Schools used to percent parochial, private, charter, public, homeschooled, but most don’t anymore. I’d say a good way nowadays is to look at the sports team roster pages. I think athletes are more likely to have attended private school, but you can see the differentiation between schools. I wouldn’t be surprised if Middlebury is 50% non-parochial private schools. |
not necessarily. Private school is going to correlate with the ability to pay more than with the need for hand holding. Some times the two overlap, but not always |
| We were surprised when the Yale tour guide proudly stated that 60% of kids came feom public schools. It sounded so low to me and was definitely a negative in my mind (yes, yes, I understand my kid won’t get in anyway). |
What exactly is handholding in this context? |
I wouldn't assume that at all. If you want schools that have robust/undergrad focused services, ask about that directly. Why use a proxy when you don't need to? |
Np. Ask what to who? We are also looking at private colleges, some small and some medium sized, and want an undergrad focused experience where the school spends its time and resources on undergrads starting with freshman year. But I don’t know what to ask? Or who to ask? |
Some of these school will have a residence hall advisor that takes parent calls. They might have regular check-ins with students to make sure they are staying on top of their classes and getting them tutors if they seem to be struggling. If the student gets a bad grade they talk to them about it and how to avoid bad grades going forward. It's almost more than they would get at a lot of homes. |
Which schools are these? They sound great tbh. |
PP, which schools offer what you just described? |
We've been looking for a small, handholding school for my autistic child and haven't seen anything like that. Frankly, it sounds excessive and inappropriate for neurotypical college students. If your child truly needs that level of support, we're looking at Mansfield Hall, which is a "superdorm" for students attending a variety of schools and that provides that level of oversight. https://mansfieldhall.org/ |
When you visit, ask about the advising system, how accessible is tutoring and the writing center, the wait list for therapy, and what sort of safety net there is -- who notices, how, and when if a student is struggling. But all schools will require students to be proactive in requesting help. |
Advisors who know you exist as a freshman, teachers expected to know a students name, responsive student life department especially with respect to housing.... The SLAC I went to gave professors large budgets to host freshmen for group dinners and my advisor met with me multiple times and pushed me towards certain clubs all of which were lavishly funded. Basically they did everything possible to bring freshman into the school community. My spouse went to Cal. They joke that for the first two years they doubt that any school employee knew their name or cared that they existed |
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My DS (from private HS) attends a small (not super competitive LAC). It has a well developed freshman experience and your student's advisor is the teacher of a freshman seminar your kid takes.
Yesterday during campus move in, my DS ran into two professors that know his name and that he was excited to see. These schools exist - look for good freshman experience, residential housing that is integrated into the academic program, small classes where you can know your professor and good advising. Some suggestions might be Union College in NY, University of Denver, Elon. on the other hand, my son's friend is a freshman at a big flagship out of state - the freshman had to move in a week early and there are no required activities - so the kid is basically sitting around with nothing to do. He hasn't made friends yet and it's the weekend and no classes until Monday. That seems really hard. |
Like Rice? Are all SLACs (mostly) like this? |
Would schools like Amherst; Middlebury; Bard; Lehigh; Colgate; Wake; Richmond fall into this category? |