How would you rank NESCACS academically?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:How do these LACs compare to national universities? Is Williams HYPSM level? Are Bowdoin and Middlebury comperable to Duke and Northwestern? Or are they lower

In what way do you want to compare them? Lots of professors send their kids to LACs because they feel like they'll get a better educational experience than at a larger university.

This. I went to Harvard UG and regret (wish I had gone to Pomona). Although the name opened doors, I was far less well prepared for grad school than my LAC peers. Both my kids will attend LACs for UG, can apply to Ivies for grad if they want.

Not sure that this post is genuine. Seems like made-up BS to me.

It is absolutely genuine. Most of my Harvard classes were huge, in which I only interacted with TAs, until the final two years. Even then, professor interaction and feedback was negligible--most of them only cared about their graduate students. That is not the UG experience I want for my kids.

Here we go. Cue up the state flagship folks who claim they got just as much attention as any LAC student but with infinite course offerings and research opportunities. And without the stifling high school like atmosphere! Plus they learned to be an adult by navigating predatory off campus landlords!

No. It is better to compare Private National Universities with LACs.

With respect to state flagships, most public flagships offer Honors Colleges which offer small class sizes--especially for intro courses--as well as priority registration,honors only housing, and special events (speakers & recruiting) for honors students.

But, you are correct about the suffocating aspect of many small, isolated, rural LACs with limited course offerings and majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do these LACs compare to national universities? Is Williams HYPSM level? Are Bowdoin and Middlebury comperable to Duke and Northwestern? Or are they lower

In what way do you want to compare them? Lots of professors send their kids to LACs because they feel like they'll get a better educational experience than at a larger university.

This. I went to Harvard UG and regret (wish I had gone to Pomona). Although the name opened doors, I was far less well prepared for grad school than my LAC peers. Both my kids will attend LACs for UG, can apply to Ivies for grad if they want.

Not sure that this post is genuine. Seems like made-up BS to me.

It is absolutely genuine. Most of my Harvard classes were huge, in which I only interacted with TAs, until the final two years. Even then, professor interaction and feedback was negligible--most of them only cared about their graduate students. That is not the UG experience I want for my kids.

Must have been a few decades ago that you attended Harvard.

Lol, so Harvard has completely changed its approach to education in the past 20-30 years?

Honestly, education is great, but my priority is fit first and then job placement. How do SLACs compare then?

Depends. Grad school placement is great. In terms of finance/corporate jobs, I would suggest very top LACs as good or better than Cornell level schools. The networks are small but good and you aren’t competing with hundreds of your fellow classmates for the same opportunities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do these LACs compare to national universities? Is Williams HYPSM level? Are Bowdoin and Middlebury comperable to Duke and Northwestern? Or are they lower

In what way do you want to compare them? Lots of professors send their kids to LACs because they feel like they'll get a better educational experience than at a larger university.

This. I went to Harvard UG and regret (wish I had gone to Pomona). Although the name opened doors, I was far less well prepared for grad school than my LAC peers. Both my kids will attend LACs for UG, can apply to Ivies for grad if they want.

Not sure that this post is genuine. Seems like made-up BS to me.

It is absolutely genuine. Most of my Harvard classes were huge, in which I only interacted with TAs, until the final two years. Even then, professor interaction and feedback was negligible--most of them only cared about their graduate students. That is not the UG experience I want for my kids.

Here we go. Cue up the state flagship folks who claim they got just as much attention as any LAC student but with infinite course offerings and research opportunities. And without the stifling high school like atmosphere! Plus they learned to be an adult by navigating predatory off campus landlords!

No. It is better to compare Private National Universities with LACs.

With respect to state flagships, most public flagships offer Honors Colleges which offer small class sizes--especially for intro courses--as well as priority registration,honors only housing, and special events (speakers & recruiting) for honors students.

But, you are correct about the suffocating aspect of many small, isolated, rural LACs with limited course offerings and majors.

I’d rather eat a meal based on ingredients purchased at Whole Foods rather than Stop N Shop but to each his own

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW

Student to faculty ratio at Harvard is 5:1.

Student to faculty ratio at Pomona College is 7:1.

However, Pomona College has very few classes with 50 or more students, while 10% of the classes at Harvard have 50 or more students (usually intro classes).

Pomona College professors are committed to undergraduate teaching; many Harvard professors are not. Their focus is research, obviously, and training graduate students to be their mini-me's. A class of 50 is still quite large, and most are taught by TAs. It will be tough to get to know professors unless the class enrollment is 25 or less. Harvard professors have a 2-2 teaching load, max, usually one graduate course and one upper-level undergraduate course (which often includes graduate students) per semester. For STEM there are still huge weed-out classes graded on a curve. It is generally competitive rather than collaborative. The undergraduate experiences are very different. Obviously kid-dependent as far as which would be the better environment to thrive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:only kids in DCUM who care about these schools are the athletes who aren’t good enough to be recruited by ivy league schools. Nescacs full of ivy reject athletes. Leads to weird dynamics on campus when 1/3 are athletes

Interesting. Because I know a number of DMV kids at NESCACs and a number of them do not play sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:only kids in DCUM who care about these schools are the athletes who aren’t good enough to be recruited by ivy league schools. Nescacs full of ivy reject athletes. Leads to weird dynamics on campus when 1/3 are athletes

Interesting. Because I know a number of DMV kids at NESCACs and a number of them do not play sports.

Right because many of us actually care about academics not athletics.

[Anonymous]

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Boy there are some wild Hamilton boosters here. I'm an academic and never heard of the school until my kid's college search. It seems like a nice place and I guess the musical gave its reputation a boost, but it's nowhere near the top tier of LACs or even just NESCACs

Do you work at a community college? No well-respected, high level academic would be aware of the NESCAC schools but not Hamilton. You just made yourself look bad.

What a snobby answer. So what if there are posters that are not aware of the list of top ranked colleges out there. Just educate people instead of being elitist.

Interesting. I think both posters are being elitists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:only kids in DCUM who care about these schools are the athletes who aren’t good enough to be recruited by ivy league schools. Nescacs full of ivy reject athletes. Leads to weird dynamics on campus when 1/3 are athletes

Interesting. Because I know a number of DMV kids at NESCACs and a number of them do not play sports.

Right because many of us actually care about academics not athletics.

It's such a weird response - basically NESCACs only exist for "ivy reject athletes."

[Anonymous]

tier 1: amherst middlebury williams
tier 2: bowdoin, hamilton, tufts
tier 3: bates, wesleyan
tier 4: colby, trinity
tier 5: conn college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Boy there are some wild Hamilton boosters here. I'm an academic and never heard of the school until my kid's college search. It seems like a nice place and I guess the musical gave its reputation a boost, but it's nowhere near the top tier of LACs or even just NESCACs

Do you work at a community college? No well-respected, high level academic would be aware of the NESCAC schools but not Hamilton. You just made yourself look bad.

What a snobby answer. So what if there are posters that are not aware of the list of top ranked colleges out there. Just educate people instead of being elitist.

Interesting. I think both posters are being elitists.

No, I think the bolded is correct. Not necessarily CC but maybe a state school outside of R-1s, or PP doesn't teach in a graduate program. Because all graduate programs know the good LACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:tier 1: amherst middlebury williams
tier 2: bowdoin, hamilton, tufts
tier 3: bates, wesleyan
tier 4: colby, trinity
tier 5: conn college

Uh no. Colby is at least in tier 3. It has, what, 10% admit rate vs. 34% Trinity? Trinity is on par with Conn College, both solid schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:only kids in DCUM who care about these schools are the athletes who aren’t good enough to be recruited by ivy league schools. Nescacs full of ivy reject athletes. Leads to weird dynamics on campus when 1/3 are athletes

Interesting. Because I know a number of DMV kids at NESCACs and a number of them do not play sports.

who would’ve given their little pinky to go to brown or dartmouth - cmon folks, call a spade a spade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:only kids in DCUM who care about these schools are the athletes who aren’t good enough to be recruited by ivy league schools. Nescacs full of ivy reject athletes. Leads to weird dynamics on campus when 1/3 are athletes

Interesting. Because I know a number of DMV kids at NESCACs and a number of them do not play sports.

who would’ve given their little pinky to go to brown or dartmouth - cmon folks, call a spade a spade

“let’s call a spade a spade” is an outdated saying with racist origins

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tier 1 Amherst and Williams
Tier 2 Tufts, Middlebury and Wesleyan
Tier 3 Bates, Hamilton, Colby
Tier 4 Connecticut and Trinity

switch wes and ham

hamilton is a hard one to figure out - I really wanted to be impressed but the place is just sooo depressing and lacks energy. My DC gave me the high sign to bolt halfway thru the tour. iPretty bleh feeling overall - only school where kids appeared more fake and robotic was Williams. At least Wesleyan has a personality, and the campus felt electric during our tour - kids were passionate, like it or not. Much too woke though end of day, even for an athlete

Fake and robotic, lol.

How to telegraph your kid didn’t get in or decided they didn’t have a chance in three words or less…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:only kids in DCUM who care about these schools are the athletes who aren’t good enough to be recruited by ivy league schools. Nescacs full of ivy reject athletes. Leads to weird dynamics on campus when 1/3 are athletes

Interesting. Because I know a number of DMV kids at NESCACs and a number of them do not play sports.

Right because many of us actually care about academics not athletics.

It's such a weird response - basically NESCACs only exist for "ivy reject athletes."

bingo - paying full boat too- ADs run the athletic department as a profit center for admissions. Perfect storm with the sports obsessed elite parents who have had one on one tennis lessons, batting coaches, and speed coaches for their little prodigies since kindergarten. Posts all over insta showing Declan “committing” to Williams for lax or Mackenzie “committing” to Amherst for tennis. Extended version of prep school..