I have often posted in support of Denison as my DS attended, had a great experience, and our family was grateful for the merit scholarship they provided that made a LAC experience financially possible.

The folks that I have met and worked with that have attended Wesleyan have always been quite bright and intellectual. An early mentor of mine was a Wesleyan physics major - definitely a bright guy.

We toured Wesleyan with my DS - who in full disclosure was eventually rejected - and he wanted to leave after a current student q&a session with prospective students on one of their tours.

When I asked him why he said because they were all slytherins. I didn’t get the reference - only that it wasn’t a compliment. He found them snarky and though they wore their intellect on their sleeves.

A little bit of a long story but I agreed with his assessment.

And while I have posted in the past in support of Denison - I learned two things going through the college process with three kids - read the course catalog and syllabus to understand that actual courses you will have the opportunity to take and two your kids will know. You may not agree but they’ll know.

We toured Oberlin - has a great program that was of interest to my DS. Should have been a great fit. He wasn’t interested. We got to Denison and it clicked - did an over night - liked the kids and he was happy.

Would I pay more for Bates - no but that’s me. I suspect Grinnell is a very personal choice that only your child can make. I suspect it’s very good value. I could not get any of my kids to consider it. Don’t know a lot about CWRU.

I think the student body is key. The Wesleyan student body is different from Denison. I’d say quite different. I do see the value of a Wesleyan degree. To me it always signaled intellectual horsepower. I would ensure your child spent time with both student bodies before deciding. Is it worth 140k - only you know your finances. I would pay more for a Wesleyan education than a Denison education. Part of my calculus would be degree program and grad school plans.

Hope this was helpful.

Good luck to you and your child.

Anonymous wrote:So what do we think about Trinity or Conn with $25k or $30k merit versus other NESCACs full pay?

You’d have to pay me more than $30k to live in an awful part of awful Hartford. 😬

Anonymous wrote:I would choose Bowdoin over Kenyan, in part for the student population. Bowdoin is very prestigious

It's Kenyon.

Anyone who uses prestige as a criterion is not thinking clearly.

Anonymous wrote:So what do we think about Trinity or Conn with $25k or $30k merit versus other NESCACs full pay?

Does Trinity still give merit money?

Anonymous wrote:These are her acceptances. She got into two NESCACs but she would be full pay. Merit aid at the other schools.

Is there anything special about NESCACS (not Amherst, Williams or Bowdoin) that would make us say these schools are definitely worth full pay over the good midwestern SLACs/mid-size university with merit aid?

The NESCACs would be $30k more or $20k more than her other top choices.

Might be alone in this opinion but I’d take Bowdoin out of the equation. Only Amherst or Williams over the other schools with merit (and I’m even in the fence about this). I say this as a parent with a kid at a non-merit NESCAC. They have loved it and had a great experience all around but looking back at cost has been an eye-opening exercise.

Anonymous wrote:I would choose Bowdoin over Kenyan, in part for the student population. Bowdoin is very prestigious

Is it? Seems to be the same as all the others.

So what do we think about Trinity or Conn with $25k or $30k merit versus other NESCACs full pay?

Anonymous wrote:Similar conversation in our house - Kenyon with $35k vs. Bowdoin. We can afford it, but $140,000 is a lot of money. Would a real town, in Maine, at excellent school (one of the top SLACs) be worth it? I think so . . . But on the fence.

With family members who attended Bowdoin with last ten years, I’d say no. They loved the school but they didn’t have exceptional outcomes and now that they are a bit separated from the school I know they’d say save the $120k. Too many similarities in a liberal arts education to make up for that cost difference (unless you really have money to throw around). Both with offer great educations - one costs a lot less for you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Size and location are what it comes down to. Those factors, and others, affect who the school attracts. Your daughter is going to get a great education at any of these schools, so the next consideration is who she’ll meet and what she’ll do over her 4 years. So she’s gotta get a sense of which “vibe” feels most comfortable.

Yup, parent of kid who chose Wes over Mac, and this is it. Wes is bigger, and the Connecticut location was appealing for many reasons. St. Paul seems like an awesome city, but the need to fly was a drawback, and the possibility of long periods of pretty extreme cold was a concern.

Almost certainly no difference in professional outcomes between the two schools, but kid thought they’d be happier at Wes, so that sealed the deal.

My DC did the opposite - Mac over Wes. Mac offered merit and they loved St Paul (also love the cold) and didn’t love Middletown. But it wasn’t an easy decision and could have gone either way. Visited both twice trying to make the decision. In the end location and merit tipped them to Mac. Like you said, we didn’t see a huge difference in professional outcomes but I can completely understand how you DC chose Wes over Mac and their reasoning for doing so.

I would choose Bowdoin over Kenyan, in part for the student population. Bowdoin is very prestigious

Anonymous wrote:This is nutty. Grinnell is a better school and it’s cheaper. Grinnell is loaded and Wesleyan is not. Grinnell offers more to its students…

Grinnell is also in Iowa, which is why it needs to spend money on merit aid; Wesleyan’s need-based aid is by all accounts very generous. Wesleyan is also almost twice the size of Grinnell.

If finances are a factor for OP, then Grinnell is the obvious choice. If not, then the kid should be thinking about whether they want to be at a 1,750-student school in rural Iowa or a 3,000-student school in a decent-sized town off the 95 corridor. Size and location will make a significant difference in experience.

This is nutty. Grinnell is a better school and it’s cheaper. Grinnell is loaded and Wesleyan is not. Grinnell offers more to its students…

Agree that I didn’t think anyone was saying Kenyon is a waste of money. I have friends whose kid went and loved it and they don’t lament that they paid the full price. But if it were Kenyon FP vs. Wesleyan FP, or Bates FP, or Bowdoin FP, etc. I’d think most people would pick the NESCAC school for the same price, unless there was something specific about Kenyon (a sport? Living nearby?) that made it a better choice for same cost.

But the whole point of OP’s thread/dilemma, I thought, was whether a Midwest SLAC with merit beats out a NESCAC without. generally I’d say it does, unless the money is not significant to your family.

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious about the PPs who think Kenyon is a waste of money. What’s the story there? I don’t know tons about it other than remembering it as a great school when i was college hunting. My 10th grader is very interested in visiting Kenyon and I’m curious about why some people in this thread are so negative about it. Is it just the higher-than-bowdoin acceptance rate or is there some other concern?

If you are referring to my lament that my DS did not get merit aid, I didn't mean to imply the school is not worth the money. Just that it would have been nice to save $35k a year. I think in general people in the thread are saying Kenyon with merit aid is very appealing relative to full pay at basically any other SLAC. Obviously if you are rich, it doesn't matter, but if not it's hard to justify paying a lot more for a very similar product.

Anonymous wrote:Similar conversation in our house - Kenyon with $35k vs. Bowdoin. We can afford it, but $140,000 is a lot of money. Would a real town, in Maine, at excellent school (one of the top SLACs) be worth it? I think so . . . But on the fence.

Kenyon is a good school in a very insolated area. Bowdoin is a very good school in a cute town, one block from Amtrak, $3 to Portland, $20 to Boston. If at all possible go to Bowdoin Bearings before making your decision. Nicest people, best food, incredible academics, school spirit (Bowdoin/Colby Hockey Game) and hiking, skiing and sailing.

And for orginal poster, I would choose Grinnell. But do not commit without visiting, small town Iowa has to be experienced, getting to the school is hard and most juniors study abroad. Education is exceptional and best choice if grad school is a possibility. If the not up for rural then Case Western, Cleveland is a much better place to spend 4 years then Lewistown.