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[quote=Anonymous]My niece is at McDaniel and loves it. I have several other friends whose children graduated from McDaniel and they loved it too. My niece was very undecided about what she wanted to do. Neither of her parents went to college and her dad somewhat objected to her going to college, convinced that she would only end up in debt and not able to get a job. I helped her get started on the college search process. She started out looking at science and engineering schools, because she wanted to be sure to get a good job and to be able to pay off loans. During our investigations, I realized that she had only average courses, and her school really didn't offer anything challenging in math and science, so she was NOT prepared to jump into engineering at a big school (though I didn't tell her that.) We looked at a mix of schools, including McDaniel. She didn't like it - too small and not focused on Science and Engineering. I ended up being very impressed by it - the programs it offers, the study abroad and internship opportunities, the outings to DC and Baltimore. One thing that caught me - this school of 1500 in the middle of nowhere Westminster, pulls 10,000 visitors to their homecoming football game. That's dedicated alumni - and dedicated alumni have connections and donate back to the school. I also like the fact that they had an education program, which I thought would be a better fit for my niece and that she could easily switch into it if she didn't like the science track.

Well, fall comes, she gets a job at a Montessori school and suddenly - teaching is it! and McDaniel became her number one choice. She applied, was somewhat overqualified, got in and also got $20k/yr scholarship. First semester there, and she discovered social work and switched into that major. Then she had a fantastic class with a history professor, who convinced her to minor in history. Then she discovered public policy side of things. And finally several professors have strongly encouraged her to consider law school. She's been on the top dean's list every semester and has a lot of personal relationships with the professors. She said about half the students are serious students, the other half are not. She's applying to graduate school now, and has a much stronger focus on the direction of her life and her purpose. McDaniel was the perfect school for her.

Not all the CTCL schools are the same - the other two that I know of that have good recommendations from people I know are Goucher and Juniata. The schools are not for everyone, but I think they are great for students who would thrive in a smaller environment with more personal attention.[/quote]

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