Conn College is not overly selective. They accept far more than half of US students (about 56%).
Their yield is quite low. Factoring out ED below 10%. So you never know. They need to offer many to get one to bite.
I don’t see it happening but the bigger concern with your income would be the NPC.
It’s $93k. Can’t imagine you getting $53k in aid. But you never know.
Yes, it is a long, long drive. What is it that you & your daughter like about it?
I guess it really depends on what part of New Hampshire one is from. Recopying the map from above:
Here are the driving times, per Google maps:
From Keene State College (southwestern NH)
Dartmouth (middle western NH)
U. of New Hampshire (southeastern NH)
So I think it really depends on how far OP’s family wants their D to be from home. But, St. Lawrence is actually closer to two of the three NH colleges (and only 3 minutes further from the third college) than Hobart and William Smith, which is on the D’s list.
For people not as familiar with NH geography, here is a map of NH colleges from Niche:
Add at least an hour to these drive times during “winter road conditions”.
I expect the OP can use Google Maps and estimate the distance from their home. An excellent option that doesn’t fit important criteria.
For the schools I recommended upthread, here are the driving times from the three NH colleges I did driving times for a couple posts up.
If remaining within about 3 hours of home is important, then among the schools I suggested, I would prioritize:
And for accessibility, here is the same driving timetable chart:
| School | Keene | Dartmouth | UNH |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clark | 1h25m | 2h27m | 1h47m |
| Connecticut College | 2h21m | 3h6m | 2h52m |
| Eastern Connecticut State | 2h15m | 2h49m | 2h47m |
| Ithaca | 5h0m | 5h35m | 6h11m |
| Kutztown | 5h41m | 6h21m | 6h46m |
| St. Lawrence | 5h7m | 4h26m | 5h56m |
| SUNY Brockport | 5h50m | 6h19m | 7h6m |
| SUNY Oswego | 4h56m | 5h23m | 6h6m |
| SUNY Plattsburgh | 3h17m | 2h20m | 3h56m |
| SUNY Potsdam | 5h0m | 4h2m | 5h32m |
I will reiterate what @tsbna44 said. Conn College is not as selective as it appears. The numbers lie. He is the one who detected this pattern with another LAC, so let me give him full credit, but I’ll explain it in more detail.
More than a third of Conn College’s applicants are international students. But they only accept 4.5% of them. This greatly decreases the overall acceptance rate to 39% from their actual 57.7% acceptance rate for domestic students. Your daughter will not be competing against the international applicants for admission. She will be competing against other applicants from the US, about 58% of whom are accepted. So, it is worth an application.
My niece’s daughter just began her 2nd year there. She loved her freshman year experience. She had planned to go to Syracuse because her acceptance there came in first and she didn’t expect to get in at Conn. But she did! It made the decision easier that she also received an unexpectedly attractive financial package from Conn College.
One of the positives about Conn College is that they work with students who have more than one strong interest area to integrate them in a way that is uniquely their own. You can read about what they call “Integrative Pathways” and “Connections” on their website.
Also, just updated the driving chart with New Paltz and Purchase which I know OP mentioned were already on the list for consideration (and I definitely would have suggested them had they not already been on the list).
And yes, OP can definitely use Google Maps for the most accurate driving time predictions for their family, but since other posters may not be as familiar with NH and the northeast colleges, I consider this more for informational purposes for the group as well.
| School | Keene | Dartmouth | UNH |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clark | 1h25m | 2h27m | 1h47m |
| Connecticut College | 2h21m | 3h6m | 2h52m |
| Eastern Connecticut State | 2h15m | 2h49m | 2h47m |
| Ithaca | 5h0m | 5h35m | 6h11m |
| Kutztown | 5h41m | 6h21m | 6h46m |
| St. Lawrence | 5h7m | 4h26m | 5h56m |
| SUNY Brockport | 5h50m | 6h19m | 7h6m |
| SUNY New Paltz | 3h7m | 3h41m | 4h27m |
| SUNY Oswego | 4h56m | 5h23m | 6h6m |
| SUNY Plattsburgh | 3h17m | 2h20m | 3h56m |
| SUNY Potsdam | 5h0m | 4h2m | 5h32m |
| SUNY Purchase | 3h25m | 4h0m | 4h25m |
and then you have Mary Washington on the list…beneath DC.
Didn’t mean to tag…sorry.
This is SO interesting. Thank you very much for explaining! It was on our original list, but I thought it was too much of a reach.
If you have assured and affordable to fall back on (and that’s likely the publics - which are a Wheaton just in case), then if there’s someone you really want to take a shot at - why not?
The worst they can say is no.
But if you want CC, then maybe applying to Wheaton ED isn’t wise - unless Wheaton would still win. Of course, I wouldn’t ED because I worry you won’t get to $40K assuredly - but that’s a different topic.
I actually hoped someone turned down my kids. Not that anyone necessarily needs to go to the hardest to get into, but it’s a nice affirmation that when you have one chance to apply to college, that you at least took a shot at more selective schools than maybe you were destined for.
It’s the assured and affordable - UMF, ECSU, MCLA - that make the chance at Wheaton and even schools that might not work - worthy of attempt.
DD went to Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania and had a very good education with excellent mentors. I’m too busy to write a long reply, but if anybody has any questions I would be happy to respond.
