“Colleges That Change Lives”

[Anonymous]

I bet there would be more folks on here offering their personal experiences had half of the student bodies not dropped out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://ctcl.org/

Would love to hear your personal experience if you or your kids have/are attending any of these. All colleges change lives, naturally. How was yours/your kids’ changed, either positively or negatively?

I went to Southwestern University. It is a great small school with excellent teachers and small classes next to a wonderful urban environment (Austin). Many of my classmates went on to become doctors, lawyers, and tech entrepreneurs, as well as teachers, artists, etc. I think if I had been at a bigger school, I might have gotten "lost", but I was never able to hide at SU, and consequently, I learned alot. I highly recommend it.

It looks interesting. Thanks for input on the academics. How was the social atmosphere, dorms, food, etc.?

[Anonymous]

This whole thread is a case study in nit picking. In other words, what DCUM is famous for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is a case study in nit picking. In other words, what DCUM is famous for.

I see it as a case study in posters attempting to educate the stubbornly ignorant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://ctcl.org/

Would love to hear your personal experience if you or your kids have/are attending any of these. All colleges change lives, naturally. How was yours/your kids’ changed, either positively or negatively?

I went to Southwestern University. It is a great small school with excellent teachers and small classes next to a wonderful urban environment (Austin). Many of my classmates went on to become doctors, lawyers, and tech entrepreneurs, as well as teachers, artists, etc. I think if I had been at a bigger school, I might have gotten "lost", but I was never able to hide at SU, and consequently, I learned alot. I highly recommend it.

It looks interesting. Thanks for input on the academics. How was the social atmosphere, dorms, food, etc.?

But I guess you didn’t learn that “a lot” is two words.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New College of Florida is an honors college. There are no grades; instead, students receive lengthy and detailed reports and pass/fail. “Fails” do not show up on transcripts—a wonderful thing—because it frees up students to try courses they might otherwise be afraid to try. Students are required to write a Master’s level thesis and to orally defend it. When I went, kids were a bit like The Land of Misfit Toys. An odd, intellectually curious, interesting lot. We didn’t want to be at a “normal” college because New College spoke to us. Lots of people chose to take longer than 4 years to finish because they wanted to take more classes or wished to do more research for their thesis papers. Many people, like myself, have since gotten PhDs.

How did it change my life? Their evaluation system got me out of the straight-A frenzy I’d experienced in HS. Finally i could learn for the sake of learning and not some letter someone slapped on a piece of paper. I could take any class I was interested in without fear of failure and messing up a GPA. I got out of my comfort zone. It pushed my research skills, which led me to be extremely well-prepared for grad school. I’m not smart enough to win awards, but plenty of New College students and grads have. I won’t look up the stats and include them here, but if you’re interested you can easily find them. It’s not insignificant.

I noticed that they recently received a grant from the Mellon Foundation. New College also has, I believe, a rather sizable endowment.

It FOR SURE was not (and probably still is not) for everyone. It can be intense, socially as well as academically. It’s not small; it’s a tiny student body. There is no rah-rah college spirit in the traditional sense: no sports teams to cheer for, no Greek life, etc. When people ask where I went to college, I start with: “You haven’t heard of it, it’s called...” It most certainly is NOT for people who want instant school name recognition. This didn’t and does not mean anything to me.

All of the quirks and oddities suited me just fine.

It’s far from a perfect school, but it did change my life in significant ways. Other colleges would have as well, but not in these unique ways.

I know a young man who graduated from there maybe 5-6 years ago and he is so so smart and a rising star in my field. He is amazing and will go places, and a lovely human being as well. I had never heard of the school before, but if that's the kind of alumni the New College turns out, it won't be unknown for long!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New College of Florida is an honors college. There are no grades; instead, students receive lengthy and detailed reports and pass/fail. “Fails” do not show up on transcripts—a wonderful thing—because it frees up students to try courses they might otherwise be afraid to try. Students are required to write a Master’s level thesis and to orally defend it. When I went, kids were a bit like The Land of Misfit Toys. An odd, intellectually curious, interesting lot. We didn’t want to be at a “normal” college because New College spoke to us. Lots of people chose to take longer than 4 years to finish because they wanted to take more classes or wished to do more research for their thesis papers. Many people, like myself, have since gotten PhDs.

How did it change my life? Their evaluation system got me out of the straight-A frenzy I’d experienced in HS. Finally i could learn for the sake of learning and not some letter someone slapped on a piece of paper. I could take any class I was interested in without fear of failure and messing up a GPA. I got out of my comfort zone. It pushed my research skills, which led me to be extremely well-prepared for grad school. I’m not smart enough to win awards, but plenty of New College students and grads have. I won’t look up the stats and include them here, but if you’re interested you can easily find them. It’s not insignificant.

I noticed that they recently received a grant from the Mellon Foundation. New College also has, I believe, a rather sizable endowment.

It FOR SURE was not (and probably still is not) for everyone. It can be intense, socially as well as academically. It’s not small; it’s a tiny student body. There is no rah-rah college spirit in the traditional sense: no sports teams to cheer for, no Greek life, etc. When people ask where I went to college, I start with: “You haven’t heard of it, it’s called...” It most certainly is NOT for people who want instant school name recognition. This didn’t and does not mean anything to me.

All of the quirks and oddities suited me just fine.

It’s far from a perfect school, but it did change my life in significant ways. Other colleges would have as well, but not in these unique ways.

I know a young man who graduated from there maybe 5-6 years ago and he is so so smart and a rising star in my field. He is amazing and will go places, and a lovely human being as well. I had never heard of the school before, but if that's the kind of alumni the New College turns out, it won't be unknown for long!

New College of Florida has been around for a while now. Unfortunately, it has remained stagnant and if anything declined. A couple of decades ago, frankly, it would’ve been too difficult an admit to qualify for CTCL inclusion. Now, it is outshined by the big state schools in Florida, particularly University of Florida which attracts much better students. It’s shifted its focus from being an honors college to an alternative college. No honors college in America only graduates half its students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is a case study in nit picking. In other words, what DCUM is famous for.

I see it as a case study in posters attempting to educate the stubbornly ignorant.

The OP didn’t ask to be “educated.” She or he asked for personal experiences. I guess whatever college you went to rendered you unable to correctly interpret text. Or perhaps your personal school experience led you to be the type of individual who just needs attention.

From now on, as soon as I realize it’s you posting, I’m just going to skip the rest of the message. You are adding nothing to a discussion about personal experiences at these colleges. Spout away, but I certainly won’t be reading. Note that I will neither read nor respond to whatever ridiculous retort you will have for my post. So, feel free to have a go at it.

I hope there are still folks out there willing to write about their personal experiences. Those I’d like to continue seeing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is a case study in nit picking. In other words, what DCUM is famous for.

I see it as a case study in posters attempting to educate the stubbornly ignorant.

The OP didn’t ask to be “educated.” She or he asked for personal experiences. I guess whatever college you went to rendered you unable to correctly interpret text. Or perhaps your personal school experience led you to be the type of individual who just needs attention.

From now on, as soon as I realize it’s you posting, I’m just going to skip the rest of the message. You are adding nothing to a discussion about personal experiences at these colleges. Spout away, but I certainly won’t be reading. Note that I will neither read nor respond to whatever ridiculous retort you will have for my post. So, feel free to have a go at it.

I hope there are still folks out there willing to write about their personal experiences. Those I’d like to continue seeing.

Again, you’re talking to more than one person. . .

[Anonymous]

I'm a CTCL grad and I personally feel reluctant to give specifics just because I would imagine there's only a few grads from my college on this site and I don't like to provide identifying details about myself in any forum (that may explain the relative dearth of personal experiences).

But it was an excellent education and prepared me for the top PhD program in my field. My scholarships made it equivalent cost to the state flagship to which I was also accepted and I feel it was a better fit for me (though my state school might have better name recognition). The things that stood out for me was while it was very supportive, it also promoted more self-directed, experiential learning than my siblings who went to state schools. I was supported to do internships, apprenticeships, research studies, multiple funded study abroad trips, as well as many smaller self-directed projects in addition to the usual coursework. The school provided or helped me find funding for these things and worked well to transfer course credit, switch major requirements around. My siblings at state public unis did more of the standard classes + 1 internship during the summer + 1 or none semester abroad. I think these varied experiences helped me define myself and stand out a bit more in my field. One thing that I think was important when you are at a lesser-known institution is to try to intern at a well-known place and/or to seek out known awards in your fields or experience that people know are competitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a CTCL grad and I personally feel reluctant to give specifics just because I would imagine there's only a few grads from my college on this site and I don't like to provide identifying details about myself in any forum (that may explain the relative dearth of personal experiences).

But it was an excellent education and prepared me for the top PhD program in my field. My scholarships made it equivalent cost to the state flagship to which I was also accepted and I feel it was a better fit for me (though my state school might have better name recognition). The things that stood out for me was while it was very supportive, it also promoted more self-directed, experiential learning than my siblings who went to state schools. I was supported to do internships, apprenticeships, research studies, multiple funded study abroad trips, as well as many smaller self-directed projects in addition to the usual coursework. The school provided or helped me find funding for these things and worked well to transfer course credit, switch major requirements around. My siblings at state public unis did more of the standard classes + 1 internship during the summer + 1 or none semester abroad. I think these varied experiences helped me define myself and stand out a bit more in my field. One thing that I think was important when you are at a lesser-known institution is to try to intern at a well-known place and/or to seek out known awards in your fields or experience that people know are competitive.

I see it also taught you to put your nose above your siblings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a CTCL grad and I personally feel reluctant to give specifics just because I would imagine there's only a few grads from my college on this site and I don't like to provide identifying details about myself in any forum (that may explain the relative dearth of personal experiences).

But it was an excellent education and prepared me for the top PhD program in my field. My scholarships made it equivalent cost to the state flagship to which I was also accepted and I feel it was a better fit for me (though my state school might have better name recognition). The things that stood out for me was while it was very supportive, it also promoted more self-directed, experiential learning than my siblings who went to state schools. I was supported to do internships, apprenticeships, research studies, multiple funded study abroad trips, as well as many smaller self-directed projects in addition to the usual coursework. The school provided or helped me find funding for these things and worked well to transfer course credit, switch major requirements around. My siblings at state public unis did more of the standard classes + 1 internship during the summer + 1 or none semester abroad. I think these varied experiences helped me define myself and stand out a bit more in my field. One thing that I think was important when you are at a lesser-known institution is to try to intern at a well-known place and/or to seek out known awards in your fields or experience that people know are competitive.

It sounds like a great experience. Love that you got to do all of the travel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More misrepresentations, PP? You quoted the average for PUBLIC schools. The average for private schools is much higher and well over 50%. Many CTCL schools are just average private schools and sometimes below average when it comes to graduation rates. Nothing special. That’s the point.

Through all this back and forth and the attempts to try to make excuses for the average to poor performances of many CTCL schools, this is the main point. They’re not that special and many are especially poor no matter how you slice it.

I am not arguing that all the schools are bad as there are some that are really doing well. But the whole idea of lumping them all together as so special when there are schools included with under 50% 6 year graduation rates is ridiculous. And there are SO many other similar non-CTCL schools with better results.

If so many of these schools are struggling with finances, retention, graduation, and recruitment even WITH the benefit of the CTCL promotion, that should be a huge red flag to anyone considering one of the weaker schools.

None of these types of comments speak to the OP’s question, though. S/he asked for personal experiences. I’m glad some were given here, but I’d love to see more.

OP would have been smarter to ask about specific schools they were interested in or about types of LACs rather than try to use DCUM to promote all CTCL schools. Really seems like one super defensive person on here is working for CTCL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a CTCL grad and I personally feel reluctant to give specifics just because I would imagine there's only a few grads from my college on this site and I don't like to provide identifying details about myself in any forum (that may explain the relative dearth of personal experiences).

But it was an excellent education and prepared me for the top PhD program in my field. My scholarships made it equivalent cost to the state flagship to which I was also accepted and I feel it was a better fit for me (though my state school might have better name recognition). The things that stood out for me was while it was very supportive, it also promoted more self-directed, experiential learning than my siblings who went to state schools. I was supported to do internships, apprenticeships, research studies, multiple funded study abroad trips, as well as many smaller self-directed projects in addition to the usual coursework. The school provided or helped me find funding for these things and worked well to transfer course credit, switch major requirements around. My siblings at state public unis did more of the standard classes + 1 internship during the summer + 1 or none semester abroad. I think these varied experiences helped me define myself and stand out a bit more in my field. One thing that I think was important when you are at a lesser-known institution is to try to intern at a well-known place and/or to seek out known awards in your fields or experience that people know are competitive.

I see it also taught you to put your nose above your siblings.

Not at all. They could have taken my path had it been a good fit for them, but it wasn't to their taste. They had fun in college and got good jobs based in part on their educations. They wouldn't have wanted to do as many varied things as I did. They surely had more name recognition for their college, a larger alumni group, recruiters coming on campus and larger sporting events which was more important to them. I was just noting that their experience at a flagship was more standardized whereas mine was more personalized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More misrepresentations, PP? You quoted the average for PUBLIC schools. The average for private schools is much higher and well over 50%. Many CTCL schools are just average private schools and sometimes below average when it comes to graduation rates. Nothing special. That’s the point.

Through all this back and forth and the attempts to try to make excuses for the average to poor performances of many CTCL schools, this is the main point. They’re not that special and many are especially poor no matter how you slice it.

I am not arguing that all the schools are bad as there are some that are really doing well. But the whole idea of lumping them all together as so special when there are schools included with under 50% 6 year graduation rates is ridiculous. And there are SO many other similar non-CTCL schools with better results.

If so many of these schools are struggling with finances, retention, graduation, and recruitment even WITH the benefit of the CTCL promotion, that should be a huge red flag to anyone considering one of the weaker schools.

None of these types of comments speak to the OP’s question, though. S/he asked for personal experiences. I’m glad some were given here, but I’d love to see more.

OP would have been smarter to ask about specific schools they were interested in or about types of LACs rather than try to use DCUM to promote all CTCL schools. Really seems like one super defensive person on here is working for CTCL.

I actually think this is really good advice. After all, no one can be seriously considering every school on the CTCL list, since they’re located in all different parts of the country and have many different attributes. That’s the problem I have with the book.

It would be like someone asking “does anyone have any experience with any flag ship state university in the entire country?” No difference.