Anonymous wrote:My wife and I both graduated nescacs and our two children graduated ivies and my impression is that nescacs deliver a far superior undergrad experience. Abundant opportunities to work with professors on research and loads of mentorship. Go visit and decide for yourself. I wouldn’t bankrupt myself for the opportunity but attending a NESCAC is a special experienc.

Anonymous wrote:NECSAC is an athletic conference of 11 schools of differing levels of excellence. The best NECSAC schools offer some of the best undergraduate education in the US. Let's momentarily set aside the USNWR ranking that stupidly splits universities and colleges into two lists, and temporarily ignore the ill-informed chatter of its DCUM groupies. The (better) WSJ ranking system places the top six NESCAC schools (Amherst, Williams, Tufts, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wesleyan) among the top 50 in the nation. The others NECSACs aren't quite as highly ranked, with Trinity (104) and Connecticut (109) although fine bringing up the rear.

Obviously for NECSAC -- just as for Ivy or Big Ten or State U -- the finances have to work (and if $ is a concern, you'll probably want to major in something a little more marketable than say gender studies). But it's not like a NECSAC education is a lesser product that's only attractive at a discounted rate. That one even feels the need to explain that about extraordinary colleges like Williams or Amherst is just further evidence of the general uselessness of DCUM's received wisdom.

The best NECSAC schools will be (well-) known to employers, and grad schools. They may not be as well known to your father's second cousin or your grandmother's neighbor back in the old country, though, so if impressing them is a top priority and determinant of "worth the money," better to go to some huge university where a few professors have Nobel prizes and you need binoculars to see from the back of the lecture hall.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NECSAC is an athletic conference of 11 schools of differing levels of excellence. The best NECSAC schools offer some of the best undergraduate education in the US. Let's momentarily set aside the USNWR ranking that stupidly splits universities and colleges into two lists, and temporarily ignore the ill-informed chatter of its DCUM groupies. The (better) WSJ ranking system places the top six NESCAC schools (Amherst, Williams, Tufts, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wesleyan) among the top 50 in the nation. The others NECSACs aren't quite as highly ranked, with Trinity (104) and Connecticut (109) although fine bringing up the rear.

Obviously for NECSAC -- just as for Ivy or Big Ten or State U -- the finances have to work (and if $ is a concern, you'll probably want to major in something a little more marketable than say gender studies). But it's not like a NECSAC education is a lesser product that's only attractive at a discounted rate. That one even feels the need to explain that about extraordinary colleges like Williams or Amherst is just further evidence of the general uselessness of DCUM's received wisdom.

The best NECSAC schools will be (well-) known to employers, and grad schools. They may not be as well known to your father's second cousin or your grandmother's neighbor back in the old country, though, so if impressing them is a top priority and determinant of "worth the money," better to go to some huge university where a few professors have Nobel prizes and you need binoculars to see from the back of the lecture hall.

+1

For a similar and less expensive experience, consider other LACs such as e.g. Oberlin, Grinnell, Denison, College of Wooster, Allegheny.

~NESCAC alum whose DCs had better experiences at other non-NESCAC LACs

Anonymous wrote:NECSAC is an athletic conference of 11 schools of differing levels of excellence. The best NECSAC schools offer some of the best undergraduate education in the US. Let's momentarily set aside the USNWR ranking that stupidly splits universities and colleges into two lists, and temporarily ignore the ill-informed chatter of its DCUM groupies. The (better) WSJ ranking system places the top six NESCAC schools (Amherst, Williams, Tufts, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wesleyan) among the top 50 in the nation. The others NECSACs aren't quite as highly ranked, with Trinity (104) and Connecticut (109) although fine bringing up the rear.

Obviously for NECSAC -- just as for Ivy or Big Ten or State U -- the finances have to work (and if $ is a concern, you'll probably want to major in something a little more marketable than say gender studies). But it's not like a NECSAC education is a lesser product that's only attractive at a discounted rate. That one even feels the need to explain that about extraordinary colleges like Williams or Amherst is just further evidence of the general uselessness of DCUM's received wisdom.

The best NECSAC schools will be (well-) known to employers, and grad schools. They may not be as well known to your father's second cousin or your grandmother's neighbor back in the old country, though, so if impressing them is a top priority and determinant of "worth the money," better to go to some huge university where a few professors have Nobel prizes and you need binoculars to see from the back of the lecture hall.

Anonymous wrote:My wife and I both graduated nescacs and our two children graduated ivies and my impression is that nescacs deliver a far superior undergrad experience. Abundant opportunities to work with professors on research and loads of mentorship. Go visit and decide for yourself. I wouldn’t bankrupt myself for the opportunity but attending a NESCAC is a special experienc.

Anonymous wrote:My wife and I both graduated nescacs and our two children graduated ivies and my impression is that nescacs deliver a far superior undergrad experience. Abundant opportunities to work with professors on research and loads of mentorship. Go visit and decide for yourself. I wouldn’t bankrupt myself for the opportunity but attending a NESCAC is a special experienc.