Please suggest for my daughter

tk21769
Fri, 29 May 2009 11:09:06 +0000

Old78, my kid just graduated from HS and these were some of his college selection criteria:

small, selective Liberal Arts College

politically liberal

good access to outdoor recreation (preferably mountains or hills)

not too preppy (but also not a complete “reefer madness” school)

preferably in a rural area (but would consider an interesting town or city)

strong academics but not cut-throat competition

Sound similar?
He has pretty good credentials, too, and got love letters or catalogs from prestigious schools.

These are the schools where he applied:
Colorado College, Haverford, Macalester, Middlebury, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Wesleyan (CT)

Other schools he liked but never visited included Whitman and Bowdoin. Whitman was just too far away (but in other respects a wonderful match - check out their “Semester in the West” program). Marlboro, Hampshire, and Connecticut College were interesting enough to warrant visits, but after visiting he immediately ruled them out. Guilford had some appeal but he worried it was too crunchy and laid-back.

Among his 6 final picks, the ones that best matched all his criteria were Colorado College, Middlebury and St. Mary’s MD. The other 3 were more urban and lacked the outdoor recreation thing. Middlebury was his first love after a summer visit, but during an overnight in October he found it a bit too clique-ish and sports-focused. He liked St. Mary’s-MD a lot (gorgeous campus, and the only public) but he is more of a mountain person than a water person. He will attend Colorado College in the fall on a merit scholarship.

You may have to relax your “closer to home” criterion to find enough schools to fit your other criteria well. If you can do that, I think the best fits would include Whitman, Colorado College, St. Mary’s MD, and possibly Bowdoin (or Bates or Colby). If you must stay close to home, then consider William and Mary, Centre College, Guilford, or possibly New College (FL) if that’s not too far. Warren Wilson might be worth a look too.