Dickinson- full pay

[Anonymous]

How do you measure whether it is worth it, in terms of grads getting jobs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you measure whether it is worth it, in terms of grads getting jobs?

Great question.

Start with the school's website under career outcomes or job placement or employers who recruit ON CAMPUS.

The Wall Street Journal & London's Times Higher Education tried to quantify outcomes in its 2022 rating and ranking of about 800 colleges and universities. The largest part of the four part evaluation was "outcomes" which accounts for 40% of the total rating of each school. This rating and ranking system combines National Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges (LACs), and Regional schools.

Dickinson College did amazingly well tied at #99 with Ohio State University.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not pay for this school at full pay. There are much better state schools or larger sized SLACs than Dickinson.
Hard pass.

Serious question: Can you name a few? We really like Dickinson. St Mary’s of Md is a contender since we live in MD. UMD is just too large.

Serious suggestion: move to VA. Both of our kids went in-state. We saved a bundle and are now using that to support kids in grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not pay for this school at full pay. There are much better state schools or larger sized SLACs than Dickinson.
Hard pass.

Serious question: Can you name a few? We really like Dickinson. St Mary’s of Md is a contender since we live in MD. UMD is just too large.

Serious suggestion: move to VA. Both of our kids went in-state. We saved a bundle and are now using that to support kids in grad school.

NP here. That is not a serious suggestion for someone who has kids in high school. Also, we were priced out of VA when we bought a house 18 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid liked Dickerson. Also looked at Franklin & Marshall, SMCM, Juniata, Hamilton and Mount Holyoke (all LAC’s that were strong in Science).

For schools with lower Cost of Attendance and / or merit and good science programs, check out Elon (cadaver lab) and St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, which recently acquired U of the Sciences.

[Anonymous]

Dickinson is amazing. It emphasizes a multi-disciplinary approach to learning that I have not seen elsewhere. Your DC will be amazed at how the professors will get to know each and everyone of them by name. They were the leaders in designing workshop Physics, workshop Comp Sci, and workshop Stats—again a new philosophy on learning. They were first movers in stressing learning international studies, foreign languages, and studies abroad. The campus is big enough to not feel small, yet small enough to recognize friends all over the campus. They keep the campus absolutely beautiful. The food wins awards— it is that good! It’s a tight community and has an active alumni. It has a lot of history and exudes learning in its classrooms. The campus makes lots of improvements over the years but keeps a rich history, too. It’s a very special place and a hidden gem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dickinson is amazing. It emphasizes a multi-disciplinary approach to learning that I have not seen elsewhere. Your DC will be amazed at how the professors will get to know each and everyone of them by name. They were the leaders in designing workshop Physics, workshop Comp Sci, and workshop Stats—again a new philosophy on learning. They were first movers in stressing learning international studies, foreign languages, and studies abroad. The campus is big enough to not feel small, yet small enough to recognize friends all over the campus. They keep the campus absolutely beautiful. The food wins awards— it is that good! It’s a tight community and has an active alumni. It has a lot of history and exudes learning in its classrooms. The campus makes lots of improvements over the years but keeps a rich history, too. It’s a very special place and a hidden gem.

Yes, we have found the same. The students form a close community which extends into the years after graduation. We were reading the alumni magazine and were interested to see how many alums get together with groups of other alums, even decades after graduation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dickinson is amazing. It emphasizes a multi-disciplinary approach to learning that I have not seen elsewhere. Your DC will be amazed at how the professors will get to know each and everyone of them by name. They were the leaders in designing workshop Physics, workshop Comp Sci, and workshop Stats—again a new philosophy on learning. They were first movers in stressing learning international studies, foreign languages, and studies abroad. The campus is big enough to not feel small, yet small enough to recognize friends all over the campus. They keep the campus absolutely beautiful. The food wins awards— it is that good! It’s a tight community and has an active alumni. It has a lot of history and exudes learning in its classrooms. The campus makes lots of improvements over the years but keeps a rich history, too. It’s a very special place and a hidden gem.

Yes, we have found the same. The students form a close community which extends into the years after graduation. We were reading the alumni magazine and were interested to see how many alums get together with groups of other alums, even decades after graduation.

That happens at all colleges; you don't have to spend $75K plus a year to get that! My slac is like that (boring, California, no longer prestigious) as is my top law school. All schools have alumni magazines that are slick and glossy and show lots of alumni support because people like you believe it. My slac has gone down the toilet but you wouldn't know that from the marketing campaign and the alumni magazine

[Anonymous]

So many kids receive one of the merit scholarships so very few will pay sticker price. It really is a lovely school.

[Anonymous]

"That happens at all colleges; you don't have to spend $75K plus a year to get that! "

There is another thread on here about whether people on DCUM have real friendships with people they met in undergrad. The main thing I took away was that the people who went to big state schools don't, while many of those at the SLACs and elite schools do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"That happens at all colleges; you don't have to spend $75K plus a year to get that! "

There is another thread on here about whether people on DCUM have real friendships with people they met in undergrad. The main thing I took away was that the people who went to big state schools don't, while many of those at the SLACs and elite schools do.

Interesting takeaway. I have not read that thread.

In real life, the friendship bonds formed at large state universities tend to be strong and lifelong. One reason is that they have a lot in common such as where they live & where they grew up & going to major sporting events together (such as college football games). And they do business with one another.

Incredibly strong lifelong bonds result from attending state university law schools together. Florida, Georgia, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Tennessee, etc. The friendships are often so strong that I won't even talk about it.

Craziest alumni groups I have encountered are at large Southern schools like Florida State, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, etc. So many friends from large and medium state universities live in the same region and attend the same events throughout much of their lives.

I assure the PP that real--very real--unbreakable, lifelong friendships are made at large state universities.

LACs are concentrated in New England and Pennsylvania. The major cities in the East seem dominated by large state schools like Penn State ad Rutgers while Ivy League grads also populate the major east coast cities.

So many LAC grads continue on to grad school or law school and make lasting friendships there as well as from their undergrad years.

The west coast is also dominated by large regional schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"That happens at all colleges; you don't have to spend $75K plus a year to get that! "

There is another thread on here about whether people on DCUM have real friendships with people they met in undergrad. The main thing I took away was that the people who went to big state schools don't, while many of those at the SLACs and elite schools do.

Interesting takeaway. I have not read that thread.

In real life, the friendship bonds formed at large state universities tend to be strong and lifelong. One reason is that they have a lot in common such as where they live & where they grew up & going to major sporting events together (such as college football games). And they do business with one another.

Incredibly strong lifelong bonds result from attending state university law schools together. Florida, Georgia, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Tennessee, etc. The friendships are often so strong that I won't even talk about it.

Craziest alumni groups I have encountered are at large Southern schools like Florida State, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, etc. So many friends from large and medium state universities live in the same region and attend the same events throughout much of their lives.

I assure the PP that real--very real--unbreakable, lifelong friendships are made at large state universities.

LACs are concentrated in New England and Pennsylvania. The major cities in the East seem dominated by large state schools like Penn State ad Rutgers while Ivy League grads also populate the major east coast cities.

So many LAC grads continue on to grad school or law school and make lasting friendships there as well as from their undergrad years.

The west coast is also dominated by large regional schools.

+1. College is what the Student makes of it. Of course! It doesn’t make any difference what the size is. That’s obvious to any thinking person.

[Anonymous]

Curious why no one has mentioned Gettysburg as an alternative. They seem similar with GB being a bit larger with newer facilities. Would be interested to hear from anyone whose DC applied to both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"That happens at all colleges; you don't have to spend $75K plus a year to get that! "

There is another thread on here about whether people on DCUM have real friendships with people they met in undergrad. The main thing I took away was that the people who went to big state schools don't, while many of those at the SLACs and elite schools do.

I don’t think that thread exists

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not pay for this school at full pay. There are much better state schools or larger sized SLACs than Dickinson.
Hard pass.

Serious question: Can you name a few? We really like Dickinson. St Mary’s of Md is a contender since we live in MD. UMD is just too large.

Serious suggestion: move to VA. Both of our kids went in-state. We saved a bundle and are now using that to support kids in grad school.

Seems like a bad strategy. Invest in undergrad, send your kids to fully-funded grad schools.