D is narrowing things down and now has some exciting but tough choices. She just landed in Europe for part of her gap year but asked me if I would pose seek input for her here on CC.
She has been accepted, offered merit, and done overnights at several schools and has narrowed it to Oberlin, Wooster, and Agnes Scott? She is interested in medicine as a career and her interests are in environmental, public, and global health.
She really liked the intellectual engagement of the students in the classes she visited at Oberlin as well as the music opportunities, environmentally focus of campus, Winter Term, and research opportunities. They don’t offer public health at the moment but it is a priority for the new president. I think if money was not an issue, she would choose Oberlin but the reality is that it would be significantly more expensive for us (16 - 20k/yr) and we will have three other kids in college for her last three years. It would be tough but we could make it happen if needed. She is currently talking to them about increasing her merit offer.
College of Wooster will be opening a new science building in the fall with collaborative research spaces, has a health coaching program that is a great opportunity for pre-health students, and the mentored research program gives students tons of one-on-one mentoring from faculty. She did not experience the same kind of intellectual engagement of students in classes as at Oberlin and they do not have a public health major.
She really liked Agnes Scott but was not able to sit in on any classes. She was impressed with their focus on advising, the opportunities with the CDC, and they have a public health major. She really disliked in high school being the only student in classes who was really engaged in the discussions and it is important to her to be challenged intellectually by faculty and peers. She just isn’t sure about this aspect at Agnes Scott.
She knows she would be really happy at all three of these schools and that takes some of the pressure off but she still needs to decide. Any insights or experiences from this community would be helpful.
My vote (a stranger on the internet) would be for Agnes Scott.
Aside from the lower cost, it has the specific major that she’s interested in, as well as connections to the CDC and other area schools. My thoughts are that it’s better to start in a desired major then decide if it’s really the one for you, rather then to pine for and speculate about a major that’s not offered at your school.
I wouldn’t worry about the student engagement at Agnes Scott. She will find academic peers there.
I also like Agnes Scott. For the life of me, I do not understand how it is not the number-one destination for those looking at women’s colleges. It’s in a very nice suburb of Atlanta, it is only a few blocks away from transportation to ATL, it has a truly diverse student body, AS students can cross-register at Emory and GA Tech, and (as hop notes), there are terrific options for internships and research (Scotties do get to work/intern at the CDC).
Oberlin and Wooster are fine schools. Oberlin is a bit large for my tastes (though I am not the one applying!), and it is a very liberal place. Wooster I don’t know as much about, aside from its general reputation.
Even though your daughter was not able to sit in on classes at AS, I strongly doubt that there will be lack of engagement/discussion issues. Scotties are bright, and without men present to distract and compete with, Scottie women are free to speak up, take advantage of resources/equipment (without fear of messing up and feeling embarrassed in front of male students, something that some female students suffer from when men are around), and fully embrace AS’s supportive and collaborative culture.
Thank you, @hapworth and @hop. I agree with a lot of your points. It is hard for me as AS is the only school (out of 12) that I didn’t visit with her. As she struggles to decide, I feel I don’t know enough about AS.
An all women’s college felt crazy to her when I first mentioned it but as she read about Scripps and Mount Holyoke, and then Agnus Scott, she got really interested. She was accepted at MHC but was not offered enough aid. I think weighing in the positives of it being an all women’s college is important.