Any college recs for A- / 31 ACT student with many AP classes and decent activities:
(notes: this is a boy from Virginia, intellectual, outgoing, plays guitar, likes sports, NOT into religion, reads political philosophy books (like Marx and Noam Chomsky) for fun; any budget is OK, but colleges known to give merit money are always appreciated!)
goal is major in sociology with possible career in law / social justice / advocacy
students: cool (e.g., not too many cape-wearing Quidditch players - not that thereās anything wrong with that!) intellectuals, interested in discussing ideas
students: open-minded, friendly, passionate, care about social justice issues
size: small, medium, or large - but must have small discussion classes
great professors: challenge students and make you think
NOT too many rich preppy kids; not Catholic; not much Greek life (some OK)
āCoolā means different things to different people. But, you will find a subset of students like you describe at many schools.
In addition to the two good recs above, research these schools (they are all different, at varying levels of selectivity and some may have too much greek life for you) Oberlin, Richmond, Hamilton, Bates, Tufts, Villanova, Lafayette, Bard, Macalester, Haverford, Villanova, Dayton.
Iām not putting large schools on the listā¦because classes are often taught by TAs (some offer smaller breakout sections taught by profs), but again you will find subsets of kids at all the flagship schools that fit your criteria.
If female, look at Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Bryn Mawr.
If you define ācoolā you will get more nuanced suggestions. I actually have no idea what kind of ācoolā you are referencing.
If Catholic appeals to you (building off of some of MWfanās suggestions) Iād swap out Villanova and look at Holy Cross- in my neck of the woods, Villanova is indeed a ārich kids schoolā whether preppy or not- and Holy Cross attracts a much more social justice warrior/intellectual type.
Our kids sounds similar though mine doesnāt care about sports (despite having been a varsity athlete for 4 years). I donāt know how to link to the post where I got suggestions but you can search for it āSeeking college recommendations for progressive intellectual studentā.
I put Villanova on my list of recs purposely, to highlight how different people will define coolā¦people who define ācoolā as attractive, popular, athletic students may find a fit at Villanova. Also has great academics and certainly a number of intellectual students.
Some good suggestions above - my son is a senior with similar stats and interests and has these schools on his list:
Colgate
Carleton
Middlebury
Bates
Colby
Grinnell
Macalester
Holy Cross
University of Richmond
Kenyon
Oberlin
St. Olaf
Connecticut College
Skidmore
Some of these skew a bit more to the more quirky cape-wearing (Iām thinking here of Grinnell) and some are likely reaches (Carleton, Middlebury, Colby, Colgate, Grinnell). A few have some Greek life (Richmond, Colgate and Kenyon) but my understanding is itās not dominant at any of the campuses.
Grinnell comes to mind ā intellectually engaged students, wide range of ātypes,ā ā there will be some quidditch playing kids but also blue haired artists, preppy, mainstream etc.
Clark, Skidmore, College of Wooster, Denison, Dickinson. Although none of them have much in the way of sports. Does he want to play a sport or just attend games? Any particular sport? (My D22 would
love a big football school but would settle for basketball as well). In my research, a lot of the mid-sized schools with good sports, small class sizes and no Greek life seem to be Catholic.
We are from Virginia and my DD liked a number of Midwestern schools. We think the geographic diversity helped her although there were too few people from her school to use naviance as a guide. Agree with the recommendations for Grinnell, Kenyon, and Carleton as a reach.
Colgate has DI teams (but also Greek life). Also, University of Richmond has the Spiders, which are very good and occasionally make the NCAA tournament (and are a big deal on campus). But, again, Richmond has frats. I think Holy Cross has a pretty good sports culture (but your son had not wanted Catholic).
Disagree that Denison does not have much in the way of sports, at least for kids who want to play. No big-time spectator football, but Denison is very focused on athletics as an important part of the academic experience and the percentage of students playing on varsity teams is quite high. The facilities are first-rate. No Quidditch as far as Iāve heard. My son is a sophomore and a member of the track team. He really loves the school. The quality of the teaching has been first rate. Heās a pretty intellectual kid, and heās been encouraged to delve into new areas and challenge himself. From a political perspective, the school seems to encourage open dialogue. I was impressed that my son watched the presidential debate together with a group of kids from across the political spectrum.
Yes, please! If we could keep this one going, Iād appreciate it. I have a very similar sounding Sā¦main differences are interest in econ./finance and open to/interested in southern schools as well. Oh, and finances ARE a consideration for us.