Daughter accepted with good $ to all three. Looking to find good fit for her, she is studious, kind, not into partying but looking to meet new people and find spread her wings. Plan to tour each but looking for whatever information you can provide.
D20 attempted to tour Dickinson twice but both visits were cancelled for weather in Feb 2019 but it had a lot of the characteristics she was looking for. She didn’t end up applying because we capped her at 10 and we couldn’t make it back another time.
Union is in our area and we toured but she didn’t apply because it was too close to home. She isn’t a STEM kid, more humanities, and felt it was a bit too STEM focused for her. It is a really pretty campus in a not-so-great area. The one thing that stood out is the trimester system. If there is any thought in your mind that you might transfer out, there can be issues getting credit at other schools.
She loved, LOVED Conn!!! Visited twice, and applied but had to withdraw because of an ED acceptance elsewhere. Gorgeous campus with a beautiful botanical garden, friendly students, everyone seemed genuinely happy there. Lots of opportunity to explore different academic areas.
Feel free to ask specifics!
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Thanks so much~ forgot to say Psych major, but more humanities or BA focused, than BS, plans to go to go for doctorate in counseling psychology. We drove through Conn also, but so hard when you don’t see any students and can’t get a feel. Plan to tour the as well in April.
D20 is not into partying, wanted opportunities to play her instrument as a non-music major, and tends to be shy. She was looking for friendly students who weren’t consumed with sports or frat parties and wanted to find other intellectually curious students. If your D is similar, I might place Union third in terms of “fit”.
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Thank you so much, which school is your DD in?
Haha! Let’s just say the exact opposite of what would have been the best “fit”… a school with D1 athletics, tons of Greek life, and top party school. That being said, she has managed to find a group of like-minded friends and has branched out into a lot of different areas of interest (still not sports, Greek life, or parties). She went ED at the school where she felt the most connection to faculty members she met at various campus open houses because she wanted “intellectual rigor”.
She sounds like a good fit for Conn Coll.
Union has a lot of partying and Greek life, the other two less so. My daughter nearly chose Dickinson back in the day and I suspect you will find somewhat more studious students there. Conn College is nice, perhaps not quite as much partying as the other two, but, frankly, all will have partying.
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We visited all of those schools. We didn’t like Union’s location, and we saw quite a few off campus people using the campus as a walk-through. Also heard it had more of a party rep than the other two. Conn was a bit too small, and there wasn’t anything that stood out as special. We live fairly close, so that was probably a negative for my D as well. Campus seemed sleepy. D and I both loved Dickinson. The library is swoon worthy! (D ranked libraries at all the schools she visited, lol.) The students were all super nice and down to earth. Found a nice mix of nerdy, athletic, artsy types. Town is cute, academics very good. Kind of a “just right,” well balanced school.
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Of these, we only visited Dickinson, but I think your daughter probably couldn’t go wrong choosing it. My D got into her ED school (William & Mary) but all of her other choices were LACs, and Dickinson was near the top of her list, and a personal favorite of mine. My D is also studious, not a partier (so far!), sociable but a little shy, and I would have been very comfortable sending her there. I love the strong study-abroad/global/environmental emphasis of the school… think it brings a nice atmosphere to campus, even for those students not focusing on those areas of study.
Some people are a little put off by the town road that bisects the campus, but it is a pleasant, tree-lined two-laned road bordered by picturesque stone walls and stop-signs at every corner, with the leafy campus spread out on either side. We kind of liked the feeling of the campus having a connection to the town (and it’s a town, not a city atmosphere). The several blocks of nearby town…mom and pop/international restaurants, coffee shops, gift boutiques, town library, town square with its weekly farmer’s market just a couple of blocks from campus is really cute.
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We looked at Dickinson and ConnCollege for my D20. She did not apply to Conn and ended up at a different school than Dickinson. As a poster mentioned above, Conn College seemed sleepy to us. It just didn’t have much of a vibe to it at all. It was about 1pm on a Saturday and there was no one around. The campus was very pretty but a bit boring in its style. There is nothing really in walking distance and the town we drove through didn’t really have much there. Educationally, it seemed very solid. Dickinson had a really pretty, interesting campus. It seemed really big for the amount of students that attend and it definitely had an international feel to it (our tour guide was from Singapore). Academics there also seemed very solid.
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If your daughter is not into partying, then Union College may not be the best choice. And I say this as one who has very positive thoughts about this school in several respects. Strong academics, very outgoing, social students, and among the best assessors of athletic talent .
Both Conn College & Dickinson have more females than males while Union has more male students. Conn College is close to the US Coast Guard Academy.
Maybe an odd comment, but Conn College seems a bit more formal than the other options.
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We visited Dickinson several times as my student was going through athletic recruiting, and visited Conn Coll once, and we know a handful of recent Dickinson alums, including extended family members. I cannot speak to Union, though agree that the trimester format is distinctive.
Dickinson and Conn Coll felt like they have a lot of overlap in terms of the type of student and vibe – nice kids, busy, fun. Both seemed to draw heavily from the Northeast corridor, DC to Boston, though I do not know the actual geographic distribution numbers. As Conn Coll was originally a women’s college, there is no greek life nor is there a football team, though there are other men’s sports. Conn Coll has strong fine arts and modern dance, but the students didn’t seem noticeably more “artsy” or “quirky” than Dickinson, Bates, Denison etc., where we also visited a lot.
The biggest differences are in the campus set-up and feel. Conn Coll is separate from the town of New London, not walking distance to any shops as far as we could tell. Lots of lovely Gothic college buildings, plus some more modern buildings, including the art museum and fine arts building, which is on the main quad. Athletic facilities felt a bit dated to us, and my kid didn’t love that you had to walk across a pedestrian bridge to get to the athletic facilities. Although a neat school, it came off our list because he could not see himself playing for that coach. As a parent, I was impressed by the commitment to summer internship stipend for all students and the Honor Code. For someone with access to Amtrak, it is easier to get to than Dickinson.
In contrast, Dickinson is a few blocks from the town shops, and there is a road which “bisects” campus, though as others noted, it’s not really an issue, students walk back and forth across it all day. Lots of history on campus, since it was founded by Benjamin Rush in the 1780s. Athletic facilities are newly renovated and gorgeous, my kid also liked the small houses owned by the college which are part of the housing stock. Fine arts building is very cool – a converted factory building with student housing attached. There is greek life, but according to the students we know, it is there for those interested and pretty irrelevant for everyone else. Since campus is more interconnected with parts of town, it feels more busy and active than the enclosed campus at Conn Coll.
A student really can’t go wrong with any of these, that’s wonderful that you can visit to get a feel this spring!
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Thank you we drove through both campuses and now have official tours booked, just hard when you can’t really see how a campus is with students bustling about and to get a feel for the campus/culture.
Hi! My D also was accepted to Conn and Dickinson and we have toured both. Conn requires a negative covid test to come on campus, but once there, you are not allowed in any of the buildings. It was nice to have a tour guide, but that is where the visit ended. We are really struggling to get a “vibe” for the campus population. I am tempted to call admissions to ask if there is any other opportunity that my D can take to get to know them better. They are now offering zoom sessions for accepted students, but what she really needs is in-person impressions. I did not get the feeling that Conn admissions know how to communicate what the school is all about during these covid times.
We visited Dickinson last week. In my mind, they can do no wrong. Unlike Conn, they were very good at their admissions communications as soon as they knew my D was interested. Once accepted, they had great communications and “gifts” and stuff that was telling. The Accepted student day last Friday was great - student panel AND faculty panel. We heard from a number of admissions people and a Dean or two. The tour was self guided, but students were placed at certain spots around campus for people to talk to re certain things. The campus was pretty - though we did not see the inside of buildings, I really didn’t miss it bc the purpose was to learn about the vibe, and we were able to feel it! As others have said - The school emphasizes global education, has a language requirement and seems academically rigorous. They offer archaeology as a major (rare at LACs) and just added a Data Analytics major for the fall. They are positive about the school re how they have addressed covid and how they will go forward. I really liked their approach to everything. Their admissions approach and what they wanted to make sure we knew/understood was clearly planned and intelligent - regardless of covid.
So while I would love to say she loves Conn, we just cant feel it. Dickinson seems to be a wonderful school.
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We also toured Dickinson on Friday (maybe we were there together)! And felt the same they were very welcoming and attentive and she really liked it. We have a tour planned for Conn next Monday, but I am really hoping to get more of a feel for campus, vibe, students, information session, something. It is so important.
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PLEASE let me know what you feel about Conn after your visit. There is NO information session - just a tour. I so wish they could do what Dickinson did.
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Hi - We toured yesterday (it was not sunny and I wish it was because I feel like sometimes that makes a difference), but I think she is leaning towards Conn, she said there is just something about it, she feels like she will find a home there. We saw a few students walking around they all seemed to have their own style and vibe and be individuals, which she liked. The tour guide was very nice and the admissions dean was there to answer questions. We walked into the arboretum which I assume will be beautiful in spring and fall. I think she likes that there is no greek life (she has no interest in that). She likes the freedom to take classes that are of interest to her. She likes the campus and the location, we went to Mystic beforehand and had lunch and that is very cute and she could see herself spending lots of time there. I wish we could have seen inside of buildings and dorms to see how updated (or not) they are. Dickinson was very pretty and everyone was very nice and accessible there as well, but perhaps it is a little more landlocked. I was looking into things to do around Conn and they include, Mystic, ferry to block island and orient point LI, trains to Providence, Boston and NY, concerts at Mohegan Sun/Foxwoods (assuming you can go there for concerts even in not 21?), about an hour from Newport, RI. The tour guide said they do interact with the Coast Guard Academy and either schools students can take classes at the others, she said that some students go to the Coast Guard formals, etc. so I guess that adds additional males to the picture. We brought a sweatshirt, hat and a camel, if that tells you anything! Would love to hear others perspectives and input please!!
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Thanks for keeping us in the loop! My D has conn at #2 right now, and Dickinson is 3 or 4. She is still working on it. She is signed up for a few of the camel day zooms this week. I can’t wait to get the “gear” wherever she decides. That is fun.
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Please share her number one if you feel comfortable.