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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
What about Hobart and William Smith Colleges? One's all boys, the other is all girls, but they're on the same campus and share classes. It's in upstate New York, which is one reason that I didn't go there, but I don't think they have a greek scene to speak of.

FWIW, had a friend from NYC who sent her daughter there and she wasn't happy at all. Not much to do, many rich kids, and a big party/drug scene. She transferred to another college that's been mentioned on this thread (don't want to disclose the name) and is much happier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP (again) --

15:43 -- I have heard good things about St Mary's

15:49 - DD is really backing off southern schools. We looked at 2 in Virginia, and she sees them as too into the Greek scene (she is not). She seems to think this will be the case with most southern the schools.

Right now her faves are Kenyon and Oberlin.

Just being nosy - where did your DD end up?

[Anonymous]

DePauw, Shenandoah, Widener?

Nothing wrong with St. Mary's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard great things about Kenyon. But mostly from when I was that age. I'm 30 now.

It is lovely, but entry is very competitive. And it is very pricey. We need for her to come up with a few options that are less competitive and hopefully a public university "just in case" $$wise.

She is pretty liberal, very artsy (slightly granola/crunchy) and plans on doing a double major in classical studies and theater.

Hampshire College? I had a friend in grad school that went there and she loved it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe I got this far and no one mentioned Williams. Or Tufts. As for the Claremont schools -- the only one that's actually good is Pomona -- and the social life is very bad there. No one mentioned the honors program at Michigan. Or Swarthmore.

Very untrue

[Anonymous]

You can't beat St. Mary's College of Maryland. Fantastic school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, although your child may be selecting out whole portions of the country- perhaps it might be your role as the parent to put at least one of the more liberal "Southern" schools on the list just to "check out" as it were -whether a small liberal arts school - or one of the big State schools (University of Texas comes to mind as a HUGE school with a VERY liberal bent in some quarters - plus, the Honors program is a very good program and gives the small feel without being in what may be a more stifling small campus.) Obviously, the choice is the child's, but if s/he is making a decision based on Southern stereotypes, then she may need to inform herself further before rejecting a geographic location entirely.

OP - her decision was based on a visit to Washington & Lee and a good friend's recent visit to Roanoke College. Both girls deemed these schools too conservative, Greekbased, and dripping in Old South protocol. That said, I am *trying* to persuade her to look at least another school, before disregarding the south altogether.

FWIW, I found Lexington, VA to be a lovely and charming town. If I had seen it at 17 it would have been at the top of my list (tho I am pretty sure that I would not have made their list, as a high school student I was the antithesis of my DD )

NOT a very balanced view of the South. But that is OK, so many other students are applying to the good southern schools -- makes it less competitive.

[Anonymous]

OP- I have three in college. And two at home getting ready for that big decision. Just wanted to give you something to think about. Look into the smaller schools that no one has ever heard of. At least give them consideration. Our experience:

-My oldest is in a HUGE party school in the south. He is all about the Greek life, football, parties, tailgating.... All the stuff you associate with frat boy behavior. He's always been that type of kid. He was popular and outgoing in high school. He loves to be surrounded by tons of people. He thrives in that type of atmosphere. He made decent, but certainly not great grades. The school he got into was fairly competitive but his ACT scores were high enough to get him in. He graduates this year.

-My second is very different from his brother. He is quiet. He made very average grades. He had average scores on ACT/SAT. He got into an O.K. state school. He isn't into the Greek stuff at all. But he does LOVE football. His school is not as big as his brothers, but large nonetheless. He is a sophomore and doing great at a less competitive school.

-My third is the one that really surprised us. She is a National Merit Scholar. She graduated with a 4.45 GPA. She had colleges all over the country begging for her. She had scholarship offers from everywhere. She could have gone to any school she wanted to. We really thought she would choose an Ivy because that seemed to be really important to her during her junior year. She visited five schools (two ivys). She decided on a school that we had never even heard of. University of North Florida. When we researched the school we learned this-

In March 2006, The Princeton Review ranked UNF number five in their list of America's "Best Value" Colleges. UNF's status as a "Best Value" College was reaffirmed in 2007, 2009, and 2011. In 2007, 2009 and 2010, the university was named one of the "Best Southeastern Colleges" by The Princeton Review.

She is an introvert. Quiet with just a few close friends. She isn't into partying, football, or Greek life. She is kind crunchy. Very liberal. Into theater and music. Very green. And wanted a smaller college campus. The campus is located on a nature preserve, which she loved. What finally sold her was the Honors Program. She is on a full scholarship and absolutely loves the school.

I know you said she doesn't want a southern school, but there are smaller schools like this all over the country. They are worth looking at. I would never have found it on my own. A close friend (with a child at University of Florida) suggested we look at it after my daughter turned down Florida. Apparently, a huge deal. We were told that "no one turns down Florida".

[Anonymous]

Wittenberg and Wooster are great schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beloit? Wheaton in Massachusetts?

I was going to suggest Wheaton as well. There are some other small schools in Boston - Simmons, Emmanuel and Emerson if she is creative. Also you could consider St Michaels in Vermont. I'm sure you already have Bates and Colby on your list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speaking of Ohio--Case Western?

I'm a CWRU alum and agree its a great small school for pre-med and engineering. My DC area alumni email said the incoming fall class has 7 or 8 kids from Thomas Jefferson. It's a lot less "small town valedictorians from Ohio" than when I went there in the late 90s. It's a good school for kids who are a little nerdy and want a small school atmosphere where staff really knows you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beloit? Wheaton in Massachusetts?

I went to Beloit and loved it.

Almost everyone lives on campus, lots of different types of housing from frats and sororities (not a huge presence) to substance free and special interest houses like Russian and other languages/Art/Music/Peace and Justice/ etc. AMAZING faculty. Museums on campus and museum studies program which I think is pretty well-regarded. Strong international focus, about ten percent of the population is international, many study abroad and they make it easy to. I miss it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the originator of this thread and I want to thank those of you who shared good solid information and experiences.
DD made her choice a few weeks ago and I found so much of what you all shared to be quite helpful. And she in fact chose a school that was mentioned in this thread that we originally knew little about.

Can you please post your DD's choice?

She chose Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio.

I looked at Hiram when I was choosing a college several decades ago. I really liked it, but in the end it was just too pricey. I ended up at Miami U. of Ohio for less than half the cost. Miami has/had a huge Greek culture that I didn't want to be part of, so because of that it wasn't that much of a party school for me. I ended up making some lifelong friends and getting a great education. I'd love it if my DD would consider it in 2 years, but it's surrounded by cornfields and just way too rural for her.

[Anonymous]

Elon

[Anonymous]

Clark? Wooster?