No, it isn’t. I think because some of the issues that they have defended have been conservative causes it makes it seem that way, but some of the colleges they are hardest on are more conservative schools. Hillsdale and Baylor for example are given their lowest rating.
FIRE is currently defending anti Israel protests on campus and against a bill in Oklahoma to ban “furryism” in public schools. 
They’re kind of like the ACLU in that they make very few people happy all of the time.
FIRE has a history of being both a sword and a shield. A shield, if you happen to be in favor of uninhibited free speech; a sword, if you are a conservative in need of further evidence of the degenerate nature of elite colleges (which is odd when among the many things conservatives disapprove of is uninhibited exploration of all things sexual.)
I would vote to keep Brandeis on the schedule. Although technically not a LAC it is the second smallest R1 institution and it feels a lot in size and structure like a LAC. My D22 loved it. Best moss of any school she visited, if that is helpful info. She was looking for an open curriculum with two very different possible/dual majors (Latin & Computer Science), a welcoming environment and a non-sporty school. (The non-sporty was important for her because she was going in as a recruited athlete and didn’t want that to be what defined her in college. So she wanted a school where sports are what you do for fun, not something the school rallies around.) She ended up at Vassar. She thought the Brandeis vibe was very similar.
I’d have him really research WPI. Watch all the Youtube videos. If he’s committed to STEM, it is so different from everything else you’ve looked at that it would be worth keeping it. If you are going to Clark anyway, I’d spend the time even if he’s only about 50% sure about STEM at the moment. It would be a shame for him to decide he wanted to go the STEM route in the end and have missed out on seeing WPI if the project-based learning interests him at all. It was one of our favorite tours because it highlighted how student-centered they were. I also know quite a few kids with social anxiety that did well there. On the other hand, if he’s a firm no on the quarter system or project-based learning, it’s one to cut.
Clark is another school that has a history of doing well with kids with social anxiety.
Conn. College and Wesleyan would be easy from Worcester.
If he’s saying he likes California, I’m not sure he’d like the remoteness and cold of Bates/Bowdoin and Colby.
My S23 and I both really liked WPI! I would have been happy for him to end up there. They have some really neat programs and the study abroad for STEM kids is pretty neat.
I think his California preference comes down to lack of awareness of other options (and hearing his peer group talk about shooting for Harvey Mudd, Stanford, and UCLA/Berkeley/UCSB). Thing is, some of them have the grades/stats to pull off those schools (he almost certainly doesn’t.) Others are going for engineering and want to go to Cal Poly. Again – if he were sure that was what he wanted to do, it could be a great choice. But he’s really not.
There’s also this:
We recently did an updated neuropsych evaluation for him (he was diagnosed w/ ADHD in 4th grade and it was time to re-evaluate) and I met with the evaluator today to get the results. Her feedback: on standard IQ tests he is brilliant (like, 95-99.9th percentile in all categories). He is way behind on executive function skills, which also affects his writing ability. His English teacher reported that he was an average student who barely talks in class (so we won’t be asking that guy for a reference. Bullet dodged!) And while he doesn’t meet the clinical diagnostic standards for social anxiety, he is very shy/slow to warm up. She strongly, strongly recommended sending him to a school with small class sizes where he won’t fall through the cracks and will be seen by faculty (even if he doesn’t necessarily want to be seen at first.)
I’d love to send him to the Oberlin or St. Olaf or Kenyon or Macalester of California but I don’t think those places exist – there are the Claremont Schools (which seem to be more rejective) and Occidental and then places like Loyola Marymount/Santa Clara etc. None of these options is necessarily bad and we’ll definitely visit Occidental…but we have to cast a broader net. Some of the places on our list to visit (e.g. Bates, Wesleyan, maybe Colorado College) would be huge reaches based on admit rates – but if he really loves them, he can throw his hat in the ring in the first ED cycle. This is also part of my impetus to visit – I wouldn’t want him to apply ED to a school site unseen.
I would love him to consider WPI if he is thinking seriously about engineering. But given how all over the map he is right now about what he might major in (one month history, one month physics, one month bio), I’m a little reluctant to push a school that restricts his ability to shop and explore (or a school that is hyper-specialized in one area or another.)
He’s likely to major in some sort of quant field (I think the one thing he is fairly certain about is not wanting to do a writing-intensive major) but he is unsure about which field that might be. Right now he likes his physics teacher and is doing well in physics so when people ask him what he wants to do, that’s his standard answer. Three months ago he was talking about history. He liked the idea of the middle eastern studies major at Rhodes. At Macalester, a great wildlife bio lecture led him to decide maybe he should do bio instead. And he’s still never taken a social science class (e.g. econ, psych) or an earth science class. Next year he’s taking three science courses (AP Bio, AP Physics C, and a new biotech elective) so that might help with the discernment process but I fully expect him to be undecided until the 11th hour sophomore year.
FYI, when we visited Occidental (with my D23, who was interested in many of the schools you are visiting), we were really impressed. Fantastic LAC, highly respected, smart kids, lovely campus, and a somewhat higher acceptance rate than many of the more selective schools on your list. If he wants small classes and a California vibe, that could be it. Check out the 3-2 engineering program.
Schools with distribution requirements could be great for him. They’ll give him a reason to sample at the college level. At many schools, the best faculty teach the intro classes as it’s how they interest students in their department and major. Something to consider, in any case.
It will be interesting to see if with time to reflect and look further into options he gets more enthusiastic about going to LAC-land for college (and I agree the sheer number of options in the Upper Midwest and Northeast is unrivaled).
By the way, I again immediately thought of Kalamazoo as you were describing both the type of college that might be good for him and his exploratory spirit. Can’t visit them all, but I wonder if they might be worth an RD application anyway.
Edit: I meant to also address the influence of peers. To me, it has been interesting to watch it come and go, and come and go again, and so on. My ideal would be for peers to simply be supportive of each other’s individual journeys. And then of course the reality is they can casually stomp on emerging possibilities with crude and often massively ill-informed negative takes. But I feel like at least if the adults in their lives are being properly supportive, the overall trend can be positive, and hopefully end in a place where it is really only the incurable jerks still talking down about other colleges.
So we’ll see, but my own experience was peer conversations changed a lot from where you are at to where, say, the HS Class of 24 kids are currently at. And I think even the latter are still in process.
If your son really is wanting to stay in California, these are some schools that he might want to look into that all have ABET-accredited engineering programs. I’ve added some of the California publics in for reference. Cal State Chico is not an impacted campus, and only nursing and music recording arts on impacted majors, so he’d have flexibility to switch majors here, I believe (@ucbalumnus or @gumbymom can confirm). Additionally, there’s an honors program that might be able to eliminate or minimize any of the large classes here.
| School | Classes under 20 | Classes 20-49 | Classes 50+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| U. of San Diego | 43% | 57% | 0% |
| Santa Clara | 44% | 56% | 0% |
| U. of the Pacific | 44.3% | 48.8% | 6.9% |
| Cal State: Chico | 37% | 55.9% | 7.1% |
| Cal Poly: SLO | 19% | 70% | 12% |
| UC - Merced | 28% | 46% | 27% |
If he’s willing to forego engineering in undergrad, then I’d take a look at these schools (for some easier gets than most of the Cali schools you mentioned):
| School | Classes under 20 | Classes 20-49 | Classes 50+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| California Lutheran | 69.3% | 30.5% | 0.2% |
| Occidental | 70% | 30% | 0% |
| U. of Redlands | 64% | 36% | 0% |
| Whittier | 66% | 34% | 1% |
Also, if you look at the Common Data Sets you can see how the class sizes compare in greater detail, i.e. they’ll list how many classes for 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, because a 25 person class is a lot different than a 45 person class in terms of attention and falling through the cracks.
If shown on class schedules at a given school, class sizes are best found there for the specific classes the student is likely to enroll in.
Not California, but are you looking at PNW LACs? Lewis and Clark, Willamette, Whitman, Puget Sound…
Could have written much of this about my kid, who is at Bates (and we looked at many of the schools you’ve been visiting the past few weeks). Reach out if you want any feedback!
Whitman sounds like a great idea for OP
Just a note on class sizes… My kid preferred smaller classed because he felt like he needed the engagement. He felt like he’d drift off in a more passive setting.
Having said that, there are profs who are incredibly good “performers” and who can hold the attention of an “audience”. They are often very popular, and their classes are filled and often as a result, large. At a few of the colleges we visited ( including at parent’s and admiited students days), these included classes on Music History, Yiddish Literature, and History of the Holocaust. They were more like live PBS shows.
The advice to check on the classes you plan to take is excellent. And also consider whether small is necessarily better for each.
Oh, definitely. Feeling especially bullish on Whitman (and have heard from many satisfied UPS customers). We’ll probably do those trips next year.
We’ve been to Whitman 3 times as it was a top contender for my D24. Happy to answer any questions and glad to hear you’ll visit. She also loved Lewis and Clark so can speak to that too.
I can’t remember if you mentioned anything about it, but have you considered Cornell College in Iowa. Same One Course at a Time concept as Colorado College, but an easier admit. Impossible to get lost in the crowd or fall through the cracks when you are in a small class with the same professor for 6 hours a day for 3 1/2 weeks. Good for kids that struggle with executive functioning if they have trouble juggling multiple assignments and great for kids that really like to immerse themselves in one subject at a time. It’s easier to make friends and get to know people when you see them every day.
Cornell College (IA) is a hidden gem. Another of those colleges that, were it located differently, would be on everyone’s list. As it is, it is in a very cute little town, full of trees (does not have the “middle of a cornfield” appearance) … VERY close to Iowa City and all of the restaurants/shops you could ever want. For my money, a much better location than Grinnell.