<p>My non-negs:</p>
<ol>
<li> Less than $20,000 debt (critical)</li>
<li> Challenging academics</li>
<li> Intellectual atmosphere, or a large subset thereof</li>
<li> Little or no Greek life</li>
<li> In or near a major city (slightly overridden by #1)</li>
<li> Wide variety of majors I may like</li>
<li> Not too focused on one field (slightly overridden by #1)</li>
<li> Larger than 5,000 students</li>
</ol>
<p>My Ds list (I think…) </p>
<ol>
<li> Outside the mid Atlantic region. Not close to home.</li>
<li> Outside the South.</li>
<li> Not popular with kids from HS</li>
<li> Sufficiently intellectual feel </li>
<li> Balanced student body (not dominated by any one type of student)</li>
<li> Offers advanced classes in Chinese</li>
</ol>
<p>My list of non-negiotiables:
<p>For my son:</p>
<p>Non-negotiable:</p>
<p>1) A school with a reputation for having really smart, academically-inclined kids </p>
<p>2) In or very close to a major city with great museums and other cultural resources (one reason I doubt he would have picked Yale over Chicago even if he’d gotten in), and good public transportation, with no need for a car</p>
<p>3) Relatively small average class sizes, with few or no classes taught by TA’s</p>
<p>4) In the Northeast or Midwest (he didn’t want to be as far away from home as California, and the South was out for cultural reasons)</p>
<p>5) LGBT-friendly</p>
<p>6) A decent number of Jewish kids </p>
<p>7) Not a lot of emphasis on athletics or Greek life</p>
<p>8) Excellent art history and history departments, including some urban studies type courses</p>
<p>Preferred:</p>
<p>1) Nice architecture</p>
<p>2) Enough single rooms to give him a possibility of getting one as a freshman </p>
<p>I think he ended up with all of them. It’s no wonder that he dreamed of going to the U. of Chicago from the time he was about 15.</p>
<p>For both of my Ds: a football team.</p>
<p>For one D: Greek life.</p>
<ol>
<li> Within 6 hour drive from home.</li>
<li> Top 20 business school…with direct admit potential.</li>
<li> Faith friendly.</li>
<li> Good economics department…Austrian School.</li>
<li> Affordable (<30,000/yr. full pay)</li>
<li> >10,000, <30,000 students.</li>
<li> Undergraduate emphasis.</li>
<li> Possibility of actuarial minor.</li>
<li> Conservative friendly.</li>
<li> Ability to play club volleyball and watch good sports.</li>
</ol>
<p>He’s found his place…and he’s pretty excited about it.</p>
<ol>
<li>Small, intimate school (LAC or very small university)</li>
<li>Excellent academics</li>
<li>Strong in social sciences & humanities including foreign languages</li>
<li>Good study abroad program</li>
<li>Tilts liberal/progressive</li>
<li>No (or minimal) Greek scene</li>
<li>In the Northeast or California (two places she’s previously lived)</li>
<li>In or with easy access to a city, but not in NYC (too many distractions)</li>
<li>Learning environment more collaborative than competitive</li>
<li>Classic campus feel, ideally with buildings arranged around a central quad</li>
</ol>
<p>These non-negotiable criteria ruled out far more schools than they allowed in, but she did generate a list of 8 excellent schools and was admitted ED to her first choice LAC. She’s thrilled.</p>
<p>1) small
2) in NorCal
3) ability to play soccer at some level</p>
<p>Non-Catholic. After 12 straight years of Catholic education and 4 years working at our parish rectory, she just had to get out of that bubble.</p>
<p>Mary13…that’s cute 
And because she has such a firm foundation, she’s ready :)</p>
<p>1) A campus with “big time” sports: D1 football/basketball, and enough other athletic teams to generate wild school spirit
2) Lots on intermural sports opportunities or club sports and a campus atmosphere that encourages participation
3) Not a rural campus</p>
<p>hehe, i like this :)</p>
<p>DD was interested in pursuing major in computer engineering with minor in finance but with the following contradictory non-negotiable criteria:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Top elite University (non LAC).
e.g. She would have choosen anyone of HMSPY over any other college for Computer Engineering.
i.e. gone to Yale over Caltech even though she didn’t like the surroundings of Yale and didn’t apply because she got in to MIT EA.
or would have gone to Columbia over Cornell or CMU or UCB for Computer Engineering.
Though she ended up not applying to Columbia also because of EA to MIT.</p></li>
<li><p>Urban
Preferred Cambridge (HM) over Priceton or Palo Alto (Stanford) or New Haven (Yale).
Preferred New York (Columbia) over Pasedena (CalTech) or Ithaca (Cornell).</p></li>
<li><p>Private
Would have Preferred Columbia over UCB for computer engineering.
With a caveat that she never dared to think about the situation if she had to choose between
UCB (EECS) and Cornell/CMU/RICE</p></li>
</ol>
<p>D - Nothing east of CA ;)</p>
<p>Opposite of Mary, D requires substantial Jewish population (her HS has a handful, so “substantial” is 10% or more) and an active Hillel.</p>
<p>Not in a city (but American’s campus worked for her), but not in the boondocks (although UConn was fine, big enough school not that far from Boston or Hartford and easy to get home - she had the bus to the ferry figured out before we left our visit)</p>
<p>Does not require a plane ride (so Boston - DC)</p>
<p>Not too small (over 5,000 students)</p>
<p>I’d love to know what schools the kids’ chose that fit their non-negotiables. My D wanted cold climate, near a major city, with a small or non-existant Greek life, NO core curriculum, Jewish-friendly, with some form of media studies program.</p>
<p>My daughter’s list:</p>
<p>1) Near/in a fairly large city
2) Between 2000 and 8000 undergraduates
3) Offered her major area of study
4) Financial Aid meets full-need</p>
<p>She’s not a fan of cold weather, but decided she could compromise on that one. She is now attending a school that met all her requirements (except it has cold weather).</p>
<p>BurnThis - does Brandeis fit?</p>
<p>S1’s non-negotiables:
<p>S2’s non-negotiables:
<p>For S2: