Is your child happy with their college choice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love this thread, except for the annoying rankings person.

I have a kid looking at Oberlin, Kenyon, Wooster, Grinnell, Macalaster. Plus WM, which he will be accepted to based on Naviance. Basically SLACs with merit money (donut hole family).

If you have a kid at one of these schools and they love it or hate it, why? What is a sketch of the type of kid who does well. I have a brilliant but quirky and socially awkward kid with drama and music interests. Small groups, not large crowds. Has a 504 for ADHD and may need some supports in executive functioning. Is that the sort of kid who would do well?

Also, if your kid looked at these schools but ended up somewhere else, where and why?

I don’t want to hijack, but I love hearing that kids are doing well at Oberlin, Grinnell and Juanita. It would be great to know what type of kid succeeds at these schools and why. .

My son is the one at Grinnell and loves it. He finds the faculty fascinating, even the ones that were not his favorites taught him a lot and he said were nice people. He loves the 'smartness' factor oft he student body, he loves the discourse among faculty and students. The faculty live in the same small town so it really is like family. Many of the support staff have worked at Grinnell a long time and are very invested in the students. The equipment manager for the sports teams has worked there for 30 years and invites the football team to his farm every august for a fishing derby - that kind of thing. He has always had nice roommates - if I could pick one word for Grinnell students it would be nice. I will ask what he does not like and get back to you on that.

Thanks! It sounds like wonderful place.

It is. And it's much more economically diverse than Colby, which is why in the latest US News rankings Grinnell jumped to #11 while Colby dropped to 18.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love this thread, except for the annoying rankings person.

I have a kid looking at Oberlin, Kenyon, Wooster, Grinnell, Macalaster. Plus WM, which he will be accepted to based on Naviance. Basically SLACs with merit money (donut hole family).

If you have a kid at one of these schools and they love it or hate it, why? What is a sketch of the type of kid who does well. I have a brilliant but quirky and socially awkward kid with drama and music interests. Small groups, not large crowds. Has a 504 for ADHD and may need some supports in executive functioning. Is that the sort of kid who would do well?

Also, if your kid looked at these schools but ended up somewhere else, where and why?

I don’t want to hijack, but I love hearing that kids are doing well at Oberlin, Grinnell and Juanita. It would be great to know what type of kid succeeds at these schools and why. .

My son is the one at Grinnell and loves it. He finds the faculty fascinating, even the ones that were not his favorites taught him a lot and he said were nice people. He loves the 'smartness' factor oft he student body, he loves the discourse among faculty and students. The faculty live in the same small town so it really is like family. Many of the support staff have worked at Grinnell a long time and are very invested in the students. The equipment manager for the sports teams has worked there for 30 years and invites the football team to his farm every august for a fishing derby - that kind of thing. He has always had nice roommates - if I could pick one word for Grinnell students it would be nice. I will ask what he does not like and get back to you on that.

Thanks! It sounds like wonderful place.

It is. And it's much more economically diverse than Colby, which is why in the latest US News rankings Grinnell jumped to #11 while Colby dropped to 18.

Grinnell is a clown college that no employer outside of whatever hick town it happens to be in has heard of.

[Anonymous]

Here we go. Guess who forgot to take his meds.

[Anonymous]

Love the rap battle between the Grinnell and Colby bashers. Two imbeciles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, more please if you all are willing to share! I am interested in the “colleges that change lives”

Hate this, it is nothing more than a marketing campaign for small privates with declining enrollments.

Graduating from college is a game changer, period. And if you think the Ivies just perpetuate the status quo, you are incredibly uninformed as to who is getting into the Ivies today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, more please if you all are willing to share! I am interested in the “colleges that change lives”

Hate this, it is nothing more than a marketing campaign for small privates with declining enrollments.

Graduating from college is a game changer, period. And if you think the Ivies just perpetuate the status quo, you are incredibly uninformed as to who is getting into the Ivies today.

Yes, because the Harvard professor who wrote it was in marketing.

Many of the CTCL such as e.g. Denison are becoming more, not less competitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, more please if you all are willing to share! I am interested in the “colleges that change lives”

Hate this, it is nothing more than a marketing campaign for small privates with declining enrollments.

Graduating from college is a game changer, period. And if you think the Ivies just perpetuate the status quo, you are incredibly uninformed as to who is getting into the Ivies today.

Yes, because the Harvard professor who wrote it was in marketing.

Many of the CTCL such as e.g. Denison are becoming more, not less competitive.

All colleges are becoming more competitive, but clearly the CTCL nonsense was an effective marketing campaign.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, more please if you all are willing to share! I am interested in the “colleges that change lives”

Hate this, it is nothing more than a marketing campaign for small privates with declining enrollments.

Graduating from college is a game changer, period. And if you think the Ivies just perpetuate the status quo, you are incredibly uninformed as to who is getting into the Ivies today.

Yes, because the Harvard professor who wrote it was in marketing.

Many of the CTCL such as e.g. Denison are becoming more, not less competitive.

All colleges are becoming more competitive, but clearly the CTCL nonsense was an effective marketing campaign.

As a family of a student attending a CTCL school we feel fortunate to have our child spending their college years at what we perceive to be a nurturing environment.

So not sure why the animosity but as a parent of a CTCL student, I will say that the marketing program broadened my horizons and made me and my DC more comfortable exploring small liberal arts colleges. And as we began exploring them we realized that for one of our DCs they were a good fit. We have another child that, while we like the CTCL/SLAC (S for Small) model, is at a state flagship because a small school would not have been the right fit. And I suspect for my youngest who is still in HS I will encourage her to look at the CTCL/SLAC schools.


As for the Ivies, and most of the true elites, it has been my experience that the student body is very much bifurcating. If you are full pay, ED and/or a recruited athlete applicant, with good stats you have a good shot and if you are a URM you have shot. If not one of the above, it's not happening. So then why not shop value and there are a bunch of categories for that: privates like Tulane that are not tippy top but will offer money, some of the large flagships that will offer instate rates to strong OOS candidates, and some of the SLACs - especially one's ranked 30 and below. And if you can attend a small CTCL/SLAC for close to instate public tuition rates - well then for a large segment that's a good fit and a good deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, more please if you all are willing to share! I am interested in the “colleges that change lives”

Hate this, it is nothing more than a marketing campaign for small privates with declining enrollments.

Graduating from college is a game changer, period. And if you think the Ivies just perpetuate the status quo, you are incredibly uninformed as to who is getting into the Ivies today.

Yes, because the Harvard professor who wrote it was in marketing.

Many of the CTCL such as e.g. Denison are becoming more, not less competitive.

All colleges are becoming more competitive, but clearly the CTCL nonsense was an effective marketing campaign.

My DC's CTCL school has in fact, been life-changing. I have never seen DC so happy, or succeeding so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, more please if you all are willing to share! I am interested in the “colleges that change lives”

Hate this, it is nothing more than a marketing campaign for small privates with declining enrollments.

Graduating from college is a game changer, period. And if you think the Ivies just perpetuate the status quo, you are incredibly uninformed as to who is getting into the Ivies today.

Yes, because the Harvard professor who wrote it was in marketing.

Many of the CTCL such as e.g. Denison are becoming more, not less competitive.

All colleges are becoming more competitive, but clearly the CTCL nonsense was an effective marketing campaign.

My DC's CTCL school has in fact, been life-changing. I have never seen DC so happy, or succeeding so much.

Ok? And? That’s great, but it’s not like this is in any way unique to schools named in a for-profit book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS did not get into his dream school and got wait listed from his second choice. The school he ended up attending is one I thought would be the best fit for him and strongly urged him to apply to. He did make the final decision to attend this school on his own. He absolutely LOVES it there. He was very nervous when we dropped him off and he even cried. But three weeks in, he told me he LOVES it. He admitted to me that he wasn't really excited about the school three weeks ago. But once he got there and started meeting people, and going to classes, he said he realized that this is where he belongs.

Mine had the same experience. Was WL at 4(!) top choices. At summer freshman orientation at #5 choice expressed concern about the college and we talked about transfer options. 2 days later was totally sold and has loved every minute of it.

Would people please mention the schools by name?

PP here. My kid focused on large, mostly top 25 universities. So not Grinnell or Colby or any other SLAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, more please if you all are willing to share! I am interested in the “colleges that change lives”

Hate this, it is nothing more than a marketing campaign for small privates with declining enrollments.

Graduating from college is a game changer, period. And if you think the Ivies just perpetuate the status quo, you are incredibly uninformed as to who is getting into the Ivies today.

Yes, because the Harvard professor who wrote it was in marketing.

Many of the CTCL such as e.g. Denison are becoming more, not less competitive.

What are you talking about? CTCL was written by Loren Pope, who is an alum of DePauw and a writer by trade. Not a professor from Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, more please if you all are willing to share! I am interested in the “colleges that change lives”

Hate this, it is nothing more than a marketing campaign for small privates with declining enrollments.

Graduating from college is a game changer, period. And if you think the Ivies just perpetuate the status quo, you are incredibly uninformed as to who is getting into the Ivies today.

Yes, because the Harvard professor who wrote it was in marketing.

Many of the CTCL such as e.g. Denison are becoming more, not less competitive.

All colleges are becoming more competitive, but clearly the CTCL nonsense was an effective marketing campaign.

My DC's CTCL school has in fact, been life-changing. I have never seen DC so happy, or succeeding so much.

+1 DC may have thrived even more at a better LAC. I'm happy your DC is doing well but this CTCL thing is just a marketing gimmick for third tier LACs.
Ok? And? That’s great, but it’s not like this is in any way unique to schools named in a for-profit book.

[Anonymous]

My DD is a sophomore at Marymount in Virginia. She needed to attend college close to home for personal reasons. The workload is totally excruciating and students are tested frequently. I have heard from her and her classmates that the education model is very old fashioned and nothing exciting happens inside the classroom. There are also very few clubs and the average age of undergrad students is about 25. She wishes to live the real college experience but I am not able to leave my job and move with her.

[Anonymous]

PP, could she attend another local school instead, such as GMU?