Hey kiddos, and the kiddos’ moms! I am looking to make a college list for my counselor. I really don’t care about rankings of schools. For me, the most important criterion is that a school challenges my thought. What are the best schools for developing the mind? I want to go to a school that’s gong to"mess" me up. Right now, one of the schools on my list is UChicago. I want to a school with strong biology and creative writing programs.
Oh, and also, I am not big on having a huge courseload in college. I want a school that has challenging work (content), not one that’s gonna make me gain dependence on addys. I am a junior with decent stats. Let’s goooo!
Oh those stats are amazing! I would have to say definitely Bard, Smith College, Bates, Amherst College, Colby College… a lot of small liberal arts colleges. Do you want a small school?
Colorado College? With block schedule I believe that you only take one course at a time, so you could really delve deeply into the subject matter. My cousin (who is now a professional writer) graduated from Colorado several years ago and loved it.
I don’t know how you plan on managing to find a intellectually stimulating school that lacks academic rigor. If you don’t want a heavy workload, drop UChicago.
To clarify, it’s not that I don’t want a rigorous courseload. It’s that I value quality over quantity. I can do a lot of work, I just want to feel like all of the work I am doing is challenging me and developing me in some way. I’m not sure if I am being clear enough.
So of now, my list is: Stanford, MIT, UChicago, Reed, Amherst, Sewanee, Colorado College, USC, NYU, two in-state schools, and some other ones I forgot.
Do you guys have any more reach schools I can add?
Have you visited any schools? Have you considered size preference? rural vs suburban vs urban? Greek presence? Athletics prominence? Region of the country? My DD is a senior and is looking for intellectual rigor while also not competitive or intense. She just LOVES learning and is good at it. We have looked around a lot and I’m happy to share if you would help me narrow the field. I cannot stress enough the value of visiting schools just to get an idea of what you will like. It can be hard to imagine. For instance, my DD had no idea how much she would fall in love with the idea of tutorials until she visited Williams. DD is in EA to Reed, Colorado College, Bard and Dickinson. I strongly recommend finding some EA schools that you would be happy at so you can apply early and take the pressure off so you can enjoy your senior year as you await the rest of your results.