Changes in LACs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I expect a notable rise in Washington & Lee, Davidson and the 5Cs. I don’t see it at Wesleyan — it’s too far left for a lot of kids but a great school.

Wesleyan is way too left compared to the 5Cs? People with no real connection to the school regurgitate this stereotype but this hasn’t been my family’s experience. I don’t find it to be far to the left of many of its NESCAC peers, save maybe Williams. And the presence of CMC does not turn the 5Cs into U Chicago. Many of the other schools are just as if not more left leaning than Wes.

The 5Cs have Claremont McKenna and literally arrested/expelled their protestors. Much more moderate than most lacs. They also aren’t scared of conservatives on campus: https://www.cmc.edu/athenaeum/end-race-politics-arguments-colorblind-america and https://www.cmc.edu/athenaeum/disagree-better-2024-dreier-roundtable-civility-award.

They have faculty at the Claremont institute, a conservative blog shared by all the 5Cs known as the Claremont Independent, and appear much more open to conservative thought than most other LACs

So you’re dying on the hill that Scripps, Pomona, and Pitzer are havens for conservative thought. Kewl. Doesn’t really matter anyway. Seems like you’re not really saying that Wes is too far to the left, but that CMC is more center right than most SLACs. No objection here. The pre professional finance bros can have it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I expect a notable rise in Washington & Lee, Davidson and the 5Cs. I don’t see it at Wesleyan — it’s too far left for a lot of kids but a great school.

Wesleyan is way too left compared to the 5Cs? People with no real connection to the school regurgitate this stereotype but this hasn’t been my family’s experience. I don’t find it to be far to the left of many of its NESCAC peers, save maybe Williams. And the presence of CMC does not turn the 5Cs into U Chicago. Many of the other schools are just as if not more left leaning than Wes.

The 5Cs have Claremont McKenna and literally arrested/expelled their protestors. Much more moderate than most lacs. They also aren’t scared of conservatives on campus: https://www.cmc.edu/athenaeum/end-race-politics-arguments-colorblind-america and https://www.cmc.edu/athenaeum/disagree-better-2024-dreier-roundtable-civility-award.

They have faculty at the Claremont institute, a conservative blog shared by all the 5Cs known as the Claremont Independent, and appear much more open to conservative thought than most other LACs

So you’re dying on the hill that Scripps, Pomona, and Pitzer are havens for conservative thought. Kewl. Doesn’t really matter anyway. Seems like you’re not really saying that Wes is too far to the left, but that CMC is more center right than most SLACs. No objection here. The pre professional finance bros can have it.

Notice how I didn’t say that but you felt the need to make my point sound more dramatic. Pomona has invited Israeli ministers on campus and has had various conservatives invited to speak- scripts shut down their coffeehouse because the students put up a Palestinian flag, and Pitzer…well it’s Pitzer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I expect a notable rise in Washington & Lee, Davidson and the 5Cs. I don’t see it at Wesleyan — it’s too far left for a lot of kids but a great school.

Wesleyan is way too left compared to the 5Cs? People with no real connection to the school regurgitate this stereotype but this hasn’t been my family’s experience. I don’t find it to be far to the left of many of its NESCAC peers, save maybe Williams. And the presence of CMC does not turn the 5Cs into U Chicago. Many of the other schools are just as if not more left leaning than Wes.

The 5Cs have Claremont McKenna and literally arrested/expelled their protestors. Much more moderate than most lacs. They also aren’t scared of conservatives on campus: https://www.cmc.edu/athenaeum/end-race-politics-arguments-colorblind-america and https://www.cmc.edu/athenaeum/disagree-better-2024-dreier-roundtable-civility-award.

They have faculty at the Claremont institute, a conservative blog shared by all the 5Cs known as the Claremont Independent, and appear much more open to conservative thought than most other LACs

I have two kids attending the 5Cs. The overall environment for people actually there is very liberal - which is a good fit for my kids. The overall vibe is actually similar to Wesleyan, which my niece attends so I have family there right now too. The outgoing President at CMC's kids recently graduated from Wesleyan and he described the vibes as similar to 5Cs but they wanted to go to a campus further from home. CMC's student body outside a few exceptions is not really conservative at all. They did a poll and something like 70% self-identify as liberal. There are a few center-right students but they don't impact the overall culture much. A few conservative faculty recently retired and more on the way. Pomona is extremely liberal, as is Scripps, Mudd. And Pitzer is much further left to Wes.

Finally, few read the fringe blog claremont independent versus the Student Life newspaper (main popular paper of 5Cs).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I expect a notable rise in Washington & Lee, Davidson and the 5Cs. I don’t see it at Wesleyan — it’s too far left for a lot of kids but a great school.

Wes also quietly has far more applicants per year than basically all of the other schools named so it doesn’t seem to have a problem with interest.

Wes is a much bigger university.

Well, if thats what matters to you, I guess you should be looking at Colby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I expect a notable rise in Washington & Lee, Davidson and the 5Cs. I don’t see it at Wesleyan — it’s too far left for a lot of kids but a great school.

Wesleyan is way too left compared to the 5Cs? People with no real connection to the school regurgitate this stereotype but this hasn’t been my family’s experience. I don’t find it to be far to the left of many of its NESCAC peers, save maybe Williams. And the presence of CMC does not turn the 5Cs into U Chicago. Many of the other schools are just as if not more left leaning than Wes.

The 5Cs have Claremont McKenna and literally arrested/expelled their protestors. Much more moderate than most lacs. They also aren’t scared of conservatives on campus: https://www.cmc.edu/athenaeum/end-race-politics-arguments-colorblind-america and https://www.cmc.edu/athenaeum/disagree-better-2024-dreier-roundtable-civility-award.

They have faculty at the Claremont institute, a conservative blog shared by all the 5Cs known as the Claremont Independent, and appear much more open to conservative thought than most other LACs

I have two kids attending the 5Cs. The overall environment for people actually there is very liberal - which is a good fit for my kids. The overall vibe is actually similar to Wesleyan, which my niece attends so I have family there right now too. The outgoing President at CMC's kids recently graduated from Wesleyan and he described the vibes as similar to 5Cs but they wanted to go to a campus further from home. CMC's student body outside a few exceptions is not really conservative at all. They did a poll and something like 70% self-identify as liberal. There are a few center-right students but they don't impact the overall culture much. A few conservative faculty recently retired and more on the way. Pomona is extremely liberal, as is Scripps, Mudd. And Pitzer is much further left to Wes.

Finally, few read the fringe blog claremont independent versus the Student Life newspaper (main popular paper of 5Cs).

I didn’t claim the 5Cs to be firebrand conservatives but moderate- Pomona is extremely liberal, which is damned centrists these days. Students read the Claremont independent- maybe yours doesn’t, but it does very different reporting on campus events and news that the TSL doesn’t. Students read both.

Lastly, CMC has young conservative faculty- look at Jon Shields. The college is trying to balance out the more radical faculty which are leaving (looking at you Charles Kessler)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I expect a notable rise in Washington & Lee, Davidson and the 5Cs. I don’t see it at Wesleyan — it’s too far left for a lot of kids but a great school.

Wes also quietly has far more applicants per year than basically all of the other schools named so it doesn’t seem to have a problem with interest.

Wes is a much bigger university.

Well, if thats what matters to you, I guess you should be looking at Colby.

It’s not. Just a fact that it’s bigger, so more students tend to be attracted.

[Anonymous]

The Maine LACs are all on the rise - Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, Midd.

Also, Hamilton is becoming the new Amherst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Maine LACs are all on the rise - Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, Midd.

Also, Hamilton is becoming the new Amherst.

Midd is in Vermont and none of those schools are “rising” any different than years prior, other than maybe Colby.

Hamilton is completely different than Amherst and wants its future to be in tech and AI.

[Anonymous]

Why is everyone only talking about STEM here? Many students are interested in the social sciences and humanities at these schools. It’s not all STEM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is everyone only talking about STEM here? Many students are interested in the social sciences and humanities at these schools. It’s not all STEM.

Because the dominant trend in LACs has been a substantial rise in Computer Science, engineering (if available), math, bio, chem, neuroscience, and physics majors rather than American studies or Anthropology. Some subjects, like the Classics, are on life support at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I expect a notable rise in Washington & Lee, Davidson and the 5Cs. I don’t see it at Wesleyan — it’s too far left for a lot of kids but a great school.

I don't see that for W&L. It's way too Southern and Greek to appeal to a broad range of kids. Mine are both interested in LACs but ruled it out immediately for these reasons (and we live in VA and one is looking for rural).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think more LACs need to strengthen in engineering and CS in order to rise in popularity.

Harvey Mudd is well positioned to rise. And other STEM-oriented LACs like Carleton. Swarthmore too. Wes is also strong in STEM.

Way too behind. Starting a school in engineering right now is completely useless- you can never have enough faculty for specialities nor get the research funding/grants that top universities and state schools have. Both mudd and swarthmore hardly have that many engineering majors compared to cs or math. LACs have a niche, and that niche is served well. For every lac, you run the issue that there a finite amount of lab space and research funding you can spend on STEM.

I don’t get people on dcum. They’re hellbent on every lac just becoming a research university. It’s okay to decide against an LAC and go on with life.

It’s funny. I was going to say that I don’t get the people on DCUM who jump on threads about LACs to tell people the LACs are inferior. Not everyone wants to go to Purdue or whatever, and kids do choose LACs to pursue stem fields. To your point it is their choice and there’s no need to “well actually” them. Feel free to start another thread about how awesome R1 engineering programs are.

I think it's great that some LACs do have engineering. There are kids who want engineering at a smaller school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I expect a notable rise in Washington & Lee, Davidson and the 5Cs. I don’t see it at Wesleyan — it’s too far left for a lot of kids but a great school.

Wesleyan is way too left compared to the 5Cs? People with no real connection to the school regurgitate this stereotype but this hasn’t been my family’s experience. I don’t find it to be far to the left of many of its NESCAC peers, save maybe Williams. And the presence of CMC does not turn the 5Cs into U Chicago. Many of the other schools are just as if not more left leaning than Wes.

my kid was a 24 graduate of wes and it was a god awful experience for him - from covid mismanagement to ultra left raging crazies treating every athlete like they are staunch MAGA supporters, to the hipster try-hard pot smoking film majors from brooklyn, it was the most divisive, insular, siloed and myopic place on earth to spend 4 years. Athletes beware

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Maine LACs are all on the rise - Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, Midd.

Also, Hamilton is becoming the new Amherst.

Midd is in Vermont and none of those schools are “rising” any different than years prior, other than maybe Colby.

Hamilton is completely different than Amherst and wants its future to be in tech and AI.

Also, can any of the NESCACs really be described as “on the rise?” Are any of them lacking in respect? Top to bottom, they are the standard on which all other SLACs are judged/compared. Obviously not saying those are the “best” schools, but people take shots at Amherst, Williams, Wes, Hamilton, Mid, Colby, etc. on this board for a reason. I don’t see many Bowdoin people, for example, puffing their chests about how they’re better than W&L.
-NESCAC alum, parent & spouse

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I expect a notable rise in Washington & Lee, Davidson and the 5Cs. I don’t see it at Wesleyan — it’s too far left for a lot of kids but a great school.

Wesleyan is way too left compared to the 5Cs? People with no real connection to the school regurgitate this stereotype but this hasn’t been my family’s experience. I don’t find it to be far to the left of many of its NESCAC peers, save maybe Williams. And the presence of CMC does not turn the 5Cs into U Chicago. Many of the other schools are just as if not more left leaning than Wes.

my kid was a 24 graduate of wes and it was a god awful experience for him - from covid mismanagement to ultra left raging crazies treating every athlete like they are staunch MAGA supporters, to the hipster try-hard pot smoking film majors from brooklyn, it was the most divisive, insular, siloed and myopic place on earth to spend 4 years. Athletes beware

Sounds like your conservative lax bro chose wrong.