Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is my issue with the CTCL organization: Its board is made up of mostly of reps from the schools it promotes. Its income consists of membership (marketing) fees from the schools it promotes. As a non-profit organization, its “services” consist of paying one person to go around the country and promote these schools. There is nothing amazingly different about most of these schools from the hundreds of other schools out there. Some are quite good but many are struggling financially and there are many with horrible graduation rates. Schools should be considered on an individual basis, not because they are part of an irrelevant list.

+1. CTCL feeds into the insecurity of parents whose kids can't get into Tier 1.

DC was accepted by several "Tier 1" colleges but decided to attend Beloit, a CTCL school, instead. Just a much better fit overall, excellent merit aid, had a fabulous experience and now in grad school. DC's younger sibling has been attending a "Tier 1" for 2 years now and so far I'd say hands down Beloit is better academically. Better professors. Professors who actually know and care about the students in and outside of the classroom. And plenty of peers who were truly intellectually curious and ambitious without caring about status. Did Beloit change my DC's life? Who knows because DC probably would have been successful almost anywhere. But I do know that at Beloit DC found a subject s/he loves to study, found professors who were excited to share their love of that subject with DC, found professors who opened doors to amazing research opportunities off campus and who gave (and continue to give) 100% support when connecting DC to alums in the same field, applying to jobs and grad school. And none of that is a marketing gimmick.

I always love statements like this. How would you know? Do you go to school with the kids?

NP but PP, do you get off at being an ahole? People are trying to offer their advice and experiences and I’m assuming you’re the one person belittling them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is my issue with the CTCL organization: Its board is made up of mostly of reps from the schools it promotes. Its income consists of membership (marketing) fees from the schools it promotes. As a non-profit organization, its “services” consist of paying one person to go around the country and promote these schools. There is nothing amazingly different about most of these schools from the hundreds of other schools out there. Some are quite good but many are struggling financially and there are many with horrible graduation rates. Schools should be considered on an individual basis, not because they are part of an irrelevant list.

+1. CTCL feeds into the insecurity of parents whose kids can't get into Tier 1.

DC was accepted by several "Tier 1" colleges but decided to attend Beloit, a CTCL school, instead. Just a much better fit overall, excellent merit aid, had a fabulous experience and now in grad school. DC's younger sibling has been attending a "Tier 1" for 2 years now and so far I'd say hands down Beloit is better academically. Better professors. Professors who actually know and care about the students in and outside of the classroom. And plenty of peers who were truly intellectually curious and ambitious without caring about status. Did Beloit change my DC's life? Who knows because DC probably would have been successful almost anywhere. But I do know that at Beloit DC found a subject s/he loves to study, found professors who were excited to share their love of that subject with DC, found professors who opened doors to amazing research opportunities off campus and who gave (and continue to give) 100% support when connecting DC to alums in the same field, applying to jobs and grad school. And none of that is a marketing gimmick.

I always love statements like this. How would you know? Do you go to school with the kids?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is my issue with the CTCL organization: Its board is made up of mostly of reps from the schools it promotes. Its income consists of membership (marketing) fees from the schools it promotes. As a non-profit organization, its “services” consist of paying one person to go around the country and promote these schools. There is nothing amazingly different about most of these schools from the hundreds of other schools out there. Some are quite good but many are struggling financially and there are many with horrible graduation rates. Schools should be considered on an individual basis, not because they are part of an irrelevant list.

+1. CTCL feeds into the insecurity of parents whose kids can't get into Tier 1.

DC was accepted by several "Tier 1" colleges but decided to attend Beloit, a CTCL school, instead. Just a much better fit overall, excellent merit aid, had a fabulous experience and now in grad school. DC's younger sibling has been attending a "Tier 1" for 2 years now and so far I'd say hands down Beloit is better academically. Better professors. Professors who actually know and care about the students in and outside of the classroom. And plenty of peers who were truly intellectually curious and ambitious without caring about status. Did Beloit change my DC's life? Who knows because DC probably would have been successful almost anywhere. But I do know that at Beloit DC found a subject s/he loves to study, found professors who were excited to share their love of that subject with DC, found professors who opened doors to amazing research opportunities off campus and who gave (and continue to give) 100% support when connecting DC to alums in the same field, applying to jobs and grad school. And none of that is a marketing gimmick.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Please stop. There are dozens of threads on this. The label is basically a well-thought-out marketing slogan for smaller schools.

People like the above poster should be ignored.

I believe Loren Pope's original idea was a noble one: put together a list of colleges that are under the radar but provide a good quality undergraduate education. I think for the most part his vision still holds.

People who claim it's just a marketing ploy are usually "USN&WR Top 20" or bust parents whao can't seem to grap the fact that you can get a quality education any other place.

And people who claim it’s not a marketing ploy are just trying to make themselves feel better when their kids have to go second tier.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:over half of Reed students receive financial aid with the average aid package being $45K/year.

And there's the magic word "average". And it refers to only financial aid. HALF of the other students are paying $80K unless some merit was awarded. We didn't qualify for Financial aid and the merit money has dried up at all the Ivies and elites that DS was applying to. So no financial aid and no merit aid = donut hole family. It's still a lot cheap to go in-state and save the bucks for grad school

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is my issue with the CTCL organization: Its board is made up of mostly of reps from the schools it promotes. Its income consists of membership (marketing) fees from the schools it promotes. As a non-profit organization, its “services” consist of paying one person to go around the country and promote these schools. There is nothing amazingly different about most of these schools from the hundreds of other schools out there. Some are quite good but many are struggling financially and there are many with horrible graduation rates. Schools should be considered on an individual basis, not because they are part of an irrelevant list.

+1. CTCL feeds into the insecurity of parents whose kids can't get into Tier 1.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CTCL are second tier schools. No thanks.

Serious question: How many “first tier” schools are there? And according to whom?

Anonymous wrote:over half of Reed students receive financial aid with the average aid package being $45K/year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Went to Reed. Intense and wonderful academics. Subsequent T14 law school was a breeze in comparison. Have nothing to compare it to, as I never went elsewhere, but definitely saw some kids from some very fancy undergrads who seemed like they were struggling to adjust to the intensity of law school.

People are a little weird, but that suited me fine.

I looked Reed up in the Fiske guide after seeing this thread. I was appalled by the low graduation rate!

80% ... it's the same as VA Tech and JMU and better than George Mason.

And costs way more money than those schools![/quote]

Not when you look at what most people actually end up paying. Our kid chose W&M over a CTCL school and it will cost us about 10-15k/yr more.

I can't believe that. Too many of us are donut hole families and don't qualify for financial aid. Reed is $80K a year. W&M is $34K. We received no offers of financial or merit aid.