college - tell me about "the best kept secret" schools - anyone have one?

[Anonymous]

The Ivies are talked about on this board endlessly. I just read the book Colleges that Change Lives and am thinking there must be a lot of schools out there that offer a great fit for the right student. Anyone??

(and yes, I have a Junior in high school and we have started "the process", heaven help us)

[Anonymous]

Occidental.

[Anonymous]

I hear great things about Reed and the College of Charleston.

[Anonymous]

We are going to visit St Marys College next week - Maryland's attempt to create a William & Mary equivalent. But we are having a lot of trouble with this concept. Our junior wants liberal arts, 2-3000 students. She can't get into top tier (e.g., Williams). The options seem to drop off rather quickly.

[Anonymous]

OP here -- Thanks! Occidental and Reed are already on my DD's list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are going to visit St Marys College next week - Maryland's attempt to create a William & Mary equivalent. But we are having a lot of trouble with this concept. Our junior wants liberal arts, 2-3000 students. She can't get into top tier (e.g., Williams). The options seem to drop off rather quickly.

Elon?

[Anonymous]

liberal arts, 2-3000 students

Check out Drew in New Jersey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

liberal arts, 2-3000 students

Check out Drew in New Jersey.

That's on the list but we were concerned that it draws so many students from the NJ/tristate area that it would be a little narrow. It is also 65/35 women/men. Do you know people who have gone there? Did they like it? It is probably worth a visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are going to visit St Marys College next week - Maryland's attempt to create a William & Mary equivalent. But we are having a lot of trouble with this concept. Our junior wants liberal arts, 2-3000 students. She can't get into top tier (e.g., Williams). The options seem to drop off rather quickly.

If you've got $$$, what about Rollins in Florida? It's a great small school but very posh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are going to visit St Marys College next week - Maryland's attempt to create a William & Mary equivalent. But we are having a lot of trouble with this concept. Our junior wants liberal arts, 2-3000 students. She can't get into top tier (e.g., Williams). The options seem to drop off rather quickly.

If you've got $$$, what about Rollins in Florida? It's a great small school but very posh.

Isn't that more of a party school for rich kids? That may be my dated view though.

[Anonymous]

Don't know anyone who went to Drew recently, but everyone I know who went there ~15 years ago (I'm mid-thirties) loved it. That m/f ratio is not great, though. Do any liberal arts schools have majority men anymore?

[Anonymous]

Earlham College - A Quaker college in Richmond, IN. When I attended there, there were a lot of students from the mid-Atlantic region. But... the m/f ratio wasn't the greatest.

[Anonymous]

OP (again) --

15:43 -- I have heard good things about St Mary's

15:49 - DD is really backing off southern schools. We looked at 2 in Virginia, and she sees them as too into the Greek scene (she is not). She seems to think this will be the case with most southern the schools.

Right now her faves are Kenyon and Oberlin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't know anyone who went to Drew recently, but everyone I know who went there ~15 years ago (I'm mid-thirties) loved it. That m/f ratio is not great, though. Do any liberal arts schools have majority men anymore?

Thanks - we will check it out!

Good point about the current gender imbalance in colleges but most seem to be a little closer than Drew - maybe 55/45.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are going to visit St Marys College next week - Maryland's attempt to create a William & Mary equivalent. But we are having a lot of trouble with this concept. Our junior wants liberal arts, 2-3000 students. She can't get into top tier (e.g., Williams). The options seem to drop off rather quickly.

If you've got $$$, what about Rollins in Florida? It's a great small school but very posh.

Isn't that more of a party school for rich kids? That may be my dated view though.

No, your view is pretty acurate. I suggested it because it's small liberal arts and not as hard to get into as the top tier schools. I don't know what scene or experience your DD is looking for, but it's not too far of a stretch from some of the wealthy parts of the dc area. If your DD is looking for more of that small school New England collegiate feel with crunchier kids with wool hats and "causes" than, no, Rollins is not a good fit.

You may get better advice if you could give a little more info about what she is looking for. Is she conservative, very libral, would she be interested in a city campus or more of a college town?