<p>Well, since she goes for econ and math, I would second St. Olaf. You will hear a lot about how strong math majors run out of classes and opportunities at LACs but St. Olaf seems to have both depth and breadth.</p>
<p>I second saintfan’s suggestion of St Olaf. I have heard so many great things about this school. I know they have a VERY strong math/econ programs… but it is also a small LAC… which is kind of hard to find. The twin Cities has a thriving community and would be great for internships or research opportunities. The campus is STUNNING. I do know that saintfan’s DD was at the top of her class academically and got a top merit award from StO. I think there would be no question that there were would be plenty of the “it getters” your D wants. </p>
<p>My DS will be matriculating to St Lawrence in August( he is on a gap year right now)… and we were absolutely blown away by this school. We really felt after reading tons of research that for MY DS, he would be happier being in a school where he would be in the top 25% instead of the bottom 50%. He plans to go to med school, and he already has an opportunity to be one of only a few students to apply to their early assurance to a NY med school based on his SAT scores from HS. He got a huge merit award and they really made him feel wanted. I think this scenario is different for every student. This is just what I think will wo rk best for my DS. He also will want to be involved with a lot of things on campus.</p>
<p>Getting back to the original question, with 2 kids a year apart, we’ve visited over 50 colleges, and older kid had no trouble at all selecting the 3 or 4 she’d really like to attend, and this has provided motivation for studying, prepping for SAT/ACT. Like some others have said about their kid, mine wears a sweatshirt from one of her favorites when she takes the SAT/ACT to increase her motivation. </p>
<p>I think even the most basic understanding of psychology would lead to the conclusion that people are going to be more motivated if they have a tangible goal in mind (“Ill get to go to XYZ University”), rather than a vague concept concept (eg, “I’ll get to go to a better school”).</p>
<p>If you can’t visit all the schools you’d like, do have her watch some of the on-line video tours. Its not the same as being there, but its helpful and may tap into some area of excitement that she hadn’t considered.</p>
<p>Keep in mind too, as you plan your trip, that she may have a “lets get outta here” reaction to a school (there are some great threads about this topic, where kids didn’t want to get out of the car and ended up with a driveby), so you might possibly be able to fit one or two of the schools athat are currently off the list back on. </p>
<p>Good luck, and enjoy the trip!!</p>
<p>Wow ! I can’t imagine visiting over 50 colleges !!</p>
<p>thanks, jym. You’re right about that visceral negative reaction. I’ve experienced with her once already. We stopped in at Tufts one day. For some reason the feel of the place struck her wrong from the very beginning. By the time we got off the elevator at admissions, she was basically turning around to leave. </p>
<p>St. Olaf is a good thought, too. I have a cousin who started there and went on to a PhD in Physics at Cornell.</p>
<p>Looking Forward nailed it. Seeing what she doesn’t want can be a very strong motivating factor. We did two west coast college tours with our daughter last year, and the three schools she disliked (U of Washington, UC Berkeley, and Claremont-Mckenna) clarified for her exactly what it was she wanted in a college. This sent her on a quest to find their opposites, which happened to be small, classic liberal arts colleges. It wasn’t about prestige, but about fit. (She, too, hated Harvard.)</p>
<p>My opinion is that college tours should be for realistic college possibilities and also making some school familiar that do not have the name recognition. Anyone can cherry pick the top name schools. It’s not so easy finding those hidden gems that are not so well known that have what the student wants and needs, is likely to be affordable and will likely accept the student. To tack those schools on as last resorts or safeties, when they often become the choices is doing a huge disfavor to the student.</p>
<p>Totally agree with cptofthehouse, it was exactly what we tried to do.</p>
<p>I’m circling back to update you all with the news that we are leaving tonight for this long awaited trip. We have in hand her new SAT results posted this morning - up 60 points from her result from two months earlier to 1810/2400 with improvement in all three sections. Of course, that is still low for Wes and Vassar, so I’m glad we took those off the list for this visit. But, the increase is encouraging and there is plenty of time for a third sitting before fall apps are due. Also, she feels good about last weekend’s ACT and is hopeful her scores on that test will be better than on the SAT. </p>
<p>Bates, Bowdoin and Wellesley should be a nice mix of schools to see in the next few days. Thanks again to those of you who helped me think this through.</p>
<p>Good job to your daughter for the nice increase in scores! I hope you both enjoy the trip. It’s a really nice time in the parent-child relationship, I think. I have some great memories from those days.</p>
<p>Good job on bringing up the scores. IMO, your best bet is to now focus on schools with that score in mind. My D saw a big increase (300 points between her first and second sitting). Her third sitting was the exact same score as her second. </p>
<p>I am watching a couple of my D’s friends that had expectations out of whack with their scores (which were in the 2000’s). I think they were heavy on the reaches, and made the mistake of falling for the reaches.</p>
<p>Niceday, congrats to your D for bringing up her scores! Didn’t realize your trip was this coming week. Bates in on break next week so unfortunately there won’t be many students on campus. :(</p>
<p>Another update here as our D begins work on her applications. Our February trip to some reach and match schools did indeed motivate her. Her results on the spring ACT were much, much better than her earlier tests and SATIIs came in strong as well. She now has scores good enough for anywhere she would apply. </p>
<p>Nudging her toward achieving scores that truly reflect her ability was my goal for the trip, so no regrets. But, the unexpected result (for me) of visiting a range of schools before her scores improved is that she now plans to apply ED1 to a match/target, not a reach. She perceives the students as being more collaborative and happier there than at any of the reaches she visited. She also believes her opportunities to excel will be more abundant. That may or may not be true, but either way DH and I are glad she is confident about where she feels she’ll fit best.</p>
<p>^^^^</p>
<p>Very cool! Thanks for the update.</p>
<p>Great update niceday!!!Can you hint to us what the ED school is? I always like to hear about schools not necessarily on the top shelf.</p>