I can see why you included Brandeis in the list that also includes Barnard, Smith, etc. because it does have a small college feel. Lots of smart, hard-working kids from middle-class and upper-middle-class families.

DS just finished his first year at Grinnell. His description is as follows: Students are smart and motivated but NICE... very, very nice and down to earth. Students look out for each other, support and help each other. Its the most non-judgmental place in the world. We work hard and play hard. Our campus is proudly wet but that means we're not binge drinking in a closet. The work is HARD, I read hundreds of pages a week and write tons of papers. I've you've never gotten a B or C before, you may be shocked. The average grade here is NOT an A. That freaks a lot of kids out but there's no curves and no slack on grading.

I love the little town, there's everything you need there, lots of walk-able stuff but if you need a ride several kids on campus have a car so I guarantee you will know someone. There's some rich kids, some poor kids and a lot of just normal middle class kids. No one pays attention to that, the richest kid I know wears rags and no shoes. He just hates shoes. That's very Grinnellian.

I think Wellesley is a great school but every adult I've met in recent years who went to Wellesley has been off the charts entitled and unpleasant.

Anonymous wrote:Your child will get an excellent education at any of these schools, if child is hard worker and ready to take all opportunities offered. Agree with pp's that no significant differences. But if there is an area of study that is particularly interesting look at the catalogue to see if those courses sound exciting to child. Otherwise focus on geography and travel expenses.

Agreed.

Here's yet another thread on this. Difference? Six of one, half-a-dozen of the other. http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/468732.page

Your child will get an excellent education at any of these schools, if child is hard worker and ready to take all opportunities offered. Agree with pp's that no significant differences. But if there is an area of study that is particularly interesting look at the catalogue to see if those courses sound exciting to child. Otherwise focus on geography and travel expenses.

There is a thread below this one on "Tell Me About Kenyon College.>"
Despite 8 pages of comments it is impossible to draw a bead on it ala the question OP is asking.
Here's what one person said "I think Kenyon is more like Haverford, Middlebury, Bowdoin, than like Elon." Yep.
They're really all verrry similar.

Anonymous wrote:I can only tell you about Barnard as two very close friends attended and I visited / stayed over in dorms many times.

It was a mix of women from NY/NJ/CT with both public and private school backgrounds. Down to earth jeans and tee shirt girls as well as the arty farty and always in black dresses brigade.

They generally worked very hard, were totally relaxed about being in an all female environment, had access to the city - in terms of going out and drinking in bars, or attending concerts and other events. It was a slightly smaller Columbia experience. Most were very independent people one way or another. Confident and happy to be there.

There were a few girls who weren't sure if they wanted to come out of the closet. I'm sure its more relaxed and open on that side now, a few years down the line.

At the time, the dorms were huge apartments with bedrooms for 2-4 girls, very spacious with plenty of shared bathrooms and a large shared kitchen. It was possible to not see room mates or apartment mates other than the occasional passing in the mornings.

Smith doesn't have that problem from what I hear.

I can only tell you about Barnard as two very close friends attended and I visited / stayed over in dorms many times.

It was a mix of women from NY/NJ/CT with both public and private school backgrounds. Down to earth jeans and tee shirt girls as well as the arty farty and always in black dresses brigade.

They generally worked very hard, were totally relaxed about being in an all female environment, had access to the city - in terms of going out and drinking in bars, or attending concerts and other events. It was a slightly smaller Columbia experience. Most were very independent people one way or another. Confident and happy to be there.

There were a few girls who weren't sure if they wanted to come out of the closet. I'm sure its more relaxed and open on that side now, a few years down the line.

At the time, the dorms were huge apartments with bedrooms for 2-4 girls, very spacious with plenty of shared bathrooms and a large shared kitchen. It was possible to not see room mates or apartment mates other than the occasional passing in the mornings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're trying to get a sense of what schools to consider but don't have the means to travel to them. For those who're familiar with any or all of these colleges, could you please give a sense of what the average student attending is like (personality and academic profile)? Or where one could look into that? The challenge with viewbooks and college information is that it all blends into the same cliche profile and makes it difficult to identify characteristics. As is apparent, we're looking into LACs and LAC-like universities; any other suggestions would be wonderful too.

(LACs)
Barnard College
Colorado College
Claremont Colleges
Hamilton College
Haverford College
Grinnell College
Kenyon College
Smith College
Wellesley College

(Universities)
Brandeis University
Tufts University
University of Rochester
Wake Forest University

With the LACs they all seem blend into the same cliche profile precisely because they all are pretty much indistinguishable from one another.

No. Only people who flunked sociology think that.

Not a nickel's worth of difference between most of them - if you believe otherwise please say how and be specific.
OP's observation is right on - i.e., "the same cliche profile [that] makes it difficult to identify characteristics."
And no, I didn't flunk sociology. I have a rising senior so it is so frustrating to try to distinguish among the Colbys, Bates, Hamiltons, Haverfords.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're trying to get a sense of what schools to consider but don't have the means to travel to them. For those who're familiar with any or all of these colleges, could you please give a sense of what the average student attending is like (personality and academic profile)? Or where one could look into that? The challenge with viewbooks and college information is that it all blends into the same cliche profile and makes it difficult to identify characteristics. As is apparent, we're looking into LACs and LAC-like universities; any other suggestions would be wonderful too.

(LACs)
Barnard College
Colorado College
Claremont Colleges
Hamilton College
Haverford College
Grinnell College
Kenyon College
Smith College
Wellesley College

(Universities)
Brandeis University
Tufts University
University of Rochester
Wake Forest University

With the LACs they all seem blend into the same cliche profile precisely because they all are pretty much indistinguishable from one another.

No. Only people who flunked sociology think that.

Anonymous wrote:We're trying to get a sense of what schools to consider but don't have the means to travel to them. For those who're familiar with any or all of these colleges, could you please give a sense of what the average student attending is like (personality and academic profile)? Or where one could look into that? The challenge with viewbooks and college information is that it all blends into the same cliche profile and makes it difficult to identify characteristics. As is apparent, we're looking into LACs and LAC-like universities; any other suggestions would be wonderful too.

(LACs)
Barnard College
Colorado College
Claremont Colleges
Hamilton College
Haverford College
Grinnell College
Kenyon College
Smith College
Wellesley College

(Universities)
Brandeis University
Tufts University
University of Rochester
Wake Forest University

With the LACs they all seem blend into the same cliche profile precisely because they all are pretty much indistinguishable from one another.

Colorado College has one of the highest percentage of 1%ers -around20%- of American colleges.

Colorado College is small, maybe a little more than 2,000 students. You know how football dominates everything at SEC schools? That's hockey at CC. If that's your thing, it's a blast. If not....

OK - for starters, on Colorado College - I asked DC if DC would like to look at colleges in Colorado and DC responded, "I am not a stoner, mom." Took other DC there and Boulder and let's just say the odor of pot is omnipresent.

Wake Forest is extremely Greek and the women are expected to dress and make up for classes.

Claremont colleges - all different, but expect activism (latest was that Caucasians should not wear hoop earrings because that was appropriation of the experience of other cultures and a white Sociology professor should not be hired because she improperly studied black males). Harvey Mudd just closed down for 2 days because the school is too hard and a report suggested that faculty grouse about the students.

http://claremontindependent.com/pitzer-college-ra-white-people-cant-wear-hoop-earrings/

http://www.weeklystandard.com/even-harvey-mudd-a-math-and-science-college-has-surrendered-to-the-social-justice-movement/article/2007708

Tufts is considering the role of the Greek system in light of allegations of hazing and assault (probably a good idea - IMO)

https://tuftsdaily.com/news/2017/05/21/greek-life-review-students-administration-evaluate-system/

University of Rochester is involved in issues of gender discrimination

http://www.campustimes.org/2017/05/05/future-of-greek-club-sports-a-cappella-groups-uncertain-with-acjc-ruling/

You can find out a lot about what is going on from the student newspapers -- all online.

We're trying to get a sense of what schools to consider but don't have the means to travel to them. For those who're familiar with any or all of these colleges, could you please give a sense of what the average student attending is like (personality and academic profile)? Or where one could look into that? The challenge with viewbooks and college information is that it all blends into the same cliche profile and makes it difficult to identify characteristics. As is apparent, we're looking into LACs and LAC-like universities; any other suggestions would be wonderful too.

(LACs)
Barnard College
Colorado College
Claremont Colleges
Hamilton College
Haverford College
Grinnell College
Kenyon College
Smith College
Wellesley College

(Universities)
Brandeis University
Tufts University
University of Rochester
Wake Forest University