It is your business, but I would look at your situation differently.
You have a student with off chart IQ, executive issues, hating to write, interesed in technical subjects, and needing small and supportive environment. These are challenging criteria.
First thing I would check not beauty of the buildings or location, but core required classes in every school and ADHD support in every school.
For example, you considered Rhodes. That one should be crossed from the list immediately. Why? It has 3 writing intensive classes (instead of normal 2), ton of religious requirements (boring reading= not working well with executive issues to force yourself to do it) etc.
LACS<=> small schools.
However, many LACS by definition equivalent to a lot built-in humanitive requirements that envolve ton of boring to kids like your son reading and writing.
It is one thing to read history books that you like and totally different to read something very boring for you that is required and assigned and write numerous papersā¦
And if you look at small schools with something technical (beyond general science majors) then you have very few left. I would focus on those instead of going to ton of LACS.
@momsearcheng - Iām not sure what youāre trying to say here? That humanities requirements at SLAC are boring? This is actually extremely incorrect. Check your facts! @goldbug, youāve gotten some puzzling advice thatās really a projective test of everyoneās values, not necessarily yours or your sonās - keep your course and I love your plan for the spring!
This is not what I am sayingā¦
Lets put it that way. I am talking from some experienceā¦
Many SLAC required classes (not the ones for major) can be boring for majority of kids with profile @goldbug describes unless her child is very uniqueā¦Only she knows her son.
The ED1 and 2 acceptance rate for Fall of 2023 was around 25%. I asked during a small group discussion at the fall open house āwhat is the ED acceptance rate excluding athletesā and was told by the admission officer it would be around 20%. I was surprised it wasnāt lower than that for a non athlete applying ED.
If you might be interested in further thoughts on a few of the schools you plan on seeing during your East Coast trip, you will find brief subjective comments in this relpy: Struggling with D21's List. ED & ED2: Amherst, Hamilton, Wellesley, Vassar - #7 by merc81.
I agree ā¦ only you know your kid. But OP should ask ā¦ how many pages are kids reading, how many papers are they writing? And how much of your sonās time would be spent on classes outside his area of interest that would take up a lot of time and require executive function assistance. Even at an open curriculum school, you are expected to take classes in a wide variety of areas.
When my D was looking, she wanted academically intense, but laid back vibe. In other words, the kids arenāt competing with each other. Theyāre helping each other and supportive. But the academics are intense and classes will be challenging. Real life translationā¦ In her humanities classes, that has meant hours of reading each night and lots and lots of writing.
I always chuckle at the folks who insist their kids are going to med school but hate to read and write.
Ask any current fourth year med studentā¦ ask any resident. Ask any senior physician. My Gyn (who is in her 60ās) reads thousands of pages of medical journals, digests, clinical trials, etc. per month. And this is someone who has been practicing for almost 40 years. Her credibility with her patients, her hospital, and her colleagues does not depend on something she learned in medical school; it depends on her knowing and being able to cite the latest findings in endocrinology, psychiatry, gastro, etc. It depends on her having a granular understanding of the current protocols in chemotherapy vs. radiation plus surgery; her up to date knowledge on when to treat vs. when to wait. Not what she learned during her rotations- but what is happening right now.
She writes copiously. Lucid and well written appeals to insurance companies; executive summaries of clinical trials for the non-physicians in the practice (a few NPās, a nutritionist, several techs who are responsible for mammography and ultrasound, etc.). Detailed reports of the social/emotional health of patients who have been impacted by changes in Medicare/Medicaid funding plus (of course) her clinical findings on their medical conditions which go to state policy makers and licensing boards.
For anyone whose kid hates to read and write- boy, med school, residency and practicing is going to be one long and painful slog. There is a reason why colleges AND med schools have distribution requirements, and itās not to cheese off the parents who just want their kid to get their ticket punched before the next stage of their hamster wheel.
How about sharing some notes and reactions from the trips?
Check out these posts (I may have missed some, but youāll get the idea):
#215 & 216
#234 & 235
#244
#260
As an interesting aspect regarding a possible East Coast travel itinerary and geosciences, a physiographic province known as the Great Valley nearly connects Hamilton and Vassar. This makes for particularly smooth traveling between these points. For the curious, this featureās southern terminus can, I believe, be found in Alabama.
My advice for a spring break is to continue to find excellent cocktails to rave about - my hope is you increase the ratio!!
From your ābasic planā - I think you can cut some of the formal tours, donāt force two in a day. You have already done a lot.
-
Maine and Bates- Enjoy the coastline, check out LL Bean, enjoy family those couple of nights.
-
Head to Worcester, but on your way stop in Portsmouth, NH that morning for a yummy pastry and strong coffee at Elephantine https://maps.app.ā ā ā ā ā ā /mYoZ8FcjhZAAkFdPA?g_st=ic
Or Lilās in Kittery (boys may appreciate California level Juicery next door)
https://maps.app.ā ā ā ā ā ā /h2oFWz1YnZiCftih8?g_st=ic
Since you pulled off 95, before getting on 495 to Worcesterā¦drive 15 minutes inland to check out UNH. And add a safety/likely onto your trip that is still ānearishā family. The train stops on campus on the way to Maine.
This little side trip only adds an hour before you hop onto 495 at the Massachusettās border.
In Worcester, do the rounds, but based on your previous reviews, I am not sure any will make the cut. I like WPI as the outlier. You might be able to stay West of Worcester and get a jump on your next day of adventures.
3-4. Skidmore-Union-Vassar - maybe cut/consolidate there. Can you stay in one place for the two nights just to give yourself a break?
-
Wesleyan, maximize your visit with family and friends and drive by other colleges if it works out. But enjoy yourself.
-
Boston. Return the rental car and check into a nice hotel. Find the pastries and fresh pasta in the North End. Let them go explore while you relax, find cocktails, or do a little retail therapy.
A fun way to self-tour Wesleyan University is to count how many distinct architectural styles you can identify on this famously eclectic, nearly 200 y/o campus.
And starts in Canada!
Vassar is in ā3ā, the Hudson River Valley, and Hamilton is up the 2 branch, the Mohawk Valley. I note Middlebury is up 1, the Champlain Valley. Union is also in 2, closer to the branching point, Skidmore is in 1 just north of the branching point, Bard is in 3 closer toward Vassar . . . .
Did I miss something? Does OPās son consider premed?
Thanks, yāall. I appreciate the feedback and ideas.
I had a long draft with answers to peopleās questions and explanations for some of the choices weāre considering but honestly ā Iām oversaturated w/ admissions considerations right now and need to do more of the real-world planning and work (and less in this tantalizing online universe, which feels like productivity but can actually delay the stuff that needs to get done.)
Thereās a lot of information asymmetry in these discussions ā many of you know more about the way these admissions cycles tend to play out; I know more about my kid and what heās capable of (and how heās evolving, rapidly, in real time). So, for example, while I think heās probably correct in determining that a writing-heavy humanities major wouldnāt be as great a choice for him, that doesnāt mean he wants a school that somehow exempts him from learning to write or taking a range of humanities classes. Heās not that delicate a flower!
I tend by nature to be fairly risk averse and I used to do admissions consulting (albeit for business schools, not undergrad) for a living ā so Iām unlikely to encourage DS to overreach. What I donāt know yet and need to understand better is how students from his high school with his profile have been faring in post-pandemic admissions cycles. Naviance only gets one so far ā we need guidance from the school.
His thoughts on what he wants to do are evolving constantly and figuring out how to ensure that he lands somewhere that will give him options is my current overriding concern (along with trying to maximize the next six months of discernment so that he can home in on what he does or doesnāt need in a school.)
I just gotta say that that part that I quoted, thatās EXACTLY where I am with my junior son right now. He thinks he kinda sorta maybe knows what heās interested in, but Iām not terribly confident that doesnāt change. So I want him to have good choices that allow for some flexibility. Considering that my older son was very clear on what he wanted, and nearly rigid in his requirements, Iām finding this flexibility very different and, frankly, something harder to help navigate.
It has always been helpful to me to remember (and tell my kiddos) what I thought I wanted out of life when I was 16-17-18-19, how rapidly that changed, and how TOTALLY wrong I was about what would end up being my long-term goals. 
My studentās short list was whittled down to Bates, Wesleyan, Vassar and Emory and she settled on Bates. The first three have a lot in common.
Two of my D23ās top three choices in the end were Bates and Wes (she also decided on Bates) ā so you must be right that if one appeals, all typically do.
Similarly, my sonās ED1 was Vassar and ED2 was likely to be Bates (he was also considering Tufts), but was accepted to Vassar for fall 24.