Admitted to Dickinson, American University, Denison, Ohio Wesleyan U., Simmons, Agnes Scott, ..."

Parents Forum
1

My daughter had been admitted in all those Colleges. We are french, jewish from Paris and are living in the US since 2 years 1/2.
She would like to major in Philosophy or Political Sciences and minor in French Studies in order to go in a law school.

My first feeling would be more attracted by American University or Dickinson
Both of them are offering a substantial financial aid package
Which one to choose considering that she is not interesting in Greek life, in drinking/drugs/partying.
She would prefer small classes and permanent faculty (not adjunct/TA’s)

If you have any suggestion to help us to choose.
She will visit both campuses in 2 weeks.

2

My kid visited American, and attended Dickinson. She was not interested in Greek life or much partying. She sat in on a class at American, and thought it was too easy. The reading was something she happened to have read, and she said it was clear most of the students had not done the reading. She was a Poli Sci major, so liked the DC location, but wasn’t satisfied with the academics.

She had a great experience at Dickinson. She spent a semester on their Washington program, which I think is superior to the programs most other colleges go through. It is through the Washington Center, your D should research it. Her semester internship was with the Dept of State. My D also spent a summer interning for a senator in DC, and had an part time internship while on campus one semester with the US Army War College (also in Carlisle, she heard about it through the Dickinson career office). She also did a senior thesis that was nominated as one of the top 60 undergrad Poli Sci theses in the US that year. So there are a lot of great opportunities at Dickinson.

3

The school visits will tell you a lot. I think your final two of American and Dickinson would both be excellent choices. They are very different schools (a city based mid-sized university and a small liberal arts college in PA), so hopefully one of the two schools will resonate with your D as being the better fit for her.

4

My D will be attending Agnes Scott, the small, intimate and very diverse nature of the school may suit your daughter very well. Plus they have a very strong psychology department and they are in a cute town (Decatur) but also close to a major city (Atlanta). I highly recommend a visit, it shot to the top of our list when we saw it and met the students.

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Thank you for your post .
We gone visit both and look the program at Washington you are talking about.
How was her life in Carlisle?

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She liked it fine. She was busy on campus, but they went off campus to eat out, go to the movies or shows at the local theater, etc. She never had a car, but friends did. They went to Harrisburg sometimes to shop or eat out. She was pretty active on campus in various clubs by the end of her first semester, too.

One thing about the Washington Program is that they provide pretty nice housing. She was in a nicer place than she has ever lived in since moving to DC! They had interesting speakers one evening a week, and also did an independent project overseen by a Dickinson prof. She is still in touch with that prof 4 years after graduating.

7

BUMP
Perhaps someone can move this to “Parents”?
Thank you.

8

Your D posted, too :slight_smile:

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My D is currently a Freshman at Dickinson (applied Early Decision) and she is extremely happy. I knew from the beginning that it would be the perfect fit for her. She mostly looked at small liberal arts colleges in the Northeast. We did visit American, but it felt too big to her. One of her main considerations was a strong study abroad program and a wide variety of languages offered. Dickinson excels in both of those areas. She wants to major in multiple languages and after speaking with her Italian professor about this, they are considering offering a Multi Language Major (which currently does not exist) consisting of advanced classes in 3 different languages. If that is not approved before she has to declare a major at the end of her Sophomore year, she will major in Italian and minor in Russian and French.

My D loves attending the language tables during lunch/dinner time and all the language club events (cooking demos, sit down dinners, dances, author and film maker visits, movie nights, etc…). Just in the past few months she has traveled to Hershey with the Italian Club to attend the Il Divo concert (and met them too), met an Italian film maker, saw a famous German a capella group, met 2 famous Spanish authors that went to her Spanish class, met a Russian poet, attended a Russian dance event, and the list goes on and on. She is not into sororities, drinking or partying and there are always more activities for her to attend than she has time for. She has found a great group of friends like her.

Carlisle is a neat town and it is nice for her to be able to walk to a taqueria, a crepe place, a Thai restaurant, a great Belgian restaurant (great moules et frites!), a cute bookstore, a candy store, the weekly farmer’s market, etc… There are shuttles that can take the students to the local movie theater, Walmart, Target, etc…

Next school year, she will live in the Romance Language House (in the Italian section, but with a French speaking roommate. This way she can practice those 2 languages). She is a native Spanish speaker, so she will get to practice that language too with the other residents. The foreign teaching assistants for those languages live there too (they are college students from France, Italy, Spain, etc… on a year’s exchange). They are in charge of helping at the language tables, tutoring at the Multilingual Writing Center and helping run the language club activities, among other things. She is friends with all the TAs which allows her to practice speaking with native speakers.

During High School she was the odd kid taking 3 foreign languages as her electives. At Dickinson, she has found like-minded students and she is the happiest she has ever been in her life.

For French, they have a wonderful program in Toulouse and they also have one in Cameroon. She is currently taking an “Introduction to Francophone Cultures” class with a teacher from Senegal and she loves the class.

All language classes are very small. In her Russian class there are 7 kids. Most are capped at 15 students. The higher level ones are all very small. It is not uncommon for a Professor to invite its students to have dinner at their home.

There are no classes taught by TAs. The language TAs might help the teachers with certain activities.

The Jewish center seems to be very active. I have noticed they offer a lot of events that are also open to the general population, like cooking classes.

All in all, we have both been very pleased with the quality of education at Dickinson. I have another daughter who is a Junior in High School and is interested in the same things as your daughter (Political Science or International Studies with a French minor, with the hopes of attending Law School) . She really likes Dickinson too, so she will definitely apply there this Fall.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. Perhaps you two can talk with my daughter when you go to the Accepted Student’s Day.

10

I know you have all these colleges listed, but as you seem to be focusing on Dickinson or American, I will offer my two cents. In fairness, I haven’t visited American. This is because after quite a bit of research, it just didn’t seem like what my child was looking for in a college. What my child is looking for in a college is very much what you are describing. Small classes, not so focused on partying (although there will be drinking everywhere), emphasis on language, study abroad, etc… That school is Dickinson, IMO. My D is currently still deciding, but I think she will choose Dickinson. Good luck to your daughter.

11

Although I understand you’re drawn more to Dickinson and American, if you’re still considering, I would recommend taking a further, serious, look at Agnes Scott.

I am an American senior in HS, also Jewish, who visited Agnes Scott last month.

Similarly to your daughter, I am looking for an academically focused environment with smaller class sizes, to be known by my professors and not just a face in a lecture hall.

I have sat in on classes at seven colleges, public and private, coed and all-women. I’ve noticed that in coed classes, students are not as focused or as engaged. At Agnes Scott in particular, students are bright, curious, motivated women who want to leave their mark on the world. And because Agnes Scott is a women’s college, these women are getting the best possible experience, because all the leadership roles and opportunities are theirs for the taking.

Agnes Scott is within walking distance of a MARTA stop, so your daughter could easily take the subway into Atlanta for more Jewish life. I know Agnes Scott’s Hillel has done events with Emory’s Hillel and I believe there is a monthly carpool set up to go to services at a local synagogue. She can even participate in Birthright through Emory’s Hillel, if she is interested in doing so.

Studies have shown that women at women’s colleges are more likely to develop new skills, take on leadership roles, graduate on time, make more money, and rate the education they received in college higher compared to coed colleges both public and private.

Additionally, Agnes Scott has no Greek life, and no graduate programs, meaning that Agnes Scott is not a party school and not a place full of TAs that would cater to graduate students. Rather, as a small women’s college, your daughter would get the best possible education because she is the focus, and she would be surrounded by like-minded, intelligent women and taught by professors who dedicate themselves to her learning and growth.

Agnes Scott also has phenomenal programs in International Relations and Political Science.

Additionally, as part of their new SUMMIT program, Agnes Scott first-year students travel to another country for a week, and the College pays for everything except passport/visa/souvenirs, and get multiple mentors to guide them on their paths.

At Agnes Scott, your daughter would have every imaginable opportunity at a college truly invested in and focused on her education.

12

Here’s my vote for Simmons, a smaller women’s college with a good emphasis on academics. Their central Boston location is in the Fenway area, which has several other school (Northeastern, Lesley) and museums close by.

The adults and students I have known that have attended and graduated from Simmons over the years have been confident, successful and thankful for their educational opportunities at Simmons.

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I will comment on Jewish life. At American: D went yesterday to their admitted students day and was impressed with availability of Jewish life (and the chabad rabbi friended her on facebook). Agnes Scott was wonderful, small, nurturing. She loved a lot about it, but she felt like the only Jew on campus. All the Jewish life seems to be at Emory and that would be a problem for my D. It doesn’t look like she’ll be choosing either one of them, but they were both in her final 3.

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@Queen’s Mom : what will your daughter be choosing and why? (It may help OP in her comparisons?)