Wow, so anyone who doesn't get in or doesn't choose an Ivy or top SLAC, by the random definition of US News, might was well not go to college.

Its really funny how fixated you are on this idea of ranking and worth. Maybe these are the only schools that anyone talks about at your country club, but there are plenty of others that are extremely rigorous. Reed College, for example, requires all freshman to take a challenging humanities class, to pass a qualifying exam in their major and then write a thesis. I would put that education side by side with Dartmouth or Brown any day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone familiar with Pomona? Our DD is at Amherst and she loves it. We're beginning the process with our youngest who wants to attend school on the west coast.

my niece went there 10years ago before going to Chicago to finish her Phd. She described it as small and expensive. She choosed it because she wanted to go as far away from home which was Boston at the time. In conversation last week about my DD college future, she mentioned to take a look at Amherst..lol..

And since Williams is mentioned, she also taught there for a couple years

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all need to get a grip. Not everyone can go or wants to go to Amherst or Williams. My DC is being recruited by both and has zero interest in either. The only one of those small liberal arts schools he liked is Middlebury, but even that is in the middle of his list. College selection is such a personal thing that it seems silly to limit your child to the top 10 rankings, or push a small liberal arts school when that's not what they want. Similarly I know a decent number of unhappy kids at Cornell because it was the Ivy they got in to. Don't be so guided by the rankings.

Really? So DC is currently a junior and being recruited by Williams and Amherst. For what?

+1 I'm curious too. What does Amherst and Williams recruit for? Maybe awesome future Comparative Lit majors BTW, most of the people who I know who attended Amherst and Williams had fathers and grandfathers who went. I always had the impression they gave more preferences to legacies than the Ivies.

This is all starting to sound like two dudes in a sports bar arguing about whether or not the 2012 Washington Redskins were better than the 2009 Dallas Cowboys. No possible answers, and just arguing for the sake of arguing. At least the dudes in the sports bar have alcohol while they're arguing, which puts them several steps ahead of this debate ....

Anonymous wrote:You all need to get a grip. Not everyone can go or wants to go to Amherst or Williams. My DC is being recruited by both and has zero interest in either. The only one of those small liberal arts schools he liked is Middlebury, but even that is in the middle of his list. College selection is such a personal thing that it seems silly to limit your child to the top 10 rankings, or push a small liberal arts school when that's not what they want. Similarly I know a decent number of unhappy kids at Cornell because it was the Ivy they got in to. Don't be so guided by the rankings.

Really? So DC is currently a junior and being recruited by Williams and Amherst. For what?

You all need to get a grip. Not everyone can go or wants to go to Amherst or Williams. My DC is being recruited by both and has zero interest in either. The only one of those small liberal arts schools he liked is Middlebury, but even that is in the middle of his list. College selection is such a personal thing that it seems silly to limit your child to the top 10 rankings, or push a small liberal arts school when that's not what they want. Similarly I know a decent number of unhappy kids at Cornell because it was the Ivy they got in to. Don't be so guided by the rankings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Macalester has a fantastic reputation. It used to be an excellent regional school but now has a much wider reach. Its particularly good for kids who are interested in international affairs.

It has no reputation. Small regional school that would be an enormous disappointment for most Big 3 parents.

I don't care for the US News Rankings, but for those who do, Macalester ranks above Oberlin, Kenyon, Connecticut College -- these are all schools students attend from Big 3 schools. Macalester has a unique international bent. We looked at it but DC thought it would be too cold.

to be honest nor do bates, colby, trinity, conn college, hamilton etc... all those NESCAC schools aside from amherst, williams, maybe bowdoin are just finishing schools for full-pay kids from the suburbs.

+1 Agree. Not sure why parents spend so much money for these schools (add Boston U, Tufts, etc.) to the list. The private colleges and universities worth the 50K + college costs are the Ivies and equivalent like Stanford and the "little ivies" like Williams, Amherst, etc. The rest are simply not worth the cost compared to public state universities and certainly not worth the 100K+ in student debt that some people take out to send their kids for undergrad.

Seriously, employers are not going to care that Macalester is ranked above Oberlin and Kenyon nor are they going to prefer undergrads from these schools over UCs, U of Texas, U of Wisconsin, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Macalester has a fantastic reputation. It used to be an excellent regional school but now has a much wider reach. Its particularly good for kids who are interested in international affairs.

It has no reputation. Small regional school that would be an enormous disappointment for most Big 3 parents.

I don't care for the US News Rankings, but for those who do, Macalester ranks above Oberlin, Kenyon, Connecticut College -- these are all schools students attend from Big 3 schools. Macalester has a unique international bent. We looked at it but DC thought it would be too cold.

to be honest nor do bates, colby, trinity, conn college, hamilton etc... all those NESCAC schools aside from amherst, williams, maybe bowdoin are just finishing schools for full-pay kids from the suburbs.

Maybe true, but plainly far more selective (and less disappointing) than Penn State, Ole Miss, Indiana or similar big state schools that everyone has heard of.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone familiar with Pomona? Our DD is at Amherst and she loves it. We're beginning the process with our youngest who wants to attend school on the west coast.

my niece went there 10years ago before going to Chicago to finish her Phd. She described it as small and expensive. She choosed it because she wanted to go as far away from home which was Boston at the time. In conversation last week about my DD college future, she mentioned to take a look at Amherst..lol..

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bates. Tulane. SMU. UC Santa Barbara. Ole Miss. Sewanne. Kenyon. Davidson. Wake. Washington and Lee. USC. U Vermont.

All taken from Big 3 matriculation lists this year.

Which ones would you consider "disappointments"?

Adding to this list, what would you say for NYU, U of Wisconsin, Macalester?

NYU is super popular but tuition/books + cost of living in NYC makes it ridiculous. Not sure why people spend the money to send their kids to undergrad there. Med/Law/MBA are a whole different story. U of Wisconsin would be preferred to all the others mentioned on the list unless a UC and from CA. Macalester is a good well know regional school - yes, if you live in Minnesota but why choose it over U of MN?

Wisconsin is behind most on the list except Ole Miss and Sewanee - unless you are a grad student that wants to o research - for undergrad it's not close.

According to who?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Wisconsin–Madison

It's considered one of the "public Ivies" and if you compare cost of attending, it's a better value. Some of the other colleges listed cost 2-3x as much without being 2x-3x better.

For undergrad, employers are not going to distinguish much difference between U of Wisconsin and NYU.

Wisconsin, as a public school, may be a better value (especially if you live in Wisconsin or Minnesota and get instate tuition), but it is ranked a generous #41 by USNEWS and has a 505 admit rate. Wisconsin is a popular safety school and a fine choice for those who can handle the large class size and being taught by teaching assistants. In any " cost per class taught by a full professor" ranking -Wisconsin would NOT be a good value.

According to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Ivy Wisconsin is a "runner up," but not original public ivy. the later list includes most UC's

Anyone familiar with Pomona? Our DD is at Amherst and she loves it. We're beginning the process with our youngest who wants to attend school on the west coast.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Macalester has a fantastic reputation. It used to be an excellent regional school but now has a much wider reach. Its particularly good for kids who are interested in international affairs.

It has no reputation. Small regional school that would be an enormous disappointment for most Big 3 parents.

I don't care for the US News Rankings, but for those who do, Macalester ranks above Oberlin, Kenyon, Connecticut College -- these are all schools students attend from Big 3 schools. Macalester has a unique international bent. We looked at it but DC thought it would be too cold.

to be honest nor do bates, colby, trinity, conn college, hamilton etc... all those NESCAC schools aside from amherst, williams, maybe bowdoin are just finishing schools for full-pay kids from the suburbs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Macalester has a fantastic reputation. It used to be an excellent regional school but now has a much wider reach. Its particularly good for kids who are interested in international affairs.

It has no reputation. Small regional school that would be an enormous disappointment for most Big 3 parents.

I don't care for the US News Rankings, but for those who do, Macalester ranks above Oberlin, Kenyon, Connecticut College -- these are all schools students attend from Big 3 schools. Macalester has a unique international bent. We looked at it but DC thought it would be too cold.

Anonymous wrote:Macalester has a fantastic reputation. It used to be an excellent regional school but now has a much wider reach. Its particularly good for kids who are interested in international affairs.

It has no reputation. Small regional school that would be an enormous disappointment for most Big 3 parents.

Macalester is an excellent small liberal arts college option -- it is so different from the University of Minnesota that I don't know why somebody outside of Minnesota would consider both of those (if you're in Minnesota to start, sure). You would pick it over U Minnesota or any large state school for all the reasons SLACs are popular -- tight little communities, undergrad as the focus, and the opportunity to have meaningful contact with professors in small class sizes. I am a teacher, and former students that have gone there have had a great experience and done very well in grad/law/med school acceptances.