Anonymous wrote:My nieces both went to Colby. One ended up spending three semesters abroad. The other transferred to Cornell. The Cornell kid said it was too much like her snobby/preppy NE private school. Very cookie cutter people. The other kid said it was hard to get kids interested in doing anything adventurous, other than skiing.

You might want to check the accuracy of your info. Might one of the semesters abroad have been a Jan plan experience (the month of January while most other colleges are on vacation)? If one of your nieces ended up at Cornell I can understand that she wouldn't like Colby. My daughter, a Colby student, was turned off by Cornell - too big and too STEM oriented.

My daughter loves Colby; she doesn't ski. She loves her professors/classes, has a campus job, volunteers in the community (as do most Colby students) and insisted on doing a semester abroad at a school none of her friends would be attending. I do agree that Colby is preppier than, say, Wesleyan or Vassar but not preppier than the other Nescac schools. The 2013 Academy Award for a documentary film went to a Colby graduate. Colby also has a commitment to first generation college students that is admirable.

That said, I think Bates is a great school too.

Bates has a sterling reputation with private equity firms.

sorry for the spelling errors I am typing in the dark

Any NESCAC school graduate will get a better look from companies in NY, Chicago and Boston and graduate schools than any Ivy League school. The reason is simple, they are a big club and you run into these people all over. Graduate schools know damn well that the level of ungrad teaching is better than the Ivies. The Ivies have there reputation based on the graduate schools not the undergraduate schools.

Anonymous wrote:My nieces both went to Colby. One ended up spending three semesters abroad. The other transferred to Cornell. The Cornell kid said it was too much like her snobby/preppy NE private school. Very cookie cutter people. The other kid said it was hard to get kids interested in doing anything adventurous, other than skiing.

So, if someone likes the NE landscape, good academics, especially math and science, positive community spirit without a heavy frat scene, and the outdoors beyond the ski slopes, any recs for places that do not feel like an extension of insular private schools?

My nieces both went to Colby. One ended up spending three semesters abroad. The other transferred to Cornell. The Cornell kid said it was too much like her snobby/preppy NE private school. Very cookie cutter people. The other kid said it was hard to get kids interested in doing anything adventurous, other than skiing.

DC grappling with this now. Flip a coin?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do they compare to Bowdoin? My DC liked all 3.

I think Bowdoin might be more intellectual?

Not according to what shows up on unigo.

Anonymous wrote:How do they compare to Bowdoin? My DC liked all 3.

I think Bowdoin might be more intellectual?

How do they compare to Bowdoin? My DC liked all 3.

Anonymous wrote:Totally interchangeable

What about personalities of the schools?

Winters can be brutal.

Babson is a business school not a liberal arts school. Totally different mission and focus.

How about Babson instead?

Totally interchangeable