DS has the grades, scores, rank & ECs for highly competitive schools. Grade-wise, he plays the competitive game because that’s what he has to do in his HS. But he is really a diplomatic change-agent type, not a competitive wolf, and he hates hoop-jumping with all the grade grubbers, and doesn’t want to be surrounded by these types in college. He’s an out-of-the box, creative philosophical thinker who feels stifled by many classes, resents all the HS busy work, and prefers to think about how to make the future better. He’s good at all subjects, especially languages and writing, and doesn’t have any particular passion for STEM. Can you suggest colleges that might fit him?
Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, GA.
Haverford College comes to mind. Also Oberlin and Macalester. Slightly less competitive admissions would include Earlham and Lawrence University in WI.
Oh yeah, my impression of Haverford would fit that bill. Wesleyan? Hamilton could be a good fit too. Tufts maybe?
What part of the country are you thinking?
Clark University, in Worcester, MA, would be perfect for him. It’s filled with students exactly as you describe your son. They highly value students are are intent on making the world a better place, and even have a scholarship for change-makers. The university’s motto is: Challenge Convention, Change Our World.
If he wants to explore academically, he might consider curricularly flexible schools such as Grinnell, Brown, Hamilton and Amherst. However, the overall academic expectations at these colleges are not particularly different from other schools on this level. For a truly different experience, colleges such as Hampshire and Marlboro should be researched.
The Johnston Center for Integrative Studies, part of the University of Redlands, in Redlands, California.
Hampshire
Bard
Bennington
Sarah Lawrence
Clark
Eckerd
New College of Florida
Oberlin comes to mind too.
DS is in the northeast now and is interested in east coast or west coast, not particularly keen on the south or midwest. But he’ll explore all the suggestions made! He also prefers a flexible curriculum so he’s not locked into taking a bunch of classes he’s not interested in. He’s an IB student and has already taken classes for credit at a 4-yr university since 8th grade.
It’d help to know what kind of environment he’d like, both in terms of urban/rural and dominant culture. I like most of the schools mentioned above. Many have a less mainstream students. @Midwestmomofboys list was pretty much what I was thinking – they really are about change – but @TheGreyKing made me woder if the idea was to find more “alt” vibes. These things don’t always go hand in hand.
Wesleyan - open curriculum and you can even invent your own major. For a safer admissions option, Clark, as mentioned above. Both have their fair share of eclectic free thinkers.
Oberlin seems to fit his personality, but have him check the distribution requirements to see if the curriculum is open enough for his taste.
@Adkjart - Yale, Hamilton, Colorado College, Reed, Pomona, Brown, Swarthmore, Skidmore, Macalester, Wesleyan come to mind for a student who loves learning for its own sake, would enjoy being surrounded by other students who are also passionate about their school work and extracurricular interests, and wants to focus on writing.
Okay, so, there’s really one answer that’s much farther outside the box than all the others here, a school that definitely doesn’t do competitiveness, grade-grubbing, or busy work but is of the highest academic caliber and attracts extremely interesting minds.
Deep Springs College
St. John’s (Annapolis or NM)
St. John’s is great, but
He might like Reed.
The reasons for my list earlier:
Hampshire and New College of Florida and Sarah Lawrence use written evaluations in lieu of a conventional letter grade system.
All the colleges I named in my earlier post on this thread have socially active students who want to make a difference and who often march to a different drummer from their high school peers.
These suggestions are all fantastic! He doesn’t necessarily have a starkly “different” personality than everyone else and gets along with all types of kids (although he is not a sports kid), but he’s very creative artistically and excellent in math. He’s a quiet, deep thinker who wants to “dive deep” into meaningful topics and explore new ideas, new ways of doing things. For example, he now says he wants to reform the high school educational system. LOL. Also–he does have familiarity with Skidmore and loves it there, but it’s too close to home to consider it for 4 yrs of college.
Wants to be outside the box…wants only the Northeast or west coast, which ARE the box. Is he sure about the geographic restrictions?