Turquoise250

Hi everyone,

I am a junior in high school and I was wondering if you could give me some advice in what colleges would be the best fit for me based on my circumstances. I'm not going to list my stats specifically, but I am pretty much considering the colleges in the top 25 (both LACs and National Colleges), as well as a few safeties beyond that.

Basically, what I am looking for in a college includes:
-An intellectual environment where students love learning and are interested in their classes.
-A place where the people are more interested in discussing something political or scientific, for example, over what outfit they are wearing to that dance on Saturday night.
-A politically liberal environment (though nothing extremely radical).
-Lots of involvement and opportunities in extracurriculars (music ensembles, community service, clubs...).
-Diversity (race, religion, socioeconomic, orientation) and tolerance.
-Classes where professors care, class sizes are mostly small, and the students are engaged in what they do.
-Challenging academics, though with some fun mixed in.
-Overall, where students are friendly, have occasional fun, like studying, and are extremely smart.

Other random tidbits of information:
-Ideally, I don't think I want to go to a college with over 10,000 undergrads.
-Want to stay away from colleges in the South, mostly.

Thanks!

happymomof1

It looks like you are seeking the classic LAC environment. Which is fine, there are scads of them out there. However, until you know just exactly how much your family is ready, willing, and able to pay for your education, and until you know roughly how much the colleges/universities are going to expect your family to pay (start by running the EFC calculators at FinAid! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans and run the Net Price Calculators at a couple college/university websites) your whole list of things you want may be moot. Getting into college is one thing. Paying for it is another. In the end what you can pay will determine where you are able to go.

spanky12

Swarthmore sounds like a good fit.

happy1

I agree with Swarthmore, maybe add Middlebury, Amherst, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Bates, Bowdin, Colby, Oberlin, Kenyon for LACs and somewhat less selective (but still an excellent school) is Skidmore. And look at Brown on the national university side.

Turquoise250

Thanks for the replies! I definitely love the looks of Swarthmore and Brown the most. Does anyone know about Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, and Northwestern as far as my criteria? I think I want to apply to an equal amount of LACs and National colleges just to be sure that I have options to choose from, plus my safeties of course. Also, I looked into Pomona and it also seemed like a good fit...does anyone know anything about it?

spanky12

Penn, Dartmouth, and maybe Northwestern don't strike me as particularly intellectual. Obviously, the students at any of those schools are going to be ridiculously smart, but from my visits to Penn and Dartmouth, the students didn't seem like the type to start an intellectual conversation outside of class. I could be completely off, though, so don't take my word for it.
I think you would like Yale.

Turquoise250

Any other suggestions?

barrk123

Brown
Rice (Although in the south)
UCBerkley

Erin's Dad

OP, without stats we have no idea if any of the schools listed are good matches. They are shots in the dark based on your desires.

Turquoise250

@Erin's Dad
My college counselor told me that the top-tiered schools are matches based on my stats. I am aware that I am not necessarily guaranteed admission, though.

par72

Holy Cross and Davidson. Holy Cross has good diversity(don't have to be religious),very good academics, nice campus, and strong school pride. HC is very well represented in political world-3 Supreme Court Justices have Holy Cross affiliations including 1 alum. HC has 1 US Senatoe, 4-5 Congressmen, Obama's chief speechwriter and Chris Mattews amon others. Holy Cross is also need-blind for admissions and has a remendous alumni network.

BobWallace

College rankings are largely hogwash and basing college choices on rankings is the antithesis of an intellectual approach.

Turquoise250

I will look into Holy Cross and Davidson. They both sound really good, and I heard that Davidson's campus is beautiful.

@BobWallace: I realize that you shouldn't pick a college solely for its rank, but there is a trend that smarter students go to schools that are highly-ranked compared to lesser-ranked schools. There are a few exceptions to this, though.

happymomof1

Turquoise250,

Given that the higher-ranked colleges and universities only have so many spaces, and that of those very few offer really good aid for all admitted students, the plain and simple fact is that there are lots and lots of really smart students attending lower-ranked institutions.

If your profile makes the very best institutions matches for you, go ahead and apply. But do make dead certain that you have at least one full-on safety that you will be happy to attend if you aren't admitted anywhere else that your family can afford.

PAGRok

Your criteria pretty much fits all of the top 25 universities and LAC's... At all of these schools kids will be smart, intellectual, liberal, involved extracurricularly, etc. and there will be small classes. Just try to find schools you like! I vote for Yale (high extracurricular involvement) and UChicago (highly intellectual)!
Also, I can comment on Pomona since my sister attends and I have visited. It is similar in feel to Swarthmore because of its selectivity and small student Body, but it has a sorta laid back atmosphere stereotypical of the west, is pretty quiet as far as schools go, students are serious about academics but not overly intellectual, the school is not overly diverse (high CA population) but has a internationally feel, and the campus is lovely and small.