You never know what can happen elsewhere too.
Up to you but unless your child wants to leave, I’d not worry. There will always be differing pockets If your student has expressed an interest it’s different.
And society will always interchange between one ideology and another.
Paging @DadTwoGirls or @gwnorth who might have suggestions on Canadian colleges that are closer to liberal arts schools. Bishop’s University might be one.
Canada has a number of small primarily undergraduate universities that are the closest we have to US LACs. I’m not as familiar with these smaller schools but if you want to go by Maclean’s listings (the Canadian version of US News) you can find their rankings here
and you can see where their reputations rank in comparison to all the universities in Canada
https://education.macleans.ca/feature/canadas-best-universities-by-reputation-rankings-2024/
While they are small, in general the universities in this category tend be less selective for admissions than the large research intensive universities. This list can give you a sense of the comparison in overall selectivity among Canada’s universities, though one thing to note is that the Canadian grading scale differs by province and is different than that of the US (though on average you can take marks in the 80-86% range to be an A-).
https://education.macleans.ca/feature/canadas-best-universities-2024-average-entering-grade/
The actual admissions average a student needs depends on the major they apply to but as Environmental Sciences as a whole doesn’t tend to be one of the more competitive programs for admission, the overall admissions average of each university can probably be taken somewhat as a proxy for what would be needed.
Mount Alison in New Brunswick frequently gets ranked in first place and I know that it’s fairly popular with Americans looking for an LAC experience in Canada. It’s also the most selective. Acadia in Nova Scotia is another popular school with Americans. Two others are Bishop’s in Sherbrooke, Quebec (it’s an English language school though and may be impacted by the recent changes the Quebec government has made to it’s post-secondary funding formula) and St. Francis Xavier also in Nova Scotia (though it’s a bit notorious as a party school).
Many of these smaller schools are located in smaller more remote communities and their student bodies and the surrounding communities tend not to be overly diverse. The universities with the greatest amount of diversity are located in or near large metropolitan centres.
For colleges like Bowdoin and Macalester would it hurt C25 to not interview?
Why wouldn’t you ?
I doubt it has much impact but the positive could outweigh the negative unless the session is a train wreck.
I’m sure kids get in with and without - but I would - and it’s easy to prepare. Mac is optional as is Bowdoin but they (Bowdoin) ‘strongly encourage’.
Put it this way because you are early enough to get one - if you don’t get in, you don’t want to wonder - is that why ? They never got to know me? And this is a chance for the student to learn. The student will need to interview to get things in life.
What Mac says:
Given that your interview will be part of your application, please consider this an opportunity to share or address anything you would like included in your application. No need to come with a resume or prepared materials, but please do come prepared to talk about yourself and to learn more about Macalester and our community!
Your interview is a time to tell us more about your background, goals, and aspirations. The interview also provides an opportunity for you to learn more about Macalester and our community in a one-on-one setting. Toward the end of the conversation, interviewees will have the chance to ask questions about Macalester and our Admissions and Financial Aid application process.
Good luck
For information on this you can view Common Data Sets, section C, for colleges of interest. Bowdoin, for example, reports that the interview is “considered” as a basis for selection.
I would interview at any school that provides the opportunity.
This is often, but not always the case. Some colleges also integrate environmental humanities with social and natural sciences while others may have environmental humanities as a standalone major. At some of the colleges on that list, especially the LACs, a student could explore a variety of disciplines and go either the disciplinary or interdisciplinary route. It’s good to look into the program. If the student wants a science focus and it’s mostly history and literature, it’s worth knowing before the student applies.
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