What happened to Colby?

[Anonymous]

I visited with DC, and we both loved it. Ultimately, DC used her ED1 on Grinnell and went there, but I'd have been equally thrilled with Colby. It's a beautiful school with outstanding facilities. The "Jan Plan" is a nice bonus in terms of academic enrichment. I feel Colby should be much higher ranked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I visited with DC, and we both loved it. Ultimately, DC used her ED1 on Grinnell and went there, but I'd have been equally thrilled with Colby. It's a beautiful school with outstanding facilities. The "Jan Plan" is a nice bonus in terms of academic enrichment. I feel Colby should be much higher ranked.

Jan plan provides a nice respite from the Maine winter and offers students who want to study abroad a sneak peak for a full semester commitment.

For those students who choose to stay on campus during Jan plan, the offerings seem really interesting. You can learn to fly a plane! https://news.colby.edu/story/dare-skyward-helps-colby-students-learn-to-fly/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I visited with DC, and we both loved it. Ultimately, DC used her ED1 on Grinnell and went there, but I'd have been equally thrilled with Colby. It's a beautiful school with outstanding facilities. The "Jan Plan" is a nice bonus in terms of academic enrichment. I feel Colby should be much higher ranked.

That's interesting. We visited Colby, and I felt that it was very different than Grinnell (at least from what I read about Grinnell).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I visited with DC, and we both loved it. Ultimately, DC used her ED1 on Grinnell and went there, but I'd have been equally thrilled with Colby. It's a beautiful school with outstanding facilities. The "Jan Plan" is a nice bonus in terms of academic enrichment. I feel Colby should be much higher ranked.

That's interesting. We visited Colby, and I felt that it was very different than Grinnell (at least from what I read about Grinnell).

Perhaps Colby is getting more diverse, while Grinnell is attracting more wealthy, preppy kids from both coasts?

[Anonymous]

Which of the Maine LACs is the least woke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which of the Maine LACs is the least woke?

Probably Colby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which of the Maine LACs is the least woke?

Probably Colby.

+1

[Anonymous]

Current Colby parent here. Another way to illustrate vibe difference between Bates and Colby is Bates calls its career development center “ the Center for Purposeful Learning.” Colby calls it “DavisConnects.” Our son grew up with liberal values starting in preschool but is not a fire breathing dragon about it. He finds many Colby kids to be like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Compared to the other NESCACS, Colby was toward the bottom.

Each of these schools has something to offer. My kid loved Bowdoin, but a friend of his just kept trying to convince him that there was more to like at Colby. My son is a freshman now at Bowdoin and his friend got in at Colby. Both seem happy so far… to each his own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I visited with DC, and we both loved it. Ultimately, DC used her ED1 on Grinnell and went there, but I'd have been equally thrilled with Colby. It's a beautiful school with outstanding facilities. The "Jan Plan" is a nice bonus in terms of academic enrichment. I feel Colby should be much higher ranked.

That's interesting. We visited Colby, and I felt that it was very different than Grinnell (at least from what I read about Grinnell).

Perhaps Colby is getting more diverse, while Grinnell is attracting more wealthy, preppy kids from both coasts?

True. Also, wealthy internationals.

And both are playing free apps game to lower their acceptance rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I visited with DC, and we both loved it. Ultimately, DC used her ED1 on Grinnell and went there, but I'd have been equally thrilled with Colby. It's a beautiful school with outstanding facilities. The "Jan Plan" is a nice bonus in terms of academic enrichment. I feel Colby should be much higher ranked.

That's interesting. We visited Colby, and I felt that it was very different than Grinnell (at least from what I read about Grinnell).

Perhaps Colby is getting more diverse, while Grinnell is attracting more wealthy, preppy kids from both coasts?

True. Also, wealthy internationals.

And both are playing free apps game to lower their acceptance rate.

Grinnell offers a lot of merit to donut hole families and gives way more financial aid money to internationals than Colby.

Colby loses the diversity competition…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like Colby. But I do think Colby is ranked where it “should” be now - did anyone ever think Bates and Colby were any different academically? I respect Bates more for not having chased rankings and its long standing commitment to test optional which does lower its “average” stats but adds many other positives to its student body.

Colby is one of the few colleges I think is now reaping what it sowed (with its own zealous chasing of usnwr rank over the past 10ish years).

- not a Colby or Bates parent

Many parents do not want their kids to go to Bates because it is more woke.

Current DC at Bates. Definitely not more woke than other area schools. Stop relying on DCUM for your information.

Current DC at Colby (who also was accepted at Bates, Hamilton, Middlebury, etc.). There is definitely a different vibe at the two schools! They're both great, but a student would likely have a preference of one over the other.

Can you tell us more about the different vibes? DC is looking at both, but we visited over the summer when it was hard to get a sense of the vibe.

[Anonymous]

This really gives me pause about Colby:

https://exposingcolby.wixsite.com/main

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Colby chased the rankings by pushing down its acceptance rate, ensuring a high number of classes under 20 students, that kind of thing. Then US News dropped those criteria from the rankings. It’s still the same very good college it was when it ranked among the top ten SLACs.

This. Colby was well known for playing the USNWR rankings game. And they played it very well.

Revised USNWR criteria are truly ridiculous. But Colby never should have been in any national top ten list. I'm guessing the Colby admissions office is busily working to find and admit every Pell Grant student they can somehow lure to Maine! They will continue to play this game, even if the rules are now absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colby chased the rankings by pushing down its acceptance rate, ensuring a high number of classes under 20 students, that kind of thing. Then US News dropped those criteria from the rankings. It’s still the same very good college it was when it ranked among the top ten SLACs.

This. Colby was well known for playing the USNWR rankings game. And they played it very well.

Revised USNWR criteria are truly ridiculous. But Colby never should have been in any national top ten list. I'm guessing the Colby admissions office is busily working to find and admit every Pell Grant student they can somehow lure to Maine! They will continue to play this game, even if the rules are now absurd.

+100 it is a good not great school. Equivalent to T50-60ish universities as far as quality of students and faculty. It will never be a t15 LAC(generally accepted to be on par with t30unis).