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<p>And if she does like Wellesley (and my god, the place is drop-dead gorgeous) that opens her to Smith, Mt Holyoke and Bryn Mawr, which may be a <em>tad</em> easier to get in but are still all fine schools. Based on a sample of one, on D’s experience, if I were to select which of the women’s colleges to get a young woman interested in the all-women’s colleges, I’d have to say Wellesley and Bryn Mawr would be the two “gateways” down that path.</p>
<p>If she is interested in all-women’s colleges, the College of St. Benedict might be worth a look. In MN, not too far from Carleton, in the same athletic conference but has the advantage of having a brother school where all classes are combined so you get the all-female campus leadership with the benefit of having men around too :D. Well respected math/econ programs too. Test scores need to come up to get merit aid there though.</p>
<p>The new book is “Mismatch - How Affirmative Action Hurts Students It’s Intended To Help, and Why Universities Won’t Admit It” by Richard H. Sander and Stuart Taylor, Jr.</p>
<p>I would not have any concern about the OP’s D having a problem performing well at her reach schools, since she is taking a full load of APs in her HS and doing well. (If it turned out that she was getting less than 3 on the AP exam it might be a concern, since that indicates grade inflation, but that is true for anyone.) It is likely that she would shy away from classes that required a lot of reading–I recall one history class at Wellesley that had a 20-book reading list, among which were The Magic Mountain and some other 1000+ pagers! But we didn’t actually HAVE to read all of them, thankfully :)–and it is also likely that her reading skills will improve as she exercises them.</p>
<p>I still think she should take a close look at Smith, and possibly MHC.</p>
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<p>Nice, but irrelevant - since this thread is about this young woman, not about affirmative action and the perennial “undeserving URM’s given slots at fancy colleges and displacing my prince and princess” theme.</p>
<p>Agreed. Irrelevant.</p>
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<p>Is it common for someone to get, say, a 520 CR score, and be able to get a 3 or better on any of the non-math, non-science APs? If I were an adcom and I saw an application with that 520 CR, but also with a 4 in English Lit AP, 5 in American History AP, and all the other good attributes OP’s daughter brings to the table, I might be inclined to overlook the SAT because I’d see that the student was a hard worker who could hack the academics at my school.</p>
<p>I think the question is - are we talking about colleges that “need” to be overlooking scores, or who need to give the benefit of the doubt to applicants.</p>
<p>It depends on which schools we’re thinking about. At the top level schools, I’m sorry to say, nothing gets overlooked for unhooked applicants. I do not think Wellesley is going to accept an unhooked applicant with a 520 CR SAT, unfortunately.</p>
<p>But also, I don’t understand how that 520 SAT student is getting a 4 on an English or History AP.</p>
<p>^I don’t understand either, yet that is approximately D’s situation. She took the WH AP test last June and scored well, yet received a CR score below 600. That’s one of the many reasons I remain optimistic that her CR score may improve at a second sitting or that her ACT score will be higher. </p>
<p>As I’ve said from the start in this now longish thread, I agree with all of you who suggest that if she would apply with a 1750 SAT she would not be considered at Wellesley, nor at Vassar or Wes or even Bowdoin (if she submitted scores). Wellesley is on D’s list for its particular qualities, not because it is all-women. I appreciate the suggestions of MHC, Bryn Mawr and Smith, and we’ll look at them, but I think they’d be tough sells. She clearly prefers a co-ed environment.</p>
<p>Mount Holyoke and Smith are both in the 5 college consortium with Amherst, U Mass- Amherst, and Hampshire. So there is some “cross-pollination” with co-ed campuses. Mount Holyoke in particular has a beautiful campus (both of my Ds applied there, and my neice attended and loved it).</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr has Haverford right there, so it’s not a convent or anything.</p>
<p>A couple of other schools to consider are Allegheny and Susquehanna, both LACs in PA. Less selective than many of the ones on your list, but with solid academics. Allegheny in particular is known for very rigorous academics, and tops the US News Up-and-Coming LAC list this year.</p>
<p>I’m coming late to this thread, but I’m going to suggest you might consider something other than a SLAC. If this is truly a STEM girl, why not someplace like WPI (Worcester Polytechnical Institute in MA), which is only 32% female and where your daughter would be a very desirable candidate. It’s a fabulous little school with motivated kids and a great cooperative junior project program. (Other similar schools would include Rochester Institute of Technology and Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute in NY state, though I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of them.)</p>
<p>The young woman who took us around WPI was wildly enthusiastic about it. They had a lively theater group as I recall, a fairly pretty campus in a not very beautiful city. They have a five college consortium with Clark and some other colleges whose names I cannot remember. I agree that some of the smaller tech schools might well be worth a look.</p>
<p>We have a friend whose daughter went to RPI majoring in Biology, and while I can’t say she loved the place, she did extremely well. They upped her merit scholarship and she ended up in grad school at Cornell. Her original first choice but she didn’t get in for undergrad.</p>
<p>I “second” Bates – I really like a college who cares a lot about the interview and not so much about scores.
Also, I’d add St. Lawrence (Canton, NY) to the list of suggestions.</p>
<p>Bates, a couple of other Maine schools and St. Lawrence all look like potentially excellent places.</p>
<p>But, man, are they all very far away.</p>
<p>Don’t overlook the distance factor, as GolfFather says. For a Texas girl, Boston or Minneapolis isn’t that hard to get to. But getting from Texas to Maine would take so long. Don’t overlook the nuisance value of getting to one of those isolated college, if you’re from far out of state.</p>
<p>Have you looked at St. Olaf at all while visiting your son at Carleton? My D is there and LOVES it. They have very strong math and econ departments and a very hands on “vocational” approach as well as neat off campus opportunities. It should be right in her wheelhouse for admissions. It is also a beautiful campus with and very active and engaged student body.</p>
<p>I see that suggestions are trending toward schools with a STEM focus. Thanks for the thoughts, but that isn’t where she’s headed at the moment. I believe an LAC or an LAC with a business program is a good fit for her for undergrad. She does have a math bent and, oddly, a passion for statistics, but seeks a broader educational focus and a school with a student body filled with diverging interests. She is poised and relatively mature socially and has instinctively strong networking skills. Her organizational and leadership skills are probably her biggest strengths. She’s inclined toward the social sciences at present and wants a school with strength in econ and math.</p>