Anonymous wrote:

. The USNWR rankings are fine, but I’m speaking from the perspective of grad school admissions,

Ok that’s your personal perspective, and is a good contribution to this thread. But given that USNWR is regarded both generally and on this site as one of the most widely cited college ranking benchmarks, it honestly seems a little strange for you to be calling PP ‘dead wrong’ or ‘weird’ for their citing the USNWR rankings (and not as authoritative assessments but explicitly stating they’re from USNWR, nothing more). If you want to talk about ‘reputation’ which almost by definition is a kind of collective assessment, you might not personally agree with USNWR but you can’t ignore it, or call someone ‘dead wrong’ for considering its findings to be germane to the discussion.

. The USNWR rankings are fine, but I’m speaking from the perspective of grad school admissions,

Anonymous wrote:

I mostly agree with this except you are dead wrong about Lewis & Clark. No way is HWS ahead of L&C, which had a very solid academic reputation (better than HWS). It is a little weird that you group L&C with Wheaton, actually.

Lewis and Clark is indeed a good college with a very solid reputation. USNWR ranks it as #94 ‘national liberal arts college’ in the country, and ranks Wheaton (MA) as #89, and ranks Hobart & William Smith as #72 (tied with Oregon’s Reed, fwiw).

I mostly agree with this except you are dead wrong about Lewis & Clark. No way is HWS ahead of L&C, which had a very solid academic reputation (better than HWS). It is a little weird that you group L&C with Wheaton, actually.

Anonymous wrote:It’s strange how there are some pig-headed DCUM commenters with obviously little or no person knowledge of a given college who will nonetheless insist that their ignorance (far from being something they should remedy) is compelling evidence that the school is undistinguished or inevitably destined for closure.

Hobart/WS is a well-regarded long-established SLAC that attracts a lot of kids from comfortably off northeastern families. It’s never been a peer of Williams or Amherst or Swarthmore - very few SLACs are - but not long ago it was seen as equal to or better than SLACs like Skidmore or Denison (which isn’t to denigrate them but to point out the Hobart isn’t - uniformed comments on this site notwithstanding - a no-name school). Per USNWR, today HWS is a peer of fairly well known SLACs like Reed and St Lawrence and ahead of SLACs like Wheaton (MA) and Lewis and Clark and most of the Virginia SLACs.

HWS hasn’t done as effective a job of marketing itself to students in recent years as some other SLACs, but given the college’s strengths that shouldn’t be irreversible. It’s hard to define buzz (especially for a smaller school where minor shifts can move the needle significantly). Geneva NY might not be Paris (or Aspen) but nor is Waterville ME or Granville OH, and those backwater locations haven’t prevented Colby or Denison from increasing in popularity. There will always be some students who are interested in a well-regarded SLAC in a pretty rural setting where students are mostly interested in preparing for a successful future. Not every kid wants to remake society, and not every applicant prioritizes access to shopping …

As for the prospect of bankruptcy, be serious. USNWR ranks HWS as one of the top 75 SLACs in the country, and WSJ ranks it as the #160 college or university of the nearly 4000 in the country. A number of private (and public) colleges will face serious financial challenges in the future, but that culling process is probably going to affect colleges in the ‘bottom 95%’ of American colleges a lot more than those ranked in the top 5%. Looking specifically at Hobart, HWS is better positioned than most SLACs to withstand those financial pressures because: HWS has a good sized endowment that is ranked as the 167th per-student in the country (again, of 4000 colleges and universities); HWS will potentially be strengthened by the exit of weaker SLACs from the scene; and HWS has alumni who are more prosperous than those from many peer schools and are more likely than those at many other schools to help it through any rough patch.

A pretty small, pretty rural SLAC isn’t for everyone, and if an applicant’s idea of college bliss is writing poetry and making ceramics, HWS probably isn’t the natural choice. But if an applicant’s stats align with Hobart’s, it could be a great place to spend four years and get a strong, well-regarded education.

. Granville makes Denison an easy sell and Columbus is the 14th largest metro area in the country.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Williams is great all around. Smith is a top women's college but on the decline. Never heard of Hobart.

It’s a nice, respectable liberal arts college in a cute suburb of Rochester, New York. It’s a lot close to Toronto than to New York City. It gives out a lot of merit aid.
No one who has no idea what Williams will have heard about it will have heard of it, and no one goes around hating various colleges will respect it, but most people who’ve gone through college guides will say, “Oh; that’s one of those great little colleges that was too far away for us to visit.” But I think that whole Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse-Albany area is now a good place to look for nice, undervalued colleges.

Hobart and William Smith good for a rich student who wants a small, beautiful school and likes that area or can’t get into Williams-type schools, or for middle-income students who want a small, classy liberal arts school, get good merit aid, and have someone who understands college financial statements verify that the school will stay solvent.

My suspicion is that a lot of those schools are where they are partly because of efforts to protect the students from infectious illness. In the long run, those schools might have an easier time than big urban schools at keeping COVID under control and offering in-person classes.

Anonymous wrote:It’s strange how there are some pig-headed DCUM commenters with obviously little or no person knowledge of a given college who will nonetheless insist that their ignorance (far from being something they should remedy) is compelling evidence that the school is undistinguished or inevitably destined for closure.

Hobart/WS is a well-regarded long-established SLAC that attracts a lot of kids from comfortably off northeastern families. It’s never been a peer of Williams or Amherst or Swarthmore - very few SLACs are - but not long ago it was seen as equal to or better than SLACs like Skidmore or Denison (which isn’t to denigrate them but to point out the Hobart isn’t - uniformed comments on this site notwithstanding - a no-name school). Per USNWR, today HWS is a peer of fairly well known SLACs like Reed and St Lawrence and ahead of SLACs like Wheaton (MA) and Lewis and Clark and most of the Virginia SLACs.

HWS hasn’t done as effective a job of marketing itself to students in recent years as some other SLACs, but given the college’s strengths that shouldn’t be irreversible. It’s hard to define buzz (especially for a smaller school where minor shifts can move the needle significantly). Geneva NY might not be Paris (or Aspen) but nor is Waterville ME or Granville OH, and those backwater locations haven’t prevented Colby or Denison from increasing in popularity. There will always be some students who are interested in a well-regarded SLAC in a pretty rural setting where students are mostly interested in preparing for a successful future. Not every kid wants to remake society, and not every applicant prioritizes access to shopping …

As for the prospect of bankruptcy, be serious. USNWR ranks HWS as one of the top 75 SLACs in the country, and WSJ ranks it as the #160 college or university of the nearly 4000 in the country. A number of private (and public) colleges will face serious financial challenges in the future, but that culling process is probably going to affect colleges in the ‘bottom 95%’ of American colleges a lot more than those ranked in the top 5%. Looking specifically at Hobart, HWS is better positioned than most SLACs to withstand those financial pressures because: HWS has a good sized endowment that is ranked as the 167th per-student in the country (again, of 4000 colleges and universities); HWS will potentially be strengthened by the exit of weaker SLACs from the scene; and HWS has alumni who are more prosperous than those from many peer schools and are more likely than those at many other schools to help it through any rough patch.

A pretty small, pretty rural SLAC isn’t for everyone, and if an applicant’s idea of college bliss is writing poetry and making ceramics, HWS probably isn’t the natural choice. But if an applicant’s stats align with Hobart’s, it could be a great place to spend four years and get a strong, well-regarded education.

Anonymous wrote:It’s strange how there are some pig-headed DCUM commenters with obviously little or no person knowledge of a given college who will nonetheless insist that their ignorance (far from being something they should remedy) is compelling evidence that the school is undistinguished or inevitably destined for closure.

Hobart/WS is a well-regarded long-established SLAC that attracts a lot of kids from comfortably off northeastern families. It’s never been a peer of Williams or Amherst or Swarthmore - very few SLACs are - but not long ago it was seen as equal to or better than SLACs like Skidmore or Denison (which isn’t to denigrate them but to point out the Hobart isn’t - uniformed comments on this site notwithstanding - a no-name school). Per USNWR, today HWS is a peer of fairly well known SLACs like Reed and St Lawrence and ahead of SLACs like Wheaton (MA) and Lewis and Clark and most of the Virginia SLACs.

HWS hasn’t done as effective a job of marketing itself to students in recent years as some other SLACs, but given the college’s strengths that shouldn’t be irreversible. It’s hard to define buzz (especially for a smaller school where minor shifts can move the needle significantly). Geneva NY might not be Paris (or Aspen) but nor is Waterville ME or Granville OH, and those backwater locations haven’t prevented Colby or Denison from increasing in popularity. There will always be some students who are interested in a well-regarded SLAC in a pretty rural setting where students are mostly interested in preparing for a successful future. Not every kid wants to remake society, and not every applicant prioritizes access to shopping …

As for the prospect of bankruptcy, be serious. USNWR ranks HWS as one of the top 75 SLACs in the country, and WSJ ranks it as the #160 college or university of the nearly 4000 in the country. A number of private (and public) colleges will face serious financial challenges in the future, but that culling process is probably going to affect colleges in the ‘bottom 95%’ of American colleges a lot more than those ranked in the top 5%. Looking specifically at Hobart, HWS is better positioned than most SLACs to withstand those financial pressures because: HWS has a good sized endowment that is ranked as the 167th per-student in the country (again, of 4000 colleges and universities); HWS will potentially be strengthened by the exit of weaker SLACs from the scene; and HWS has alumni who are more prosperous than those from many peer schools and are more likely than those at many other schools to help it through any rough patch.

A pretty small, pretty rural SLAC isn’t for everyone, and if an applicant’s idea of college bliss is writing poetry and making ceramics, HWS probably isn’t the natural choice. But if an applicant’s stats align with Hobart’s, it could be a great place to spend four years and get a strong, well-regarded education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen it’s a school for a certain set. If you’re not familiar, there’s no convincing you, and it’ll probably piss you off

Kids are from NE affluent suburbs mostly private or boarding
Dads are Wall Street types
They weren’t superstars on high school but they did fine, partied, well liked, probably played a sport
They summer on Block Island, Vineyard etc
They know what scotch their dad likes best and will but it got a visit
Preppy with a NE bent (Patagonia, Birks)
Liberal

What will piss yiu iff is they will put in some effort and have done great teachers, graduate, and end up living pretty much their parents’ life in Rye, or Wellesley, or similar.

Reason: affluent , connected background, strong soft skills, play the right sports, smart enough, etc. you can hate it but this is still the reality for a certain population

I only visited but this sounds like what I overheard and observed. One guy mentioned his stock broker dad. Miss Preppy was visiting as a new student. All seemed liberal and rich. Money wasn’t an issue.