What's the difference between Amherst and Pomona?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not much

Much more similar than not, both amazing schools.

Exactly. "...the narcissism of small differences is the idea that when people ... have a lot in common, they can actually be more likely to fight with each other and mock each other, because they become overly sensitive to small differences they notice in one another and treat those differences as bigger than they are. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism_of_small_differences

What is actually similar? Amherst is an ivy adjacent lac grad school feeder and IB feeder with a strong New England culture and dedication to the humanities.

Meanwhile, Pomona is an okay liberal arts college on the west coast that got popular recently, had a dedication almost entirely to stem and very poor humanities programs, and 1/50 the alumni group quality of Amherst.

This is pretty spot on

It’s funny because Amherst is shit for IB

+1, Williams, CMC, Middlebury… a lot of better options

Please list your source, college transition said otherwise, AI said same.

College transitions
Literally the first thing that comes up when you look up investment banking feeders: https://www.peakframeworks.com/post/ib-target-schools

Even in college transitions, Claremont McKenna beats out the other LACs.

That peak ranking favors total hires so heavily that it means larger schools are going to look artificially better

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

As a parent with kids at 2 of the mentioned schools who has looked at many others, I think this is a good analysis. But I would add Haverford and Barnard to the mix. There are so many great LACs that around around the same prestige level and all offer similarly excellent educational experiences. There are real differences in feel/culture of the school, location, campus, etc. Also need to investigate strength of educational offerings as some of these schools are much stronger in some areas than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not much

Much more similar than not, both amazing schools.

Exactly. "...the narcissism of small differences is the idea that when people ... have a lot in common, they can actually be more likely to fight with each other and mock each other, because they become overly sensitive to small differences they notice in one another and treat those differences as bigger than they are. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism_of_small_differences

What is actually similar? Amherst is an ivy adjacent lac grad school feeder and IB feeder with a strong New England culture and dedication to the humanities.

Meanwhile, Pomona is an okay liberal arts college on the west coast that got popular recently, had a dedication almost entirely to stem and very poor humanities programs, and 1/50 the alumni group quality of Amherst.

This is pretty spot on

It’s funny because Amherst is shit for IB

+1, Williams, CMC, Middlebury… a lot of better options

Please list your source, college transition said otherwise, AI said same.

College transitions
Literally the first thing that comes up when you look up investment banking feeders: https://www.peakframeworks.com/post/ib-target-schools

Even in college transitions, Claremont McKenna beats out the other LACs.

That peak ranking favors total hires so heavily that it means larger schools are going to look artificially better

There’s a per capita ranking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

How expensive is it to run a school in the middle of nowhere?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

Can you explain what you saw that makes you say that? We did admit visits, but not the official days as they didn't work schedules wise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

I had a kid at Williams and have a kid at another NESCAC now. There is nothing available at Williams, Amherst, or Bowdoin that isn’t available at Hamilton, Middlebury, or even Colby. Same goes for Pomona and CMC. They all provide an incredible experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

That is true. The only difference between the top few schools and the next group is endowment size. But, all of these schools have immense wealth and they all have the resources necessary to create incredible learning experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

I had a kid at Williams and have a kid at another NESCAC now. There is nothing available at Williams, Amherst, or Bowdoin that isn’t available at Hamilton, Middlebury, or even Colby. Same goes for Pomona and CMC. They all provide an incredible experience.

Massive disagreement. Consistent availability and breadth of coursework for DD at Pomona in higher level courses is much more abundant than at lower tier lacs. Most of the economics-accounting/business/corporate finance/fintech coursework available at cmc is not taught at other schools including the PPE seminars (closest is Wesleyan with School of Social Science) and engineering, at Mudd, is available at very few LACs.

Williams, Swat, Bowdoin were other schools that had pretty specific and unique academic offerings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

How expensive is it to run a school in the middle of nowhere?

If you want good faculty you still have to pay them decently. Sometimes you actually have to pay them more, because most academics would prefer to live in an urban area.

Also, Massachusetts is not exactly a low-cost state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

I had a kid at Williams and have a kid at another NESCAC now. There is nothing available at Williams, Amherst, or Bowdoin that isn’t available at Hamilton, Middlebury, or even Colby. Same goes for Pomona and CMC. They all provide an incredible experience.

Massive disagreement. Consistent availability and breadth of coursework for DD at Pomona in higher level courses is much more abundant than at lower tier lacs. Most of the economics-accounting/business/corporate finance/fintech coursework available at cmc is not taught at other schools including the PPE seminars (closest is Wesleyan with School of Social Science) and engineering, at Mudd, is available at very few LACs.

Williams, Swat, Bowdoin were other schools that had pretty specific and unique academic offerings.

The offerings at Pomona are not different in any significant way that the offerings at other top schools and the amount spent on instruction is similar as well. Love your school but be real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

I had a kid at Williams and have a kid at another NESCAC now. There is nothing available at Williams, Amherst, or Bowdoin that isn’t available at Hamilton, Middlebury, or even Colby. Same goes for Pomona and CMC. They all provide an incredible experience.

Massive disagreement. Consistent availability and breadth of coursework for DD at Pomona in higher level courses is much more abundant than at lower tier lacs. Most of the economics-accounting/business/corporate finance/fintech coursework available at cmc is not taught at other schools including the PPE seminars (closest is Wesleyan with School of Social Science) and engineering, at Mudd, is available at very few LACs.

Williams, Swat, Bowdoin were other schools that had pretty specific and unique academic offerings.

To ensure that people have the right context Amherst is missing from this list because the Pomona booster who wrote the previous post had a long running pissing match with an Amherst booster awhile ago hence Amherst is missing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

I had a kid at Williams and have a kid at another NESCAC now. There is nothing available at Williams, Amherst, or Bowdoin that isn’t available at Hamilton, Middlebury, or even Colby. Same goes for Pomona and CMC. They all provide an incredible experience.

Massive disagreement. Consistent availability and breadth of coursework for DD at Pomona in higher level courses is much more abundant than at lower tier lacs. Most of the economics-accounting/business/corporate finance/fintech coursework available at cmc is not taught at other schools including the PPE seminars (closest is Wesleyan with School of Social Science) and engineering, at Mudd, is available at very few LACs.

Williams, Swat, Bowdoin were other schools that had pretty specific and unique academic offerings.

To ensure that people have the right context Amherst is missing from this list because the Pomona booster who wrote the previous post had a long running pissing match with an Amherst booster awhile ago hence Amherst is missing.

No I just didn’t tour Amherst. I’m sure it’s got a ton of great things. Not everyone is bitter, but I’m not gonna pretend I know what is unique about Amherst without having been!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree and agree.

I agree the T25 universities have roughly the same outcomes (maybe take out the T5s which may have a boost). Very little difference btw a Top 10 and a school ranked 18.

I think for LACs, the window is smaller. Vassar won't get you the same outcomes as Pomona or Williams or CMC. I think the top LACs are WASP plus Bowdoin and CMC. Add Midd maybe for some athlete-finance pipeline or Harvey Mudd for engineering. Maybe there's 8 but not 10 and not another half dozen behind them.

I really only think about this from an investment POV. I wouldn't be paying full boat for a LAC ranked 15, like a Hamilton or a Wes. But if you get a great package from Mac or Grinnell, sure.

Sort of maybe. There are eight SLACS (Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Middlebury, Pomona, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Williams) which average single digit rankings over the last 35 years of USNWR rankings. Two aren't mentioned too of which aren't mentioned much on this forum Wellesley and Carleton. Wellesley because of it being a Women's college and Carleton because of location in the Midwest. There is no real difference in them except for their wealth and location. They may have some different strengths but they are all universally excellent. CMC, Davidson, Vassar, W&L, and Wesleyan are close to this group as well with CMC floating around the top 10 for years with particular strengths in finance. Hamilton, Grinnell and Smith hang out with this group as well.

HMC gets a lot of play here and it is a great school for what is does but it isn't really a traditional SLAC and it's typically ranked in the 15-20 bracket.

So overall 8 equivalent schools followed 5-8 more schools with a shout out to HMC because of it's unique strengths.

Carleton has 1-3/1-4 the endowment of WASP

when we did accepted students days - the money difference was palpable. there are a lot of trade offs when going to a SLAC, but the opportunities that are available at a few of these schools is off the chart. Williams, especially. Also CMC, Pomona, and Bowdoin just seemed really full of programming outside the college. Travel, internships, summer stuff, winter stuff .. You can see where youre 90k is going

We didn't tour Amherst.

I had a kid at Williams and have a kid at another NESCAC now. There is nothing available at Williams, Amherst, or Bowdoin that isn’t available at Hamilton, Middlebury, or even Colby. Same goes for Pomona and CMC. They all provide an incredible experience.

Massive disagreement. Consistent availability and breadth of coursework for DD at Pomona in higher level courses is much more abundant than at lower tier lacs. Most of the economics-accounting/business/corporate finance/fintech coursework available at cmc is not taught at other schools including the PPE seminars (closest is Wesleyan with School of Social Science) and engineering, at Mudd, is available at very few LACs.

Williams, Swat, Bowdoin were other schools that had pretty specific and unique academic offerings.

The offerings at Pomona are not different in any significant way that the offerings at other top schools and the amount spent on instruction is similar as well. Love your school but be real.

I made the same argument for many other schools. I’d say tutorials are pretty damn unique and only Williams has them on a consistent basis across subjects. Swarthmore honors and engineering curriculum are unique, Bowdoin has access to research on two private islands and the faculty for environmental science are legendary.

I love DD’s school, AND I think others are unique. You minimized the second part, because it’s easier to complain and force your opinion down than listen to others.