Experiences with Colby, Wesleyan, Vassar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is an Anthropology major at Wesleyan (along with a second humanities major) and is having a great experience. I think it’s particularly strong for cultural anthropology (my kid’s area of interest). Professors have been great, classes are small and engaging (as I assume would be the case at any SLAC).

Also, don’t misunderstand SLACs—they are also very strong in sciences and math, which are part of the liberal arts. Wes, for example, is about to open a big new science building, and many of my kid’s friends are hard sciences majors (sometimes with a humanities double major).

Wes is a little bigger than most of its peers (3000 undergrads with a few hundred grad students) and is in a good-sized town, so it feels lively and diverse; it has a wide range of students and is welcoming to all. And it doesn’t feel terribly clique-y; my artsy kid is dating an athlete.

My kid also liked Vassar; I think there are a lot of cultural similarities. I don’t know anything about Colby.

Why did you feel a need to bring this up?

Because OP said,

She's really interested in schools that emphasize the humanities over the latest STEM craze

SLACs aren’t just humanities, and if OP is looking at these schools thinking they emphasize/prioritize humanities over STEM areas, they will be disappointed.

[Anonymous]

Those 3 are great schools and she can thrive and study her chosen field at any of them. I know happy grads from Colby and Wes and a current Junior from my kid's high school at Vassar who loves it.
Any chance you can visit? Obviously, there is a cost to doing so but for my kid it really helped to see students on campus, meet the student tour guides etc. If it is possible to do so I'd highly recommend touring all 3 in a short time span so she can see if one feels more right.
It also may help with admissions- demonstrated interest may matter. Plus if you plan ahead and contact admissions she might be able to sit in on an anthropology class/meet a professor and then have something really special to write about in her "why us" essay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hamilton is nowhere near the caliber of the others.

Huh? Hamilton is higher ranked than all of them….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hamilton is nowhere near the caliber of the others.

Huh? Hamilton is higher ranked than all of them….

Rankings don't mean anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hamilton is nowhere near the caliber of the others.

Huh? Hamilton is higher ranked than all of them….

Rankings don't mean anything.

Good point, I assume your kid isn’t worried about rankings at all? I hear Southern Texas Baptist College is a great place to study this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hamilton is nowhere near the caliber of the others.

Huh? Hamilton is higher ranked than all of them….

Rankings don't mean anything.

Good point, I assume your kid isn’t worried about rankings at all? I hear Southern Texas Baptist College is a great place to study this.

Ah you're one of those people, where nuance is just completely lost on you. Jeez, maybe op is right and we need more humanities grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hamilton is nowhere near the caliber of the others.

Huh? Hamilton is higher ranked than all of them….

Rankings don't mean anything.

Good point, I assume your kid isn’t worried about rankings at all? I hear Southern Texas Baptist College is a great place to study this.

Ah you're one of those people, where nuance is just completely lost on you. Jeez, maybe op is right and we need more humanities grads.

Not at all, you were utterly obnoxious in your response. Rankings are one thing but most people in banking, consulting, tech would hold Hamilton on a par with Vassar and well above Wesleyan and Colby (both good schools in their own right but not quite as good).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hamilton is nowhere near the caliber of the others.

Huh? Hamilton is higher ranked than all of them….

Rankings don't mean anything.

Good point, I assume your kid isn’t worried about rankings at all? I hear Southern Texas Baptist College is a great place to study this.

Ah you're one of those people, where nuance is just completely lost on you. Jeez, maybe op is right and we need more humanities grads.

Not at all, you were utterly obnoxious in your response. Rankings are one thing but most people in banking, consulting, tech would hold Hamilton on a par with Vassar and well above Wesleyan and Colby (both good schools in their own right but not quite as good).

Qualify this statement, then.

[Anonymous]

It would be worth drilling down and looking at the course catalog for each school in anthro and history. I love SLACs, but in a field like history these small depts cannot cover all periods and regions well—make sure there are courses and professors in the area of interest. And if interested in US history, look at the American Studies classes too. Same with anthro—look at the courses at each school and the faculty pages that describe their research and see if the kid finds one more interesting than the others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hamilton is nowhere near the caliber of the others.

Huh? Hamilton is higher ranked than all of them….

Rankings don't mean anything.

Good point, I assume your kid isn’t worried about rankings at all? I hear Southern Texas Baptist College is a great place to study this.

Ah you're one of those people, where nuance is just completely lost on you. Jeez, maybe op is right and we need more humanities grads.

Not at all, you were utterly obnoxious in your response. Rankings are one thing but most people in banking, consulting, tech would hold Hamilton on a par with Vassar and well above Wesleyan and Colby (both good schools in their own right but not quite as good).

Qualify this statement, then.

And just like that, another troll down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a general comment on anthropology programs, those at colleges with distinct anthropology departnents tend to be stronger than those at colleges at which anthropology and sociology form a single department.

Personally, I'd include Haverford and Hamilton in this appealing mix.

For clarity, note that anthropology is a social science.

I didn't include Haverford and Hamilton, so I don't know why you brought them up. All of these schools have distinct anthropology departments, so it sounds like you just wanted to promote these two random schools, which isn't helpful.

Prickly

I have info I could have shared but not gonna waste my time with this attitude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a general comment on anthropology programs, those at colleges with distinct anthropology departnents tend to be stronger than those at colleges at which anthropology and sociology form a single department.

Personally, I'd include Haverford and Hamilton in this appealing mix.

For clarity, note that anthropology is a social science.

I didn't include Haverford and Hamilton, so I don't know why you brought them up. All of these schools have distinct anthropology departments, so it sounds like you just wanted to promote these two random schools, which isn't helpful.

Prickly

I have info I could have shared but not gonna waste my time with this attitude.

You had no info to share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beware of Colby stats because they have been really pumping up their numbers by making their application free and investing heavily in mailers.

Sure, this is true, but why is it germane? People like the school. Let them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tufts, Kenyon, Grinnell, Oberlin

op wants people to compare Colby, Wes, Vassar. Only a matter of time til someone to recommends Berkeley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be worth drilling down and looking at the course catalog for each school in anthro and history. I love SLACs, but in a field like history these small depts cannot cover all periods and regions well—make sure there are courses and professors in the area of interest. And if interested in US history, look at the American Studies classes too. Same with anthro—look at the courses at each school and the faculty pages that describe their research and see if the kid finds one more interesting than the others.

This is good advice - the focal areas of these departments will vary depending on who is teaching. It's worth looking not just at the course catalog but at the courses offered in the upcoming semester, if you are able to view those. At my child's SLAC there are courses in the catalog that aren't taught every year, and sometimes less often, and you get a better sense of the departments from the actual slate of fall courses.