So right now their to 4 are:
Bowdoin
Colby
Macalester
Amherst
We have not visited Middlebury, Oberlin, Vassar, or Wesleyan. How do you think they compare to C25’s top 4 for environmental science/studies, queer friendliness, outdoorsy opportunities? Thanks.
What kind of outdoorsy are you talking ?
Has she spoken to student ambassadors at each school ? They might have lgbtq kids to speak with.
They really like hiking. Kayaking is fun. They’ve seen cool photos of ice climbing. They’ve never been skiing but I assume they are up for trying.
I’d personally move Mac lower although lots outdoors in MN. But no mountains.
But will be plenty of hikes and water.
She can visit all. Look on alltrails.com near all.
Always fun to crowdsource these questions, though obviously we’re all just speaking from our individual experiences and impressions! My take:
Queer friendliness: Oberlin, Vassar a clear top two, followed closely by Macalester. I think that the NESCAC schools are obviously queer friendly as well, but I would suspect that their % queer students would be somewhat lower (which might manifest itself in the dating scene) (exception to this - depending upon the identity of your child- would be Amherst’s connections with Smith and Mt. Holyoke)
Outdoorsy Opportunities: I’m reading this to mean proximity to outdoors recreation, not campus preserves and research ops? If so, Middlebury is hard to beat (unless you’re not into snow skiing). Ironically, Oberlin is the closest of this set to a national park - Cuyahoga - though otherwise people do not associate northern Ohio with recreation. Macalester is near beautiful Mississippi River urban parks, but it is hard for the midwestern two to compete with the proximity to mountains and coast of the NE schools. Might be worth specifying what type of outdoor recreation - whitewater rafting? hiking? downhill skiing? cross-country skiing? sea kayaking? rock-climbing? road-biking? Mountain biking? and then thinking about the schools with that in mind (ie - I’m an avid canoer and kayaker, but could care less about skiing or rock-climbing or biking)
Edit: see that you just mentioned hiking and kayaking 
I think I’ve mentioned in this thread or elsewhere that Oberlin and Middlebury are the two most widely regarded SLACs for environmental studies/sciences - but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get a superb ES/S education at any of these top 8.
Bowdoin, Colby, and Middlebury are probably strongest for outdoorsy activities, as all have very active outdoors clubs, which organize trips and loan equipment. But the others might have this resource, too – I’m not sure, and you should check. I know central Mass, the Hudson Valley, and Minnesota are great for hiking, canoeing, and kayaking (I know less about Ohio). Minnesota doesn’t have the mountains, of course, but it has a very strong outdoorsy culture: hiking, camping, river-and-lake-based activities. Believe it or not, you can ski near any of these places (it’s not Vermont, but the upper Midwest actually has a lot of options especially good for beginning skiing, and great for cross-country). The culture of Wesleyan strikes me as a little less outdoorsy, but I’ve lived in Connecticut and I spent a lot of time hiking, skiing, and sailing, so I know the opportunities are there.
For LGBT+ friendliness, Vassar, Oberlin, Wesleyan, and Macalester stand out to me (Minneapolis is a very queer-friendly city). Probably Amherst, too, because that part of Mass is known to be very welcoming. It would be worth contacting students from LGBT+ orgs at each school to ask more.
For ES, they are all very strong. Vassar might have the least distinctive ES program, but you can still great a great ES education there. Bowdoin has a brand new science center that includes resources for ES (plus its coastal studies center), Wesleyan has a college devoted to interdisciplinary ES, Vassar and Colby both have natural preserves on their campuses that they use for ES field work. I know less about Amherst but can’t imagine it deosn’t offer great opportunities. Oberlin is outstanding.
Thank you for all the info. They are pretty much done with their EA and ED applications. When they are bored before school starts I think they will look at the course catalogs some more - that’s how they came up with their top 4. I think they are particularly interested in ecology and animal/plant science and conservation.
My fear is you put all this time and energy into this list - that your student will hear from Bowdoin, get in - and then it’s all over.
You’ll be shut out from the full acceptance season !!
Ok. Yes the ED acceptance is paramount. Kidding on the rest but I do notice that some do feel left out while others get to celebrate over and over.
Wesleyan is right across the river from some pretty ancient stone quarries. People are forever trying to make an ongoing, outdoor attraction out of them: Portland Brownstone Quarries (whatidoo.com)
but for pure, spontaneous fun there’s nothing quite like sliding down Foss Hill after a heavy snow:
Wes is also extremely lgbtq+ friendly.
Apparently this was such a fun task that they didn’t wait to be bored during the week. According to their complicated color-coded system, Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby have the best classes. 
Yes, there are actually quite a few ski areas in the Twin Cities metro area. Not towering mountains, of course, but very convenient for quick, fun ski trips.
Of course Middlebury owns its own ski slopes, so . . . .
With respect to a social aspects, this may depend on how strongly your child wants an attribute to represent a defining element of the school. To use a parallel example, Oberlin was associated with the underground railroad and was early to the education of African Americans at a time when most New England LACs still had generations of archaic policies in their future. Nonetheless, schools such as Bates, which was founded by abolitionists under regional opposition, and Wesleyan, which has for decades been open to various forms of progressive ideas, represent exceptions to this. As an opinion regarding Bowdoin, however, its prominent taxidermy manifests an anthrocentrism inconsistent with environmentalism.
Okay, after a deep dive into course catalogues and weighing whether schools require foreign language C25’s list order changed a little bit.
ED:
Bowdoin
EA:
Lewis and Clark (later notification)
Macalester
St Olaf
University of Vermont
RD:
Amherst
Bates (possible EDII)
Carleton
Colby
Middlebury
Oberlin
Pitzer
Skidmore
Vassar
Wesleyan
With the top 7 being:
Bowdoin
Bates
Wesleyan
Colby
Oberlin
Middlebury
Macalester
Oddly none of those 7 not on their ED/EA list have supplemental essays.
Macalester had an optional essay question for my S24, something like why Mac? Maybe that’s not the case this year. Good luck!
Has she loaded each and reviewed in common ?
Yes, Mac has a supplemental but it’s an EA school for them. It’s weird that all their ED/EA schools had supplementals but their next favorite group of RD don’t have any. Yes, checked in Common App.
I’m pretty sure you said she visited Bowdoin, but I can’t remember whether she’s visited Bates? I would be really cautious about applying ED to any school without a visit. Given her stats, she’s very likely to get in to Bates if she applies ED, so I’d just want to make sure she’s gotten a feel for the place. Same goes for Wesleyan, Colby, etc., if she considers them for ED2. Course offerings and language requirements are helpful for narrowing a list, but I don’t think you want to make an early formal commitment to a school—taking all other options off the table—without meeting people, seeing the campus, understanding the setting (rural, town, etc.).
We have visited Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, and Macalester. Haven’t been to Middlebury, Oberlin, or Wesleyan.
So how impossible will ED1 be at Bowdoin for a non athlete? I’m guessing no worse than RD, right?
How likely would it be that they get into one of their top 4 choices?
Bowdoin ED
Bates
Wesleyan
Colby
Just a mom freaking out. Thanks.
