“Colleges That Change Lives”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We actually read the whole book (didn't just scan the website for the names of the schools) last year when our son was going thru the college process. He - and we - wanted a smaller school that would really get to know him and where he wouldn't be lost in a sea of faces. Some of these schools really did fit that bill. They are not all intended to be for the same student profile. Some are "changing lives" because htey are geared toward first-generation college students (not us). Some are geared to students with learning challenges (not us) or to kids who are looking for a specific type of educational experience (great books, etc) (again, not us). But some are aimed at families looking for a small student-centered atmosphere, and that is the point of the book... no family is alike in their needs and what they are looking for. All of these colleges can change lives of the kid who is looking for that experience.

That said, we traveled to and interviewed at McDaniel, Emory & Henry. Denison and Eckerd, and LOVED Denison and Eckerd. Absolutely nothing about McDaniel appealed to us, though it has a very large first-gen population, and so that's a big thing for them. Emory and Henry is a dry (or "slowly becoming "damp"") campus and has no town to speak of... situated right off of 81, it seemed like you'd have to travel far in a car to find fun stuff to do. Crossed that one off as well. DS got into Eckerd but ultimately decided it was a bit too small. GORGEOUS location on the beach outside of St. Pete, and the culture and traditions are some of the best we've seen.

Read the book, and go look at some schools.

Right. So they're NOT similar schools at all, except for their size. Why group them together then?

And "we" interviewed? I didn't know schools interviewed parents.

NP, and we “interviewed” at Wooster and St. Olaf, which I was not prepared for. The talked to my kid for about 30 minutes, and then brought parents back for the another 15 minutes or so at the end of the interview. Asked if we had any questions about the school, the programs or the application process. Did a little bit of a sales pitch about why my kid should apply and why it was a good fit for him. Specifically talked to us about the type of merit award we could expect. Both advised us on a couple ways to apply for and stack merit scholarship that would put my kid above the merit number they generally advertise as a cap.

So yes, some school do talk to parents. Or interview parents. Or sell themselves to parents. Or whatever this was. And, it’s smart to sell themselves to parents as well as kids. I care about things like Grad school placement that my kid is not focused on. College is a joint parent-kid decision in our house. Kid makes the final call, but there are parameters while we are the ones paying the tuition bills.

[Anonymous]

We

We

We

There, I have said it again.

[Anonymous]

Parents who are this involved in their kid’s college search are weirdos. “We” is the dead giveaway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We actually read the whole book (didn't just scan the website for the names of the schools) last year when our son was going thru the college process. He - and we - wanted a smaller school that would really get to know him and where he wouldn't be lost in a sea of faces. Some of these schools really did fit that bill. They are not all intended to be for the same student profile. Some are "changing lives" because htey are geared toward first-generation college students (not us). Some are geared to students with learning challenges (not us) or to kids who are looking for a specific type of educational experience (great books, etc) (again, not us). But some are aimed at families looking for a small student-centered atmosphere, and that is the point of the book... no family is alike in their needs and what they are looking for. All of these colleges can change lives of the kid who is looking for that experience.

That said, we traveled to and interviewed at McDaniel, Emory & Henry. Denison and Eckerd, and LOVED Denison and Eckerd. Absolutely nothing about McDaniel appealed to us, though it has a very large first-gen population, and so that's a big thing for them. Emory and Henry is a dry (or "slowly becoming "damp"") campus and has no town to speak of... situated right off of 81, it seemed like you'd have to travel far in a car to find fun stuff to do. Crossed that one off as well. DS got into Eckerd but ultimately decided it was a bit too small. GORGEOUS location on the beach outside of St. Pete, and the culture and traditions are some of the best we've seen.

Read the book, and go look at some schools.

Right. So they're NOT similar schools at all, except for their size. Why group them together then?

And "we" interviewed? I didn't know schools interviewed parents.[/quote

NP, and we “interviewed” at Wooster and St. Olaf, which I was not prepared for. The talked to my kid for about 30 minutes, and then brought parents back for the another 15 minutes or so at the end of the interview. Asked if we had any questions about the school, the programs or the application process. Did a little bit of a sales pitch about why my kid should apply and why it was a good fit for him. Specifically talked to us about the type of merit award we could expect. Both advised us on a couple ways to apply for and stack merit scholarship that would put my kid above the merit number they generally advertise as a cap.

So yes, some school do talk to parents. Or interview parents. Or sell themselves to parents. Or whatever this was. And, it’s smart to sell themselves to parents as well as kids. I care about things like Grad school placement that my kid is not focused on. College is a joint parent-kid decision in our house. Kid makes the final call, but there are parameters while we are the ones paying the tuition bills.

I'm actually happy to hear this!

[Anonymous]

That is not “interviewing” the parents. That’s giving the parents even more of a sales pitch. Typical of a CTCL school.

[Anonymous]

I implore people to re-read this original post and only contribute if they are qualified to be responsive to the question that was posed.

[Anonymous]

+1

The rest of you can go outside and bask in the glorious life that attending a first tier school has afforded you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1

The rest of you can go outside and bask in the glorious life that attending a first tier school has afforded you.

While your position may be correct, comments of this type do not help, and in fact increase the stereotype of bitter can’t affords/cant get ins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s really sounding like the kids that go to these schools aren’t actually ready for college but have parents with a lot of money who just push it along. I’ll bet a year or two in community college would’ve a much better and more cost effective approach.

And it really sounds to me like you are doing some selective reading of this post. There have been several, including me, who’ve posted saying either they or their child had been accepted to higher ranked or much more prestigious/selective colleges but decided to attend a CTCL.

So you went to some third tier LAC......great, I’m glad it worked out so brilliantly for you.

It was my son and he’s now getting his Ph.D. in geophysics at UT, so yes it did work out brilliantly for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is not “interviewing” the parents. That’s giving the parents even more of a sales pitch. Typical of a CTCL school.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1

The rest of you can go outside and bask in the glorious life that attending a first tier school has afforded you.

LOL

What bout the people who went to a third tier LAC and then went to a T14 law school or "top" graduate program? What do we do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s really sounding like the kids that go to these schools aren’t actually ready for college but have parents with a lot of money who just push it along. I’ll bet a year or two in community college would’ve a much better and more cost effective approach.

And it really sounds to me like you are doing some selective reading of this post. There have been several, including me, who’ve posted saying either they or their child had been accepted to higher ranked or much more prestigious/selective colleges but decided to attend a CTCL.

So you went to some third tier LAC......great, I’m glad it worked out so brilliantly for you.

This is obviously a troll, but I see a similar lack of awareness of the higher ed landscape in more well-intentioned discussions. There are well over 1500 liberal arts colleges in the US. The bulk of the CTCL schools are in the top 100--many in the top 50 or 75--of USNWR. These are schools that are included in the Princeton Review etc. which is meeting a bar that the vast majority of colleges in this country don't meet. They routinely send people to work in top firms, to elite grad programs etc. People need to get a clearer view on the full range of colleges in the US when thinking about tiers. Are these schools in the same league as Swarthmore, Grinnell, Williams etc.? No. Many drift nearer to and further away from colleges just outside the top 20 like Oberlin, Kenyon etc. But they have stronger entering profiles of students and student outcomes than many state flagships (not the UVA's and the Uof Ms) and the vast, vast majority of liberal arts colleges in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s really sounding like the kids that go to these schools aren’t actually ready for college but have parents with a lot of money who just push it along. I’ll bet a year or two in community college would’ve a much better and more cost effective approach.

And it really sounds to me like you are doing some selective reading of this post. There have been several, including me, who’ve posted saying either they or their child had been accepted to higher ranked or much more prestigious/selective colleges but decided to attend a CTCL.

So you went to some third tier LAC......great, I’m glad it worked out so brilliantly for you.

This is obviously a troll, but I see a similar lack of awareness of the higher ed landscape in more well-intentioned discussions. There are well over 1500 liberal arts colleges in the US. The bulk of the CTCL schools are in the top 100--many in the top 50 or 75--of USNWR. These are schools that are included in the Princeton Review etc. which is meeting a bar that the vast majority of colleges in this country don't meet. They routinely send people to work in top firms, to elite grad programs etc. People need to get a clearer view on the full range of colleges in the US when thinking about tiers. Are these schools in the same league as Swarthmore, Grinnell, Williams etc.? No. Many drift nearer to and further away from colleges just outside the top 20 like Oberlin, Kenyon etc. But they have stronger entering profiles of students and student outcomes than many state flagships (not the UVA's and the Uof Ms) and the vast, vast majority of liberal arts colleges in the US.

PP: Oops I meant to write there are over 1500 colleges (not just liberal arts colleges).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s really sounding like the kids that go to these schools aren’t actually ready for college but have parents with a lot of money who just push it along. I’ll bet a year or two in community college would’ve a much better and more cost effective approach.

And it really sounds to me like you are doing some selective reading of this post. There have been several, including me, who’ve posted saying either they or their child had been accepted to higher ranked or much more prestigious/selective colleges but decided to attend a CTCL.

So you went to some third tier LAC......great, I’m glad it worked out so brilliantly for you.

This is obviously a troll, but I see a similar lack of awareness of the higher ed landscape in more well-intentioned discussions. There are well over 1500 liberal arts colleges in the US. The bulk of the CTCL schools are in the top 100--many in the top 50 or 75--of USNWR. These are schools that are included in the Princeton Review etc. which is meeting a bar that the vast majority of colleges in this country don't meet. They routinely send people to work in top firms, to elite grad programs etc. People need to get a clearer view on the full range of colleges in the US when thinking about tiers. Are these schools in the same league as Swarthmore, Grinnell, Williams etc.? No. Many drift nearer to and further away from colleges just outside the top 20 like Oberlin, Kenyon etc. But they have stronger entering profiles of students and student outcomes than many state flagships (not the UVA's and the Uof Ms) and the vast, vast majority of liberal arts colleges in the US.

PP: Oops I meant to write there are over 1500 colleges (not just liberal arts colleges).

+1 people here have an incredibly skewed perspective. It's actually kind of frightening how they revel in their own ignorance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s really sounding like the kids that go to these schools aren’t actually ready for college but have parents with a lot of money who just push it along. I’ll bet a year or two in community college would’ve a much better and more cost effective approach.

And it really sounds to me like you are doing some selective reading of this post. There have been several, including me, who’ve posted saying either they or their child had been accepted to higher ranked or much more prestigious/selective colleges but decided to attend a CTCL.

So you went to some third tier LAC......great, I’m glad it worked out so brilliantly for you.

This is obviously a troll, but I see a similar lack of awareness of the higher ed landscape in more well-intentioned discussions. There are well over 1500 liberal arts colleges in the US. The bulk of the CTCL schools are in the top 100--many in the top 50 or 75--of USNWR. These are schools that are included in the Princeton Review etc. which is meeting a bar that the vast majority of colleges in this country don't meet. They routinely send people to work in top firms, to elite grad programs etc. People need to get a clearer view on the full range of colleges in the US when thinking about tiers. Are these schools in the same league as Swarthmore, Grinnell, Williams etc.? No. Many drift nearer to and further away from colleges just outside the top 20 like Oberlin, Kenyon etc. But they have stronger entering profiles of students and student outcomes than many state flagships (not the UVA's and the Uof Ms) and the vast, vast majority of liberal arts colleges in the US.

Simply not true. Go ask any hiring manager of a large firm like myself if they even know what CTCL is. They won't. They don't. They are looking for solid employees who are well-educated (and hey that can include great public schools as well which are a lot cheaper than CTCL) who will show up on time and perform well and not be a SJW or PITA on the job. Any child that has been coddled through his or her education will not perform in the marketplace and employers know that.