I was waitlisted at both Connecticut College and Union College. This past week, I was offered places at both colleges for the fall of 2016. I’m interested in more STEM related subjects and I know that Union is stronger on that front, even though Conn is sronger overall academically, but Conn offered enough FA so that I would pay about $5,000 less per year than I would at Union. I’m pretty lost on what to do, any any information would be greatly appreciated
Congratulations! These are both really good, nice schools.
If you’re interested in STEM, I think you might be happier with Union; because of its engineering school, its academic offerings cater to a more “STEM-y” student body. Union also gets very high marks on its alumni network when it comes to job placements. I’m not sure how you concluded that Union is stronger academically; we reached the opposite conclusion. DS also had the chance to sit in on classes at both, and while a comparison based on a single day is rather risky given the randomness, he felt that the students at Union were much more engaged. With all of that said, I suspect that academically, they are relatively similar. At both, I think that the student-faculty connections are strong.
A couple of other things you might consider… Do you have a preference for the academic calendar of one over the other? (Personally, I like Union’s trimester system with a little faster pace and 3 classes at a time with 3 new starts a year; DS couldn’t have cared less.) Schenectady is less nice than New London, but both have Amtrak service to NYC (if that matters). Conn will pay you $3600 (I think that’s the #!) if you do an unpaid internship. Union is the school where fraternities were invented and Greek life plays a big role in the social scene (although apparently, it’s not mandatory to be in a frat or sorority to have a good time there.) Conn has no Greek life.
As for the money, that depends on your situation. If you are in the fortunate situation that it’s just something to be considered, I’d pick the school that feels like it’d be the best fit. If, on the other hand, it’ll cause you real hardship to pay the $5000 per year, that’s going to have to be a bigger consideration.
Both are fine schools. If the price differential is meaningful to your family then go with Conn College. Other than that, go with your preference. I agree that things to consider are Union’s particular strength in the STEM fields, trimester v semester, Greek Life v no Greek Life, if you like sports Union has a great hockey team (I think they won the national championship a few years ago). I visited Union with my D a few years ago and although she went elsewhere in the end, we were very impressed by their STEM facilities.
While Union has a strong Engineering program, Conn college is also strong in sciences, in particular Physics and Astronomy and there is a fair amount of research going on in science fields for a small school. They also have an aboretum which supports ecological research/studies. So your choice may be influenced by what type of science you are interested in. And of course the fit and feel of the school to you should be very important in your decision making.
Thanks for all your responses. They helped a lot. We’re going to visit Union again on Saturday with the hopes that I’ll have some gut feeling about it, if I don’t get that feeling I will have a lot of thinking to do. We are also going to ask the FA people at Union if they could look again at what they can offer, so if they give more and I love the Union campus as much as I have before, I will probably end up going there.
You can’t make a bad decision with two such good choices.
My daughter is in the same position this year - March 2017. She was accepted and received merit at both and is interested in pre-med. Any new thoughts or advice?
Do the revisit! Different vibe at each. One might really feel very right or wrong. Congrats. Great options!
@Momof3inCT The OP has not been on CC since 2016
How much does 5 G’s matter?
Union is better ranked.
RANKING KNOWS ALL
Please don’t post to old threads.