Any suggestions for academically impressive/sound liberal art schools that are beautiful and really fun? Preferably in or near a large city. Thanks!
You probably should think about the tradeoff between “academically impressive” and"fun".
Schools that are known for academic rigor in general deserve that reputation. If your idea of “fun” is to work very hard, spend most of your waking hours studying or attending classes or in a lab or in a library, then academically impressive schools might be fun.
Some people have a different definition of “fun”.
I enjoyed your thread about Rhodes, which, again, I think is a great choice. I also think Macalester sounds like an option. And also Reed, which is a place I’m guessing you’d either love completely or not be interested at all. Reed really used to be ranked right up there with the top schools but has long blown off ranking services, and been penalized as a result. It’s still a terrific school and very intellectual.
What about Trinity University in San Antonio? Honestly don’t know much about it but people who go there and people who visit seem to really come away very impressed.
What about Rice? Tip-top school academically. More of a mid-size national university, not an LAC, but only about 4000 students, small classes, beautiful urban campus.
Honestly, I think you might love the University of Vermont. It’s a small state flagship. It feels small. It’s in Burlington, which is one of the best college towns. It’s a 10-15 minute walk to Church Street, which is a pedestrian street in the old downtown with lots of restaurants, bars, coffee shops, etc. Lake Champlain is right there, with beautiful sunsets over the Adirondacks. There are hiking trails and skiing and mountains all around.
If you are female, what about Smith College? Northampton is also a great college town. The campus is immediately adjacent to the town. Top-notch academics. Schools is a member of the Five College Consortium with Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire, and U Mass Amherst.
Also, Wellesley, which is in a nice suburban town outside Boston. Stunning campus. Small classes, outstanding academics.
Also Barnard, which is affiliated with Columbia University. You can take the subway into Manhattan; it really isn’t far to Times Square/Broadway.
All of these will be pretty diverse. And I just made this comment on another thread about all female schools. They are experiencing a surge in popularity. Students are sometimes going in spite of the fact they are all female and having wonderful experiences. I know people who’ve done that.
Good luck!
The 5C’s are world class academically. They are just outside of Los Angeles in Claremont, CA. There is plenty to do in SoCal.
Many of the best known LACs are located in rural areas (e.g., Williams, Kenyon, Carleton, Sewanee, etc.). In addition to the urban LAC suggestions offered by earlier posters, I would refer you to Occidental College in LA.
I would also second Rice, which is an academically impressive and very fun small university (4,000 students) with the vibe of a LAC, and which boasts a beautiful, tree-filled campus located in an nice area of Houston–the nation’s fourth-largest city.
Bryn Mawr has a beautiful campus and sound academics, and is near a big city (Philly). My classmates and I managed to have plenty of fun. Your mileage, as they saying goes, might vary.
“Just outside” is pretty misleading. It takes at least an hour to drive from the Claremonts to downtown, and that’s without traffic - and there’s always traffic in LA. It’s not realistic to expect to go into LA on a regular basis, IMO.
Lots of good suggestions so far. A few that haven’t been mentioned yet:
[ul][]Agnes Scott (Atlanta) → single-sex college
[]Brandeis (Boston) → a smallish university
[]Davidson (Charlotte)
[]Lewis & Clark (Portland)
[]U Richmond
[]Rollins (Orlando)
[li]Willamette (Salem)[/ul][/li]Furman is in a smaller city (Greenville), but it’s worth a look for anyone interested in Rhodes.
URichmond perhaps?
If suburbs will do, there are a bunch of outstanding options, including these three:
The Quaker Consortium LACs:
- Swarthmore
- Haverford
- Bryn Mawr
The fourth member of the consortium is Penn.
The three LACs are quite close to Philadelphia. There are other suburban LACs but these combine proximity to their city and academic strength as well as any and better than most.
As for top-notch LACs in big cities… I’m repeating some of these:
- U of Richmond
- Reed
- Trinity College (CT)
- Barnard (part of Columbia U)
- Occidental
- Rhodes
- Colorado College
- Macalester
Those are all excellent LACs.
Seriously, you need a Fiske Guide to Colleges.
You don’t want to start threads where people name school after school. And I don’t see your stats, ECs, or academic interests, so many of what others suggest may be above- or below- your qualifications.
Here and on the other thread, it’s all about what you want. But you need to learn what any target college wants to see in you. That match is a big part of getting in. Or not.
@ttg Barnard is ON Manhattan. No need to “take the subway into Manhattan” Columbia is ON Manhattan too. It’s on the north end of Manhattan. (!!) Barnard is located ON Broadway on Manhattan on the red #1 subway line that goes downtown into Times Square. And if you live in NYC the last place you want to go is Times Square, just sayin’
Barnard isn’t just affiliated with Columbia. It’s one of Columbia’s four undergraduate colleges: Columbia College, Columbia GS, Barnard, and SEAS.
Lewis and Clark
Vassar
Mills
Simmons
Agnes Scott
Hendrix
Sarah Lawrence
Wagner
Soka
University of San Diego (small uni)
Union College
U of Rochester (small uni)
Ithaca College
Wells – they take you by bus to Ithaca if you like and there’s cross reg some classes at Cornell
Muhlenberg
University of Richmond
I was going to mention my alma mater Rhodes, but I see from another thread you are already familiar with it. Rhodes is not a household name, but it is a terrific school. I got a nice scholarship to attend and a first rate education there. Rhodes has great law school and med school placement rates.
My daughter attends Rice. It may be more of what you are seeking in terms of diversity even though it is not a classic liberal arts school but is a small university in Houston. You might also like Emory which is on a beautiful campus in a lovely part of Atlanta.
Wow. No one has mentioned Wesleyan? World-class academics (Physics, Life Sciences, Film, Ethnomusicology); a diverse residential community within walking distance of restaurants, bars and coffee houses; a home-grown theater and music scene (MGMT, Dar Williams and Lin-Manuel Miranda all graduated from there) AND there’s a varsity playing field right in the middle of the main campus.
Can’t believe Loyola Marymount University (LMU) hasn’t been mentioned