I have to say that I love the way your family has gone about its college search process. I missed your thread when it was originally super active, but have caught up.
Since you’ll be visiting Minnesota, your D may want to check out Gustavus Adolphus. Here’s a map that goes from Macalester to St. Olaf to Gustavus Adolphus and then back to the Minneapolis airport to show the distance/time to do the route.
To read more about Gustavus, check out posts #93 & 94 from the thread on schools with admit rates of 60-100% that people like and this post in the One(s) that Got Away thread. I definitely think it’s got the collaborative and kind student body, though I don’t know how quirky/nerdy it is in relation to your other options (I have no firsthand intel). And since the Niche student descriptors have had some traction on this thread, the top three for Gustavus are:
-
Invested students with varied interests (48%)
-
Full of ideas and motivated (16%)
-
Friendly, driven and know how and when to have fun (11%)
But @fiftyfifty1 does have firsthand experience and can hopefully address that aspect of the quest.
Also, did your D ever take the PSAT? With a very strong pre-ACT and a very strong SAT, it seems like she’d be likely to become a National Merit Semi-Finalist (and then Finalist) if she did. As an extra perk, Gustavus gives free tuition to National Merit Finalists.
Just because you can’t visit before applying doesn’t mean she shouldn’t apply to Conn College if she’s interested. She could see what kind of merit aid they offer her (let them woo her!) and then go out there for a visit if it’s still of interest.