<p>Thank you everybody! This is really helping me get a better sense of a lot of these schools. </p>
<p>1190, thank you so much for your post. I will be sure to take a closer look at Swarthmore, Carleton, and some of the other schools you suggest. If I may ask, what factors about Amherst, Vassar, Hamilton, and Davidson (excluding Whitman because it’s on my list for somewhat different reasons, in case I decide to stay closer to home) seem like less than a fit for me?</p>
<p>As for your “unsolicited advice”, that’s always welcome! I’ve visited Stanford, and the campus is absolutely gorgeous; it did feel rather large, though. I also visited Dartmouth over spring break (the only Ivy on a tour of Williams, Middlebury, Amhert, Bowdoin, etc. - chosen generally for a look outside the genre and specifically for geographic reasons), and it just didn’t feel quite right. Perhaps that size would feel more comfortable to me now, a year or two older than when I visited Stanford, or at a different school like Brown or Princeton with a different flavor. I’ll keep your advice in mind!</p>