Bowdoin/Wesleyan/Vassar/Hamilton/?Colby...

College Search & Selection
1

<p>My daughter is interested in majoring in Chem and Spanish and would like to go pre-dental. She is choosing among:</p>

<p>Wesleyan- accepted, early write
Vassar- accepted
Hamilton- accepted
Bowdoin- accepted
Colby- accepted
Bates- accepted
Skidmore-accepted
UVA OOS- accepted</p>

<p>She loves Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Vassar and Hamilton. She likes Colby a whole lot too, and everyone seems to be pushing for UVA. So we need any help anyone can give us! (We haven't visited Wes.)</p>

<p>What she likes best:
* Academic strength
* Academic freedom. Ideally: open curriculum, 4 courses a semester, no + or - grading
* Co-ed
* A nice town with at least some shops and restaurants within walking distance
* Approachable faculty, small class size
* Not a heavy drinking/ partying atmosphere (not "where fun goes to die" either) </p>

<p>So..
* Bowdoin- pro: great students, great faculty, she just seemed to fit right in, great academics, etc, etc
negative: a little far from home (9 hours versus 6 for most of the schools), not much of a town but a nice town, a little less well-known (compared to Wes and Vassar) so we're having a bit more trouble gathering info, no open curriculum, + and - grades (I know it sounds weird, but she is really turned off by that)</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Vassar- pro: open curriculum, 2 hours from relatives, 3 day weekends, wonderful pre-medical office; negative: Poughkeepsie, How much of a dating life will a heterosexual black girl have there? (Please don't take offense at this. It's just that with the male-female ratio of 40-60, the supposed presence of a sizeable gay male population, the lack of black men and the fact that, in general, white men are less likely to date black girls, I just want to know if she can have a dating life.)</p></li>
<li><p>Wes- we haven't seen it; pro- we've heard great things of this school and they really seem to want her, it's a little bigger than the rest, it seems to be the most diverse negative- People keep telling us it's extremely liberal. Does that mean it's 'co-ed showers liberal' and/or do you HAVE to be politically active to fit in? </p></li>
<li><p>Hamilton- open curriculum, beautiful facilities and the labs are incredible, nice people, nice little town; negatives: the graduation rate is a little lower than the other 3, the school is a little more remote, the school is a little less well-known, the entering student stats are a touch lower, the graduation rate a bit lower-- Does this mean it's not as good academically?, Is it a heavy drinking/drugs school? (I only ask because one student we met kept mentioning partying and Greek life.)</p></li>
</ul>

<hr>

<p>Other schools:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>UVA- a lot of people are pushing UVA, the biggest negative is it seemed a little racially segregated to us, it's also bigger than she wanted and a little more Greek than we would like</p></li>
<li><p>Colby- We saw this school late on night and she liked it more than I did so... positive: nice people, remote but she thought it was ok, one student told us she was having trouble in calculus and the professor arranged to tutor her weekly for free! (wow!), negative: furthest from home, Is it as strong as Bowdoin?, a little remote, nothing within walking distance</p></li>
<li><p>Bates- very, very nice to her but I think she's ruled it out-- didn't like Lewiston or honors thesis</p></li>
<li><p>Skidmore has the best town but we're not sure the science program is as rigorous as her other choices</p></li>
</ul>

2

<p>I would say Bowdoin or Wesleyan out of that list; especially if she isn't goin to like the party scene of UVA, not to mention it's at least four times the size of all those other schools. From what I've seen, Hamilton does have more of a drug reputation out of those schools, even out of the hippie Wesleyan, Bates, Vassar crowds.</p>

3

<p>As a Wes student, I've found that Wes is more co-ed bathroom (not showers!) liberal, and less you HAVE to be poltically active to fit in liberal. I mean, a ton of students are politcally active (and not all for liberal causes: we do have a perhaps not large but vocal campus republicans club), but it's possible not to be and still fit in. I'm not really politically active, and I'm very happy here...in fact, I thought I'd be more potlcially active than I am, but found other things I wanted to do more!. I wouldn't imagine that it is much, if any, more liberal than Vassar, from what my friends there tell me.</p>

<p>Anyway, I'd really encorage her to visit Wes if possible, or strongly consider it even if she can't, as it fits all of your requirments, is warmer than Bowdoin, and has a better town and more balanced sex ratio than Vassar. I'd be happy to answer any questions you/she has about it via PM.</p>

4

<p>first of all, congrats to your daughter! truly an awsome list, and no pick will be a bad one!
that being said, i think wesleyan would be the school that meets all of her criteria- laid back students with little peer pressure to party, strong sciences with research opportunities, and a cute downtown area just a few blocks from the center of campus. poughkeepsie (Vassar) is not the greatest town in the world, and the three maine schools have more of a drinking reputation (not saying they are big party schools, but drinking is more rampant there).
I definitely agree that she should try to visit the schools to try to get the 'feel'</p>

5

<p>She sounds a Bowdoin or Wes type...from what I've heard of both schools, that is</p>

6

<p>I think she sounds great for Wesleyan or Hamilton! Both are really great schools.
Wesleyan would be a great fit! And the people there are very accepting of everyone, even people who aren't politically active.
Hamilton is no less of an "academic" school than any of the others on your list. The reason the enrollment stats are lower is because Hamilton tries hard to accept people based on personality. Hamilton looks at your essays and interview, and activities before your SAT scores because they want to evaluate you as a person before they evaluate you as a scholar. This ensures that they accept a community of intelligent, engaging people, instead of mindless, number-crunching robots. They are the 17th best liberal arts college in US News and World Reports... make no mistake, Hamilton will be rigorous and challenging.
Hamilton has a really great social scene in my opinion (I'm not a big drinking/drugs person either). When I slept over, I hung out with Sophomores who went to a trivia night on campus and then had a pizza and buffalo wings party at 11 o'clock... It was really cute. The girl I was staying with said that drinking and drugs really wasn't a bad problem at Hamilton. There is a significant population that isn't into that stuff.
Also, although Hamilton is not well-known to the general population, it is highly respected by well-educated people, and that's where it matters the most. And Hamilton is REALLY great with job placement.
Good luck with whatever you choose!! All of the schools are amazing!!</p>

7

<p>Go Bowdoin or UVA.</p>