Seeking Recommendations for College List (Humanities [or social science] Major, 3.7UW, 1550 SAT)

College Search & Lists
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Looking for college recommendations (safety, target and reach) for my junior son. Looking for suggestions for a good fit culture wise but also providing other important factors below.

Son is VERY interested in linguistics, history, political science and philosophy - loves engaging in discussions and debates about the big questions of life. Loves learning for learnings sake, doesn’t want to grind just for grades. Is extremely well read - has been reading original classics on economics and philosophy since grade 9 and all teachers describe him as intellectually curious, willing to take risks. Also advanced in Math but that is not a passion. Is social and would enjoy an environment that allows him to find his tribe and build rapport with professors. Interested in research, will likely go for a graduate degree.

Other factors in college selection - prefer East Coast, prefer good merit opportunities though willing to pay full price (upto $80k/year) for a really good fit.

GPA: 4.5 weighted, 3.75 UW (4 Bs in grade 9 but all A’s since then)
SAT: 1550 (790 math, 760 English)
PSAT: 1490, possible NMSF/NMF

Areas of Interest: History, PPE (Political Science, Philosophy, Economics)

Rigorous coursework (APUSH not offered at school):

  • AP Gov (5), AP Stats (4) (grade 10)
  • AP Macro, AP Calc AB, AP World History, AP Lang (grade 11)
  • AP Micro, Discrete Math GT, AP Lit, AP Euro, AP French (planned grade 12)

ECs

  • VP Chess Club (grade 10), President History Club (grade 11)
  • 100+ hours volunteering at historic national monument (can get recommendation from the ranger)
  • Completed NSLI-Y in Korea (Dept of State selective program for 6-week language study abroad)
  • Worked at McDonalds for 9 months in grade 9
  • Helping a prof at George Mason Univ with research and formatting of a book
  • Other interests include Rubik’s cube (has done competitions, no awards), making maps of alternate history scenarios, working on creating a new language

Honors

  • School Honor Roll over multiple years
  • Possible NMSF (see PSAT above)
  • Member of Math and Social Science Honor Societies. May also do NHS senior year.

Current College List:
Reach: UMD (in-state), Swarthmore, Boston College, Brown, Princeton, UChicago, Haverford
Target: GWU, American, UPitt, LeHigh
Safety: George Mason, Goucher, St. John’s College (Annapolis)

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Your son also may benefit from considering colleges with an available major in public policy, which relies on the fields of political science, economics and philosophy for its foundation. This major appears at some of the colleges on your son’s current list, for example:

However, the practical approaches to societal issues common to both PPE and public policy programs may not necessarily suit the scope of your son’s intellectual interests.

As another suggestion, your son may want to emphasize colleges with notably flexible curricula, such as Amherst, Hamilton and Brown.

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Not east coast, but this part of your description immediately brought St. Olaf to mind. Look at their Enduring Questions program.

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Sounds like a great kid.

Is he in a private school - I didn’t see. If so, talk to the counselors.

The GPA may be an issue at reaches but obviously it’s been a step up.

While you seek smaller, you mention linguistics - UMASS seems to get a lot of love there.

For econ, it will be advance math!!

I think Lehigh might bbe a reach - but that’s ok. WIth GW and American, make sure starting this summer he demonstrates interest - visit or go on line for zoom visits, sign up, etc.

St. Johns does sort of fit - so glad to see it.

You might look at College and Charleston - and the Charleston Fellow program - which will bring the school to a different level. In their Poli Sci major they have two optional concentrations that might fit.

You have big medium and small schools - so it’s hard to pidegon hole but all seem to be in society - and you want East Coast - so in addition to Charleston (safety but fellows linked below is a reach) - you could look at a Syracuse and Rochester types to some smaller like Rollins or Furman, etc. Based on the comments of others over the years, it seems Dickinson might be a good one to look at too.

I do think Pitt is strong in all areas. It’s not East Coast but I know AU and Denver cross shop a lot - and Denver is a “safety” here.

Of course with NMSF, Tulsa is a full free ride and schools like Alabama, Maine and UTD and more will throw everything at you. But a link below as a possibility - because when you say willing to pay full ($80K which unfortunately isn’t full any more at many) but would love merit - you can pay nothing or $5-10K a year, etc. And even have some grad school covered - for example, you get 5 years tuition, 4 years housing and a stipend at Bama (link below).

Good luck.

Political Science Major Concentrations There are two optional concentrations for our major: Politics, Philosophy, and Law (PPLW) Public Policy (PLCY)

College of Charleston | Charleston Fellows

National Merit Scholars – Afford (ua.edu)

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Kenyon offers merit scholarship recognition and may be academically appealing to your son for its interdisciplinary Integrated Program in Humane Studies (IPHS) sequence.

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So I like to point out there is a sort of practical contradiction in preferences like this. Namely colleges in, say, the Great Lakes/Upper Midwest are much more likely to offer merit, sometimes robust merit, to high numbers kids than peers in the East Coast because they don’t get nearly the same volume of high numbers applications.

Also, History and PPE are very common, but Linguistics is also a great major, and actually not so common. You might want to use this tool to check out colleges graduating a serious number of people with primary majors in Linguistics–if nothing else it could help break some ties:

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/jonboeckenstedt/viz/BachelorsDegreesAwardedin2022/Dashboard1

OK, so, like, Macalester is a great fit academically–strong in all those areas including Linguistics, really strong grad school placement record, small classes, and has a robust merit program. It also has what I consider one of the best locations of any colleges anywhere, in a great lively neighborhood right between the two Downtowns in the Twin Cities. AND it has a robust merit program. But it is obviously not East Coast.

Another great fit might be Rochester, again strong in those areas, has an exploratory approach to curriculum that sounds perfect, has a robust merit program–but obviously it is Upstate.

I am glad to see you already have Pitt on your list–excellent choice!

Finally, I might check out Miami (OH). Lovely campus and a strong academic mix for your interests. As a public they start less expensive than market rate privates even OOS, and I also understand they have automatic merit based on weighted GPA, and they will weight for you even if your HS does not.

Outside of merit colleges, some others to consider would be William & Mary (really a perfect fit academically, including Linguistics, does have some merit but it is hard to get, but again as a public it is lower OOS than market rate privates anyway), Carleton (no merit but REALLY strong in grad school placement), and WUSTL (all sorts of cool exploratory programs and a really, really nice campus in a great location across from a huge world class park, has some merit but very hard to get).

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Apply to the Honors College at UMd. Acceptance will lead to consideration for generous merit scholarship awards.

Numbers are strong since all non-A grades were received in the student’s freshman year.

Some of the listed schools don’t make sense–such as Goucher–for this student. Why Goucher ?

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For merit on the East Coast, check out Conn College, Dickinson, Bard, Lafayette, and Union – if he’s interested in LACs. All of those would be targets, I think, though Bard could be closer to a safety. For American University, you have to demonstrate interest, because they do a lot of yield protection. For full-pay schools: Hamilton, Amherst, Middlebury, and William and Mary would be a good fit academically, though they would be reaches. If he’s willing to look in the Midwest, check out Kenyon, Oberlin, Macalester, and St. Olaf (all offer merit).

The GPA might be tricky for reaches, but colleges with holistic admissions will see the improvement since 9th grade and give him the benefit of the doubt, I think.

ETA: one school that seems like a good fit for a kid looking for a life-of-the-mind type school (and would be a target) is Reed College, but of course that is way outside your geographic zone. Schools that might compare in terms of intellectual vibe are Grinnell (lots of merit) and Carleton, both of which would be reaches.

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I love your kid’s profile; his interests just really speak to my heart (though not necessarily my interests). I’m glad you have St. John’s on your list…it was one of the first schools I thought of when reading your description.

Some schools that your son may want to consider, sorted by my fallible guesses as to what his chances might be are:

Extremely Likely (80-99+%)

  • College of Wooster (OH)

  • John Carroll (OH)

Likely (60-79%)

  • Connecticut College

  • Fordham (NY)

Toss-Up (40-59%)

  • Brandeis (MA)

  • College of the Holy Cross (MA)

  • Dickinson (PA )

  • Kenyon (OH)

  • U. of Rochester (NY)

  • William & Mary (VA)

Lower Probability (20-39%)

  • Davidson (NC)

Low Probability (less than 20%)

  • Emory

ETA: Forgot about W&M…but quite possibly one of the strongest contenders for your son’s interests!

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Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Hamilton, Bates, Kenyon, Macalester, Dickinson, W&M
Seconding St Olaf’s Enduring Questions for an academically ambitious safety (show interest though!)
Look into PPH in addition to PPE.
If he’s not travel adverse–
Wondering if Trinity Dublin and UCD (interdisciplinary) Humanities degrees might be of interest, as well as BESS.
SciencesPo/Columbia?
St Andrews, Edinburgh?
Or the StAndrews/W&M program?

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Lots of good suggestions already, Davidson has a Humanities program he could check out.

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Lots of great suggestions here - but many don’t offer any merit and their cost, in some cases, is going to be a lot closer to $90k so you’ll need to keep that in mind.

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For this student, I would categorize Fordham as extremely likely for admission. If the student ends up being NMSF, then he is in the running for Fordham’s full tuition scholarship or even the Cunniffe scholarship which is a full ride plus stipend.

Fordham’s honors program at the Rose Hill campus might be an especially good fit. It’s 36 students who take their core classes together seminar style, and form a tight knit group. Many end up going to grad school and/or doing fellowships. He should express interest in the honors program in his application if he decides to apply.

In short, I agree Fordham could make a nice likely/safety for a student like this.

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With respect to the study of economics, department strength may not closely correspond to general college rankings. For information on this, these analyses, which are based on faculty publishing, may be of interest:

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.usecondept.html

As one of many potential comparisons, Vassar places five notches higher than Swarthmore, for example.

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Strength of undergraduate economics programs and courses for specific academic and professional goals may also rank differently from faculty publishing rankings. For example, Penn State at #34 may not be that good for a pre-PhD student who would likely prefer more math intensive economics courses.

Note that LAC economics departments rank poorly in the faculty publishing rankings. The #1 in the LAC rankings is #46 in the overall rankings.

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Since the rankings are not normalized for school or department size, a heterogeneous comparison such as this appears potentially counterproductive if not considered contextually.

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My two cents is the proper role of research rankings in college choice is complex at best. Prolific researchers are not necessarily the best educators, your individual access/exposure to the top researchers may depend on other factors besides their mere presence in the department, even just how to aggregate researcher data is controversial . . . .

In fact, just that one source has two different institutional rankings. As noted, in one Vassar is at #10 and Swarthmore at #15. But in the other, Swarthmore is at #9 and Vassar at #26. Which of those is the better ranking for college choice purposes? Is that even a meaningful question? Is it relevant that Swarthmore had 65 graduating primary majors in Economics in the last NCES College Navigator dataset (out of 419 total, so 15.5% of all primary majors), versus 44 of 650 (6.8%) at Vassar? Does that imply anything about relative access/exposure? And so on.

So personally, I would not get too caught up in these sorts of rankings when choosing a college.

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For an opinion from academia on this, Hartley and Robinson (who analysed economics departments similarly to that of the social scientists in the sites posted above) stated this in their paper, “Economics Research at Liberal Arts Colleges” :

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I know you said East Coast, but he sounds a lot like my daughter’s Kenyon friends. And he could get merit there. Quite a few people she knows there are from MD. (I see that Kenyon has already been suggested, so I’m just confirming).

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I would look into the honors college at UGA- those are top kids, and the SPIA school for public and international affairs might be an interesting place for him. lots of smaller, discussion based classes with simulations and group assignments, passionate students, and tons of special events. you can kind of straddle 2 worlds at UGA, with a busy social scene and an honors college.

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