:09     Subject: Re:Smart and curious kids but not super competitive
This describes my freshman….

Got into

Oberlin
Wooster
Juniata (3+1 master’s)

Chose Mary Washington and is thriving
Anonymous
Post 12/06/2025 10:06     Subject: Smart and curious kids but not super competitive
No to Clark,
Anonymous
Post 12/06/2025 09:56     Subject: Smart and curious kids but not super competitive
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Come on OP. There are thousands of colleges in the United States alone, and it's not even clear if that's your boundary. In the US at least, once you're past the top 50 colleges, every college will fit what you are looking for.


OP here. DC is looking for a highly intellectual engaged community of learners who love discussing big ideas outside of class, but without the party/sports atmosphere at many schools or the competitive environment in some places. Ideally a smaller school. Any places that match that?


Highly intellectual and suggesting Juanita and Clark - are you a troll? Come on. Agree with the above who stated look at LAC outside the top 50 but outside the top fifty you aren’t going to get highly intellectual.


Juniata works for smart, curious and engaged, but highly intellectual really narrows down the field
Anonymous
Post 12/06/2025 08:31     Subject: Smart and curious kids but not super competitive
Anonymous wrote:I think schools like Dickinson and Skidmore fit this description, though they’re still fairly tough admissions (but attainable for solid students). Your student’s options will really depend on GPA as there are a range of colleges for smart and curious students that don’t want a cut-throat environment.


This has been similar to my dc's experience at F&M too.