Schools in the midwest/west that my Northeast-raised kid might like?

College Search & Lists
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<p>US News, 10 best college towns (listed alphabetically): Amherst, MA; Ann Arbor, MI; Athens, GA; Austin, TX; Berkeley, CA; Boston, MA; Boulder, CO; Chapel Hill, NC; Charlottesville, VA; Madison, WI.</p>

<p>Travel & Leisure Magazine, “America’s Coolest College Towns”: Oxford, MA; Olympia, WA; Charlottesville, VA; Austin, TX; Burlington, VT; Boulder, CO; Berkeley, CA; Ann Arbor, MI; Madison, WI; Chapel Hill, NC.</p>

<p>Princeton Review rankings: Great College Towns: #9 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; #11 Depaul (Chicago); **#15 University of Michigan **</p>

<p>Princeton Review rankings: College Town Not So Great: #2 Wabash College (IN); #5 University of Notre Dame; #9 Albion college (MI); #10 Ohio Northern; #16 Depauw (IN); #17 Wittenberg (OH). </p>

<p>Princeton Review rankings: Town-Gown Relations Are Strained: #4 Northwestern U; #8 University of Notre Dame; #11 DePauw (IN); #13 The College of Wooster (OH)</p>

<p>(Big Ten schools in bold)</p>

<p>I take it you can’t have a “great college town” unless town-gown relations are positive. I think Alexandre is absolutely right. Ann Arbor and Madison stand out as two of America’s all-time great college towns, best in the Midwest by far. That’s just common knowledge throughout the Midwest. Bloomington (Indiana U) shares many similar traits, but I wouldn’t put it in quite the same category.</p>

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<p>So are we now considering Ann Arbor and Madison towns? lol.</p>

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<p>The only one getting laughs is those AT you–for being silly and uninformative as usual.</p>

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<p>Yes, they’re “college towns.” By Princeton Review’s definition, so are New York City, Chicago, Boston, Washington, and Minneapolis. Any further questions?</p>

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>I didn’t know that even very large cities are called “college towns.” I kind of thought that “college towns” were small/med size cities that essentially exist (or get attention) because of the college/univ that is there. I thought it meant that most businesses/residents exist in that town because there is a particular school in the area. </p>

<p>If I had ever been asked what the max population of a “college town” is, I probably would have said something in the vicinity of 100k…something like South Bend as being about the max size.</p>

<p>I’m not saying what is or what isn’t. That was just what my thoughts were about the meaning of a “college town.” </p>

<p>I don’t think I ever would have thought that Los Angeles is a “college town”…but I guess I’ve learned something new.</p>

<p>:)</p>

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<p>My definition of a ‘college town’:
At least 25% of the residents must be between 18-24.
Largest employer must be the college/university.
At least 40% of the population must have a college degree.
Size doesn’t matter as long as the previous qualifications are met.</p>

<p>I believe Iowa City qualifies. Not sure about Madison and Ann Arbor.</p>

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<p>Re: the Naviance results - does your h.s. have sufficient numbers of applicants rejected from these Barnard for you to be able to draw conclusions on what gpa/scores gets accepted and which gpa/scores get rejected? If it does, I think it must be a geography thing - too many young women from your H.S. applying to Barnard.</p>

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<p>You keep on making fun of me and talking about me like I’m some kind of idiot, but only like ten years ago, the Ku Klux Klan sponsored a stretch of highway in St. Louis. I think that that is pretty indicative of at least some of the ideologies of St. Louis-ians. I read about it some more, and it appears that the minority-unfriendly areas are pretty far from the WUSTL area, so my advice regarding avoiding WUSTL was wrong.</p>

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<p>Hmmm . . . Interesting definition. Let’s see, for Ann Arbor:</p>

<p>City population 113,934. The university has a total enrollment of 41,674 (undergrad & grad students), the vast majority of them between 18-24. Not all the students are counted by the census as Ann Arbor residents, so the actual number of people living there during the academic year is well over 113,934, but still, I think it’s safe to say that well over 25% of the academic-year Ann Arborites are between 18-24. Actually, even by the census count 26.8% of the city’s population is 18-24; throw in the students whose “residence” is listed as somewhere other than Ann Arbor and the percentage of the academic-year population in the 18-24 demographic is probably more like 40 or 50%. </p>

<p>Largest employer: The University of Michigan with approximately 26,000 employees (including 12,000 at the medical center). The University is not only Ann Arbor’s largest employer, it’s the second-largest employer in Detroit-Flint-Ann Arbor Combined Statistical Area, trailing only General Motors.</p>

<p>Percentage of population with a college degree: of those 25 and older, 69.3% hold a bachelor’s degree or higher and 39.4% hold a graduate or professional degree. Those percentages would shrink a bit if you included all the 18-24 year olds in the denominator, but both figures are among the very highest in the nation, I believe second only to Boulder, CO.</p>

<p>So by your definition, Ann Arbor is the quintessential college town.</p>

<p>The term’s ambiguous, though. Some people use it the way you do, to refer to a municipality dominated by a college. Others (including Princeton Review) use it to mean the place a college is located, regardless of size or demographics.</p>

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<p>MidwestMom,
We have many kids applying to Barnard–probably 100 on the chart–so I would say it’s a geography thing. Funny, because that’s what led me to start this thread–the idea that maybe there’s an “opposite geography” at work that would enable my daughter to reach higher at a school that’s not on the East Coast/mid-Atlantic. It does seem like the opposite may be true–a midwest kid with the same scores and GPA as my daughter might have a better shot at a place like Barnard that a New Jersey girl.</p>

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<p>Ditto WashU and Wisconsin. Wisconsin is an amazing school in an amazing city.
I agree that WashU might be a bit of a reach just because it is super prestigious and hard to get into, but it never hurts to apply.
In my opinion, if she isn’t interested in Greek Life, she should not apply to Michigan. Of all the schools I visited, I felt it there the most strongly - it seemed to be literally everywhere.</p>

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<p>U of M freshman class profile.</p>

<p>Fraternities: 19%
Sororities: 23%</p>

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<p>That’s the problem with CC. Many people post opinion rather than fact. For example, at WUSTL 25% of the undergraduate student population belongs to fraternities and sororities, as opposed to 15% at the University of Michigan. Social life at Michigan does not center around any one thing in particular. Everybody can find their niche at Michigan, from non-drinking recluses (such as myself) to happy-go-lucky social butterflies. One thing is certain, fraternities and sororities are not a major factor when considering Michigan. In fact, among the elite schools of the Midwest, the two most “Greek” campuses are private; Northwestern (35%) and WUSTL (25%). </p>

<p>Aslo, WUSTL is not selective because it is prestigious, it is selective because it is small and advertises very heavily, encouraging many student to apply. That is not to say that WUSTL is not presitgious of course, because it is. But to say that it is “super prestigious” is pushing it. I would not even use that term to describe some Ivies. The most prestigious university in the Midwest is probably the University of Chicago, and even they do not necessarily qualify as “super prestigious”.</p>

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<p>Only those who worship USNWR rankings would consider WUSTL as being “super prestigious.” It’s not even considered that way in most parts of the midwest.</p>

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<p>LOL. Is this intended as an ironic comment? I do have to admit there’s a stronger Greek presence at Michigan than in my day, when frats and sororities had practically disappeared. But even today they’re far from a dominant force in the social scene. The major center for fratsters among Midwestern universities is Northwestern by far, with WUSTL a strong second. Even NU and WUSTL can’t hold a candle to tiny DePauw, however, where an overwhelming majority of the students go Greek.</p>

<p>Michigan
% of men who join fraternities: 16%
% of women who join sororities: 20%</p>

<p>Northwestern
% of men who join fraternities: 32%
% of women who join sororities: 38%</p>

<p>WUSTL
% of men who join fraternities: 25%
% of women who join sororities: 25%</p>

<p>UIUC
% of men who join fraternities: 21%
% of women who join sororities: 21%</p>

<p>DePauw
% of men who join fraternities: 71%
% of women who join sororities: 61%</p>

<p>And just for comparison purposes:</p>

<p>Dartmouth
% of men who join fraternities: 47%
% of women who join sororities: 42%</p>

<p>Cornell
% of men who join fraternities: 24%
% of women who join sororities: 20%</p>

<p>Emory
% of men who join fraternities: 29%
% of women who join sororities: 33%</p>

<p>Vanderbilt
% of men who join fraternities: 35%
% of women who join sororities: 50%</p>

<p>Duke
% of men who join fraternities: 29%
% of women who join sororities: 42%</p>

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<p>I would add several other notable universities with large Greek communities:</p>

<p>Massachusetts Institute of Technology
% of men who join fraternities: 55%
% of women who join sororities: 26%</p>

<p>University of Pennsylvania
% of men who join fraternities: 30%
% of women who join sororities: 26%</p>

<p>University of Virginia
% of men who join fraternities: 30%
% of women who join sororities: 30%</p>

<p>Wake Forest University
% of men who join fraternities: 34%
% of women who join sororities: 50%</p>

<p>Clearly, Michigan’s social scene is not nearly as “Greek-centric” as many of its peers.</p>

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<p>Thanks all. She’s not into Greek Life but doesn’t mind if it exists on campus!</p>