Anonymous wrote:There are at least -- at least -- 25-30 schools I would choose to attend before going to Colby/Bates/Bowdoin/Middlebury. They're all fine schools, but can we stop pretending that they're some super prestigious colleges that only wealthy "elite" WASPy families know about?

Being in the top 30-35 schools one would want to attend is pretty good in my view, especially since for most people the top 10-15 are likely out of reach. People are not suggesting that these schools are some elite WASPy secret, but rather reacting to the bizarre view that these are obscure schools that most people have never heard of. Most people who considered out of state private universities have heard of these and comparable schools. I suppose someone who was only looking at nearby state schools may not have.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't believe the out-of-teach weirdos in this thread. Vast majority of people have never heard of these schools, and most do not care. It certainly won't give you "a leg up" or confer some magical social status if you attend, despite the very pushy insistence of the aforementioned posters.

+1 yessir

Just so ignorant.

Whenever I hear Colby I think of Wisconsin cheese.

Anonymous wrote:Don't believe the out-of-teach weirdos in this thread. Vast majority of people have never heard of these schools, and most do not care. It certainly won't give you "a leg up" or confer some magical social status if you attend, despite the very pushy insistence of the aforementioned posters.

This is just wrong. My spouse went to a different, but similarly ranked SLAC. I had not heard of it until I moved into spouse's social circle. Every one of the graduates of spouse's SLAC is very successful, both in terms of rewarding work and financial comfort. Every single one. These schools are an entrance into that world be it through graduate/professional schools or direct to career.

Frankly, it doesn't really matter if the vast majority of people have heard of the schools or not. If the graduate schools and employers in the areas of interest to the student have heard of the school, that is what makes all the difference. Curious what is the student in the original post interested in studying? That would help differentiate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bates grad who spent a good amount of time at both Bowdoin and Colby for sports. All three of these are great schools and have beautiful campus facilities and offer similar opportunities for students. Bowdoin is known to have more prestige and Colby has recently risen in the US News ranks by playing the ratings game well but honestly all are strong. Bowdoin is closer to Portland and has the nicest town whereas Colby is much more remote and Bates is in the middle (about 45 min to Portland and 25 to Freeport). Lewiston isn't winning any beauty contests but I've seen a lot of great changes over the years since I graduated in the 90's.

I wish I could go to the Bates of today because they have put a lot of money into the campus and have a new science center opening this fall and have built many new dorms and other buildings over the past few years. Bates is more outdoorsy IMO and has a very laid back vibe and a big focus on what they call "Purposeful Work" which means helping students target careers in their industry through alumni and parents. I'm only familiar with Bates' efforts here but they have been significant over the past 5-10 years.

My spouse and I both are Bates grads and have great jobs making a good amount of money (750K+). I don't have a graduate degree but my spouse does. Contrary to statements about people not caring or recognizing the value of a Bates degree I have had employers/interviewers call out my Bates degree as impressive - and I was an English major. I know, I know, I'm supposed to be working at Starbucks but I'm not and never have! YMMV but that's my experience at one of these four schools. I highly recommend visiting all and looking at their strengths.

What jobs pay 750k+?

DP. Guessing someone went to law school and someone works a mom job?

Ha no. One has a consulting partnership and the other has a leadership role in a tech company with a lot of stock.

What is a consulting partnership?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bates grad who spent a good amount of time at both Bowdoin and Colby for sports. All three of these are great schools and have beautiful campus facilities and offer similar opportunities for students. Bowdoin is known to have more prestige and Colby has recently risen in the US News ranks by playing the ratings game well but honestly all are strong. Bowdoin is closer to Portland and has the nicest town whereas Colby is much more remote and Bates is in the middle (about 45 min to Portland and 25 to Freeport). Lewiston isn't winning any beauty contests but I've seen a lot of great changes over the years since I graduated in the 90's.

I wish I could go to the Bates of today because they have put a lot of money into the campus and have a new science center opening this fall and have built many new dorms and other buildings over the past few years. Bates is more outdoorsy IMO and has a very laid back vibe and a big focus on what they call "Purposeful Work" which means helping students target careers in their industry through alumni and parents. I'm only familiar with Bates' efforts here but they have been significant over the past 5-10 years.

My spouse and I both are Bates grads and have great jobs making a good amount of money (750K+). I don't have a graduate degree but my spouse does. Contrary to statements about people not caring or recognizing the value of a Bates degree I have had employers/interviewers call out my Bates degree as impressive - and I was an English major. I know, I know, I'm supposed to be working at Starbucks but I'm not and never have! YMMV but that's my experience at one of these four schools. I highly recommend visiting all and looking at their strengths.

What jobs pay 750k+?

DP. Guessing someone went to law school and someone works a mom job?

Ha no. One has a consulting partnership and the other has a leadership role in a tech company with a lot of stock.

Personal preference isn't the issue, as you are entitled to a preference.

The point is that people are arguing positions that are easily disproved with a minimum of research. Check any list of rankings, reviews, or any college guidebook at the library. Look at the hiring and grad school results. Ask a recruiter if you know one.

I'm trying to be nice here, but you naysayers really don't sound very informed. Hopefully people will do their own research and not take you at your (mistaken) word.

Anonymous wrote:There are at least -- at least -- 25-30 schools I would choose to attend before going to Colby/Bates/Bowdoin/Middlebury. They're all fine schools, but can we stop pretending that they're some super prestigious colleges that only wealthy "elite" WASPy families know about?

This shouldn't be a debate about ranking or prestige but instead about preference. My son would go to C/B/B/M over Clemson or Georgia in a heartbeat, but most of my son's class would likely choose the opposite.

There are at least -- at least -- 25-30 schools I would choose to attend before going to Colby/Bates/Bowdoin/Middlebury. They're all fine schools, but can we stop pretending that they're some super prestigious colleges that only wealthy "elite" WASPy families know about?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All great. All prestigious. All extremely well known to top employers and graduate schools. All hard to get into and hard to excel at.

If you don't know these things, the fault is with you.

These are facts.

You guys really do live in a bubble

NP. I know these schools and people who went to them. On the other hand, I did but learn until my 20s that Ole Miss was a state school called the University of Mississippi. I went to a fancy NE boarding school; the former were on people's radar and large state schools in random (to the students in this school, who were generally from the east coast) states were not (exceptions were places like UVA, Michigan, Cal, UCLA, and a handful of others). It's just a question of where you're from and what your peer group is focused on in high school. I assure you none of my peers had trouble getting into grad school or getting hired after college.

Anonymous wrote:Don't believe the out-of-teach weirdos in this thread. Vast majority of people have never heard of these schools, and most do not care. It certainly won't give you "a leg up" or confer some magical social status if you attend, despite the very pushy insistence of the aforementioned posters.

I don't think anyone's saying (or I hope not at least) that going to these schools (or any schools) confer some sort of magical social status--this isn't England in the '50s. They do confer some social capital, which may or may not be important depending on what you want to do in life and your background. The schools are actually much more valuable from this perspective to lower income and first generation students. (Anecdotal, but when I was a senior at Bowdoin, the college president's wife hosted a number of mock cocktail receptions and formal dinners to teach us all how to network, handle ourselves at receptions, and not embarrass ourselves at fancy dinners--actually amazingly helpful!)

Going to these schools, among others, will certainly give you a leg up into *certain types of* jobs and grad programs. On the job front, Bowdoin and Middlebury dramatically outperform their size in investment banks. Colby, oddly enough, has long been a big recruiting ground for the CIA. All of them place a ton of their alums as teachers at prestigious private schools. There are a lot of other examples. That doesn't make you a better person or whatever you're arguing against but it is undeniable that certain schools provide established pathways to certain jobs and silly to argue otherwise. For grad programs, these schools again dramatically outperform--relative to their size--most other schools at putting students into doctoral programs. They also do better on pre-med admission. Law school is all about numbers, so there's no significant increase (but I noted that a disproportionate number of the top *students* at my top law school were from ivies or small colleges like these ones).

I agree that many people have never heard of these schools and that even more do not care. And that's fine. You shouldn't go to a school to have bragging rights (or godforbid to give your parents bragging rights). But they do open certain doors, and at least some people who care about hiring/admissions do care about them.

Anonymous wrote:Don't believe the out-of-teach weirdos in this thread. Vast majority of people have never heard of these schools, and most do not care. It certainly won't give you "a leg up" or confer some magical social status if you attend, despite the very pushy insistence of the aforementioned posters.

+1 yessir

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And make dullards envious.

I have never heard of a human being being envious of those places. If anything the silently smirking response will be, sorry your kid got rejected from her first choices.

That's hilarious. You just made me spit out my coffee.

I aim to please.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bates grad who spent a good amount of time at both Bowdoin and Colby for sports. All three of these are great schools and have beautiful campus facilities and offer similar opportunities for students. Bowdoin is known to have more prestige and Colby has recently risen in the US News ranks by playing the ratings game well but honestly all are strong. Bowdoin is closer to Portland and has the nicest town whereas Colby is much more remote and Bates is in the middle (about 45 min to Portland and 25 to Freeport). Lewiston isn't winning any beauty contests but I've seen a lot of great changes over the years since I graduated in the 90's.

I wish I could go to the Bates of today because they have put a lot of money into the campus and have a new science center opening this fall and have built many new dorms and other buildings over the past few years. Bates is more outdoorsy IMO and has a very laid back vibe and a big focus on what they call "Purposeful Work" which means helping students target careers in their industry through alumni and parents. I'm only familiar with Bates' efforts here but they have been significant over the past 5-10 years.

My spouse and I both are Bates grads and have great jobs making a good amount of money (750K+). I don't have a graduate degree but my spouse does. Contrary to statements about people not caring or recognizing the value of a Bates degree I have had employers/interviewers call out my Bates degree as impressive - and I was an English major. I know, I know, I'm supposed to be working at Starbucks but I'm not and never have! YMMV but that's my experience at one of these four schools. I highly recommend visiting all and looking at their strengths.

What jobs pay 750k+?

DP. Guessing someone went to law school and someone works a mom job?

"Jobs" = plural. Salary might be combined. Reading carefully is a helpful skill -- which I developed at a peer school to those mentioned here and at a T3 law school. And, BTW, when I was interviewing for jobs and clerkships, the name of my SLAC always drew a positive response. Yes, people do know these schools.

What are you prattling on about. Follow along: someone went to law school and someone works a mom job. That’s one plus one = two. Two people, two jobs. Two people, two jobs, one combined salary. So sorry, I didn’t misread anything. Your zeal to say otherwise makes you sound foolish indeed.

Anonymous wrote:Don't believe the out-of-teach weirdos in this thread. Vast majority of people have never heard of these schools, and most do not care. It certainly won't give you "a leg up" or confer some magical social status if you attend, despite the very pushy insistence of the aforementioned posters.

True, you’re so much better off going to Pitt