What are your favorite CTCLs (and similar) and why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole ctcl label is just marketing for smaller schools that are often overlooked. I don’t doubt that some offer a great education but the label is pretty meaningless.

Thank you! People act like CTCL means Ivy League. They're just a bunch of no name schools with two things in common: they're small and they're desperate to market themselves.

You live on a different planet from the people who get the value of such schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do these schools give merit aid?

They’re far from name brand schools, so the price tags seem high.

Beloit gives a ton of aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We also liked some CTCLs in the pacific northwest, especially Puget Sound. Tacoma is a really nice city. The campus is stunning. The school leans left politically but also has a group of very pre-rofessional students. It's not far from Seatac so getting there is easy if you're willing to fly.

Whitman is more remote, being a few hours drive into Eastern Washington, but also fantastic.

Willamette is also nice. It's near the Oregon State capitol and pretty close to Portland.

There's also Reed, but that's a more intense academic experience than the others.

My kid also has University of Puget Sound and Lewis and Clark on his list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lawrence and Wooster both seem great. Also interested in Rhodes.

I've wondered if Muhlenberg is similar to the CTCL schools.

I have one at a CTCL and my youngest visited Muhlenberg twice. I want to say yes and would suggest to other parents that they consider Muhlenberg. Bonus - they offered great financial aid.

I have a friend who teaches at Muhlenberg. She is a fabulous scholar and up and coming in her field. She just published her first book and it has gotten a good bit of national attention. She loves her student and works hard to be a good teacher.

[Anonymous]

Davidson
New College of Florida
Colorado College
Knox College

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Davidson
New College of Florida
Colorado College
Knox College

Davidson and Colorado College are not CTCL schools or the equivalent. They're better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CTCL schools aren't worth anything close to sticker price. But if you're good enough to get a lot of merit aid from them, you can get into a much better college that actually has a name. Therein lies the rub.

My experience, with my son, is that most private schools know they’re not worth the sticker price. For kids with donut hole parents, they “provide enough merit aid” to match the full in-state cost of attendance for the student’s state flagship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Davidson
New College of Florida
Colorado College
Knox College

I just looked up New College of Florida. Man.
Count me in. I would’ve have liked to spend 4 years there! Right on the water!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CTCL schools aren't worth anything close to sticker price. But if you're good enough to get a lot of merit aid from them, you can get into a much better college that actually has a name. Therein lies the rub.

My experience, with my son, is that most private schools know they’re not worth the sticker price. For kids with donut hole parents, they “provide enough merit aid” to match the full in-state cost of attendance for the student’s state flagship.

If no one actually pays the sticker price at these places, why don't they just lower the sticker price to a reasonable amount? Is it so everyone feels like they're getting a "bargain"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CTCL schools aren't worth anything close to sticker price. But if you're good enough to get a lot of merit aid from them, you can get into a much better college that actually has a name. Therein lies the rub.

My experience, with my son, is that most private schools know they’re not worth the sticker price. For kids with donut hole parents, they “provide enough merit aid” to match the full in-state cost of attendance for the student’s state flagship.

If no one actually pays the sticker price at these places, why don't they just lower the sticker price to a reasonable amount? Is it so everyone feels like they're getting a "bargain"?

Because some do pay full price and the colleges can’t give up that easy money (not unlike the OOS money big state schools love). But some colleges have moved away from that discount pricing model. St John’s College is one.

[Anonymous]

Anyone know how a school like Lawrence or St Olaf would react to and A/B student who has a P in one class on their transcript?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CTCL schools aren't worth anything close to sticker price. But if you're good enough to get a lot of merit aid from them, you can get into a much better college that actually has a name. Therein lies the rub.

My experience, with my son, is that most private schools know they’re not worth the sticker price. For kids with donut hole parents, they “provide enough merit aid” to match the full in-state cost of attendance for the student’s state flagship.

If no one actually pays the sticker price at these places, why don't they just lower the sticker price to a reasonable amount? Is it so everyone feels like they're getting a "bargain"?

I also read somewhere that some colleges that have tried cutting their rates have found that demand drops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole ctcl label is just marketing for smaller schools that are often overlooked. I don’t doubt that some offer a great education but the label is pretty meaningless.

Thank you! People act like CTCL means Ivy League. They're just a bunch of no name schools with two things in common: they're small and they're desperate to market themselves.

Literally nobody thinks this.

Also, the Ivy League should not be a goal for every HS senior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole ctcl label is just marketing for smaller schools that are often overlooked. I don’t doubt that some offer a great education but the label is pretty meaningless.

Thank you! People act like CTCL means Ivy League. They're just a bunch of no name schools with two things in common: they're small and they're desperate to market themselves.

Literally nobody thinks this.

Also, the Ivy League should not be a goal for every HS senior.

I think pp was referring to the fact that people here refer to the label CTCL as of it has importance when it really doesn’t. The schools stand or fall on their own merits.

[Anonymous]

Except they were chosen by an objective journalist (from The NY Times), who put them in that category because he thought they WERE special.

That origin is objective fact.

But some loser on here has made it his hobby to claim that moniker is just a marketing gimmick.