Williams vs. Carleton vs. Middlebury vs Pomona vs Swarthmore
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Anonymous
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I have a close relative deciding between these three schools as of now. She got admitted to Williams/Carleton yesterday and Pomona/Swarthmore/Middlebury last week. She only applied to LACs and not universities (beside her safety/match schools). She didn't apply for aid, so costs are similar.
Does anyone have experience with these five colleges and deciding between them (or a number of them) so I can pass the information to her? (for those curious, Bowdoin and Colby waitlisted her....weird admissions process, I know). |
Anonymous
| Williams, no question. |
Anonymous
| I went to another on the list, and would choose Williams if choosing today. |
Anonymous
| I went to Amherst and I would choose Williams in a heartbeat. |
Anonymous
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Thanks for the insights! Could you please explain why?
Just a little about her: wants to study social/industrial psychology and cognitive science and eventually obtain a PhD in those fields. Piano player and acapella singer from Virginia, and wants to continue those pursuits in college. Wants to study abroad at some point. Personality- focused on academics but it doesn't define her, compassionate and collaborative, wants a diverse group of people to be friends with and to learn from. |
Anonymous
She's waiting on Amherst too, they just haven't released decisions yet! I'll keep this thread posted. |
Anonymous
| Middlebury has a great psych program, great acapella scene, and very well developed study abroad programs. |
Anonymous
| She sounds just like my DDin 11th. Congrats! Please let us know what she chooses from her many great options. If she's willing to share her stats/EC, that would be helpful. She should be very proud! |
Anonymous
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Wow--what a great position to be in! I went to Carleton and absolutely loved it, but of the ones on your list I'd pick Pomona without thinking twice. You have the benefits of an absolutely top notch LAC, with the opportunity to cross enroll (and socialize) at any of the other 4 Claremont Consortium schools, and the sort of weather that allows you to be outside happily every single day. We found Claremont (the town it's in) to be cute, if a bit sleepy, and LA is not far for the more adventurous.
My daughter visited all of the ones on the list besides Middlebury, which I've heard great things about. She had no interest in Williams--she thought it was too remote, and too preppy. She didn't really give it much of a chance because she was so turned off by the location and the campus Vibe. It's obviously a great school academics-wise. Swarthmore is beautiful, but she was turned off by the number of people bragging about how hard they worked all the time. I do know one very quirky, brilliant kid who loves it there. He constantly talks about how hard the classes and workload is, though in the kind of proud way UChicago people repeat the "Where Fun Goes to Die" slogan. The decision should come down to fit and values, and where the kid wants to end up. For example, I imagine Williams has the best on campus recruiting for someone who wants to work in NY right after college. If the student wants to go straight to grad school, they are probably interchangeable. |
Anonymous
+1 and the grads all seem to love their school so much. |
Anonymous
I'm PP and graduated a little over a decade ago. Yes. LOVED it. |
Anonymous
I've never met a Middlebury, Carleton or Pomona grad that did not love their school. |
Anonymous
Thanks! I've been advising her throughout the college process but I haven't been to a lot of these schools myself, so I thought it'd be great to ask this board. She got a 1520 on the New SAT and goes to a private school which doesn't rank, but does put a grade distribution, and she's on the highest end in terms of GPA. Her unweighted is a 3.96. She is an accomplished writer who has won Scholastic Keys and other writing competition prizes, is part of a regionally acclaimed a capella group, and did the TASP program last summer. She has created a psychology club at her school and has worked to connect students to the vast world of careers, learning, and opportunities related to Psychology. She also did a learning experience at a local university with a cognitive science professor, which she didn't have exposure of before but really enjoyed. She's a national merit finalist and a national AP scholar. I think her essays were glowing. For her Williams supplement, she talked about having a conversation with Sigmund Freud about the scientific vs human approaches to psychology. For her Pomona supplement, she did the diving into a Wikipedia article topic about how she discovered her psychology interest by leaping from page to page, even though her school only offers AP Psych. |
Anonymous
Thank you very much, will pass this onto her.
Wow, thanks for the detailed response! She'll appreciate it. You're absolutely right that among all these great schools, it's more about fit than anything. It does feel like all these colleges have one great thing to offer that the others don't (or not to the same degree). |
Anonymous
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These are all wonderful schools.
Where does she want to live? Glorious weather but car-dependent? Pomona. College town? Carleton. Suburb with easy access to a real city? Swarthmore. The sticks? Middlebury or Williams. Or by vibe: Carleton is quirky; Williams is preppy; as is Middlebury (although not quite so preppy as Williams); Swarthmore is intellectual; Pomona is balanced. Carleton might be the tightest fit with what you've shared about her, but really, any of these places would offer what she needs (and then some). |