Franklin & Marshall College - whats the hype?

[Anonymous]

NP here ... My DCs college counselor at school was promoting F&M along with Denison as less rejective alternatives to NESCAC schools. I liked what I saw online, but DC wanted NE >>> PA, so got test scores up and did O.K. where she wanted to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Why are we discussing no-name schools?

Ah, I see the confusion here. Just to clarify, the ‘F’ stands for Franklin and the ‘M’ stands for Marshall…

[Anonymous]

I didn’t realize F&M was offering merit again. I am from PA and would have ranked it above Dickinson and Gettysburg. However, my student did a camp there not run by the college but the dorms seemed run down and the food wasn’t good. At the time they were advertising no merit aid, only need based aid so I completely wrote it off at that point.

I personally wouldn’t call Lancaster cute and the college isn’t surrounded by a cute town but kind of by an industrial area. However I am sure I am charmed by SLAC that people on this board are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here ... My DCs college counselor at school was promoting F&M along with Denison as less rejective alternatives to NESCAC schools. I liked what I saw online, but DC wanted NE >>> PA, so got test scores up and did O.K. where she wanted to go.

Rejective - good one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They absolutely give merit - DC just accepted with $30k/year of merit.

Was the first year and they are piloting it. Per someone at the school who we spoke to about it.

I remember reading threads on this site last year that their kids surprisingly got merit at F&M. It definitely wasn’t as much as $30k, but they started changing last year.

NP. DS was offered $20,000 last year. It was a total surprise because previously their website had said no merit. Maybe this was the first year they were telling people in advance? DS had basically already decided he wasn't going there before he found out and it wasn't enough to bring it back into serious consideration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:F&M > Gettysburg > Dickinson

Gettysburg has slipped in the rankings for some reason, probably the Pell Grant bull crap, but it still has slightly better stats than Dickinson and sends way more bros to The Street.

F&M is a half-step up from the other two. Kind of a midpoint between Bucknell/Lafayette/Lehigh and Gettysburg/Dickinson.

All fine choices for the right kid.

Interested in your grouping. Bucknell median SAT is 1270. Gettysburg is 1390, Dickinson and F&M are 1350. At least according to their most recent CDSs. Bucknell has a lower overall admit rate but seems to fill more of its class ED. But it’s not at all clear to me there is any definite hierarchy here.

[Anonymous]

I realize CDS says that for Bucknell but I think that is for the prior year. Here is for class of 2027: https://www.bucknell.edu/meet-bucknell/fast-facts. Median is 1410. I know this because my kid is applying to all four schools and we were trying to assess chances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:F&M > Gettysburg > Dickinson

Gettysburg has slipped in the rankings for some reason, probably the Pell Grant bull crap, but it still has slightly better stats than Dickinson and sends way more bros to The Street.

F&M is a half-step up from the other two. Kind of a midpoint between Bucknell/Lafayette/Lehigh and Gettysburg/Dickinson.

All fine choices for the right kid.

Interested in your grouping. Bucknell median SAT is 1270. Gettysburg is 1390, Dickinson and F&M are 1350. At least according to their most recent CDSs. Bucknell has a lower overall admit rate but seems to fill more of its class ED. But it’s not at all clear to me there is any definite hierarchy here.

Where are you getting that number? When I look at the 2022-2023 CDS on Gettysburg's site, they are missing median SAT info (just include 25-75) nor do they include % submitting SAT scores. Anyone know why there's this missing information or how to get better info?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:F&M > Gettysburg > Dickinson

Gettysburg has slipped in the rankings for some reason, probably the Pell Grant bull crap, but it still has slightly better stats than Dickinson and sends way more bros to The Street.

F&M is a half-step up from the other two. Kind of a midpoint between Bucknell/Lafayette/Lehigh and Gettysburg/Dickinson.

All fine choices for the right kid.

Interested in your grouping. Bucknell median SAT is 1270. Gettysburg is 1390, Dickinson and F&M are 1350. At least according to their most recent CDSs. Bucknell has a lower overall admit rate but seems to fill more of its class ED. But it’s not at all clear to me there is any definite hierarchy here.

Bucknell has lower test score ranges but a much higher percentage of students submitting scores. If the majority of students at F&M, Gettysburg, and Dickinson submitted SATs like they do at Bucknell, the medians at those schools likely wouldn't be above 1270, either.

Test scores aside, Bucknell is in a higher tier than the other three because of graduation rates (90+ percent) and outcomes (the school is basically a guaranteed pipeline to The Street).

[Anonymous]

The average SAT score is 1337 and the median score is 1350–https://www.gettysburg.edu/admissions-aid/gettysburg-glance/class-profile

[Anonymous]

These schools were almost all on my radar in the 90s when I was in HS in Delaware.

I applied to F&M and Bucknell, and dropped Dickinson in favor of another school (not an LAC) last minute.

Didn't wind up attending either, but I remember loving the Bucknell campus when I visited. F&M was a bit blah to me, but I know it was academically intense.

I have a HS friend who graduated the year after me who went to F&M. She did well in life - even moved to the Virgin Islands for a while (had to come back to the mainland for personal/family reasons)

Anyway, these schools are good LACs for the right student.

[Anonymous]

The only hype around F&M is the outrageous cost

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:F&M > Gettysburg > Dickinson

Gettysburg has slipped in the rankings for some reason, probably the Pell Grant bull crap, but it still has slightly better stats than Dickinson and sends way more bros to The Street.

F&M is a half-step up from the other two. Kind of a midpoint between Bucknell/Lafayette/Lehigh and Gettysburg/Dickinson.

All fine choices for the right kid.

Why are we discussing no-name schools?

Who peed in your Wheaties?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:F&M > Gettysburg > Dickinson

Gettysburg has slipped in the rankings for some reason, probably the Pell Grant bull crap, but it still has slightly better stats than Dickinson and sends way more bros to The Street.

F&M is a half-step up from the other two. Kind of a midpoint between Bucknell/Lafayette/Lehigh and Gettysburg/Dickinson.

All fine choices for the right kid.

Interested in your grouping. Bucknell median SAT is 1270. Gettysburg is 1390, Dickinson and F&M are 1350. At least according to their most recent CDSs. Bucknell has a lower overall admit rate but seems to fill more of its class ED. But it’s not at all clear to me there is any definite hierarchy here.

Bucknell has lower test score ranges but a much higher percentage of students submitting scores. If the majority of students at F&M, Gettysburg, and Dickinson submitted SATs like they do at Bucknell, the medians at those schools likely wouldn't be above 1270, either.

Test scores aside, Bucknell is in a higher tier than the other three because of graduation rates (90+ percent) and outcomes (the school is basically a guaranteed pipeline to The Street).

Bucknell gets more hype because the kind of student who would pick it is the type that would hype (note reference to The Street, lol).

There is no reason to try to rank these schools. They get the same caliber of student, are very similar academically, but have cultural differences that matter to some kids. Focus on fit with these.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:F&M > Gettysburg > Dickinson

Gettysburg has slipped in the rankings for some reason, probably the Pell Grant bull crap, but it still has slightly better stats than Dickinson and sends way more bros to The Street.

F&M is a half-step up from the other two. Kind of a midpoint between Bucknell/Lafayette/Lehigh and Gettysburg/Dickinson.

All fine choices for the right kid.

Interested in your grouping. Bucknell median SAT is 1270. Gettysburg is 1390, Dickinson and F&M are 1350. At least according to their most recent CDSs. Bucknell has a lower overall admit rate but seems to fill more of its class ED. But it’s not at all clear to me there is any definite hierarchy here.

Bucknell has lower test score ranges but a much higher percentage of students submitting scores. If the majority of students at F&M, Gettysburg, and Dickinson submitted SATs like they do at Bucknell, the medians at those schools likely wouldn't be above 1270, either.

Test scores aside, Bucknell is in a higher tier than the other three because of graduation rates (90+ percent) and outcomes (the school is basically a guaranteed pipeline to The Street).

Bucknell gets more hype because the kind of student who would pick it is the type that would hype (note reference to The Street, lol).

There is no reason to try to rank these schools. They get the same caliber of student, are very similar academically, but have cultural differences that matter to some kids. Focus on fit with these.

Agree.

Both are in PA. F&M is in cool Lancaster and not too far from Philly. Bucknell is in a Trump county in a remote blah area.