college - tell me about "the best kept secret" schools - anyone have one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not intolerant. It's a question of what you want for your child. If my daughter turns out to be gay, I will love her and embrace whomever she may end up with. What I'm not particularly interested in is my daughter going off to college at the age of 17 (or 18) and having the college messaging that she should be experimenting with condoms and dental dams -- six to one, half a dozen to the other. I don't want my daughter in an environment where she is going to be made to feel that if she doesn't experiment with lesbian sex, she is outside the mainstream and a bit of prude. And that is the culture there right now, in my opinion. If that makes me homophobic in your mind, I'm cool with that. And I hope you're cool with that for your daughter.

If you equate my concern with Smith admitting males that "feel like" females into the college, or females who "feel like" males into the college -- with all the rights and privileges of all the other students -- i.e, living on campus in houses with women -- as having a "fear" of the transgendered, I'm cool with that too. I just hope you're cool with your daughter having what looks to be a man for a roomate. Or a woman who is actually eyeing her as a man would. I hope you're good with that.

Go ahead. Take me to task. It's easy to talk the talk. Let me see you walk the walk.

And by the way: don't expect Smith to be sweetening your pot just because your enamored with your daughter's grades. Unless you are a minority or very, very poor, they aren't going to give you a cent. That's another thing that's declined dramatically in the past 20 years or so: their endowment.

But yes, you're daughter will be able to take advantage of the five-college-exchange. She'll have the chance to lower her GPA dramatically by enrolling in courses at Amherst college, where she'll get her ass kicked. Or she can pad her transcript by enrolling in a course or two at UMass, which is worse than most high schools. Or she can go over to Holyoke, where the academics are worse than they are at Smith, but at least she won't be bombarded with dental dams on her first day of student orientation. Good luck with that.

You did not start this thread looking for people with all types of diversity. You clearly are only open to one type of opinion: an extremely progressive one. Anyone daring to voice an opinion that deviates from the far-left opinions that you are seeking will "rightly be taken to task" by you. And you're calling me intolerant.

Good luck with that pot sweetening, honey. Keep dreaming.

Spoken frankly and honestly. I imagine many girls are desperate to take classes at Amherst. Whether opinions are left or right , living situations could be awkward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'm not homophobic. 20 years ago lesbians were quite vocal at Smith, but the academic standards were rigourous, the admission rate was nowhere near 40%, and the curriculum was really good. I was fine with that. Now Smith -- actually all of the seven sisters left -- actively recruit from countries where the kids have perfect SAT scores to bring up their average. Imagine how low it would be without that kind of effort. Smith was once a really, really great place. Now it's just a place for stupid lesbians and brilliant foreigners. I hate to say it, but it's true.

So all the smart lesbians are at Harvard? Seriously, I'm not sure how many foreign kids who don't speak English can obtain perfect SATs. The Pakistani and Indian women perhaps. But I'm not sure about the ability of, say, a Saudi, Malaysian or Chinese woman to ace the English and essay parts of the SATs.

I think we'd agree that safe sex is a good thing, whatever the orientation. But I don't think the presence of dental dams (and I didn't know what this was until now either) necessarily means that everyone is having lesbian sex. Just like having free condoms in your coed Ivy dorm doesn't mean that everybody is doing it there. Sure, probably lots are. But the majority, or even a significant minority? I don't know if we can say, and the mere presence of these dental dams doesn't prove anything about prevalence. As a Smith grad myself, this sounds like a statement by some vocal campus group.

That said, when I went to Smith 25 years ago, I ended up in the "lesbian" dorm for freshman year because I was late turning in the housing form and nobody straight had asked for that house in the lottery, so there were lots of spaces for stragglers like me. There was a definite vibe in that house that the "cool" kids were all lesbians. I'm guessing it's a lot more prevalent now. Pressure of any kind is bad, whatever the orientation.

How did you know it was the lesbian dorm in advance? That could be horrendous for a straight girl. Also terrible for a sweet gay girl who was being hit on by an undesirable lesbian queen bee. When I was in college years ago my dorm had wings-one male one female and common area in the middle.

[Anonymous]

My vote is for Kenyon College.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My vote is for Kenyon College.

Kenyon is a secret? From whom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My vote is for Kenyon College.

Looks great! Only $50,400 per year to live out in the middle of Ohio.

[Anonymous]

colgate
skidmore
muhlenberg
lafayette
franklin and marshall
union
lehigh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My vote is for Kenyon College.

Looks great! Only $50,400 per year to live out in the middle of Ohio.

Which is no different than any of the liberal arts schools wether they are in Hamilton NY, Northfield MN, Amherst MA, Middlebury VT or wherever. Having toured Kenyon they actually say why it is in Gambier - because the founders wanted the young men (like most schools it started as a mens college) to be free from urban distractions so they could focus on their studies.

[Anonymous]

Warren Wilson College, Asheville NC

http://www.warren-wilson.edu/external_index.php

[Anonymous]

I have no connection to Kenyon at all, but as the parent of a college sophomore and h.s. junior I can tell you it is very hot right now among kids in this area.

[Anonymous]

Centre College, Danville KY

http://www.centre.edu/web/news/2010/forbes_best_in_south.html

[Anonymous]

Eckerd College, St. Petersburg FL

http://www.eckerd.edu/section.php?f=about


Colorado College, Colorado Springs CO

http://www.coloradocollege.edu/index.asp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My vote is for Kenyon College.

Looks great! Only $50,400 per year to live out in the middle of Ohio.

You know nobody actually pays full freight anymore, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My vote is for Kenyon College.

Looks great! Only $50,400 per year to live out in the middle of Ohio.

You know nobody actually pays full freight anymore, right?

Not true - we expect to pay full freight. 65% of Kenyon students get financial aid. If my DC is accepted we will be in the 35% of students who don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My vote is for Kenyon College.

Looks great! Only $50,400 per year to live out in the middle of Ohio.

You know nobody actually pays full freight anymore, right?

Not true - we expect to pay full freight. 65% of Kenyon students get financial aid. If my DC is accepted we will be in the 35% of students who don't.

Same here. It is very difficult to receive merit aid at the very competitive LACs. Kenyon hasn't been a "secret" for about 10 years. But it is a great school. The campus is beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Yes, a lot of east coast folks have known about Kenyon for more than 10 years. And for the Ohio basher in an earlier post -- get a life.