The town of Oberlin is ridiculously small. The lack of public transportation to Cleveland makes it very inconvenient but fortunately they are talking about starting some kind of shuttle this coming year. There is a tremendous amount to do on campus, more than at many larger schools. My DC wanted the same thing as your's -- SLAC in area accessible to a big city, but fell in love with Oberlin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think what posters are referring to is that those two towns are sleepy. You could go to Berkely, Ann Arbor, and Ithaca at 2 AM and see plenty of late night places where students are hanging out. There are night clubs. Big sports culture puts a certain energy that you just will never see on a game night. Both Wellesley and Claremont close completely after midnight. But to be fair, are any LAC settings in those traditional college towns? The only one I can think of is Amherst MA, supported by the neighboring UMass Amherst.

Barnard?

St. John's College, Annapolis, MD

There’s college nightlife in Annapolis? It’s a cute town but not a traditional college town. While the presence of the Academy is great, those kids are maybe going out for ice cream on a big night out.

And Annapolis is not a suburb of either DC or Baltimore.

OP asked for “not so rural.” Annapolis qualifies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think what posters are referring to is that those two towns are sleepy. You could go to Berkely, Ann Arbor, and Ithaca at 2 AM and see plenty of late night places where students are hanging out. There are night clubs. Big sports culture puts a certain energy that you just will never see on a game night. Both Wellesley and Claremont close completely after midnight. But to be fair, are any LAC settings in those traditional college towns? The only one I can think of is Amherst MA, supported by the neighboring UMass Amherst.

Barnard?

St. John's College, Annapolis, MD

There’s college nightlife in Annapolis? It’s a cute town but not a traditional college town. While the presence of the Academy is great, those kids are maybe going out for ice cream on a big night out.

And Annapolis is not a suburb of either DC or Baltimore.

37 Liberal Arts Colleges In or Near Cities:


http://www.thecollegesolution.com/33-liberal-arts-colleges-in-or-near-cities/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think what posters are referring to is that those two towns are sleepy. You could go to Berkely, Ann Arbor, and Ithaca at 2 AM and see plenty of late night places where students are hanging out. There are night clubs. Big sports culture puts a certain energy that you just will never see on a game night. Both Wellesley and Claremont close completely after midnight. But to be fair, are any LAC settings in those traditional college towns? The only one I can think of is Amherst MA, supported by the neighboring UMass Amherst.

Barnard?

St. John's College, Annapolis, MD

Drew University in Madison, NJ

Anonymous wrote:I think what posters are referring to is that those two towns are sleepy. You could go to Berkely, Ann Arbor, and Ithaca at 2 AM and see plenty of late night places where students are hanging out. There are night clubs. Big sports culture puts a certain energy that you just will never see on a game night. Both Wellesley and Claremont close completely after midnight. But to be fair, are any LAC settings in those traditional college towns? The only one I can think of is Amherst MA, supported by the neighboring UMass Amherst.

Barnard?

I think what posters are referring to is that those two towns are sleepy. You could go to Berkely, Ann Arbor, and Ithaca at 2 AM and see plenty of late night places where students are hanging out. There are night clubs. Big sports culture puts a certain energy that you just will never see on a game night. Both Wellesley and Claremont close completely after midnight. But to be fair, are any LAC settings in those traditional college towns? The only one I can think of is Amherst MA, supported by the neighboring UMass Amherst.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Wellesley, a suburban SLAC. I disagree with folks who are saying that students who love SLACs never want to leave campus because there's so much going on. I loved Wellesley itself, but definitely appreciated being just outside Boston with easy access to restaurants, movies, concerts, professional sports, museums, and internships -- not to mention other colleges nearby.

Wellesley is an all-women college in the middle of nowhere. Barnard in the middle of NY - surrounded by other coed colleges and unis. Scripps is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by residential homes - but it's an all-women college surrounded by at least 6 co-ed colleges. Wellesley would be rough; it's not for everyone.

Do you have any experience? Because that is grossly untrue. Claremont Village is very lively (esp. on weekends), and the whole metro area is one that you could get to malls, shopping, restaurants, etc. readily with a car or Uber less than 3 miles away. SoCal is so densely packed with cities/towns/villages that calling it middle of nowhere is absurd- almost 15 million people live in the greater LA area, and Claremont borders cities with populations of 150,000 and 80,000. Train station on Pomona's campus which runs every day early morning to late night and drops you off in Downtown LA. I think it's easy to not want to get out because the colleges alone have so much activity, but that option to leave is 100% there if a student desires.

Wellesley is also definitely not in the middle of nowhere. Wellesley Square has a great shopping/dining complex, and it is easy to get to Boston. Both Wellesley and Claremont are frequented by out of town folks looking for a weekend get away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also suggest one of the Claremont Colleges. I am an alum. It’s big enough with all the schools combined and is in Claremont- which is a very cute and lively village! You can always escape to other areas: beaches, desert, mountains, LA, San Diego very easily.

Cute and lively to a point, but definitely not a college town.

http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/travel/article4033433.html

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Wellesley, a suburban SLAC. I disagree with folks who are saying that students who love SLACs never want to leave campus because there's so much going on. I loved Wellesley itself, but definitely appreciated being just outside Boston with easy access to restaurants, movies, concerts, professional sports, museums, and internships -- not to mention other colleges nearby.

Wellesley is an all-women college in the middle of nowhere. Barnard in the middle of NY - surrounded by other coed colleges and unis. Scripps is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by residential homes - but it's an all-women college surrounded by at least 6 co-ed colleges. Wellesley would be rough; it's not for everyone.

Wellesley is 30 minutes from Harvard Square and from downtown Boston, and is surrounded by many, many colleges and universities (e.g., MIT, Harvard, BC, BU, Northeastern, Tufts, Brandeis). Wellesley has a robust academic exchange program with MIT. Hardly the middle of nowhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also suggest one of the Claremont Colleges. I am an alum. It’s big enough with all the schools combined and is in Claremont- which is a very cute and lively village! You can always escape to other areas: beaches, desert, mountains, LA, San Diego very easily.

Cute and lively to a point, but definitely not a college town.

I went to one of the smallest private colleges in the country to one of the largest public, and two in between. It's always a trade off. You are not going to find a perfect college. If you can't be happy at places like Pomona, Vassar, Kenyon, Swarthmore, Amherst, Wesleyan, Oberlin, Smith... you are not going to be even if you get to heaven. No Starbucks there. No college town. No sports, bars, Disneyland, McDonalds...

William and Mary is not a SLAC but it’s close enough.

Anonymous wrote:I also suggest one of the Claremont Colleges. I am an alum. It’s big enough with all the schools combined and is in Claremont- which is a very cute and lively village! You can always escape to other areas: beaches, desert, mountains, LA, San Diego very easily.

Cute and lively to a point, but definitely not a college town.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Richmond - 3 or 4 miles to very cool Carytown section of city and another couple miles to the city center. Very convenient and common trip for students looking to escape leafy suburban campus. Free university shuttles run pretty much continuously.

But isn’t Richmond up tight white entitled preppy kids? It gets a really bad rap on college confidential? And Richmond might be one of the most racist cities I have eve4 been to.

No, just smart kids like at any other highly-ranked SLAC.

So you experienced racism in your travels to Richmond? Please share.