Your son has a good chance at CWRU, especially if he gets his standardized test score up. My older son is there because 1. he liked the campus, 2. the school encourages and facilitates double majors and minors, 3. the schools promises lots of support for students. The campus is nice (except freshman and sophomore dorms, but new dorms may be ready in a year). My son is a MechE major with a business minor, and the school allowed him to fill his humanities requirements with business classes. Case came up a bit short on the support promise; his faculty ānavigatorā is a humanities professor who knows nothing about engineering and science tracks.
Previous comments about Case valuing demonstrated interest are on the money. The school practices yield management, and high stats students the AOs suspected were using them as a safety were deferred and invited to reapply ED II. Visit the campus, register for zoom info sessions and say you love the school in your essays.
Case is very generous with merit for strong students it wants. Many CC students, including my son, received awards equal to 50% of tuition, or even more, the year he applied.
Case is very strong in medical fields like nursing, biomed eng, etc., and they have close ties with University Hospital and The Cleveland Clinic.
On a different note, my niece was a psychology major at Gettysburg, and she loved it.
If your son applies to Pitt, make sure he applies to their honors program, which is available to all majors. It requires a separate application (Iām not sure if you apply after acceptance, or with your initial application), and students can apply any year. Pitt was one of my sonās safeties, and we were surprisingly impressed with the school.
"Right now his first choice is Haverford and weāre looking at Case Western in a few weeks which looks really good on paper. Heās highly driven academically and loves all things bio and neorology. High priority is excellent research opportunities. Also a LGBTQ theater nerd who wants to take classes in all disciplines, join a school band, take music theory, and be among intellectually curious peers. Does not want a school with primary Greek Life and party scene. (Haverford really emphasized the lack of competition on campus and student input on curriculum which he loved). "
My first thought when I read this was āwhy isnāt William and Mary on your sonās list?ā. It would be a great fit for him and a bit less of a reach than Haverford. They have great programs in the natural sciences, an emphasis on undergraduate research and wonderful theatre and music programs with courses and ensembles open to non majors. W&M is also very LGBTQ friendly, not dominated by Greek life and has a very intellectual vibe. Your description of your son is pretty much the stereotypical William & Mary student.I know you werenāt asking for other school suggestions but thought I would throw that out there. I also love the suggestions of Vassar and Oberlin.
Iām also wondering what is your sonās highest level of math? I donāt see calculus listed in his coursework. Other posters may be more knowledgeable than I am about this for a bio or neuroscience major, but lack of calculus might be an issue at some of your reach schools. I know at my kids school the guidance counselor would not indicate that a student had the highest level of rigor if they had not taken AP calculus.
I was not going to get into the weeds on coursework, but since you opened Pandoraās Boxā¦ I would think someone applying to neuroscience or bio programs would have AP Chem.
Yes, every April, this forum has letdown threads when a student has various admissions, but most or all of them are too expensive, or a parent is trying to figure out how to tell the student that they cannot go to the ones they want because they are too expensive.
I like your inclusion of Wesleyan University. It shares a lot of characteristics with Haverford; lots of STEM majors and smart athletes can be spotted taking dance and theater courses. It doesnāt have a similar Philly connection, but with 3000 students and a healthy business district within a few blocks, the scene has a relaxed buzz of its own. Itās massive, new Life Sciences complex should be close to completion by spring of 2026 (Wesleyan has one of the highest per capita levels of outside funding for research of all American LACs.)
If youāre going to look at Ohio LACs, you might throw Kenyon into the mix. A very strong theater program, very LGBTQ+ friendly, and, while itās better known for the humanities and the arts, it has solid sciences departments as well. My daughter, who just graduated, was a humanities/social science major, but two of her friends majored in Biology, had summer research opportunities, and seem to be doing very well with post graduation plans: one is starting a nursing Masterās program at Case Western, and the other has a research position at a major research university and will be applying to med schools.
My daughter also had a strong interest in theater and applied to several Midwestern LACs already mentioned here, so many of them have a similar vibe and types of students despite some differences in location and ranking. She was also involved in music (both individual instruments and an ensemble) all four years there.
One thing I like about Kenyon - they post outcomes by major which is nice. Scroll down when you open the link.
So if the school fits and Iām not sure it does, then itās good to see where kids end up.
I say Iām not sure it does because itās quite rural (although not hugely far from Columbus) but it is rather isolated and the rest of the listā¦isnāt - and not sure if thatās a consideration for OP.
But itās got merit and itās not an easy get, but likely an easier get than Haverford.
A couple of more things on Kenyon: we visited the most tippy top schools in the country, and the student panel from Kenyon was by far the best. The students were probably the most intellectual, and in some ways the most impressive.
In addition, they offer merit in early decision. They are rather transparent about their processes, and openly say that they donāt hold merit for only regular decision students. They are in need aware school, which is something to keep in mind, but they do it because they donāt have the endowment to support an entire class students of students who all need aid.
It was a terrible fit for my daughter, and we immediately crossed it off of her list, but I loved the students, the transparency of the staff, and everything else we saw. It is a special place for the right students.
I would consider adding Connecticut College to your sonās list. Itās less selective than Haverford and Vassar, plus it offers merit scholarships. Like Haverford, it has an honor code. We didnāt end up visiting, but met an admissions officer at a college fair who had strong family connections to Haverford. He said that one of the things that attracted him to Conn was that it reminded him of Haverford.
Heās taking AP chem next year, and honors pre-calc this year, not calc next as he wanted to take anatomy and stats instead. Thanks for the added insight re how these choices might impact his chances.
Iāve found that selective schools like to see Calculus so Iād encourage taking that over Stats or Anatomy. Also guessing he may need Calculus for his major and think itās much better to have had exposure before taking it in college.
That is good. Interestingly, honors pre-calc was my sonās hardest class in HS, the one that stressed him the most. I think this was partly due to the teacher, who believed in giving graded problem sets and then teaching the relavant subject matter, but it was also the material.
Yikes! A teacher can really make or break how you feel about a subject!
My son is the kind of kid who wonāt take something just to improve chances to get into college (despite lots of advice). He LOVES school (takes after my husband not me LOL),and truly wishes there were 3 more courses he could take next year (honestly I donāt even think AP calc would be one of them). But he also doesnāt care about the reputation of a school so I have no doubt heāll find a good fit and be happy!
Iām a Hopkins alum. He should apply there, test optimal unless he can get his scores up. Itās just too strong in his academic area of interest to write off. Hopkins has student theater and an excellent creative writing program. Several of my Hopkins friends have had successful careers in film/tv production. I think peopleās stereotypes of Hopkins are quite different from the actual student experience. Happy to answer more specific questions about the school.
I also love the suggestions of Vassar and Oberlin.