Hamilton or Wesleyan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wesleyan is “better.”

But really they are both good and the student should go to the one that feels like a better fit.

curious by what metric or rating?

People who grew up in the NE and mid Atlantic going to top high schools would consider Wesleyan “better.” Traditionally it was more prestigious. I’m not saying it actually is better for every kid. I’m just saying it was traditionally harder to get into and more prestigious. I went to a top three and I remember meeting someone who went to Hamilton and I had never heard of it. I think that has really changed in the last fifteen years. Hamliton’s reputation has improved.

Yes, that's what the first response explained so Wes is not longer "better" in today's world. Just like 40 years ago Emory could be a safety for many. 10 years ago nobody heard of Elon. Then there's Tulane...things. change.

You all are acting as if the smaller the percentage of admits means better school. Simply not the case. That is just the percentage of people they had space for based on how many apply. A school can have an admit range on 20 percent and be "better" overall than a school that admits 15 percent. Simply depends on size of school and how many people apply that year.
I do agree that major matters a lot, in many cases.

[Anonymous]

What about Colgate? Keeping the alleged or actual bro-culture aside, is Colgate an academic equivalent of Hamilton and Wesleyan or better or worse?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about Colgate? Keeping the alleged or actual bro-culture aside, is Colgate an academic equivalent of Hamilton and Wesleyan or better or worse?

Good school, but a level down.

[Anonymous]

You all are acting as if the smaller the percentage of admits means better school. Simply not the case. That is just the percentage of people they had space for based on how many apply. A school can have an admit range on 20 percent and be "better" overall than a school that admits 15 percent. Simply depends on size of school and how many people apply that year.
I do agree that major matters a lot, in many cases.

Presumably, as schools attract more candidates and the acceptance rate declines, the quality of the applicants increases because the school becomes more desirable to many. Schools that consistently are very selective (with low acceptance rates) are generally attracting more qualified candidates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say Wesleyan is perceived as more prestigious.

+1

[Anonymous]

A bit of a diversion, but what are some good alternatives to Ham/Wes that aren’t as difficult to get in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A bit of a diversion, but what are some good alternatives to Ham/Wes that aren’t as difficult to get in?

kenyon bates skidmore

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about Colgate? Keeping the alleged or actual bro-culture aside, is Colgate an academic equivalent of Hamilton and Wesleyan or better or worse?

Good school, but a level down.

USNWR doesn’t really indicate that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW the kids I know at Wesleyan are very “normal” and socially charming.

+1
Kids we know who chose Wes this year seem well rounded. Intellectually curious and nice kids who have a wide range of interests (biology/pre-med, theater, government/pre-law, languages, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hamilton is wildly overrated. It’s small, has an inferiority complex, and is in Utica. Wesleyan all the way.

since Middletown is really nice?

It’s warmer and you are closer to Providence, NY, and Boston. It’s also probably easier to take a train to DC. I know nothing about Utica, but it doesn’t seem like it rhymes with Amtrak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hamilton is wildly overrated. It’s small, has an inferiority complex, and is in Utica. Wesleyan all the way.

since Middletown is really nice?

It’s warmer and you are closer to Providence, NY, and Boston. It’s also probably easier to take a train to DC. I know nothing about Utica, but it doesn’t seem like it rhymes with Amtrak.

actually there is an amtrak station in utica.

[Anonymous]

Would people agree that Colgate is a step down? It gets literally thousands more applications a year than Hamilton or Wesleyan. I always thought of it as being more prestigious than Hamilton.

We have two kids in a Big 5 school with one already having graduated. We're familiar with the matriculations in the last few years and we can't really remember anyone going to Wesleyan. It does not seem like a popular school to apply to - at least not during the last few admissions cycles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would people agree that Colgate is a step down? It gets literally thousands more applications a year than Hamilton or Wesleyan. I always thought of it as being more prestigious than Hamilton.

We have two kids in a Big 5 school with one already having graduated. We're familiar with the matriculations in the last few years and we can't really remember anyone going to Wesleyan. It does not seem like a popular school to apply to - at least not during the last few admissions cycles.

I don’t think there is a correlation between the number of applications and prestige necessarily

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hamilton is wildly overrated. It’s small, has an inferiority complex, and is in Utica. Wesleyan all the way.

since Middletown is really nice?

NP here. It's very close to a lot of nice things (MIddletown is also improved) whereas Hamilton isn't even in Utica--it's in nowhere and the all of the surroinding area is incredibly depressed. DS was recruited there, and spent a week there--hated it so much that he dropped it off his list. It's a hard sell due to the awful location.

[Anonymous]

NP here. It's very close to a lot of nice things (MIddletown is also improved) whereas Hamilton isn't even in Utica--it's in nowhere and the all of the surroinding area is incredibly depressed. DS was recruited there, and spent a week there--hated it so much that he dropped it off his list. It's a hard sell due to the awful location.

Sounds like Hamilton was not a good fit for your DS. It was a great fit for my DS, who loved the larger campus (the largest, or one of the largest, in the NESCAC), the nearby town with a couple of good restaurants, a coffee shop and Dunkin Donuts, New Hartford only 10 minutes away with Chipotle, Starbucks and plenty of fast food outlets and nicer restaurants plus a movie theater, Target, etc., and then Utica only 15-20 minutes away with everything small cities typically offer. Same DS did not like Wesleyan at all, as he felt the campus buildings were unattractive and that it attracted a more artsy, quirky student with no real commercial area to speak of within 30 minutes.