<p>NE schools preferably.</p>
<p>The catch: I'd like a strong political science program as well. (Looking to double major or at least minor.)</p>
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<p>Are you male or female?</p>
<p>Amherst strikes me for one. If you're female, add Smith and Wellesley. Middlebury is supposed to be strong for English, I think...don't know about Political Science.</p>
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<p>I'm female. :)</p>
<p>Wellesley and Smith have been among my top choices from the start. The former especially.</p>
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<p>Hmm. My D chose Smith over Wellesley. She's extremely happy and if you're interested in what led to her decision, I'd be happy to share. But I won't proselytize in this instance without an invitation. Both are good schools. But <em>for her</em>, I think she made the right choice and on my scorecard it wasn't that close.</p>
<p>What sorts of things are you looking for in your college experience besides the major?</p>
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<p>Well, as much as I'd like to wax poetic about all the things I'd love to experience during my college years, I have to be realistic. I'll be applying as a transfer (from a CC, no less; I posted my stats here <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=18268%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=18268</a>), which puts me in a "unique" position (for better or for worse).</p>
<p>But, if all things were equal in the world, my chief desire is to get a really great education, to build a solid foundation for graduate work. I'm 20 years old -- not exactly the typical 16- or 17-year-old looking to "go wild" on freedom and independence. My education and building my future are much more important to me than almost anything else. On a personal note, it's really just been a wild ride to get to where I am today. Truly, getting into a school with strong programs, a supportive faculty, and some great people would be my dream come true.</p>
<p>Would be nice to hear why your daughter chose Smith over Wellesley though. ;)</p>
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<p>The director of YMCA volunteer services that I work with went to Smith and loved it. She got into many top LAC's and Yale as a CC transfer. I think she was the type of person she was looking for; she was not a typical applicant. She was 26 and working full time while excelling in school, and they liked that. Smith offered her a nice package too, she only had to end up paying around $20,000 (total) to go there and she graduated in 2 years.</p>
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<p>Kirie, the short version is that for my D, everything about Wellesley was fine...she could see herself going there. Smith was just even better. While she has a pair of academic majors (Government and Math), she felt that other pursuits such as orchestra and ballet were more integrated at Smith, as opposed to an afterthought or something peripheral at Wellesley. While Wellesley has proximity to Boston, there's a 90-minute round-trip time penalty to do anything there...cuts down on the amount of time you can do that...whereas downtown Northampton is a five-minute walk. Northampton being "city" enough for her--restaurants, art, theater, stores, etc.--was one of her major concerns when she was checking Smith out and it passed with flying colors. In contrast, Wellesley-the-suburb is kinda dead-dead-dead. Mini (the other Smith parent who posts a lot) can do this riff better than I do but Smith has a more broadly based student body: 10 percent of the students are "older" students, from their mid-20's to 60...I met an eight-year Army vet in my D's Latin class. Also 25 percent of the student body is on a Pell grant = lower income level. My D felt--and I agreed--that Smithies collectively felt more down to earth, whereas at Wellesley it felt as if people were more tightly wound and more of a patina of "upper class" permeating things. Both schools have strong alumnae associations but the two local ones had different flavors, Wellesley's being more relentlessly careerist while Smith's seemed more holistic. Bonus points to Smith for things like ensuring a paid internship to every Smith student. Plus great junior year or semester abroad programs...which may not interest you if you're coming in as a junior. (My D is looking at splitting junior year between Washington D.C. and Budapest.) That's from the top of my head when I'm not quite fully awake. :) Smith offers more ability to take classes at other campuses, e.g., Amherst or U/Mass Amherst than Wellesley's co-registration at MIT, which by all reports is clunky. Feel free to follow up on any points of interest to you.</p>
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<p>Here are some other very good LAC choices for English and Politcal Science in the east: Barnard, Bates, Hamilton, Dickinson, Connecticut College and Skidmore. Moving west a bit, Kenyon College would be a great option.</p>
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<p>My d. chose Smith over Williams (and over Wellesley and a bunch of others.)</p>
<p>all the top flight LACs have good English departments, and most good poli. sci depts. as well. The faculty are chosen from the same pool of Ph.D.s, and who teaches where is more a matter of where there are openings in any particular year than a sign of "quality". My d. likes Smith for many reasons, including its size and the 5-college set-up. Size means departments are likely to have more variety and more depth. The 5-college set-up multiplies offerings. Smith's new poetry center makes it a mecca for poets from across the country, and this is multiplied by writers at the other 5 colleges.</p>
<p>Historically, Amherst is famous for its English department, going back about 80 years. Williams has a junior year Williams-in-Oxford program that you might find of interest.</p>
<p>But, seriously, they are all good. You might want to choose on a different basis than simply the quality of the English dept.</p>
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<p>Thanks for the insight all!</p>
<p>I think my main stumbling block is that I'm suffering from "beggars can't be choosers" syndrome, lol. It's a poor way of looking at things, but I do worry about my chances at these competitive schools. Smith has a very good transfer rate, if I recall correctly, but many of the LACs don't share that. </p>
<p>I have to say the Smith paid internship guarantee is very enticing sounding...</p>
<p>I'm a rather low-key person. I'd like to be somewhere where people are down-to-earth and friendly... I'm at a very large school right now (obviously) and I really long to be somewhere where people know each other's names, where you can really benefit from relationships with professors, etc.</p>
<p>Oy, I'm feeling more confused than ever!</p>
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<p>Bryn Mawr is strong in both English and Polisci. I have a niece who went there (just graduated) and found it to be demanding but worth it.</p>
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<p>Vassar should be added to your list , for sure.</p>
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<p>I'm going to be attending wellesley this coming school year. I checked out Smith and personally i felt the school and they town was a little too overwelmingly homosexual. I dont want to judge at all. And dont think im a bigot here or anyhting. I actually visited with my boyfriends aunts who are lesbians. But i felt a little uncomfortable in that atmosphere, i asked around town what there was to do there for night life, and i was told that one of the only nightclub type place to go was a gay disco. That part of mass. i know has a VERY large percentage of homosexuals, and i felt a little weird to be striaght at times. Wellesley does have an air of "prestige" i guess ill call it. That would come off as uptight i guess, but i like an atmosphere in which people have an "air" about them.</p>
<p>Bowdoin has a really strong government department and a solid English department as well.</p>
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<p>YOu can't go wrong with any of the LAC's mentionned above.....look at the other things that they offer (location, college layout/feel) to help you narrow your choices down.</p>
<p>Ditto reidm and travisd's suggestions; add to them Haverford, Colgate, Tufts, Trinity and Skidmore (more for the English than the polysci with the last two)</p>
<p>mackinaw,</p>
<p>I heard Bryn Mawr students have to go to Haverford for PoliSci?</p>
<p>Kenyon and Oberlin are good LACs for English in Ohio; I'm not sure perfectly sure about Oberlin, but it's definitely a great school.</p>