Most intellectual colleges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A number of small Midwestern Liberal Arts Colleges.

- Butler University
- Hanover University
- Manchester University
- Wooster College
- Ohio Northern
- Kalamazoo
- St. Olaf
- DePauw
- Hillsdale

Not dissing St. Olaf, but it is not even the most intellectual college in Northfield.

OP wanted intellectual, not intellectually pompous. Get over yourself.

[Anonymous]

I looked up Wesleyan which was mentioned a few times on this thread. It seems overwhelmingly filled private high school students based on my admittedly limited review of a few team rosters and clubs. But I can’t find an actual stat on this on the website. To those with first hand knowledge, is this a correct perception?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A number of small Midwestern Liberal Arts Colleges.

- Butler University
- Hanover University
- Manchester University
- Wooster College
- Ohio Northern
- Kalamazoo
- St. Olaf
- DePauw
- Hillsdale

Not dissing St. Olaf, but it is not even the most intellectual college in Northfield.

Agreed. #2 in Northfield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A number of small Midwestern Liberal Arts Colleges.

- Butler University
- Hanover University
- Manchester University
- Wooster College
- Ohio Northern
- Kalamazoo
- St. Olaf
- DePauw
- Hillsdale

Not dissing St. Olaf, but it is not even the most intellectual college in Northfield.

Agreed. #2 in Northfield.

These places can be great for intellectually curious kids. It's not that the overwhelming student body is intellectually stronger than elsewhere (it's not--they aren't highly selective schools with high stats), rather more that they are often isolated-ish places for professors who genuinely enjoy intellectual conversations with students. It is also very common for top recent PhDs to spend 1-2 years as a visiting prof at a small LAC to hone their teaching skills and finish their dissertation book before launching a full scale job search. Many departments will have one of these visitors who often will lead a faculty-student discussion group or host a film night or some other project as well as teach. These visiting profs are still so close to grad school that they tend to lead these things at a much higher intellectual level which can end up being eye-opening for interested undergrads. And many of the professors that are there full-time are often the ones who like learning/teaching for its own sake and are also trying to create an intellectual community. If you attend on merit aid there are often research internships and other things built in and you can get drawn into these groups. There's little sense of competition and a strong student will get decent grades if they work hard so there's space to think and be interested in intellectual ideas. It's definitely not for everyone, but I think non-competitive, smart, intellectually-oriented kids can thrive. I think it's why a lot of these places have excellent PhD placement despite not being the T20 (nor T40) SLACs.

[Anonymous]

Hopkins.

Difficult school with grade deflation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A number of small Midwestern Liberal Arts Colleges.

- Butler University
- Hanover University
- Manchester University
- Wooster College
- Ohio Northern
- Kalamazoo
- St. Olaf
- DePauw
- Hillsdale

Not dissing St. Olaf, but it is not even the most intellectual college in Northfield.

Agreed. #2 in Northfield.

These places can be great for intellectually curious kids. It's not that the overwhelming student body is intellectually stronger than elsewhere (it's not--they aren't highly selective schools with high stats), rather more that they are often isolated-ish places for professors who genuinely enjoy intellectual conversations with students. It is also very common for top recent PhDs to spend 1-2 years as a visiting prof at a small LAC to hone their teaching skills and finish their dissertation book before launching a full scale job search. Many departments will have one of these visitors who often will lead a faculty-student discussion group or host a film night or some other project as well as teach. These visiting profs are still so close to grad school that they tend to lead these things at a much higher intellectual level which can end up being eye-opening for interested undergrads. And many of the professors that are there full-time are often the ones who like learning/teaching for its own sake and are also trying to create an intellectual community. If you attend on merit aid there are often research internships and other things built in and you can get drawn into these groups. There's little sense of competition and a strong student will get decent grades if they work hard so there's space to think and be interested in intellectual ideas. It's definitely not for everyone, but I think non-competitive, smart, intellectually-oriented kids can thrive. I think it's why a lot of these places have excellent PhD placement despite not being the T20 (nor T40) SLACs.

Thoughtful post and thank you, but I’d quibble with isolated, even “isolated-ish”. Greater MSP metro region is about 3.5 million people and downtown is about 45 minutes from Northfield, the ‘burbs far closer. Lots of kids at both schools do internships and take jobs in the city. I imagine (though I’m guessing here) that some faculty and staff live in or near the twin cities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A number of small Midwestern Liberal Arts Colleges

DePauw is VERY fratty and bro-y.

Yes about Depauw! Same is true for Butler!

Hard to find intellectual school without high stats like Swarthmore and U of C

DePauw is pretty intellectual even with the Greek system, which is diminishing in importance. I went to U of C after DePauw with no problems and was challenged in both places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hopkins.

Difficult school with grade deflation.

I've taught at both Hopkins and Chicago. Hopkins students tend to be very smart, well prepared, and hard-working, but too pre-professionally focused to be intellectual. I once had a prospective student and parent observe one of my U of C classes and the parent was clearly horrified that they did not perceive me to be teaching. With light facilitation from me, the students spent 30 minutes debating the concept of freedom in various texts they had read. They were such a good class. At Hopkins there was much more "what's the grading rubric," "what do I need to do to get an A in this class?". I have respect for students at both schools, but the U of C students were so much more fun.

[Anonymous]

Columbia
William and Mary
Hopkins
Pomona
Reed
Swarthmore
U Chicago

I have no connection to Reed or Swarthmore (only to Columbia), but both send tons of kids to graduate school and the kids I’ve met have been serious.

Not Stanford or Harvard.

The good news, though, is that most colleges have some great profs thanks to a system where not all top profs want to be in the publishing rat race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopkins.

Difficult school with grade deflation.

I've taught at both Hopkins and Chicago. Hopkins students tend to be very smart, well prepared, and hard-working, but too pre-professionally focused to be intellectual. I once had a prospective student and parent observe one of my U of C classes and the parent was clearly horrified that they did not perceive me to be teaching. With light facilitation from me, the students spent 30 minutes debating the concept of freedom in various texts they had read. They were such a good class. At Hopkins there was much more "what's the grading rubric," "what do I need to do to get an A in this class?". I have respect for students at both schools, but the U of C students were so much more fun.

Well as faculty at Hopkins - I can point you to their new strategic plan for undergrad education where the univ is changing grading from relative grades between students (ie limited #of As on a curve) to grading against fixed performance goals. That might change the culture of the student (and teaching) body. I think the non-pre-students had the luxury of ignoring the tough grading curve and now with the new grading system all students will have this freedom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopkins.

Difficult school with grade deflation.

I've taught at both Hopkins and Chicago. Hopkins students tend to be very smart, well prepared, and hard-working, but too pre-professionally focused to be intellectual. I once had a prospective student and parent observe one of my U of C classes and the parent was clearly horrified that they did not perceive me to be teaching. With light facilitation from me, the students spent 30 minutes debating the concept of freedom in various texts they had read. They were such a good class. At Hopkins there was much more "what's the grading rubric," "what do I need to do to get an A in this class?". I have respect for students at both schools, but the U of C students were so much more fun.

I've taught at Hopkins and found it to be exactly opposite of what you describe. If you teach premeds, sure. The engineering students are hardcore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Columbia
William and Mary
Hopkins
Pomona
Reed
Swarthmore
U Chicago

I have no connection to Reed or Swarthmore (only to Columbia), but both send tons of kids to graduate school and the kids I’ve met have been serious.

[b]Not Stanford or Harvard.

The good news, though, is that most colleges have some great profs thanks to a system where not all top profs want to be in the publishing rat race.

Not what? Not intellectual?

[Anonymous]

[/b]

Anonymous wrote:What about Oberlin? William & Mary?

[b]We are also looking for a school with an intellectual bent but not a pressure cooker. Is there such a thing?

Both Oberlin and W&M attract avid learners although Oberlin is more politically active (uber-left leaning) between the two. A fantastic school with an impressive track record of students that go on to get PhDs. William and Mary has a reputation of being academically intense with superb course offerings as well as a gorgeous campus. You really can't go wrong with either school. Bear in mind that the winters in northern Ohio can be brutal!

[Anonymous]

Princeton

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopkins.

Difficult school with grade deflation.

I've taught at both Hopkins and Chicago. Hopkins students tend to be very smart, well prepared, and hard-working, but too pre-professionally focused to be intellectual. I once had a prospective student and parent observe one of my U of C classes and the parent was clearly horrified that they did not perceive me to be teaching. With light facilitation from me, the students spent 30 minutes debating the concept of freedom in various texts they had read. They were such a good class. At Hopkins there was much more "what's the grading rubric," "what do I need to do to get an A in this class?". I have respect for students at both schools, but the U of C students were so much more fun.

U of C students are mainly private school kids who have been thought to think and actually learn.

Hopkins is full of Asians/white from public school systems who have never been taught the joy of learning, debating, questioning, etc... The grade is all that matters.