Question about NESCAC schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colby or Holy Cross might be good options. Probably more so because most NESCAC schools are magnets for Northeast prep school grads. Colby may be exception.

Being a lesser NESCAC Colby does have a lower population of kids from top privates relative to Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Williams.

You do realize that Colby is the hardest admit of the bunch?

Only because of free apps and no supplemental essays. Colby hasn't put out a CDS in 10 years, there are definitely shenanigans happening with their stats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colby or Holy Cross might be good options. Probably more so because most NESCAC schools are magnets for Northeast prep school grads. Colby may be exception.

Being a lesser NESCAC Colby does have a lower population of kids from top privates relative to Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Williams.

You do realize that Colby is the hardest admit of the bunch?

This analysis placed Williams highest from among the NESCACs by Student Selectivity Rank:

College & University Rankings in 2026 https://wallethub.com/edu/e/college-rankings/40750

[Anonymous]

Holy Cross checks the boxes. Great combinstion of academics and athletics. Located 50 minutes to Boston. HC is not stuffy like a lot of the NESCACs schools with prep school kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Colby or Holy Cross might be good options. Probably more so because most NESCAC schools are magnets for Northeast prep school grads. Colby may be exception.

Being a lesser NESCAC Colby does have a lower population of kids from top privates relative to Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Williams.

You do realize that Colby is the hardest admit of the bunch?

Colby is the Northeastern of SLACs, the ultimate pretender. It’s an easy admit ED full pay solid grades. They need the money because they are on a tear spending money and are drawing on their endowment at a higher than typical rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Avoid williams, lord the egos would make your kid explode.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Midwesterner here, curious which NESCAC schools offer the best vibe/fit for a student from a flyover state. We are looking for campuses that feel warm, welcoming, and collaborative rather than pretentious or dominated by private/boarding-school culture.

My daughter is pretty open academically, plays a varsity sport, and works as a stage manager for drama productions, so she’s well-rounded and tends to make friends easily.

Which NESCAC schools would likely be the best match for that environment, and which might be tougher fits?

The NESCAC school that you are seeking does not exist. You are not going to find Midwestern nice or Southern kindness at a NESCAC school. To be blunt, you are more likely to find the opposite of what you are seeking. NESCAC schools are lax bros, prep school central types.

Regardless, I admire your daughter's desire to explore outside of her geographic region.

NESCAC schools offer beautiful Fall settings and solid academics.

As others have suggested, Davidson College may be a match. Bowdoin College is worth a visit, but it is small, however the campus vibe is more like an exclusive New England prep school than the elite college that it is. If the search is limited to NESCAC schools, then consider Conn College.

This is quite simply not true. Connecticut College is exactly what the OP has described. Her daughter will find what she described there. I know. My kid went there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Midwesterner here, curious which NESCAC schools offer the best vibe/fit for a student from a flyover state. We are looking for campuses that feel warm, welcoming, and collaborative rather than pretentious or dominated by private/boarding-school culture.

My daughter is pretty open academically, plays a varsity sport, and works as a stage manager for drama productions, so she’s well-rounded and tends to make friends easily.

Which NESCAC schools would likely be the best match for that environment, and which might be tougher fits?

The NESCAC school that you are seeking does not exist. You are not going to find Midwestern nice or Southern kindness at a NESCAC school. To be blunt, you are more likely to find the opposite of what you are seeking. NESCAC schools are lax bros, prep school central types.

Regardless, I admire your daughter's desire to explore outside of her geographic region.

NESCAC schools offer beautiful Fall settings and solid academics.

As others have suggested, Davidson College may be a match. Bowdoin College is worth a visit, but it is small, however the campus vibe is more like an exclusive New England prep school than the elite college that it is. If the search is limited to NESCAC schools, then consider Conn College.

This is quite simply not true. Connecticut College is exactly what the OP has described. Her daughter will find what she described there. I know. My kid went there.

However, are you really in diametric opposition to a poster who ultimately recommended Connecticut College for the OP's criteria?

[Anonymous]

Conn College would not be a match and the school has weak academics. An admission yield below 20% says it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Conn College would not be a match and the school has weak academics. An admission yield below 20% says it all.

If you didn't look at USNWR, anyone interested in a NESCAC would pick Conn College.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tufts is similar in some ways to Case, Wash U, and seems like a more open, diverse environment than Williams or Middlebury.

In what ways?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Conn College would not be a match and the school has weak academics. An admission yield below 20% says it all.

What makes you say it has weak academics? Do you have personal experience?

[Anonymous]

Conn College's students are not academically as strong as Colby's (or Holy Cross's for that matter)

[Anonymous]

Holy Cross is a more social and certainly athletic school than any NESCAC school. HC beat Georgetown at Fenway Park this weekend with 15,000 fans in attendance. Much higher profile and school spirit at Holy Cross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy Cross is a more social and certainly athletic school than any NESCAC school. HC beat Georgetown at Fenway Park this weekend with 15,000 fans in attendance. Much higher profile and school spirit at Holy Cross.

Keep on beating that drum…..nobody is buying but we like your spunk.

[Anonymous]

Alternative to NESCAC SLAC - my kid attends one of the Claremont Colleges - seems to be a lot of flyover kids there (including his roommate who loves it). There doesn't appear to be any of the NE prep school cliques we are told are prevalent across the NESCAC. So another option to consider.