<p>What’s hippy about Hampshire? I might have some free time in that area and was thinking of visiting it but if the environment’s too “out there” then may as well not bother.</p>
<p>Hippy as in grungy clothes, dreadlocks and general air of “out thereness”. Many of the students in the class I visited had that look. I know this is totally a stereotype but it was what I felt/saw when I visited. Also, I heard from a friend who went to Mount Holyoke that most Hampshire students do drugs. [might be most of the students she knew but Hampshire has a reputation for drug use]</p>
<p>bumpppppppppp</p>
<p>What about Eckerd in Florida - another CTCL school. There’s not a lot of activity on the Eckerd forum. Is anyone familiar with it or have any opinions on it?</p>
<p>Yes, Hampshire is really out there. It is very unstructured, and the kinds of kids who go there tend to be upper-middle-class latter day hippies.</p>
<p>@rockvillemom - Younger dd just completed her first year at Eckerd. What is it you’re wanting to know?</p>
<p>New College of Florida is fairly selective, although they are more concerned with being shown that the student is self motivated and unique rather than a strong academic record. I have found the students to be intellectual and passionate about their interests, they will talk your ear off about what they are studying if you let them. They are also a bit zany, and have a wide variety of interests. In regards to partying, the students both work and play hard. While the parties are nothing compared to what goes on at larger colleges, considering the size of the school a large portion(probably around a 1/4) of the population attend the end of the week parties. There are also alternative events offered at the same time as these parties, for the people who prefer to play Magic cards or Rockband. It is true that the small size means a limit on what is offered, however as long as you are friendly with the professors it is extremely easy to create your own classes on subjects that are not usually offered. For example last semester I was able to take, and get credit for, a Turkish language class even though it is not offered as a regular course. If anyone has any specific questions about New College feel free to PM me!</p>
<p>Evergreen has a rep in-state as a pretty loose, hippie, stoner college. The kids who choose it tend to fit that image. (Not saying that’s good or bad, just passing on the local reputation.)</p>
<p>Have you looked at the University of Puget Sound? They have a fairly unique major in International Political Economy which may interest you. I know several alums who loved it.</p>
<p>Which of the CTCL colleges are not very rural? Most seem to be pretty rural.</p>
<p>I went to the College of Wooster for 3 years. It is filled with some of the most down to earth people I’ve ever met in my life – very accomplished and passionate. It’s mostly compiled of students who did just okay in high school, but not for a lack of intelligence, for a lack of anything stimulating. Most of us were just bored to tears in High School. It’s a great place with a personal touch, the President reads every essay of every accepted student and writes a comment about it on your acceptance letter. Very good with merit aid. Its a small town location, with Akron and Cleveland 30-45 minute drive away. The Independent Study and research opportunities make Fulbright and Truman scholarships prominent for such a small school – also viewed highly by Grad Schools around the country. Makes you a fantastic writer too – I’ve been told that by my new school, and every internship I’ve had.</p>
<p>Why did I transfer? There are very limited job opportunities during the school year, and since I would go home to an even more economically depressed area than central-Ohio during the summer – I had a quarter-life crisis about finding a job out of college and transferred to the city. So if your family has better connections than I do, or if you’re just more dedicated and go finding internships in big cities, or if you go straight to grad school, it’s a perfect place.</p>
<p>Reed is in the city of Portland, Oregon.</p>
<p>CTCL was one of two books (the other being The Gatekeepers) that introduced us into the world of college admissions and finding a school. I thought the most important facet of the book was giving us a few different ways of looking at potential colleges. We had not considered many of the things the author discusses in the book.</p>
<p>Ended up visiting 3 of the schools: St. Olaf, Wheaton, and Hope. Hope and St. Olaf ended at the top of the list for our D (I tagged along on her visits and agreed with her assessment). Wheaton was not her cup of tea.</p>
<p>bumpp againn</p>
<p>The Colleges of Distinction website features many similar schools.</p>
<p>ca_mom2000 - Thanks for getting back to me on Eckerd. I’m trying to decide, without visiting for now, if this school fits my son. He is about a 3.5 GPA - close to a 4.0 weighted GPA. Has not taken the ACT yet - he’ll be a junior in the fall - but I’m going out on a limb and predicting a 28. Might want to major in business, which I believe Eckerd offers. He’s kind of a quiet kid - so I see him more at a small-medium school - not a large university for sure. I like the idea of small class sizes and he generally wants to head south from our location in MD. I could see him doing intermural sports and being involved in Hillel. I heard of Eckerd because of CTCL - I have looked at the website quite a bit. Would you say it sounds like it might be a fit for him? Would you be able to generalize what types of kids like Eckerd and what types do not? We will try to visit the next time we are in Florida - but not planning to make a special trip. He might apply without visiting - hard to predict. What do you like the most and also dislike the most about the school? </p>
<p>Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>bump 10 char</p>
<p>We were delighted to learn of this book/website. It opened our thinking to what college should be about: learning, learning to learn and problem solve, and broadening beyond areas of your major only so you can enter the world a multi-dimensional person. </p>
<p>Yes, some of the schools are ‘easier’ to get into, but that doesn’t mean that top students don’t apply and attend. We visited Lawrence with our Son and loved it! He is interested in physics and music, possibly as a double major, or definitely with music as a minor. We also visited Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, U of Illinois U/C, U of Wisconsin, U Pitt, UChicago, and Oberlin. He is applying to Lawrence, CMU, U of I, U of W, Oberlin and NU. We all like Lawrence best however. </p>
<p>All of the Big Us had a factory-feel to us, churning out good students with degrees, but without much individual distinction. The huge lecture halls were a definite turn off. </p>
<p>NU and CMU are smaller Us and have a more LAC-feel. It will be a tough decision if he gets into NU and/or CMU, since they are big names, and well-regarded (although are about 10K more than Lawrence per year). We’ll post as we move through the process, but without CTCL we would never have known about Lawrence, which has an excellent arts culture, sciences program, is liberal, and offers merit aid. They also had the best on-campus visit day we’ve experienced.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the reviews! I’m visiting Lawrence tomorrow so I’ll let everyone know how it goes</p>
<p>I just got back from Lawrence. The campus was very pretty–all the buildings were new, grass was clean cut, it’s next on the lake and there are tennis courts are on the lake, and there were plenty of large rooms to sit down and study. I had a one on one tour which was very nice, and the tour guide was great–he knew EVERYONE that he passed by and he seemed like he truly loved Lawrence. Although there were not many students there, it seemed like there was a sense of community there and everyone was accepting. The tour guide was very loose and relaxed, but you could tell he was also focused on his academics, which I really liked. I really recommend it to anyone who wants a small, accepting school that has great academics, but also knows how to have a good time.</p>
<p>WiscoKid–glad you enjoyed your visit to Lawrence!</p>