Anonymous wrote:the only liberal arts college that any serious students want to go to are williams and amherst - they are the only T20 equivalents in the country for SLACs - then you start gapping down, same way kids who are rejected ED from T20s start adjusting expectations

Your entire statement is just nonsensically stupid....

From another thread, they pretty much nailed it:

"I don't get the obsession, especially by certain groups. For far too many kids (and families) it is really about bragging rights within their communities.

Undergraduate education is about baseline learning and having peer groups who push you to excel, it isn't about 8 schools in an athletic conference which has reached 'mythic' status in the eyes of some. These are great schools but they are all very different and none of them are absolute unicorns in any field.

Looking at student bodies they are among about 40 schools (universities and SLACs) with mostly indistinguishable student academic profiles, their students aren't all unicorns they are merely among a very very smart subset of students.

They don't do anything unique for these students either, schools mostly teach form the same books and it makes complete sense, they are teaching baseline knowledge.

Their real defining characteristics are that they are mostly located in the Northeast relatively close together and they mostly very old. The simple fact that Cornell gets the same level of attention as the others is "prima facie" evidence that there isn't something unique here; it is nothing like the others except for geography.

The fact that some people try to further define most of these schools with things like 'HYPSM' is further evidence that it is about nothing except a need for some to try and feel superior to others. The need for these things is driven by insecurity."

They wrote this about HYPM fetishizing but it is just as applicable to your Williams/Amherst drivel as well. HYPSM is nothing special and WASP is nothing special. They are two groups of schools who are part of a much larger group which educate kids in the top 1-3% from an academic POV. They do not have a monopoly on students of that caliber but they are unique in their student bodies being mostly composed of students of that caliber.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did Midd have such a large class entering fall 2021? That was the year I thought a lot of students deferred due to Covid.

The class entering in 2020 is the class which took the Covid induced gap year and caused the class entering in 2021 to be so large. Many schools had this issue because nobody could predict yield with for the class incoming in 2021 and they accepted too many applicants which then led to record low acceptance rates at many schools for kids applying in the 2021-2022 cycle.

Aaah yes you're right, I was off by a year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did Midd have such a large class entering fall 2021? That was the year I thought a lot of students deferred due to Covid.

Who cares?

It's 2025.

I care, my kid is looking at it.

Anonymous wrote:honestly I know very little about claremont mckenna and have never really come across grads during my 30 year career as a hiring manager in tech and finance. Maybe those kids are killing it in the arts with help from alumni - if so I apologize and stand corrected

No, you're completely off base. They're killing It in finance-KKR is a firm created and forged by CMC alum, including the founder of TechCrunch, CIO of Cascade, S&P President, a Pritzker member, CEO of Accenture, CEO of Goldman, Founder of Perella Weinberg, and...founder of Jane Street. If you are at all in the financial industry, you have interacted with the work of a CMC alum. The school is the number 1 lac for economics and finance.

honestly I know very little about claremont mckenna and have never really come across grads during my 30 year career as a hiring manager in tech and finance. Maybe those kids are killing it in the arts with help from alumni - if so I apologize and stand corrected

Anonymous wrote:and penn state has an even bigger alumni group than all of them! but the correlation between size of alumni group and the quality of the help is meaningless. The only other SLAC - other than Williams and Amherst - with an alumni group that actually gets kids jobs, is the much maligned (on this site) W&L. Swarthmore kids don’t typically enjoy their 4 years, and happy to cut ties from what I’ve seen. Swarthmore is a tough 4 years and academics arguably the best and most intense of all save UChicago, but that doesn’t necessarily lead to a fun 4 years

Somehow you missed Claremont McKenna which has higher average income for economics than Williams/Amherst and recruits better than every other LAC... If your whole thing is careerism, CMC is the superior LAC.

But in terms of top LACs, WASP is the standard.

and penn state has an even bigger alumni group than all of them! but the correlation between size of alumni group and the quality of the help is meaningless. The only other SLAC - other than Williams and Amherst - with an alumni group that actually gets kids jobs, is the much maligned (on this site) W&L. Swarthmore kids don’t typically enjoy their 4 years, and happy to cut ties from what I’ve seen. Swarthmore is a tough 4 years and academics arguably the best and most intense of all save UChicago, but that doesn’t necessarily lead to a fun 4 years

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the only liberal arts college that any serious students want to go to are williams and amherst - they are the only T20 equivalents in the country for SLACs - then you start gapping down, same way kids who are rejected ED from T20s start adjusting expectations

What's the biggest difference between Pomona and Williams or Swarthmore and Amherst to you?

quality of experience and alumni engagement - don’t underestimate the latter - the outcomes from these two small schools are absolutely ridiculous, and in large part due to rabid alumni engagement. At an entirely different level than Pomona and Swarthmore - where the best term to describe the alumni network is “indifferent”

What? Pomona and Swarthmore both have better graduate school outcomes and have very big alumni groups. Have you actually been to these LACs?

Anonymous wrote:the only liberal arts college that any serious students want to go to are williams and amherst - they are the only T20 equivalents in the country for SLACs - then you start gapping down, same way kids who are rejected ED from T20s start adjusting expectations

This is just rage bait. Carry on. Nothing to see here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the only liberal arts college that any serious students want to go to are williams and amherst - they are the only T20 equivalents in the country for SLACs - then you start gapping down, same way kids who are rejected ED from T20s start adjusting expectations

What's the biggest difference between Pomona and Williams or Swarthmore and Amherst to you?

quality of experience and alumni engagement - don’t underestimate the latter - the outcomes from these two small schools are absolutely ridiculous, and in large part due to rabid alumni engagement. At an entirely different level than Pomona and Swarthmore - where the best term to describe the alumni network is “indifferent”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A majority of LACs will not experience the endowment tax and have not experienced many research cuts from the government. They seem like they could gain a bit of popularity if they invest in student experience. What LACs do you see rising/have continued to rise? For example, some people think Pomona is Williams and Amherst level, which is REALLY surprising, since it was a party school for dolts when I was applying to college!

I think Grinnell will continue to rise. The college has gradually been investing in improving living conditions for students by revamping the dorms and equipping them with A/C. Grinnell is becoming an increasingly comfortable oasis on the prairie.

I have family ties to this school and loved it for my kid. And they give merit! DD went out there for a couple days, interviewed, and loved the school but it was just too isolated for her. Grinnell, IA (the town) is unfortunately a bit of a tough hang. At least for some. If it was in the Des Moines burbs, they’d be going gangbusters.

Anonymous wrote:the only liberal arts college that any serious students want to go to are williams and amherst - they are the only T20 equivalents in the country for SLACs - then you start gapping down, same way kids who are rejected ED from T20s start adjusting expectations

What's the biggest difference between Pomona and Williams or Swarthmore and Amherst to you?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the only liberal arts college that any serious students want to go to are williams and amherst - they are the only T20 equivalents in the country for SLACs - then you start gapping down, same way kids who are rejected ED from T20s start adjusting expectations

Absurd. (Amherst parent)

yeah doubt it

just so many disgruntled sour grapes people hating on slacs - I think a large part is the preponderance of athletes at williams and Amherst and the benefit that yields - boo hoo-

Anonymous wrote:the only liberal arts college that any serious students want to go to are williams and amherst - they are the only T20 equivalents in the country for SLACs - then you start gapping down, same way kids who are rejected ED from T20s start adjusting expectations

Absurd. (Amherst parent)