Likely/safety liberal arts colleges

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you full-pay? For a male humanities student, Vassar. St. Olaf, Grinnell, Beloit...

Yes, full pay.

Vassals and Grinnell are on the list but I assume they are matches/reaches.

Grinnell waitlisted my high stats kid this year. I had heard they have a reputation for yield protection, but it's also possible that they just weren't interested. (I know they've risen in rankings in recent years and admissions have become more competitive.)

Potential safeties on my student's long list:

Beloit
Earlham
Hendrix
Kalamazoo
Knox
Lawrence
Skidmore
Wooster

Did your child demonstrate interest at Grinnell?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you full-pay? For a male humanities student, Vassar. St. Olaf, Grinnell, Beloit...

Yes, full pay.

Vassals and Grinnell are on the list but I assume they are matches/reaches.

Grinnell waitlisted my high stats kid this year. I had heard they have a reputation for yield protection, but it's also possible that they just weren't interested. (I know they've risen in rankings in recent years and admissions have become more competitive.)

Potential safeties on my student's long list:

Beloit
Earlham
Hendrix
Kalamazoo
Knox
Lawrence
Skidmore
Wooster

Did your child demonstrate interest at Grinnell?

No chance of visiting due to COVID but did attend online programs and interviewed. Tried to tailor application accordingly. Luckily got into a highly ranked school that my kid ultimately preferred. It still stung, though, as Grinnell would have been a strong contender.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you full-pay? For a male humanities student, Vassar. St. Olaf, Grinnell, Beloit...

Yes, full pay.

Vassals and Grinnell are on the list but I assume they are matches/reaches.

Grinnell waitlisted my high stats kid this year. I had heard they have a reputation for yield protection, but it's also possible that they just weren't interested. (I know they've risen in rankings in recent years and admissions have become more competitive.)

Potential safeties on my student's long list:

Beloit
Earlham
Hendrix
Kalamazoo
Knox
Lawrence
Skidmore
Wooster

Did your child demonstrate interest at Grinnell?

No chance of visiting due to COVID but did attend online programs and interviewed. Tried to tailor application accordingly. Luckily got into a highly ranked school that my kid ultimately preferred. It still stung, though, as Grinnell would have been a strong contender.

No offense, but saying his rejection "stung" sounds a little entitled. The school had a 30 percent increase in applications and its acceptance rate was 10 percent. It's a very selective school.

http://www.thesandb.com/article/grinnell-college-application-rates-spike-after-pandemic-related-changes.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you full-pay? For a male humanities student, Vassar. St. Olaf, Grinnell, Beloit...

Yes, full pay.

Vassals and Grinnell are on the list but I assume they are matches/reaches.

Grinnell waitlisted my high stats kid this year. I had heard they have a reputation for yield protection, but it's also possible that they just weren't interested. (I know they've risen in rankings in recent years and admissions have become more competitive.)

Potential safeties on my student's long list:

Beloit
Earlham
Hendrix
Kalamazoo
Knox
Lawrence
Skidmore
Wooster

Did your child demonstrate interest at Grinnell?

No chance of visiting due to COVID but did attend online programs and interviewed. Tried to tailor application accordingly. Luckily got into a highly ranked school that my kid ultimately preferred. It still stung, though, as Grinnell would have been a strong contender.

No offense, but saying his rejection "stung" sounds a little entitled. The school had a 30 percent increase in applications and its acceptance rate was 10 percent. It's a very selective school.


http://www.thesandb.com/article/grinnell-college-application-rates-spike-after-pandemic-related-changes.html

I'm not PP but I don't see what's wrong with a teen feeling bad about being rejected from a school that they really liked, even if they were accepted to a school that they ultimately liked more? She didn't say her DC "expected" to be accepted there? Just that it stung to be rejected.

Sure, as a parent, I'd probably point out to DC that, given they were accepted to a preferred school, they should be happy that they were not taking a spot away from someone else who either had Grinnell as their top choice or didn't get into their top choice and wanted Grinnell as a strong second. (Ie you didn't need your strong second - so be glad it went to a first choice or a strong second that was needed)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you full-pay? For a male humanities student, Vassar. St. Olaf, Grinnell, Beloit...

Yes, full pay.

Vassals and Grinnell are on the list but I assume they are matches/reaches.

Grinnell waitlisted my high stats kid this year. I had heard they have a reputation for yield protection, but it's also possible that they just weren't interested. (I know they've risen in rankings in recent years and admissions have become more competitive.)

Potential safeties on my student's long list:

Beloit
Earlham
Hendrix
Kalamazoo
Knox
Lawrence
Skidmore
Wooster

Did your child demonstrate interest at Grinnell?

No chance of visiting due to COVID but did attend online programs and interviewed. Tried to tailor application accordingly. Luckily got into a highly ranked school that my kid ultimately preferred. It still stung, though, as Grinnell would have been a strong contender.

No offense, but saying his rejection "stung" sounds a little entitled. The school had a 30 percent increase in applications and its acceptance rate was 10 percent. It's a very selective school.


http://www.thesandb.com/article/grinnell-college-application-rates-spike-after-pandemic-related-changes.html

I'm not PP but I don't see what's wrong with a teen feeling bad about being rejected from a school that they really liked, even if they were accepted to a school that they ultimately liked more? She didn't say her DC "expected" to be accepted there? Just that it stung to be rejected.

Sure, as a parent, I'd probably point out to DC that, given they were accepted to a preferred school, they should be happy that they were not taking a spot away from someone else who either had Grinnell as their top choice or didn't get into their top choice and wanted Grinnell as a strong second. (Ie you didn't need your strong second - so be glad it went to a first choice or a strong second that was needed)

Except she speculated that it might have been "yield protection" because he was a "high stats kid." So, yea, there's some sense of entitlement there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lawrence is amazing. The academics are impressive and serious. The campus is pretty. Lawrence's music, theater and arts are matched by only a handful of LACs in the whole country (think colleges like Wesleyan, Oberlin, Vassar, and Bard). Lawrence has lots of school spirit. Students are nice. Appleton is a real city with real culture.

My child is very interested. The main drawback seems to be getting there from the DC area.

Compare the time door to door with colleges in upstate NY or Northern New England. Flying to Appleton, even with the change in Chicago, is faster than driving to many popular colleges in the Northern parts of the Northeast.

The same is true for colleges in the Pacific Northwest (Puget Sound, Reed, Willamette, etc.)

Flying isn't even much more expensive if it means you avoid paying for hotel rooms.

I just drove my kid for a tour of Wesleyan and I told him that if he goes there he is flying. The point is that you can fly to schools in the northeast too and it’s an easier and cheaper flight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Likelies/safeties options that aren't Greek in culture could include Bard, Mary Washington U., Oberlin, Juniata, Beloit, Lawrence, Clark.

Anyone have insight about Clark?

My high-stats DS ended up at Clark, where he got enough merit aid to bring the cost close to our in-state publics. (We could not afford our EFC, so privates that offer only need-based aid were not an option for him.) My DS also isn't super sporty and had no interest in Greek life.

I think Clark was a good fit for DS, and he did really well there. He was deeply involved in an award-winning club, served as a TA to 3 different professors over his last 2.5 years, had a campus job he really liked, studied abroad one semester, worked closely with one particular professor who was his thesis advisor, and made some great friends. He liked the campus, and though Worcester is kind of a pit, DS actually liked it--there's lots of good ethnic food and he never felt unsafe there. It's also within pretty easy distance of both Boston and RI beaches, so he and his friends took many fun road trips. DS found a good job within a few months of graduating and now is considering graduate school. His experience there was such that his younger sibling also applied (but ended up going elsewhere).

FWIW, DS also was admitted with large merit scholarship to Lawrence, and really enjoyed his visit there and seriously considered attending. Ultimately he decided that it was too far/hard to get to from DC, and he opted to stay closer to home.

Great info! Thanks.

A HS friend of my husband's had an amazing experience at Clark. He was a classic underachiever in HS, but at Clark he connected with a prof who became his mentor. After graduation, he did a Fulbright and went to grad school at an Ivy. He's now a pretty big deal in his academic field with an endowed chair at a top public university. For him, Clark really was life-changing.

[Anonymous]

I also have an old childhood friend who entered Clark a bit scattered and really blossomed there and has had an extremely successful career, launched several entrepeneurial businesses, etc. She loved her time there.

[Anonymous]

We visited Lawrence and St. Olaf recently. Lawrence was such a disappointment. I’m surprised by the recommendations here. Also no longer interested in Muhlenberg based on that visit. St. Olaf was nice. Beautiful campus and facilities were far nicer than the other two. Just seemed like a better school overall. Carleton is in the same town and is in a better location IMHO because it’s near the cute downtown. St. Olaf is on a hill and separate from the town.

Thoughts on Dickinson?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We visited Lawrence and St. Olaf recently. Lawrence was such a disappointment. I’m surprised by the recommendations here. Also no longer interested in Muhlenberg based on that visit. St. Olaf was nice. Beautiful campus and facilities were far nicer than the other two. Just seemed like a better school overall. Carleton is in the same town and is in a better location IMHO because it’s near the cute downtown. St. Olaf is on a hill and separate from the town.

Thoughts on Dickinson?

Care to elaborate?

And Dickinson is a fine school, but I can't think of anything that really sets it apart from other LACs in the 30s-50s in USNWR. The campus, dorms, and facilities are kind of average. It doesn't have a stunning campus like Sewanee or Furman, or easy access to a real city like Rhodes. It doesn't seem to be "on the rise" like Dennison. But if it's a good fit, it's a good fit.

[Anonymous]

We visited Lawrence and St. Olaf recently. Lawrence was such a disappointment. I’m surprised by the recommendations here. Also no longer interested in Muhlenberg based on that visit. St. Olaf was nice. Beautiful campus and facilities were far nicer than the other two. Just seemed like a better school overall. Carleton is in the same town and is in a better location IMHO because it’s near the cute downtown. St. Olaf is on a hill and separate from the town.

Thoughts on Dickinson?

Good grief! St. Olaf is walkable to "downtown" Northfield; Carleton is a smidge closer, but honestly, it is not much of a difference. Headed there tomorrow for the class of 2020 commencement. Um yah yah!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We visited Lawrence and St. Olaf recently. Lawrence was such a disappointment. I’m surprised by the recommendations here. Also no longer interested in Muhlenberg based on that visit. St. Olaf was nice. Beautiful campus and facilities were far nicer than the other two. Just seemed like a better school overall. Carleton is in the same town and is in a better location IMHO because it’s near the cute downtown. St. Olaf is on a hill and separate from the town.

Thoughts on Dickinson?

Care to elaborate?

And Dickinson is a fine school, but I can't think of anything that really sets it apart from other LACs in the 30s-50s in USNWR. The campus, dorms, and facilities are kind of average. It doesn't have a stunning campus like Sewanee or Furman, or easy access to a real city like Rhodes. It doesn't seem to be "on the rise" like Dennison. But if it's a good fit, it's a good fit.

Appleton was great. But Lawrence was blah. The admissions office was the most disorganized we’ve experienced. The student tour guide just finished her first year and only spent 10 weeks on campus. She was a voice major and none of the students on the tour were interested in the conservatory. The campus was just ok. Both the tour guide and the admissions officer at the info session did not discuss academic requirements other than the first year seminar. Nothing stood out as particularly great about the school. My child is not an athlete but the gym was the worst I have ever seen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We visited Lawrence and St. Olaf recently. Lawrence was such a disappointment. I’m surprised by the recommendations here. Also no longer interested in Muhlenberg based on that visit. St. Olaf was nice. Beautiful campus and facilities were far nicer than the other two. Just seemed like a better school overall. Carleton is in the same town and is in a better location IMHO because it’s near the cute downtown. St. Olaf is on a hill and separate from the town.

Thoughts on Dickinson?

Care to elaborate?

And Dickinson is a fine school, but I can't think of anything that really sets it apart from other LACs in the 30s-50s in USNWR. The campus, dorms, and facilities are kind of average. It doesn't have a stunning campus like Sewanee or Furman, or easy access to a real city like Rhodes. It doesn't seem to be "on the rise" like Dennison. But if it's a good fit, it's a good fit.

Denison has one n.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Furman or Wofford

+1. We are really hot on both of these for DS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Furman or Wofford

+1. We are really hot on both of these for DS

What do you like about them?