Looking ahead - LACs vs. small universities

newmassdad
Thu, 08 May 2008 12:40:26 +0000

“The reasons she is an outcast – just doesn’t fit in with the regular crowd – not interested in fashion, clothing brands, makeup, doesn’t care how she dresses, not interested in partying, clubbing, gossip, boys”

You are right to watch out for fit. Many of the colleges suggested so far have cultures that might not be fun for a non-preppy kid.

Be prepared, though, for lots of argument regarding culture on campuses. For some reason, a lot of parents here take offense when someone calls a school (e.g. Georgetown or Northwestern) preppy. Trust me, as someone now living in DC, whose spouse is a Northwestern alum and whose daughter will graduate from U Chicago in June, Gtwn and NWU are preppy and Chicago is not. This impacts kids in a number of ways that I won’t go into here.

Regarding weather and other factors, just be patient. My D went through a lot of internal opinions between her starting point and ending point, and most other kids do too. Push her to look broadly. After all, it does not hurt to look. And seeing others will either confirm initial biases or open new doors.

UofC sounds like a fit for an individualistic kid into sports but not excessive partying. Oh yea, they also have great academics…Sports there is to some degree an individual thing, although they do have all Div III sports and quite a few kids attend games. But winning is not the end all. There are also a lot of club sports, like ultimate frisbee (my daughter’s thing)