That’s very good to know. Thank you!
I do, thank you! I’m thinking she might prefer a larger school for this reason.
I am thinking this as well, particularly Rochester. This seems like a very good target school for her. We will need to visit in person but it certainly seems like a strong contender.
I will continue to mention St Olaf to her as well and we will prioritize a visit if she’s interested.
I appreciate all of the generous feedback. I’m feeling significantly less overwhelmed about this process. Everyone’s input has been helpful. Thank you.
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My son did not visit St. Olaf until he was admitted. That said, he interviewed and he attended a local admissions event where he connected with the admissions officer. Demonstrated interest counts.
He was admitted to several liberal arts schools that don’t offer merit. We ultimately decided it was not worth paying full price. (We are taking a different approach with his younger brother and saving the time and energy). He’s quite happy at St Olaf and seems to be having a comparable experience to his close friends who are paying full freight at Tufts, USC, and Colorado College.
As another parent noted, there’s easy access to the airport with several flights/airlines. (We live 1,700 miles away and his total travel time on a busy post-Thanksgiving Sunday was under 6 hours).
Just a word of caution, Yale is quite intense. My son’s buddy is pretty miserable there.
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I appreciate all the helpful insight. Yale wasn’t on our original list and I have some regrets about visiting. This is all such a strange process.
I’m happy to hear your son is enjoying St Olaf! Thank you for sharing your experiences.
I won’t quote myself upthread. But “intensity” is a function of the kid, the major, the future career goals, etc. None of the kids I know at Yale now or recent graduates would describe the place as intense. None of them are gunning for law or med school however- which means they get to study and learn and participate and volunteer and dance and sing and whatever without worrying about protecting their GPA or signing up for the “right” activities to impress a recruiter at Goldman Sachs down the road…
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St. Olaf has a maximum merit of $42,000. The highest academic merit is $36k. They offer fine arts scholarships for art, dance, music, and theater that range from $2k-$12k.
St. Olaf’s full cost of attendance (without merit) is also $10k-$15k less than the other schools the OP is looking at.
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I wanted to circle back and briefly share some thoughts from our recent visit to MA/RI in case it’s helpful for others.
We visited Amherst College, Holy Cross, Clark University, Boston College, Tufts, Harvard, Brown and Providence College.
Her favorites, by far, were Amherst College and Holy Cross. Different campuses and different student bodies, but she felt very comfortable at both places. They are now at the top of her list.
Amherst was an adorable town and campus. Pleasant in every way. I may try to encourage an application to UMass Amherst as well.
We were all incredibly impressed with Holy Cross- beautiful campus and facilities. It’s at the top of the list for all 3 of our kids at this point. Her younger brother, an athlete, was ready to move in. I can imagine that Holy Cross appeals to a wide range of students. The students we saw seemed very happy. D was most impressed with the Performing Arts building and said she could happily spend every day there 
D was lukewarm on Tufts and Brown, didn’t dislike but didn’t like them as much as the other two. These two schools felt very similar, imo. Although overall, I think Amherst and Brown have the nicest campus/town QOL opportunity.
Clark, Boston College, Harvard and Providence did not appeal to her. Personally, I loved BC’s campus and setting. Her younger sister did as well and is keeping it on her list. Providence was a lovely campus, with beautiful athletic facilities. Staying on the list for her siblings.
Worth noting, for others, is how different one LAC can feel from the next. She did not care for Wesleyan, Swarthmore or Vassar, but can see herself at Amherst College or Holy Cross. I think this suggests Hamilton and Williams should be kept as possibilities, though we may not visit.
I’m hoping we can visit U Rochester, William and Mary and U Vermont in person. Ohio schools seem to have fallen off the list.
This is all a strange and exhausting (and expensive!!) process. But the in-person campus visits have been very helpful. BTW, all of our campus visits thus far have been self-guided. We try to visit the student commons and dining halls. We will do formal tours after acceptances come in.
I hope some of this feedback can help others.
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All of these colleges have net price calculators. You might want to run those for an estimate of your net costs. Some net price calculators do ask for stats and some do include merit aid in the results. Others don’t.
Re: Holy Cross. We know personally a number of very happy students both now and who have graduated. There are posters in this forum who have multiple kids at Holy Cross.
Holy Cross is a Jesuit college. One of our kids graduated from a different Jesuit college. We honestly think the Jesuits have higher education well crafted. And their mission to give back to the community is a worthy one that is woven throughout the schools.
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Long time Holy Cross fan.
Agree with Thumper that the Jesuits “do” higher ed very, very well. And Holy Cross attracts a terrific student body. Great place for a kid with serious intellectual interests who doesn’t want a huge campus; great place for a kid who wants to be involved in the community at large (tons of volunteering opportunities). I believe that if it were closer to Boston it would be impossible to get into these days…
The great thing about most of the Catholic colleges- the faculty is there to teach. Yes to all the other stuff- but they love to teach.
Amherst is also a very special place. For some kids the location is a draw, for others it’s a negative, but the college itself is a “buzzing” place with tons to do and to get involved with.
Glad the trip has been useful!!!
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Some thoughts as a parent of two Holy Cross kids. Each was introverted and reserved. HC brought out the best in them.
DD is a paralegal in a large firm. The program was fairly competitive - she and another young lady were selected from 50 initial candidates. HC alumni at the firm played a very helpful role.
DS: Graduating in May and headed to the Army as a Field Artillery officer. Also, in a few weeks he’ll be at a think tank seminar presenting a summary of a paper on Yandex and Putin. Small class and dedicated professor were the key factors.
Just showing what the rigorous but supportive HC community helped facilitate. I don’t think this would have happened at a large university.
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Thank you for all of the great feedback about Holy Cross!
RPIguy91- I’m happy to hear your kids have had such a great experience there. We felt nothing but positive energy during our brief visit.
I started this college search thinking a liberal arts college might fit D’s interests and personality. Both Amherst College and Holy Cross felt like good environments to her. Thank goodness We still have more to see but her little list is starting to take shape.
Thank you again to everyone on this thread for all of the helpful input.
I’m late to the discussion, but I think you should consider exploring Centre College in KY. It’s about 45 min from the Lexington, KY airport. It’s a CTCL college, small, has a BIG music & arts program. Really great auto merit scholarships + music scholarships are available for non-music majors.
We toured there in Feb of last year when D24 was auditioning for a vocal/choir scholarship. The music professors we spoke with were great.
they guarantee you’ll graduate in 4 yr. Every student is required to complete at least 1 ‘enhanced learning experience’ before graduation (study abroad, internship, or research project w/a professor).
DH, D24, & I got a strong vibe of non-political on campus. Very accepting & middle of the road. Being a college campus, leans left politically in a red state, but it didn’t seem like the sort of place where you’ll have to walk through groups of angry protestors to get to class. People there were very down to earth. The college is walking distance to downtown Danville…which is super safe & adorable, very charming.
there’s also a hospital that’s walking distance from campus…as an FYI.
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I’m a Williams grad who found my 4 years there life changing in all ways good. However, my D preferred Amherst to my initial consternation. Though she ended up elsewhere, she loved Amherst’s campus and college student-centric energy of the Pioneer Valley and found the Town “utterly charming” (her words) in comparison to “teeny-tiny” Williamstown. She thought the area including nearby Northampton had a lot to offer a college student. The open curriculum and the Science Center were also big plusses for her. We have a close family friend whose D graduated from Amherst as a double major (apparently very easy to do with the open curriculum) with math being one and had an amazing 4 years there.
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FWIW, many Williams students double major. My daughter has friends double majoring in math and poli sci; math and religion; Spanish and history; plus many studio art majors pair it with another discipline. If it’s any consolation, my daughter didn’t apply to Amherst after visiting. (I still don’t get it–loved both schools.)
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Agreed about double majoring at Williams. I had friends who did it while I was there last century. It’s just easier at Amherst. I attended Amherst Commencement last year and was surprised by the number of TRIPLE majors in the class (and I got to sit next to the one and only James Taylor whose son was graduating)!
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Huh. Mick Jagger’s son was at my daughter’s graduation last year but he (Mick) was in a VIP section - us ordinary humans were not allowed to sit close 
(Not Amherst obviously)
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HC also has an incredibly involved alumni network. One of my HS friends went there and still does alumni events and helps out students. It was on S24s early list but didnt make it to the final one. I do think they have a good music program but not robust.
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Agreed S24 is double majoring in math and physics and still is very involved in music. The music program has absolutely great and he is really happy there, even with the awful weather!
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