For CS, here is a list of offerings at some smaller schools, including LACs:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19190340/#Comment_19190340
For history, remember that history can be a very broad subject, so he may want to browse course catalogs and department web sites to get an idea of what subareas each department focuses on.
Parent of kid who only looked at east coast and midwest LACs and needed substantial (1/2 tuition) merit for us to swing being full pay – can add a few thoughts.
Denison, Wooster, Kenyon in Ohio plus Dickinson in western PA are all great ones to add to the list. Denison, Wooster and Dickinson are all a little larger, closer to 2200-2400 students, which helps with having room for kids to find their niche.
If you are willing to go further into the midwest, Earlham is a Quaker school with overlapping culture as Haverford. Kalamazoo and Knox are some of my other favorites – broad range of kids, what I refer to as the spectrum from blue hair to Vineyard Vines. We also hear great things about Centre College in KY, though never made it there to visit.
Greek life at Wooster and Knox is not traditional, drunk frat parties, (from what we hear). Denison and Dickinson and Kenyon have around 30% student participation in Greek life, and I believe all are non-residential, in that there are not separate Greek life residential facilities (though Kenyon has greek life kids clustered in the same dorm sections). From what we hear, greek life is there, but not necessary to participate in to have a social life. My kid was exploring athletic recruiting, so we attended games at all these schools – there was lots of student support at Kalamazoo, Knox and Earlham, though those campuses did not feel jocky at all – felt more like community support than sports support. Denison and Dickinson seem to us as having strong support for athletics, but also very diverse communities in terms of interests – lots of artists, social justice and other types of kids.
I agree with the comments suggesting Conn Coll might not be as good a culture fit as the summer visit suggested – my sporty/musician kid found it too split between preppy and arty, with not enough overlap between them. Keep in mind that the NESCAC schools (Bates, Conn Coll, Hamilton) as well as Haverford, Swat, will not give merit aid and I believe Haverford dropped its need-blind admissions policies, though you would want to check that. I am a BiCo community member (Bryn Mawr alum) and loved Haverford. It is a distinct community, with the importance of the Honor Code underlying the social fabric of the place.
Visiting the merit/safety schools, doing fall interviews, and applying EA to get some good admissions results with merit in hand before the end of the year is a great way to reduce stress in the fall. If your son feels that there are a couple safety/matches he would be happy attending, that takes the pressure off. Wooster has a merit predictor online, which is actually reviewed by a real Admissions person and results in a letter a few weeks later with predicted merit. My kid’s merit award at Wooster was a little higher than predicted. Kalamazoo, Knox, Earlham and Wooster all have EA, with decisions starting in late November/early December. Dickinson’s EA does not give results until Feb, which is too late to affect RD applications. Denison does not have EA, only ED 1 and 2.
Good luck, and keep up the research!
If you visit Denison as you indicate, strongly suggest your S arrange to sit in on a CS class and a History class in the area that interests him. The CS faculty at Denison were both expert and openly approachable during our visit, and I think you will come away quite impressed.
Good luck in your search. Haverford is awesome, but you will be over $250K by the time he is done with 4 years.
Maybe look into Vassar College? Has many of the qualities you’re seeking. My older one is a Sr. and has loved it.
Kenyon is more selective than Macalester IMO. It’s seen a sharp increase in applications the past few years.
Hobart may give your son merit $, but it is a fairly preppy, jocky place, so may not be the best fit. Lafayette seems to have a little something for everyone and Dickinson also has a bit of a quirky vibe (plus gives merit). I disagree with the posters dissuading you from Conn College. We did not find it to be uniformly preppy- seemed more eclectic than some other Nescacs and Patriot League schools we visited.
Re the OP’s question on SUNY’s to consider- I would give Binghampton a look. Top ranked SUNY on the Kiplinger list
http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php?table=all
and one of the top SUNYs for computer science (see also Albany)
https://tfetimes.com/2016-computer-science-rankings/
I would avoid SUNY Stonybrook. It is apparently a fairly unhappy place.
https://www.google.com/search?q=suny+stonybrook+unhappy&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=suny+stony+brook+unhappiest+school&tbas=0
Thanks especially to Midwestmomofboys, and Cold in Minny for your personal experiences with the Ohio schools - we’re looking at OWU and Wooster for class visits on a 2-day school holiday in October (and maybe squeeze in a visit to Denison) - because we are trying to add another potential good merit-aid to join Juniata on his list. Still playing with the list, but Ohio seems best bet to round it out from reach/match in Northeast, but still “driveable” from VA, though we are worried about the big fraternity presences.
Even though unlikely to help with merit, we added Mac to the list, because vibe seems so perfect. (He didn’t like religion and heavy musical presence at St Olaf, so that’s out) Still thinking about Dickinson and Allegheny, but worried about frats there too…and not sure we like any of the SUNYs…and not Hobart…so this feedback is soooooo useful Thanks!
Plus, the 8 Best college fair is this,weekend – definitely excited about the chance to practice interviews!
@CoyoteMom I didn’t realize Allegheny had that strong of a Greek presence. That might kill it for my S, it’s been hovering on the list but that isn’t ideal.
You mentioned wanting collaborative versus cutthroat. Perhaps it was a west coast east coast thing but we do have a close friend who found Lafayette too intense (as in kids not happy and a bit cutthroat) and transferred back locally last year.
I’d agree that Muhlenberg is worth looking at.
@eandesmom can you say more about Lafayette? When you say that the kids were not happy were they from a particular major or just overall? How were they cutthroat? Thanks!
@citymama9 bear in mind it is and based on only one kid so I really can’t say a whole lot other than he transferred back somewhere locally after his freshman year. For him, it was too intense and competitive, somehow just didn’t click. He did fine grade wise as far as I know but just wasn’t happy at all. I’m not sure if he changed his major from then or not, or what his current major actually is, though his long term plan is Environmental Law.
I suspect as much as anything it was a West Coast transition issue, possibly more conservative than expected, or perhaps just not as welcoming for a west coast liberal jewish kid as expected and the difference was greater than expected. I am not sure how extroverted/introverted he is and if that had an impact at all, he’s the sibling of a close friend of my S17’s. He is happy as a clam now at a local strong directional, a school he absolutely wouldn’t consider even looking at when going through the admissions process. So the good news is he’s found his spot, bad news is it does sound like the credits didn’t transfer terribly well but at least the new college is substantially cheaper.
I wouldn’t use the one data point to influence anyone else’s search though, but perhaps something to be aware of and on the lookout for.
@citymama9 - my daughter is only a freshman at Lafayette so a bit early to tell, but so far she is totally happy. She is a total hard worker and takes her studies seriously but is the furthest thing from competitive. Her fellow students seem smart but one thing we heard over and over from them when we spoke to kids individually while visiting was how collaborative and noncompetitive the kids were. So it could be an east coast/west coast thing (though my relatives in CA are some of the most competitive people I know) or perhaps was this particular kid’s personality.
My daughter is an east coast liberal jewish kid and as mentioned, so far so good. The kids she is meeting are all pretty diverse, her closest friends as of the moment (and I know it’s early so can change 10 times by xmas) are her roommate from Florida, another jewish girl from MA, one guy from PA and two guys from Seattle, so a nice mix.
So don’t rule it out - competitive and conservative were not words we personally heard when researching the school, though it’s not a hipster/boho school by any means.
As I said one data point and one kid. He did end up somewhere more boho and hipster so perhaps that was it. Not terribly so by PNW standards but more so to be sure. It’s sad, on paper it seemed perfect but he’s happy now and that’s all that matters. Perhaps it was simply too far from home. Conservative wasn’t a word he used but intense was.
@CoyoteMom if you are going to be visiting Wooster, it would be shame not to visit Denison at the same time. I think you will like it very well, and they have a terrific CS department.
Any more ideas for matches for my Son17?
Looking for smart, collaborative, but no Greek life, prefers sciencey instead of artsy, and no interest in sports nor religion. Still waiting on Oct SAT, but 31 on ACT, with 3.9 uw GPA and modest ECs.
Based on the dozen school he’s seen, this is the list:
Reach: Haverford, Brandeis
Match: Conn College
Safety: Juniata, Wheaton(MA), GMU (in state safety, though hoping for Honors College)
We are adding Carleton, Macalester, and Grinnell (all more or less “reach”; and Allegheny as another safety.)
Decided against the Ohio schools, cause in addition to History and Comp. Sci, I think school needs Enviro Sci, not just the Enviro studies as a major. Instead of a road trip to Ohio, we went back to Haverford and Brandeis, cementing them both as top choices, but neither stands out as clear winner, so no ED. Kenyon, Denison, and Wooster have fallen off the list, based on cheking through their course requiremen’s for various majors.
Based on visiting, son has rejected Wesleyan, Hamilton, Skidmore, Clark U, Ursinus, and Goucher, and Univ. Of Mary Washington. Also rejected Northeastern and Tufts earlier, while still settling on small LAC as target.
So my question is - can you think of another match-level school I should get Son to add to list, preferably in Northeast?
Son’s college counselor thinks we should add Bates, but not Lafayette, based on son’s personal preferences. I think Lafayette is more of an academic match, but probably too preppy/sports dominated.
We have 10 schools on the list. Haverford, Carleton, and Brandeis are all clearly reach schools.
Do you think Macalaster, Grinnell, and/or Bates are more matches or reaches? And if they are all reaches, can you think of another match school we should add?
Thanks - and if @myjanda (or anyone else) has more feedback on Lafayette, please share!
For a relatively low-cost safety/match, check out New College of Florida.
Academically, NCoF is one of the country’s strongest public LACs; it’s set in a beautiful location on Florida’s gulf coast; its sticker price is much lower than the private competition; it offers merit scholarships ($15K or more) to OOS students.
https://www.ncf.edu/admissions/cost-and-aid/scholarships/out-of-state-freshmen/
Grinnell is quite artsy and hippie, and some might say has a drug culture, though I don’t know for sure. Bates has an artsy element for sure, but the sporty element is more dominant. Sciences are strong, and getting stronger, IMO. Bates cares a lot about being diverse in different ways, and they admitted more girls this year, so it is probably a good reach for your son. Yes, interviewing is important, but it can be an alumni interview. His ACT is better, esepcially with the strong score in Reading. Anyway, Bates is a reach, not a match. Macalester might be marginally easier to get into than Bates for your son. Quite politically aware students, more women than men. But again, they are looking for a particular kind of student.
Agree with F &M and Dickinson as matches.
I dunno that I’d call Grinnell notably artsy or hippie on the whole, but I do think an artsy or hippie kid would feel perfectly comfortable there. Due to their emphasis on self-government, it attracts kids with an independent streak. My impression based on several visits now is the kids just look like average college kids, generally genial and talky and engaged, with neither any one overwhelming “type” nor obvious distinct subsets declaring their type.
That said, in contrast to a few other schools we visited, I didn’t see a lot of kids going full-on preppy or, a lot of girls who seemed to be obviously focused on hair and makeup. It’s a pretty casual group, but no different from generic not-too-fussy teen, at least the teens I’m used to. But if one is used to a certain fashion norm, it might feel hippyish, I guess.
For dominant Artsy/Hippie, I’d look more to Reed or Bard … and maybe segments of Oberlin.
I’d add both Lafayette (match) and Bates to the list. He has a better chance at Bates than Haverford. Being a male is going to help at Bates, the admit rate is higher for males there. Based on my schools naviance, Bates would be a match for your son’s stats, because he would submit the 31, but I do see what the other posters are saying.
Have you consider Susquehana? Swarthmore sounds like a fit, but that’s another reach.
St. Mary’s College of Maryland (part of the University of Maryland system…not a Catholic school, BTW…considered an honor’s college of the system but may be a safety/match for him.)
Small, rural, very beautiful (literally on the Chesapeake) , close-knit community, very small classes, not preppy…don’t think there are Greeks. I think classes tend toward discussion-oriented. I have never been there but a friend’s son does. I have no idea about the history department, but might be worth checking out!