Visited Dickinson and was quite impressed with statements about foreign language teaching and buildings-on-the-ground study abroad facilities. Offers three more languages than Middlebury (13-10). Should we think about Dickinson over Middlebury/W&L/Oberlin/Bowdoin? He got nice merit offers at Dickinson/Oberlin, nothing from Middlebury and W&L. Outstanding learner of languages, has acquired two in classrooms and could pick up another one or two easily (interested in Arabic, not offered at W&L but may be coming and Bowdoin has a single Arabic lecturer).
Dickinson has a lot going for it and if the financial difference is significant and a consideration for your family, it will offer your son a great education. Middlebury is widely regarded as being great at languages, and I just love Bowdoin for being an all around fantastic LAC.
Money issues aside, does one stand out to him in terms of fit, socially as well as academically?
We visited and he liked them all (and the other ten to which he has been accepted) for different reasons. In these days of US News and World Report rankings, he was thinking Dickinson might be a tad less respected than the rest. But as a Princeton alum – I know name is over-rated and we are encouraging him to be thoughtful about everything.
@CluelessDad313 - Since your son is interested in Arabic, I strongly suggest he look into the US State Dept’s Critical Language Scholarship Program for college students. All expenses are paid for.
http://exchanges.state.gov/us/program/critical-language-scholarship-program
Thanks- that CLS scholarship program looks great. I should mention that his primary academic interests are not in foreign language, so he’s thinking that the undergraduate level will include extending the two he knows and/or picking up another rather than having language as a concentration. Another smallish college on his acceptance list is Holy Cross, and I would be interested in knowing about how people would think about a HC v. Dickinson decision. We’ve visited all of the colleges and he’d be comfortable at all of them. He’s a soccer player and late recruit at one of the colleges but by the time we applied to the others the varsity spaces had all been filled (ED and junior year recruits).
Holy Cross is D1, so there could be stronger, more competitive club options for a soccer player who wants to keep competing at some level. At the D3s, its going to be intermural soccer, which may not be as satisfying for him. Of the schools you have mentioned (my kid is a junior looking to play D3 so we have had some conversations about this), Oberlin might look at walk-ons. Midd, Bowdoin, Dickinson all too competitive to likely consider a late walk on.
More generally, my kid loved Dickinson, it was the real surprise on our trip. Seemed like a good mix of kids, well-organized and effective administration, and impressive programs.
How is your kid with winter and winter sports? If he doesn’t love outdoor winter sports, that could be another plus for Dickinson and Oberlin. We visited the Maine schools recently and it was mid 30s with some flurries – my kid realized winter would be very long if he went there.
Good luck to your son in his choice, he has some wonderful opportunities.
We did have late-in-the-day conversations with all of the D-I and D-III coaches (except one prominent university, where the coach never responded to any of our emails despite 50 or so spam-type invitations to us to attend clinics etc.). I think all of the club options need to be evaluated individually. All of the D-IIIs including Dickinson Bowdoin and Middlebury apparently do have club options. A key question is whether there is some history of movement from club to varsity. As to consideration for late walk-ons, I think the question is simply whether they still have space in roster. In January of H.S. senior year, probably 90-95% of top D-I and D-III colleges have already filled all of their spots for the fall and the few openings will vary year-to-year.