Colby has Japanese in its East Asian studies. You’re right, not language as a major, so the OP would have to see whether this meets their needs. I think they could sit in on a class when they visit.
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They’re based on Hamilton being included in them. 
hello and thank you for elaborating.
I am visiting the Maine area this summer – I am 100% visiting Bowdoin, first of all, but I might visit Bates as well because it seems to have a nice vibe. as for Colby, I haven’t looked into the school so I don’t know for certain (will definitely research). so I’m correct in assuming I could find my niche at any of these colleges?
I think so! I would check out all 3 if you can. Colby has some very cool stuff going on along your interests. It’s not that far.
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thank you for detailing everything. I think I’ll look into all of these colleges (especially the ones I have >20% chance for – Bowdoin, Pomona, and possibly Wes already fill up the <20% category). I still think literature would be my main thing. Japanese literature in specific would be something I can dive deep later on since I don’t think my Japanese skills would deteriorate during college.
The included schools in College Transitions and Princeton Review sites vary, of course. However, it would make zero sense to post one in this topic oriented toward, say, biochemistry, as in this example: College compare - #8 by merc81.
You may want to take a look at Occidental as well. Very good school. Creative, diverse, and laid back students. Vibrant community. Connections in the music industry.
More generally, while most of the focus in the thread has been on possible majors, you may also want to consider the student body and the community as well. Some locations may be more suited to pursue your interests in Japanese culture and literature, music, etc. Southern California (Pomona, Oxy, Pitzer, etc.) may check a number of boxes in this regard.
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personal opinion but a lot of rankings tend to place LACs “below” larger-sized institutions, which makes me unsure that I can trust those rankings (since those things shouldn’t be compared). what do you think?
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thanks for the school suggestions. I had been considering socal because of Pomona, but for some weird reason I like colder weather better. will look into Occidental though, seems like an interesting school.
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You are very smart to ED and since Bowdoin is your 1st choice that is a great ED1. An ED2 at Wesleyan or Kenyon is also great if you are denied ED1 at Bowdoin. I would just look into them both and see which you think you would prefer and also visit if you can. Good luck to you!
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A few questions for OP (and other contributors) -
When we look at these stats on number of majors, is it clear (and/or consistent) whether these statistics include secondary majors or just primary ones? As a 5C’s parent, I know that there are many Claremont Colleges students (including my kid) who complete a foreign language/culture major as a secondary major - not sure whether that’s showing up in these stats or not.
OP, it sounds as if browsing course offerings is one of the biggest ways that you’re judging the appeal of different schools. When you express ambivalence about Pomona’s offering and “vibe,” is that entirely about course offerings or are there other “vibe” factors to which you are referring? Also, are you looking at course offerings across the whole consortium, or just the Pomona-specific classes in Pomona’s course catalog? One of the benefits of the 5C’s is the wealth of course offerings, as the majority of classes are open to cross-registration (and signing up for unrestricted classes on other campuses is just as easy as signing up for classes on one’s own campus - it’s one common registration portal). There are many literature and philosophy classes through Claremont McKenna, Scripps, and Pitzer that would be just as accessible to you as the Pomona classes, so be sure to explore the full range of offerings before ruling it out. I’m definitely not pressuring you to keep Pomona on the list if you’re not feeling it - preferring more of an east coast vibe is a perfectly legitimate thing, and Pomona is a tough/unpredictable admit anyway, especially if it’s not your first choice and therefore not an ED option. But a consortium can be a nice way to preserve that small-school feel that you like, while opening up a broader range of courses each semester than a single small school can offer.
In a similar vein, I haven’t seen Amherst College mentioned here. It seems worthy of consideration in its own right, based on your criteria, plus it would give you access to classes at the other four schools in the 5-college consortium, notably UMass Amherst which is a pretty heavy hitter in Asian Studies. You would have the small LAC experience, but you could also skim the cream of smaller, upper-division (and even grad-level) classes that UMass offers in Japanese language and literature, etc.
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Good point. I do believe the IPEDS data are concerning first majors and do not include secondary (double) majors.
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thank you for pushing Pomona’s potential benefits here. I knew about the consortium but didn’t know that it could play such a huge role – I will reconsider by looking into that (it is true that east coast vibe is preferable for me though). maybe I’ll find that another 5C school is a better fit for me, but I might RD (at the least) to one of them.
also, it’s a lack of clarification on my part that I’m judging schools just by course listing. I’ve looked into lots of life stuff as well (Pomona’s unusual traditions, quiet student culture, free music classes; Wesleyan’s active student-led music scene and film-study culture; Bennington’s amazing campus and creative writing community to name a few), but I was focusing on course selection because it’s convenient when making out what kind of learning a college prioritizes.
as for Amherst, I’ll look into that too but I feel it would be tough considering that it neither has an ED2 option nor a EA option. it would have to take something groundbreaking at this point to make me ED1 there. think it’ll be a great RD round consideration nevertheless.
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one more thing if I may ask: are these chances for students in general or for someone like me? a lot of the advice I’ve received from people around me have been definitively “you will get in” or “you won’t” [and this is for the same school], so I’m a bit worried about under/overestimating my chances.
thank you!
I’ve chanced you based on what I think your chances are, not the school’s general admit rate. And though you’ve put Wesleyan in the Low Probability (less than 20%) bucket, I personally would have put it in the Lower Probability one (20-39%).
Mind you, I am not an admissions professional. These are just my guesses based on your stats, the school’s stats (including the percentage who submit test scores), as well as your interests and aspects of your profile that might appeal to colleges. I will also admit, however, that many think that I usually chance conservatively.
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OP, I don’t think anyone has ever asked to be chanced for highly rejective schools and gotten a “you are definitely getting admitted!” response. There are some who are pretty sure to NOT get in, and that’snot you… You have everything it takes and seem interesting. Interesting matters ar these small schools as schools want to have engaged, vibrant communities. They want more than students who just show up for class and do well academically-- they want students who will produce plays, publish newspapers, organize intramurals, create entertainment, be friends, field sports teams, volunteer in the community, etc. All those things make their campuses buzz. You look like you can contribute.
To me, this means you make it past any initial screens, but after that, who knows? I think your odds are good, but it’s really impossible for any of us to say beyond that. You will not be wasting your ED on something that could never be.
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The better online sites may use a formal approach to evaluating colleges (such as through the collection of survey information or, simply, through the compilation of existing public data) that may reveal characteristics and attributes of schools that might not be evident otherwise. Nonetheless, I’d say that you have, smartly, brought critical reasoning to your interpretation of online information. As suggestions, (1) consider various sites for new ideas for colleges you might not have previously considered, but (2) do not eliminate any colleges of interest based on anything other than your own thorough research.
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yep, just making sure that what I’m going for is not too much up to chance.
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Have you looked at Middlebury? Strong in humanities, great environmental program, home of the New England Review and the Bread Loaf School of English and Writers Conference. Similar to Bowdoin except larger and in the mountains of Vermont instead of on the coast of Maine. More rural than Bowdoin, but in a town that has all the necessities. Fills the majority of its class in the ED rounds.
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yes, I have. the main thing is that I’ve heard it has a pretty preppy culture (which I don’t mind, but I would prefer something granola like Bates or Bennington). please refute me if this isn’t the case, but that is my impression of Middlebury. can’t discount its great language programs though!