LACs with the WORST locations

[Anonymous]

This thread is so negative. What about the LACs in the best locations? Anyone?

[Anonymous]

Fwiw Bates parent here: Lewiston is objectively pretty awful. It's completely irrelevant to my kid who is there; the cafeteria food is good and available in unlimited quantities and his social life revolves around campus. And oddly, in many ways, the location has been a huge plus - he's an environmental studies major and has had multiple classes that involve fieldwork all over Maine. He's had a number of trips to Acadia and similar spots; his Instagram is filled with glorious shots. He's not a skier but many of his classmates spend their weekends on the slopes. So yes, the city where the school is located is rundown and sad but the location has a lot going for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so negative. What about the LACs in the best locations? Anyone?

Bowdoin-we thought the campus and location was beautiful. Very New England right on the coast and close to Portland.

Smith College- Northampton is one of the best New England college towns there is.

Amherst also nice and UMass there and smith with the consortium.

Haverford/bryn mawr- very upscale, quaint nice area.

William and Mary- cute town with all the history

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:oberlin....

And kenyon

I have an Obie. The location is decent. It’s located in a cute little town and everything is walkable. It’s also right on the lake, so there is a beach nearby, kayaking cking, etc. Also only 30-45 minutes from Cleveland. Wooster and Kenyon have very nice campuses, but are much more isolated.

Now for all these schools, the Lake Effect is the real deal. The winters are harsh. I think it helps that most kids do winter term off campus and aren’t at the school in January.

Oberlin/Kenyon/Wooster don't get much lake effect.

Lake Erie's Lake Effect is primarily East/Northeast of downtown Cleveland. Grew up 15 miles east of downtown, twice as much snow as downtown, 15 miles further east, twice as much as we got... Further south - Akron/Canton are similar to downtown Cleveland.

https://www.cleveland19.com/story/33996575/where-is-the-lake-erie-snow-belt-in-ohio/

And... Ohio's not Minnesota. Carleton and Olaf come with -30F, blue skies, hoarfrost, and snow flurries from October to May,

Skating on the Bald Spot, xcountry skiing in the Arb, walking/running in the Natural Lands.

A friend at Carleton on May 15th, 1976... "F'ing snow in F'ing May, F."

My speak to Kenyon and WOOSTER. BUT Oberlin— literally siting on the Lake definitely does. Who knows, maybe Cleveland (a half hour away) has it worse. But the winter is quite something. My kid loves it. I don’t know where the cold weather gene comes from. But the ice is so bad that some days he has to wear crampons to class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so negative. What about the LACs in the best locations? Anyone?

Macalaster— one of the few in an actual town— nice suburban area if St. Paul

W&M ( if you count it as a SLAC)

IMO the Claremont Colleges

I really liked Carleton and St. Olaf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so negative. What about the LACs in the best locations? Anyone?

Macalaster— one of the few in an actual town— nice suburban area if St. Paul

W&M ( if you count it as a SLAC)

IMO the Claremont Colleges

I really liked Carleton and St. Olaf.

And again, a lot of people don’t like W&M location. Just proves that it’s really an individual choice.

[Anonymous]

This entire thread boils down to the fact people should take their kids to visit colleges of interest. Plenty of posts on DCUM over the years complaining about the time and money involved to visit in person, but when a student is going to LIVE in a place for four years of their young lives, the investment of one visit is worthwhile if it rules certain colleges in our out of the running. Narrow things down based on academics first and foremost but then visit if a kid is truly interested.

And I'd add to that: (1) Visit when the student can actually sit in on a class or two, or there are extra, specialized tours available (some colleges have days when things are available like tours of specific department facilites, rather than just generic campus tours). If you can't manage one of those days, have your kid contact departments of interest and ASK if he or she can stop by and ask some specific questions in person. Not all colleges or departments will respond but some will. For us, my kid's contacting two departments led to her attending a class and getting individually taken all around both departments because folks just had the time. She did end up attending that college. (2) Talk to current students or recent grads. Many colleges will set up prospective students (yes, even ones who have not applied yet) with Zoom or FaceTime or whatever to talk to someone. But I think a lot of families don't know even to ask for these things. We didn't until someone clued us in.

--parent of a kid at a college in a "worst" location that actually isn't, if you bother to visit and talk with people AT the college about the overall location

[Anonymous]

It all depends on what your kid is looking for. We visited Kenyon and yes, it is out in the middle of nowhere but the tiny town of Gambier is a nice little cocoon. Mount Vernon is kind of nearby if you need chain restaurants and a bar scene.

[Anonymous]

My kid was also able to arrange overnight visits with current students, that she tagged on to visiting students day. That gave her a less curated sense of the social scene, than the scripted campus tour. Those are arranged by Admissions.

She was looking at SLACs though, and her one state school (SMCM) did not do these. So that option may not be available in all places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is so negative. What about the LACs in the best locations? Anyone?

Macalaster— one of the few in an actual town— nice suburban area if St. Paul

W&M ( if you count it as a SLAC)

IMO the Claremont Colleges

I really liked Carleton and St. Olaf.

And again, a lot of people don’t like W&M location. Just proves that it’s really an individual choice.

+1 DD is going to a LAC in a pretty remote, rural area with a small town that (to me) doesn't seem to have much going on. But she has no concerns about the location and thinks the town has the things she wants. She really only looked at rural LACs, several of which were mentioned here as "worst location".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It all depends on what your kid is looking for. We visited Kenyon and yes, it is out in the middle of nowhere but the tiny town of Gambier is a nice little cocoon. Mount Vernon is kind of nearby if you need chain restaurants and a bar scene.

The issue to me is not whether a SLAC is remote so much, but are there just a few places in the town that a kid can walk to from campus in order to get a slice of pizza, have a cup of coffee, and grab a cooked meal. That is a pretty low standard. Kenyon is one of the few SLACs that wholly fails to meet this standard. Grinnell on the other hand — which many say is too rural — meets this standard very well. Williamstown I used to know well but it’s been a while. It is right on the cusp of meeting this standard, but I would say no, it does not meet it. Middlebury does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It all depends on what your kid is looking for. We visited Kenyon and yes, it is out in the middle of nowhere but the tiny town of Gambier is a nice little cocoon. Mount Vernon is kind of nearby if you need chain restaurants and a bar scene.

The issue to me is not whether a SLAC is remote so much, but are there just a few places in the town that a kid can walk to from campus in order to get a slice of pizza, have a cup of coffee, and grab a cooked meal. That is a pretty low standard. Kenyon is one of the few SLACs that wholly fails to meet this standard. Grinnell on the other hand — which many say is too rural — meets this standard very well. Williamstown I used to know well but it’s been a while. It is right on the cusp of meeting this standard, but I would say no, it does not meet it. Middlebury does.

Practically the only place my kid could walk to was Sheetz! 😬 They made it work.

They had no $$ anyway, for good restaurants.

Places like this have very well attended campus events, since they do not have to compete with off campus stuff. My kid actually wanted that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It all depends on what your kid is looking for. We visited Kenyon and yes, it is out in the middle of nowhere but the tiny town of Gambier is a nice little cocoon. Mount Vernon is kind of nearby if you need chain restaurants and a bar scene.

The issue to me is not whether a SLAC is remote so much, but are there just a few places in the town that a kid can walk to from campus in order to get a slice of pizza, have a cup of coffee, and grab a cooked meal. That is a pretty low standard. Kenyon is one of the few SLACs that wholly fails to meet this standard. Grinnell on the other hand — which many say is too rural — meets this standard very well. Williamstown I used to know well but it’s been a while. It is right on the cusp of meeting this standard, but I would say no, it does not meet it. Middlebury does.

Spring St is right there, and has a number of eateries. Certainly meets the standard you described.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It all depends on what your kid is looking for. We visited Kenyon and yes, it is out in the middle of nowhere but the tiny town of Gambier is a nice little cocoon. Mount Vernon is kind of nearby if you need chain restaurants and a bar scene.

The issue to me is not whether a SLAC is remote so much, but are there just a few places in the town that a kid can walk to from campus in order to get a slice of pizza, have a cup of coffee, and grab a cooked meal. That is a pretty low standard. Kenyon is one of the few SLACs that wholly fails to meet this standard. Grinnell on the other hand — which many say is too rural — meets this standard very well. Williamstown I used to know well but it’s been a while. It is right on the cusp of meeting this standard, but I would say no, it does not meet it. Middlebury does.

There's a coffee shop, a bar, a couple of restaurants and a grocery store in the two blocks directly off campus. Pizza is a bit distant, however.

[Anonymous]

Pizza delivery? Chinese delivery? Those count for something...