I think, for example, a Cornell or even NU - given your criteria - don’t make sense. Nor did UMD.
Vandy and WUSTL do - closer into town - Vandy is in town. But they are reach for reach.
Brandeis has some budget issues - full pay moves you to the top of the heap 
I completely agree, I think he does have strong but not well-informed opinions. I do think that WashU and Vandy should at least be on his radar, but yes, both are reach.
As for smaller LACs, we only really visited Vassar but not for an official tour. His immediate reaction was too quiet, too empty, definitely not for me. So we haven’t really pursued more LACs since.
Not sure if you’re referring to the location, but Cornell was a bit of a surprise in that it did not at all feel isolated. The campus itself was pretty lively, and he liked the town okay. Northwestern has pretty easy access to Chicago going for it. UMD I really don’t know much about, other than it has access to DC. It does look a lot bigger than what he prefers though.
Yeah - if he were to, it’d need to be one more in society - whether a Wesleyan, Macalester (too small), Rhodes (Memphis - also small) or perhaps Union, or F&M. But these would be too small and maybe not urban enough.
Yeah - Cornell is in town but is rural so if you want to leave Ithaca, you have to go a ways. Northwestern - he loves Chicago but it’s North…not far but north.
Lehigh - not really urban.
UMD is very large. More urban and easy flight access would be UMN - but also not a fit, etc. based on size.
These are all very good schools, and if OP and son plan to visit, I wouldn’t eliminate any of these up front until they’ve visited and formed an opinion.
As for UMD: given the reachy nature of the current list, and kid not too excited about SUNYs, it’s nice to have a “highly likely” school on the list.
I was commenting on the environmental factors, not the schools themselves.
OK, that plus the Tufts reaction is probably enough then. Maybe if you end up doing a visit where it is easy to tack on an LAC, it would be worth doing that. Like if you happened to visit Minnesota, I’d be interested to see his reaction to Macalester. But if not that is fine too.
FWIW, I think both of these schools are great options given the criteria. And the tuition at Cornell is lower for in state students studying Bio or Biochemistry in CALS.
His Dad intends to drag him to Oberlin (his alma mater) on their visit to Cleveland in the spring. I’m not too hopeful, but curious to see what he thinks.
I actually don’t find the reaction to Cornell too surprising. In addition to it being a great university for this kid’s interests, I think a lively college town experience can sometimes be a not at all bad substitute for an urban environment, depending on the kid and the town.
In fact, this is making me wonder whether UMass Amherst might be worth checking out for a possible Likely option. Kinda a similar size college town, actually very popular for big music acts and such, and UMass is very good for Bio stuff without being too big (around 24K undergrads I believe).
That’s perfect. No need to beat a dead horse, but Oberlin is such an easy visit from Cleveland it makes sense as a final confirmatory visit.
If he likes Pitt I would consider it to be a very likely admit.
He likes urban (loved BU) so If really is the case, Pitt will be a winner moreso than others mentioned!!
Also has rolling admissions, which is great. If you apply early enough, usually you will get an answer before even the early deadlines, let alone RD. And they have merit and a decent honors program (not one of the super fancy ones but it means you can select one of the nicest dorms and also get priority registration, which are not small things at a public university).
Of course he may not like Pitt at all. But I think more often than not, kids who visit find themselves surprised how much they like the city itself, and then the campus is just so well-placed within it.
Given the size parameters and the preference for urban, I’d second Pitt. Great school, fun city. It also sounds like you’re not looking for any more highly rejective schools.
You may want to just go down the list of schools in cities – Temple, American, GW, Case – to see if anything leaps out as interesting.
If he likes Pitt and applies early in the process, he won’t have to add schools he likes less because he’ll hear early. If he EDs to Chicago, he could be set by mid December.
You can also think about adding in terms of how it could simplify the process.
By the way, even though Pitt and CMU are basically adjacent, the feel of CMU’s campus can be quite a bit different. Again, as long as your schedule works there is no real reason not to visit both, but I think a lot of kids actually have different reactions.
Bio stuff at CMU is also kinda nichey, although if you are looking at Biochem that may be fine. Their standard Bio major is what I would call a “red” program to begin with (so lots of molecular and micro and such). And then they have a Chemistry/Biological Chemistry BS hosted by the Chem Department.
And actually, you can cross-register between Pitt and CMU. I sometimes think this doesn’t get played up enough–like these are two very important research universities within a quick walk of each other with cross-registration, why is that not a big deal?
But I guess in practice, a lot of kids never feel the need. And there are limits, like not more than one per semester, you shouldn’t do this if the course is available at your home college, and so on. But if you are at one and it ends up there is a particular advanced subject where the other is stronger, it can be handy.
I realize that they are reaches, but is he against staying in NYC, and hence not considering NYU and Columbia?
Brandeis punches much higher in sciences than its size - he would have research opportunities there that he would not have in most other LACs.
Penn is a great match for him - with the Wistar Institute on campus, and its West Philly, walk across the bridge to Center City location, plus its size, it really checks all the boxes for him. And it’s a quick Amtrak ride home to NYC for a visit.
I really do not see how a visit to Oberlin is worth the time, for this student. It does not match any of his criteria.
Quality of life at UMass is very good - great food, good dorms. But Amherst is really just a village - has a few streets of shops and restaurants. And it is big. But plenty of good students majoring in sciences and doing research. However, I don’t see that it’s worth more than Stonybrook, for a NYS resident.
If he is willing to go look at Brandeis, you/he could probably make appointments with profs of Bio or Biochem labs, get tours of the labs, see if he clicks with any of them. Brandeis is a safety for him, but is very strong in sciences. They would treat him like a prince there.
Not sure why we didn’t think about UMass. Think we thought it was much bigger. It does seem like a potential fit, thank you!
This is good to know about CMU! His interests are definitely molecular in bio. Given the location, we should absolutely fit both schools in.
He’s really eager to get out of town, so NYU and Columbia would not work.
I went to Brandeis many years ago and liked the school but not the location, transferring out after the first year. I suspect it’s changed quite a bit, but it’ll be too small and too suburban for him. Still, I agree it’s a great school and probably should not be crossed off the list just yet.
Oberlin is really more for his dad, who hasn’t been back in 30+ years. But he might as well see it to completely rule out smaller schools.