College Decision

stpaulmnboy
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 18:43:01 +0000

Hi all - my son has a somewhat similar mix and I am happy to review our results/thoughts:

FYI - 3.9 GPA (UW) and 34 ACT
Wanting to study psych, and also business with a focus toward sustainability
From St. Paul, MN - white male with dyslexia and good activities, volunteerism etc
A little geeky academically but also outdoorsy (track, wilderness camper, big skier & climber)

Applied to:
Stanford - no
Brown - no
Grinnell - waitlisted
Macalester - yes with $15k in merit
Kenyon - yes with no aid
Whitman - in with $13k merit
Willamette - in with $24k merit
Puget Sound - in with $22 merit (accepted to Business Leaders Program - considered Honors but went for BLP)
Clark Univ - in with $22 merit
Univ of Vermont - in with $20k merit (accepted to honors college)
Beloit - in with $25k merit
Univ of San Francisco - in with $22k merit

We visited most - did not make it to Grinnell, Kenyon, or Beloit. Not surprisingly his favorite campuses were Stanford, Brown, Whitman, Puget Sound. Vermont surrounding area is amazing but the actual campus was surprisingly utilitarian - a lot of buildings in a relatively small footprint and not a lot of tree cover, etc.

First phase of ruling out - Beloit (too small & remote for him); Kenyon (no help); Willamette (didn’t love Salem location); Clark (interesting choice - strong psych, in consortium with Holy Cross & Worcester Poly Tech, potential of free 5th year to do combined masters…but he couldn’t see himself in Worcester).

Next phase of ruling out - UVM - hardest one to let go so far - residential honors college, good size, business school, huge environmental focus, strong disability services support, great location for outdoorsy skier like him, and most affordable of the group besides Beloit. However - he is pretty clear at this point that if he’s leaving home he wants a smaller community to be part of. His high school class is only 40 students - crazy small. So 1,500 - 3,000 total students is actually big for him. At 12,000 UVM was deemed too large. (His DAD would LOVE to go there!)

USF - sort of a weird choice that he even applied, in this Dad’s opinion. But he loves San Fran, his Aunt lives there along with friends, and he knows a friend who is there and loves it. They have good business program and an architecture school which he had an interest in and maybe still does. They were simply too urban (65% live off campus), too large for him, and we were concerned about whether the peer group & rigor would be a fit.

Finalists & why:
Macalester - highest ranked, decent aid, good fit for peers & rigor, close to home (almost too close though), has friends already there or accepted, strong psych dept, strong local alumni network and internship opptys. Negatives - not as outdoorsy at Whitman, almost too uniformly liberal (even though he’s pretty liberal himself), no business classes (would focus on certain Econ courses instead), urban setting OK but not ideal, campus OK but not as nice as other two, and of course expensive.

Whitman - also very highly ranked - best fit for peer group & rigor (outdoorsy, laid-back but also very high achieving student body - perfect fit here), strong psych, strong activities on campus and off, great campus, pretty setting and great reviews from Niche and College Confidential. Concerns - too remote? Greek scene sounds less intense than many schools but it’s still there and helps define social scene a bit; ability to connect with alums and/or get internships or research seems like a variable, no formal business classes and same cost as Mac + we’d have to budget more travel expenses.

Puget Sound - Business Leaders program sounds pretty interesting - trying to talk with folks in the program or who have completed it (may post again after this happens), great location - sort of a nice compromise between urban and rural, great campus, very outdoorsy and enviro focused, good combination of liberal arts experience with practical business training, and costs $10k less than other two choices. Concerns - not as good of a fit as Mac or Whitman for peers & rigor (hoping the BLP solves for this to some extent), reviews are largely positive but a bit more mixed.

Those are the bullets. Hope the summary is helpful to others!