Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest just started at Beloit this year. He really likes it. Small classes, engaged professors, more relaxed vibe. And I really can't complain that it costs the same as our average state school.

I thought Beloit looked really great, kind of a less obnoxious Reed or Bard, but I could not sell my kid on Wisconsin.

My sibling and I both went there; we're west coasters. It was a great experience for both of us. One thing that was important to both of us was study abroad opportunities -- we both spent one full year abroad with no issues.

For better or for worse, it doesn't have the most Wisconsin-y vibes... the closest meaningful airport is O'Hare and a pretty big chunk of people go there from Chicago and Chicagoland.

You can study abroad with “no issues” while attending virtually any college or university in this country. Beloit is by no means special when it comes to that.

Depends on when the poster graduated. I attended a school a bit ago where many, many kids went on study abroad, including athletes and STEM majors. The whole curriculum was set up to facilitate this. Some overseas centers were offered that were one of kind for any US college/university.

Lots of schools do this now but much less so then and at that scale.

I will concede that you have made a good point, but all that means is that the Beloit booster’s data is so old that it’s meaningless. And I guess I should add that I have no doubt that I studied abroad long before the Beloit poster, as did my Big Ten spouse, and neither one of us had any trouble.

The bottom line is study abroad is not a uniquely CTCL thing by any means.

You’re talking yourself into circles, and also, as the Beloit ‘booster’ you cite, what the heck is your problem? A poster said something positive about the school. I concurred and shared a line about my experience. Now I’m a ‘booster,’ who needs to defend my comment about study abroad?

Whatever. There’s data on this topic. Somewhere between 3 and 6% of students study abroad; at Beloit it’s in the 30% range. Other colleges have more, others less, it’s possible many places but not all, IN MY EXPERIENCE it was a straightforward and easy process and I valued that. Do with that what you will.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest just started at Beloit this year. He really likes it. Small classes, engaged professors, more relaxed vibe. And I really can't complain that it costs the same as our average state school.

I thought Beloit looked really great, kind of a less obnoxious Reed or Bard, but I could not sell my kid on Wisconsin.

My sibling and I both went there; we're west coasters. It was a great experience for both of us. One thing that was important to both of us was study abroad opportunities -- we both spent one full year abroad with no issues.

For better or for worse, it doesn't have the most Wisconsin-y vibes... the closest meaningful airport is O'Hare and a pretty big chunk of people go there from Chicago and Chicagoland.

You can study abroad with “no issues” while attending virtually any college or university in this country. Beloit is by no means special when it comes to that.

Depends on when the poster graduated. I attended a school a bit ago where many, many kids went on study abroad, including athletes and STEM majors. The whole curriculum was set up to facilitate this. Some overseas centers were offered that were one of kind for any US college/university.

Lots of schools do this now but much less so then and at that scale.

I will concede that you have made a good point, but all that means is that the Beloit booster’s data is so old that it’s meaningless. And I guess I should add that I have no doubt that I studied abroad long before the Beloit poster, as did my Big Ten spouse, and neither one of us had any trouble.

The bottom line is study abroad is not a uniquely CTCL thing by any means.

How are you so certain of that?

And no one in this thread, no one, has has said study abroad is uniquely CTCL.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest just started at Beloit this year. He really likes it. Small classes, engaged professors, more relaxed vibe. And I really can't complain that it costs the same as our average state school.

I thought Beloit looked really great, kind of a less obnoxious Reed or Bard, but I could not sell my kid on Wisconsin.

My sibling and I both went there; we're west coasters. It was a great experience for both of us. One thing that was important to both of us was study abroad opportunities -- we both spent one full year abroad with no issues.

For better or for worse, it doesn't have the most Wisconsin-y vibes... the closest meaningful airport is O'Hare and a pretty big chunk of people go there from Chicago and Chicagoland.

You can study abroad with “no issues” while attending virtually any college or university in this country. Beloit is by no means special when it comes to that.

Depends on when the poster graduated. I attended a school a bit ago where many, many kids went on study abroad, including athletes and STEM majors. The whole curriculum was set up to facilitate this. Some overseas centers were offered that were one of kind for any US college/university.

Lots of schools do this now but much less so then and at that scale.

I will concede that you have made a good point, but all that means is that the Beloit booster’s data is so old that it’s meaningless. And I guess I should add that I have no doubt that I studied abroad long before the Beloit poster, as did my Big Ten spouse, and neither one of us had any trouble.

The bottom line is study abroad is not a uniquely CTCL thing by any means.

Anonymous wrote:There is a poster on DCUM who absolutely loves to rag on the CTCL whenever it’s mentioned. He or she then goes on to reply to nearly everyone else, totally derailing the threads. The CTCL is a marketing tool, the schools are all on the brink of financial collapse, they’re nothing special, and they also accuse posters with anything positive to say about the school of being boosters or admissions officers. It’s tiring and entirely predictable, and lo, they have made it to this thread. As always

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew attends College of Wooster and loves it. They have a cool thesis programs for
seniors.

This is one of ours. I honestly wasn't sure dc would get accepted, they're more selective than some others and I know they're popular. I have a friend who went there about fifteen years ago and loved it and has done quite well in a very tough and very popular field. Wooster's even moved to the top of my list, but they're farther away than I'd like and there are some closer options that also do capstone projects and offer many things that seem similar.

Wooster does seem like it's in good financial shape, and the merit was good.

My dd attended Wooster for 3 semesters and then transferred. Granted, she was there during the height of Covid so she did not have a traditional experience. But the reality for her was very different based upon what she expected from several visits.

Dorms: Research this. You can’t choose (understandable) as a freshman but some dorms are fairly new with A/C and some are literally falling apart. The dorm sophomore year was so bad that dh was worried about leaving her there. Read articles about the bats, etc. in the dorms.

Finances: Check our recent issues of the school newspaper (dd occasionally still reads it and mentioned it). They are making some changes to reduce expenses. I’m not saying they are close to closing but some of the changes may affect the school going forward.

The school has a new president since dd was there. The former president is now at Whitman…

I thought they had one of the healthier endowments. I could be wrong.

I know a lot of these kinds of schools are eliminating or consolidating some majors. That's one of my concerns. Don't want to sign up for one kind of experience and have it change. It looks like Allegheny did that recently, and I'm not sure what to think. In general, that's one that confuses me: there are some things I really really like (and I think Meadville sounds okay, I know it has its detractors), and some things I'm uncertain about (social stuff).

It's also a little bit of a relief to hear something negative about Wooster. When dcurbanmom gets too glowingly positive it makes me nervous. Not because I think the posts are fake, but because I' don't always share the same opinions about what is valued.

There are probably a lot of LAC admissions reps posting. They tend to be the most militant and most unaccepting of differing experiences, thoughts, and opinions.

College of Wooster gets a lot of positive reviews largely because it awards a lot of merit scholarships. This is a true positive.

Uh, maybe because Wooster is almost $75K a year so it HAS to discount the COA for some applicants? https://wooster.edu/admissions/afford/tuition-and-aid/

It's their (and other similar colleges) strategy--they give significant merit aid to highly qualified students to make it as affordable/more affordable than in-state public schools, they give some merit aid to good students to make it more affordable than other similarly priced SLACs and they enroll some full-pay--or v close to full-pay-- students with spottier applications than higher ranked SLACs. Financial aid is usually generous for qualified students who come from limited means. It's not a bad model, really as you get a fairly diverse student body in terms of SES and academic strength. The rich full-pay students usually don't drop out because they have the resources to keep going even if they aren't the strongest students and their career outcomes are likely to be fine because of family connections/support.
They are basically paying full fare to have stronger students around them. Everyone else is strong enough to do fine and has a better ROI because they are not paying the very high cost. "Donut hole" families often find these schools are the most affordable ones due to merit aid if their in-state options are not attractive. You don't get the 'bimodal' distribution of poor and rich kids that you get at the more higher ranked private schools.

Anonymous wrote:Evergreen State College is the poster child for what’s wrong with the CTCL list. It accepts virtually everyone who applies, a full one-third of its students are gone after freshman year, and only 1/3 of an entering class graduates in four years. Why on earth would that school be selected out of hundreds if not thousands of no name state colleges as being a college that “changes lives?” It’s just nuts, and it calls into question the entire list.

Every one of these schools needs to be judged on its own merits, and the list as a whole or as an aggregate needs to be thrown out the window.

Anonymous wrote:
Have a child that attended Eckerd, and whose second choice was Juniata. DC picked Eckerd because the student body was more geographically diverse and they liked the FL weather. Both Juniata and Eckerd gave comparable merit aid. Although DC picked Eckerd,we were both impressed by the significant personal attention that Juniata gave its applicants. In retrospect, I wish perhaps DC had picked Juniata. Eckerd had more entitled B student rich kids and there was a significant drug culture. I also think that when looking at small LAC it is important to figure out the social organizing piece. Schools need something---either a traditional greek system or "houses" like they have at Rice, or co-ops like at Oberlin--otherwise freshmen are cast adrift and have even more difficulty finding their people.


I'd like to understand your last point a little better. Are you saying that Eckerd lacked some sort of social organizing structure, and that as a result your kid struggled to find their people? There's a lot my kid really likes about Eckerd, but finding her people is a top concern.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest just started at Beloit this year. He really likes it. Small classes, engaged professors, more relaxed vibe. And I really can't complain that it costs the same as our average state school.

I thought Beloit looked really great, kind of a less obnoxious Reed or Bard, but I could not sell my kid on Wisconsin.

My sibling and I both went there; we're west coasters. It was a great experience for both of us. One thing that was important to both of us was study abroad opportunities -- we both spent one full year abroad with no issues.

For better or for worse, it doesn't have the most Wisconsin-y vibes... the closest meaningful airport is O'Hare and a pretty big chunk of people go there from Chicago and Chicagoland.

You can study abroad with “no issues” while attending virtually any college or university in this country. Beloit is by no means special when it comes to that.

Depends on when the poster graduated. I attended a school a bit ago where many, many kids went on study abroad, including athletes and STEM majors. The whole curriculum was set up to facilitate this. Some overseas centers were offered that were one of kind for any US college/university.

Lots of schools do this now but much less so then and at that scale.

I will concede that you have made a good point, but all that means is that the Beloit booster’s data is so old that it’s meaningless. And I guess I should add that I have no doubt that I studied abroad long before the Beloit poster, as did my Big Ten spouse, and neither one of us had any trouble.

The bottom line is study abroad is not a uniquely CTCL thing by any means.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest just started at Beloit this year. He really likes it. Small classes, engaged professors, more relaxed vibe. And I really can't complain that it costs the same as our average state school.

I thought Beloit looked really great, kind of a less obnoxious Reed or Bard, but I could not sell my kid on Wisconsin.

My sibling and I both went there; we're west coasters. It was a great experience for both of us. One thing that was important to both of us was study abroad opportunities -- we both spent one full year abroad with no issues.

For better or for worse, it doesn't have the most Wisconsin-y vibes... the closest meaningful airport is O'Hare and a pretty big chunk of people go there from Chicago and Chicagoland.

You can study abroad with “no issues” while attending virtually any college or university in this country. Beloit is by no means special when it comes to that.

Depends on when the poster graduated. I attended a school a bit ago where many, many kids went on study abroad, including athletes and STEM majors. The whole curriculum was set up to facilitate this. Some overseas centers were offered that were one of kind for any US college/university.

Lots of schools do this now but much less so then and at that scale.

Anonymous wrote:Have a child that attended Eckerd, and whose second choice was Juniata. DC picked Eckerd because the student body was more geographically diverse and they liked the FL weather. Both Juniata and Eckerd gave comparable merit aid. Although DC picked Eckerd,we were both impressed by the significant personal attention that Juniata gave its applicants. In retrospect, I wish perhaps DC had picked Juniata. Eckerd had more entitled B student rich kids and there was a significant drug culture. I also think that when looking at small LAC it is important to figure out the social organizing piece. Schools need something---either a traditional greek system or "houses" like they have at Rice, or co-ops like at Oberlin--otherwise freshmen are cast adrift and have even more difficulty finding their people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest just started at Beloit this year. He really likes it. Small classes, engaged professors, more relaxed vibe. And I really can't complain that it costs the same as our average state school.

I thought Beloit looked really great, kind of a less obnoxious Reed or Bard, but I could not sell my kid on Wisconsin.

My sibling and I both went there; we're west coasters. It was a great experience for both of us. One thing that was important to both of us was study abroad opportunities -- we both spent one full year abroad with no issues.

For better or for worse, it doesn't have the most Wisconsin-y vibes... the closest meaningful airport is O'Hare and a pretty big chunk of people go there from Chicago and Chicagoland.

You can study abroad with “no issues” while attending virtually any college or university in this country. Beloit is by no means special when it comes to that.

Depends on when the poster graduated. I attended a school a bit ago where many, many kids went on study abroad, including athletes and STEM majors. The whole curriculum was set up to facilitate this. Some overseas centers were offered that were one of kind for any US college/university.

Lots of schools do this now but much less so then and at that scale.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest just started at Beloit this year. He really likes it. Small classes, engaged professors, more relaxed vibe. And I really can't complain that it costs the same as our average state school.

I thought Beloit looked really great, kind of a less obnoxious Reed or Bard, but I could not sell my kid on Wisconsin.

My sibling and I both went there; we're west coasters. It was a great experience for both of us. One thing that was important to both of us was study abroad opportunities -- we both spent one full year abroad with no issues.

For better or for worse, it doesn't have the most Wisconsin-y vibes... the closest meaningful airport is O'Hare and a pretty big chunk of people go there from Chicago and Chicagoland.

You can study abroad with “no issues” while attending virtually any college or university in this country. Beloit is by no means special when it comes to that.

Anonymous wrote:Evergreen State College is the poster child for what’s wrong with the CTCL list. It accepts virtually everyone who applies, a full one-third of its students are gone after freshman year, and only 1/3 of an entering class graduates in four years. Why on earth would that school be selected out of hundreds if not thousands of no name state colleges as being a college that “changes lives?” It’s just nuts, and it calls into question the entire list.

Every one of these schools needs to be judged on its own merits, and the list as a whole or as an aggregate needs to be thrown out the window.