Less popular Hidden Gems

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Another vote for Kalamazoo College - a school with fabulous faculty, very loyal
Alums, strong social justice programs - all in a great town!

Also, in case you are looking for hidden gems, I can report that Kalamazoo - which looked really impressive and has an incredibly interesting curriculum/career/personal development plan that dates back decades that looks a lot like most other similar schools are only now trying to do -- gives a *lot* of merit aid, even to students who don't have the strongest stats. Best merit aid of all the similarly situated colleges we applied to (think over $40K).It was so incredibly reasonably priced with merit aid for my DC that it was hard to turn down. Looked very diverse, inclusive, interesting, nice small city with good internships, strong study abroad, etc.

Shout out to the Hornets! Kalamazoo is also an interesting, cute small city - not many still have a downtown these days. There is a university in Kalamazoo - Western Michigan - as well as a large community college so there's a bit more "college town" infrastructure than there would be in a city with only a LAC.

DC got a large merit offer, though ended up turning down for their ED. DC was thrilled to have gotten in soon after submitting EA application and said would probably have gone if not for getting into another Midwestern LAC.

+1 DC got into to their reach T20 school ED and almost wanted to rescind the offer because they liked Kalamazoo so much (and it would save about 30k a year after merit aid!). They really got excited about all the international travel, apprenticeships, internships, community programs, close relationships with profs etc.

Almost? Why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another vote for Kalamazoo College - a school with fabulous faculty, very loyal
Alums, strong social justice programs - all in a great town!

Also, in case you are looking for hidden gems, I can report that Kalamazoo - which looked really impressive and has an incredibly interesting curriculum/career/personal development plan that dates back decades that looks a lot like most other similar schools are only now trying to do -- gives a *lot* of merit aid, even to students who don't have the strongest stats. Best merit aid of all the similarly situated colleges we applied to (think over $40K).It was so incredibly reasonably priced with merit aid for my DC that it was hard to turn down. Looked very diverse, inclusive, interesting, nice small city with good internships, strong study abroad, etc.

Shout out to the Hornets! Kalamazoo is also an interesting, cute small city - not many still have a downtown these days. There is a university in Kalamazoo - Western Michigan - as well as a large community college so there's a bit more "college town" infrastructure than there would be in a city with only a LAC.

DC got a large merit offer, though ended up turning down for their ED. DC was thrilled to have gotten in soon after submitting EA application and said would probably have gone if not for getting into another Midwestern LAC.

+1 DC got into to their reach T20 school ED and almost wanted to rescind the offer because they liked Kalamazoo so much (and it would save about 30k a year after merit aid!). They really got excited about all the international travel, apprenticeships, internships, community programs, close relationships with profs etc.

Almost? Why not?

NP. You can't just back out of an ED agreement because you like another school better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another vote for Kalamazoo College - a school with fabulous faculty, very loyal
Alums, strong social justice programs - all in a great town!

Also, in case you are looking for hidden gems, I can report that Kalamazoo - which looked really impressive and has an incredibly interesting curriculum/career/personal development plan that dates back decades that looks a lot like most other similar schools are only now trying to do -- gives a *lot* of merit aid, even to students who don't have the strongest stats. Best merit aid of all the similarly situated colleges we applied to (think over $40K).It was so incredibly reasonably priced with merit aid for my DC that it was hard to turn down. Looked very diverse, inclusive, interesting, nice small city with good internships, strong study abroad, etc.

Shout out to the Hornets! Kalamazoo is also an interesting, cute small city - not many still have a downtown these days. There is a university in Kalamazoo - Western Michigan - as well as a large community college so there's a bit more "college town" infrastructure than there would be in a city with only a LAC.

DC got a large merit offer, though ended up turning down for their ED. DC was thrilled to have gotten in soon after submitting EA application and said would probably have gone if not for getting into another Midwestern LAC.

+1 DC got into to their reach T20 school ED and almost wanted to rescind the offer because they liked Kalamazoo so much (and it would save about 30k a year after merit aid!). They really got excited about all the international travel, apprenticeships, internships, community programs, close relationships with profs etc.

Almost? Why not?

NP. You can't just back out of an ED agreement because you like another school better.

+1 The ED is a binding agreement. And DC was also really thrilled to have gotten into the ED school too (it was a genuine reach), just had talked themselves into really loving Kalamazoo too before they got the ED decision. It was just a much closer decision than we would have thought initially.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Claremont McKenna. Super underrated here, but top notch academics, great quality of life, internships/opportunities abound, alumni network + top outcomes.

Not a hidden gem. It’s a very elite college. You people know nothing!

It is not well-known at all. Even in SoCal, it's not known.

Just stop. It’s ranked 8th in Us News. It’s extremely selective. It’s not “hidden” in any way, shape or form.

Almost no one pays attention to US News for LAC rankings outside of maybe the top 3 or 5 schools. Other schools are heavily regional in reputation. In DC, CMC is NOT known even by the highly educated. Yes it is a hidden gem. Selectivity numbers don't mean much when you only get ~6000 applicants from an international applicant pool of several million a year.

Yes, we are still laughing at you. Even my lowly little Midwest mind knew of the Claremont colleges back in the 1990s and all of them are well known across the land now with CMC being one of the best knows out of the group. It is just tiny.

This is funny.

I’m highly educated and never had heard of CMC until coming to this board.

What this tells me is that while you may be highly educated, your parents and/or grandparents almost most certainly were not. Or if they did have advanced degrees, they attended state schools or private regional schools and earned practical type degrees like accounting or engineering or nursing.

It's not a judgment on you, but not having heard of these schools is not an indicator of education, but rather of social class. And I can also guarantee that your kids will know these schools by the time they apply to colleges.

I have a kid at CMC. This is a deeply absurd comment.

[Anonymous]

Fordham.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Lewis & Clark, Macalester, Grinnell, Reed - all great SLACs. They have different vibes for sure. But overall, these are terrific schools that - generally speaking - attract fewer DMV applicants than some similar schools in the Northeast.

We were very impressed by Grinnell.

DC concerned about rural location, though the little village next to it seems pretty good - I've seen a lot more rural. What did you like?

Nice campus, open curriculum but with emphasis on advising, career services, intellectual, wants all students to be comfortable, small and interesting classes, emphasis on community.

The town is adjacent to campus so very accessible to students. There are a few restaurants, a market, etc.

My DS is starting in the fall and we will be paying 25k less/year than if he had gone to the NESCAC that I attended.

First PP here - all of the above plus the significant international population of the school and the massive endowment (which means good professors and lots of enrichment opportunities.) It's on par with top SLACs but far less demand from the DMV so the odds are better than the more predictable New England schools.

It's also the highest ranked SLAC that gives significant merit aid.

Grinnell is a lot better than Kenyon, that’s for sure.

Both are unknowns. In fact, Grinnell has about zero name value/prestige.

Unknown to you but not to oodles of others.

[Anonymous]

Washington College in Chestertown MD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Claremont McKenna. Super underrated here, but top notch academics, great quality of life, internships/opportunities abound, alumni network + top outcomes.

Not a hidden gem. It’s a very elite college. You people know nothing!

It is not well-known at all. Even in SoCal, it's not known.

Just stop. It’s ranked 8th in Us News. It’s extremely selective. It’s not “hidden” in any way, shape or form.

Almost no one pays attention to US News for LAC rankings outside of maybe the top 3 or 5 schools. Other schools are heavily regional in reputation. In DC, CMC is NOT known even by the highly educated. Yes it is a hidden gem. Selectivity numbers don't mean much when you only get ~6000 applicants from an international applicant pool of several million a year.

Yes, we are still laughing at you. Even my lowly little Midwest mind knew of the Claremont colleges back in the 1990s and all of them are well known across the land now with CMC being one of the best knows out of the group. It is just tiny.

This is funny.

I’m highly educated and never had heard of CMC until coming to this board.

What this tells me is that while you may be highly educated, your parents and/or grandparents almost most certainly were not. Or if they did have advanced degrees, they attended state schools or private regional schools and earned practical type degrees like accounting or engineering or nursing.

It's not a judgment on you, but not having heard of these schools is not an indicator of education, but rather of social class. And I can also guarantee that your kids will know these schools by the time they apply to colleges.

This makes sense. I grew up a UMC community & most people knew about and respected the Claremont colleges, Grinnell, Colgate and other SLACs that are regularly dismissed by people on this board.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I grew up a few blocks from Muhlenberg. It was always regarded as a top school. My parents dreamed of me going there. But I wanted independence so I went west, Univ. of Utah. Poli Sci+ skiing!

Are you LDS? And if not, did you find that most students were and it was hard to make friends and fit in? I love the idea of living in Utah with all the natural beauty but worry about my kid being ostracized.

I was ostracized, and I’d never live there. My friend was also ostracized for not joining the church. Mormons kids stopped playing with his kids. Mean. He had to move.

As for me, we had to find a national chain hotel and not a locally owned one. The locals would not give us unmarried people a room.

Now you're making your own problems. How did this ever even come up? Sounds like you like stirring up stuff and then whining about it after you've started.

NP btw.

Because we didn’t have wedding bands, silly.

[Anonymous]

Wofford College, Franklin & Marshall, Hope College, Calvin University

[Anonymous]

Wisconsin!!! Top in everything, especially research and the humanities

[Anonymous]

Lewis and Clark
Occidental
Pitzer (one of the Claremont colleges and never mentioned although Pomona and Claremont McKenna are)

If looking for state schools, the UCs outside of UCLA and UCBerkley

[Anonymous]

Ohio Wesleyan

[Anonymous]

Minnesota
UDenver

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are people only posting LACs?

Particularly since none of them are "hidden" if you care about academics. I think the lesson here is that most people don't understand the U.S. college system until their first (maybe not until the second) child is applying. All of the top 100 LACs will give your child a serious education from which they can do anything they want if they are a serious student. They are small schools, with dedicated professors who will take your child's academics as seriously as your child takes them. You cannot beat this nearly 1:1 education.