@justinthomas started a thread on which I had planned to post, but it got closed and redirected to this thread since they have similar premises. I want to mention a school I think is a good hidden gem, but I don’t know that I would say it is “never” mentioned on College Confidential, as is this particular thread’s title… it just isn’t mentioned as often as it should be in the same breath as its peer schools.
Connecticut College.
It is in the NESCAC league, yet it is not always mentioned alongside fellow members Williams, Middlebury, Hamilton, Bates, etc. It should be. Besides competing in their sports league, it has all the benefits of a top liberal arts college: a tight community of smart students who enjoy small classes with a lot of access to professors.
The campus is incredibly beautiful, with matching stone buildings with a sweeping view of the Long Island Sound. There is an arboretum on campus.
Conn has a fantastic career preparation program, with a series of workshops culminating in a paid internship for any student who attends all the workshops.
My family was impressed by the dorms when they visited.
Conn’s campus community is close-knit and delightfully quirky. The mascot is the camel. One fun event is the Camelympics, in which dorms compete in a variety of activities, some of which are athletic but many of which are word games and other types of activities. Seinfeld fans take note: Conn students also celebrate Festivus in December!
Conn is strong across the liberal arts and sciences, but is among the strongest of the small northeastern colleges in a few niche areas like botany and dance.
The students seem to be an interesting mix of a lot of theatre/music/dance/art artsy types, liberals, (note: it used to be all female and still has more women in the ratio), varsity athletes, prep school kids, etc… In other words, most students will be able to find friends that match their interests and hobbies, while also getting to know others who are different from themselves. There are no fraternities or similarly exclusive groups.
One sign of how professors there define their role as helping students to grow: my kid does not even go to Connecticut College, but a professor at Conn recently reached out to my son based on an op-ed my son had written that the professor had seen, and he offered his support and guidance.
Conn is located between Boston and New York City in New London, Connecticut.