All of them! None are as rigorous as a university.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids at Williams were reported for having 4.0s and never attending a single class at graduations

Come again?

Not a chance.

Anonymous wrote:Reed! JK

Wonder if anyone has ever had a non-stressful time over at Reed

Anonymous wrote:Kids at Williams were reported for having 4.0s and never attending a single class at graduations

Come again?

Anonymous wrote:Are there nice LACs in the Northeast where there is a more mellow academic vibe in terms of rigor, workload, grading etc,but are still considered respectable?

Franklin & Marshall, Salve Regina, Juniata, Allegheny, Hobart and William Smith, Ursinus, Muhlenerg ...

If you're OK with a Catholic school, Salve Regina has one of the prettiest campuses you could find.

Bard College in the Hudson Valley.
Maybe expand to Ohio - Kenyon, Wooster, Denison?

As for Swarthmore, as an alum and now as a parent whose classmates currently have children there, the sense I'm getting is that it is still intense, but more pre-professional. It's not more competitive between students, but it's always attracted students who are intensely self-driven. That in some ways is the worst because how do you compete against that if you don't have an internal drive to intellectually master a subject area?

I think choice of major would make a big difference at many of the schools listed, even those known as being intense.

Reed! JK

Kids at Williams were reported for having 4.0s and never attending a single class at graduations

Anonymous wrote:Why are people not saying the t5 lacs? I see them as non-competitive Ivy-like schools, so it would fit since they’re pretty mellow

Don’t ever change DCUM.

Wheaton. St.Anselm.

What do people mean by “less stressful?”

Less work?
Less challenging work?
Students with intrinsic motivation rather than competition with each other?
Fewer type A kids?
Workload balanced by let-loose parties, ie “work hard/party hard?”

These are all very different things

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hamilton seems chill

Uhh, no. Those kids work really hard plus it is quite a tough admit. T15 lac for sure

Yeah. Chill compared to what? MIT? I guess. This notion by people who don’t really know anything about SLACs that there are only four places where academics are taken seriously is so tired. If by chill you mean Hamilton is a place where kids don’t have to apply to participate in exclusive clubs, that’s probably fair. Not true at Colgate, FWIW.

The WASP LACs are a massive step above however. DS goes to Swarthmore and DD goes to Colby. The differences between the amount of time they spend on work is overwhelming.

I will acknowledge that Swat is different. It came off my DC’s list because of the student vibe we got when we visited. Culture is different than work, though, and I suspect even you would agree that there are many gradations of intensity between Swat and Colby.

WAP have the same intensity as S. The only academic difference is marketing and tutorials/consortium. That’s the point, and non-WASP schools can’t keep up with that amount of work.
-Amherst Parent

Yes, thank you Amherst parent for confirming that students at other SLACs can’t keep up with the work at the WASP schools. And to think I’ve heard elsewhere on this board the similarly ludicrous assertion that Amherst was all washed up because it’s become to “woke” (gag) in its admissions practices. I guess I should have known that the Big 4 boosters would ride hard in a thread like this. For OP, I guess you should just consider anything lower than Pomona in the US News rankings (but not Bowdoin) totally chill. I’m sure this includes schools like Carleton and Grinnell that all DCUM regulars are totally familiar with despite established preferences in this region for the NESCAC and other Mid-Atlantic and New England SLACs.
- signed parent of senior applying to some WASPs, several other T20 SLACs, and god forbid, some T50+ as well. Don’t even really have a dog in this fight yet but given this pretentious gunner energy, I won’t be crushed if DC doesn’t end up a Mammoth. Don’t think they will either.

What about Bowdoin? It's pretty laid back with lots of drinking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hamilton seems chill

Uhh, no. Those kids work really hard plus it is quite a tough admit. T15 lac for sure

Yeah. Chill compared to what? MIT? I guess. This notion by people who don’t really know anything about SLACs that there are only four places where academics are taken seriously is so tired. If by chill you mean Hamilton is a place where kids don’t have to apply to participate in exclusive clubs, that’s probably fair. Not true at Colgate, FWIW.

The WASP LACs are a massive step above however. DS goes to Swarthmore and DD goes to Colby. The differences between the amount of time they spend on work is overwhelming.

I will acknowledge that Swat is different. It came off my DC’s list because of the student vibe we got when we visited. Culture is different than work, though, and I suspect even you would agree that there are many gradations of intensity between Swat and Colby.

WAP have the same intensity as S. The only academic difference is marketing and tutorials/consortium. That’s the point, and non-WASP schools can’t keep up with that amount of work.
-Amherst Parent