Reply to “Colleges That Change Lives”

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, here. Thanks to all who commented. DS is sure he wants to attend a small, alternative college. We figured this list is a good place to start in terms of the types of schools he’s considering.

[/quote]

Good luck, OP. This is exactly why the CTCL list can be helpful. There are thousands of colleges in the country and for someone who wants a smaller, alternative school it can be daunting to research them all.

What's his area of interest, broadly? Arty? Interested in science? Sports? [/quote]

He has zero interest in sports. (As a spectator or participant.) He isn’t sure what he wants to do in college—he’s actually both arty and science-y. He’s even found a way to combine them to some degree. Still, he isn’t sure if he wants to focus on any of that. He’s also very good at and enjoys foreign languages. We tease that he’s a true Renaissance kid. This is completely different from his sister, who is laser-focused. She knew exactly what she wanted to study. For her, we were able to research and zero in on schools that have good physics programs and faculty (as well as good football teams).

It’s all a process. Thanks again for the input! It’s much appreciated.[/quote]

He should consider looking into Kalamazoo College.  We visited a lot of the midwestern SLACs and that one struck me as having a lot of "Renaissance kids"- and good supports for STEM and arts.  And a large majority of students do at least 1 semester study abroad -- maybe 85%?[/quote]

One reason why so many students at small liberal arts colleges study abroad is because they get stifled in their small school and small town environment and need a break.  This isn't unique to CTCL schools -- it happens at smaller schools generally.  [/quote]

Kalamazoo is a bit different here--it's located in a city with another large college.  But they have a funding mechanism where study abroad --including travel and living expenses--cost the same as a semester on campus and they set up majors to accommodate it -- so many students participate.  [/quote]

[b]At many privates it’s actually cheaper to study abroad than to stay on campus.[/b]  Kalamazoo’s program may be special, but the cost isn’t.  [/quote]

Oops,-We've visited a lot of colleges and I get the details mixed up. Kalamazoo's  study abroad is 10-20k less than full cost of attendance and includes all travel expenses.  I just remembered it was a good deal compared to other schools we were looking at.  (Especially since Kalamazoo is already generous with merit aid--DD is likely eligible for 32k scholarship which would make total cost of attendance on campus 28k--cheaper than our in-state options). Also, for DD who wants to major bio/chem it was one of the few places she's visited where STEM majors regularly go on 1-2 semester study abroad and still graduate on time.  But maybe these advantages are more common that I realize? She also considered Wooster on the CTCL list, but they didn't have the same level of study abroad support and was in a small town so for her it was less appealing.   She's also applying to W&M in state, which is a match for her scores/GPA--but will likely end up costing more than these CTCL schools. She has a few other dream reach SLACs but even if she gets in, she knows if she doesn't get sufficient aid she won't be able to attend. She's not interested in public schools outside of W&M (though she has agreed to apply to 1 as an academic/financial safety in case expected merit aid doesn't come through at SLACs). So these schools play a meaningful role in her college search.

OP--we found the CTCL list helpful.  We initially visited Wooster and Denison on the Ohio SLAC tour not knowing about this "list." Later we found that all the good SLACs we found outside the well known top 20-30 seemed to be on it so we used it to find more options. It's still important to research the financial viability of the schools, quality for particular majors and outcomes for students as the list is by no means a guarantee. [/quote]

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