Any advice on choosing between the academic rigor and career placement at these three schools? I would appreciate any advice.
Colgate is well known for excellent placement with financial firms.
Hamilton is known for emphasizing writing (which may be why it is a top 20 feeder to both law school and MBA programs). Bates is also a top 20 feeder in to MBA programs.
You should look at the common data sets of each school, the scores of attending students vary quite a bit between these schools. That may or may not be important to you.
I think they all have great career placement, but with very different focus.
Bates has a high placement rate in med school and grad school, too. For 2017, Bates was the top producer in the nation among all LACs for Fulbright scholars. The career center is excellent and Bates alumni offer internships and job shadowing. The Purposeful Work program is innovative and has paid internships. It aims to help students find careers they are suited to. All students must complete at least two Short Terms, which are extremely popular. A thesis is required for graduation. My child attends Bates, and we are impressed with the academic rigor and career services.
U.S. News publishes early career salary data. Colgate from this group places first, followed closely by Hamilton (highest among the NESCAC LACs). Bates places third, but after a bit of a gap.
The relatively tiny differences among them are a lot less relevant than the differences among the individuals who graduate from them. I think a given individual’s academic achievement and employment success will be roughly the same no matter which of those colleges he or she attends. All of them are more than good enough – offer plenty of high-quality academic opportunities and perfectly good career counseling. None of them (or any other college) guarantees success, and all of them (and any other college) have students with a range of abilities, characters, and ambitions that generate a broad spectrum of outcomes.
Where I live, at least among my kids’ friends, Bates was by far the most popular, but I have the impression that Colgate and Hamilton are more plugged-in to the New York City world. (However, about 3/4ths of the Bates kids among my kids’ cohort are working in NYC.) I think the world of my Hamiltonian future son in law, who has a good arty/quasi-academic job in New York and my Hamiltonian nephew, who owns a hippie bakery and cafe he started from scratch in a Rocky Mountain resort area. Both of them had great experiences at Hamilton.
I’m a Hamilton alum so I’m biased but I wouldn’t split hairs at that level and, if finances were not an issue, let the child pick based on his or her preferences. What do they want to study? Do they enjoy sports?