Reply to Hobart William Smith

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Hobart William Smith "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It’s strange how there are some pig-headed DCUM commenters with obviously little or no person knowledge of a given college who will nonetheless insist that their ignorance (far from being something they should remedy) is compelling evidence that the school is undistinguished or inevitably destined for closure.

Hobart/WS is a well-regarded long-established SLAC that attracts a lot of kids from comfortably off northeastern families.   It’s never been a peer of Williams or Amherst or Swarthmore - very few SLACs are - but not long ago it was seen as equal to or better than SLACs like Skidmore or Denison (which isn’t to denigrate them but to point out the Hobart isn’t - uniformed comments on this site notwithstanding - a no-name school).  Per USNWR, today HWS is a peer of  fairly well known SLACs like Reed and St Lawrence and ahead of SLACs like Wheaton (MA) and Lewis and Clark and most of the Virginia SLACs.

HWS hasn’t done as effective a job of marketing itself to students in recent years as some other SLACs, but given the college’s strengths that shouldn’t be irreversible. It’s hard to define buzz (especially for a smaller school where minor shifts can move the needle significantly).  Geneva NY might not be Paris (or Aspen) but nor is Waterville ME or Granville OH, and those backwater locations haven’t prevented Colby or Denison from increasing in popularity.  There will always be some students who are interested in a well-regarded SLAC in a pretty rural setting where students are mostly interested in preparing for a successful future.   Not every kid wants to remake society, and not every applicant prioritizes access to shopping …

As for the prospect of bankruptcy, be serious.  USNWR ranks HWS as one of the top 75 SLACs in the country, and WSJ ranks it as the #160 college or university of the nearly 4000 in the country.   A number of private (and public) colleges will face serious financial challenges in the future, but that culling process is probably going to affect colleges in the ‘bottom 95%’ of American colleges a lot more than those ranked in the top 5%.  Looking specifically at Hobart, HWS is better positioned than most SLACs to withstand those financial pressures because:  HWS has a good sized endowment that is ranked as the 167th per-student in the country (again, of 4000 colleges and universities); HWS will potentially be strengthened by the exit of weaker SLACs from the scene; and HWS has alumni who are more prosperous than those from many peer schools and are more likely than those at many other schools to help it through any rough patch.

A pretty small, pretty rural SLAC isn’t for everyone, and if an applicant’s idea of college bliss is writing poetry and making ceramics, HWS probably isn’t the natural choice.  But if an applicant’s stats align with Hobart’s, it could be a great place to spend four years and get a strong, well-regarded education.[/quote]

I agree with part of what you're saying but this is a school that has built up such a reputation for attracting rich private school kids who do lots of drugs over the past 10-15 years that it's going to be difficult to hang with the types of schools it would like to consider its peers.  I know several kids who started at HWS and whose parents were hell-bent on their attending an expensive SLAC; each transferred within two years to less isolated schools.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics