<p>My son's ideal college would be one in which the classes are generally small and the discussions are intelligent, energetic, critical, intellectual, engaging and meaningful. Unfortunately for him, most of the schools we've found that fit that description are too selective for his meager 3.1 gpa. His high school is very rigorous, his test scores (SAT & AP) are good and his extracurriculars are also good. We would prefer the eastern half of the country. Right now he is considering Goucher, Clark, Bard, Earlham and Franklin and Marshall. Any thoughts?
Howie</p>
<p>muhlenberg college
hendrix college
allegheny college</p>
<p>any other criteria to narrow it down? Majors, Greek life, hates cities, sports etc.? Are how high are those test scores?</p>
<p>CTCL schools tend to have small classes and more liberal admissions.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ctcl.org%5B/url%5D”>www.ctcl.org</a></p>
<p>Perhaps some of these:
[COPLAC</a> | Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges](<a href=“http://www.coplac.org/students/admissions.html]COPLAC”>http://www.coplac.org/students/admissions.html)</p>
<p>Obviously, criteria like intended or possible majors and costs have to be considered (many of the above list have low list prices, even for out-of-state, but may not have much, if any, out-of-state financial aid beyond that).</p>
<p>St. Mary’s College of Maryland? Pretty rural, but the location is lovely. It is the public honors college and Maryland and quite “LAC-like”. Price is decent even for out of state compared to most privates, too.</p>
<p>Our DS, Freshman at Hendrix, could not be happier. Went to family weekend and was approached at the faculty coffee by most of his professors who clearly knew him well (he wasn’t with us, they read our nametags and approached) and had many things to say about his work thus far. I was blown away. I was deep into my major at FSU (which I LOVED) before any teacher knew my name.</p>
<p>Our daughter wanted all those things and is very very happy at Bard. Also hear great things about Earlham,which is perhaps a little less selective in a good way.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, most small liberal arts colleges have some classes that operate as you describe and some that do not. It all depends on the individual professors.</p>
<p>Many such schools are well within the range of a student with your son’s stats.</p>
<p>Ditto Hendrix. Rhodes and Knox are also good choices.</p>