Any thoughts on Dickinson’s relatively low Quality of Life Rating of 77 in the 2016 Princeton Review Best 380 Colleges book? Having put together a comparative chart of the various colleges my son has been admitted to this score kind of jumps of the page compared to the 90’s his other schools got. Thing is, from the tour Dickinson was amazing it seemed. Beautiful campus, not just the outside, but the interior of the buildings seemed to be the best that we had seen… everything was really nice. Student center / cafeteria was a little tired, not quite as updated as most other colleges we toured. Campus seemed pretty safe during the day. No qualms about walking anywhere around campus. Of course you only get to walk through one dorm, but again the common spaces and dorm itself seemed fine, better than several of the colleges with higher quality of life rankings. Princeton Review says the rank is based on student responses regarding how happy they are with their campus experiences outside of the classroom including overall happiness, beauty, safety, location of campus, ease of getting around, dealing with administration, friendliness of fellow students, interaction of different student types on campus and within the greater community. Thoughts? We thought the place was great and are surprised to see this score.
off lol, goodness, too early to be posting on CC I guess… don’t grade my spelling!
DS really liked Dickinson (although didn’t choose it in the end) and friends that went there liked it as well. Kids were definitely friendly.
Could be that it’s not a big party school. Could be that Carlisle is a great student town but not an urban hub. If it feels right to you, I would not worry too much about the rankings. They do a good accepted students day, and that’d be a perfect time to ask current students what they do outside class and see if the answers resonate with you. Sometimes it helps to ask “what is the one thing you wish this school had (that relates to things to do outside class) that it doesn’t”.
I would not be put off by this!
I agree. We had similar positive impressions of Dickinson, with one difference being that we were impressed by the student center because it was so full of life! We know a junior who loves it there. Go with your gut!
Perhaps check out the reviews and comments on College Niche
D applied to Dickinson and was accepted ED because we were very favorably impressed with the place. Compared to very similar LAC’s that were among her top choices, it seemed to us that Dickinson definitely had better and cleaner facilities overall. Also, from a marketing and communications standpoint, the school was far superior to others on our list. I suspect the qualify of life rating might have gotten dinged due to town-gown relations, since negative comments on Niche tended to relate to Carlisle. It’s possible the dorms are just so-so, judging from older remarks on the same site, but I didn’t notice anything wrong there when we visited. I’d add that one downside that could be affecting the rating is the availability of transportation, since I think students have to go into Harrisburg for any good options. Those things were not deal-breakers for us, and frankly other peer schools were no better. F&M, for example, got bad reviews for town safety issues and social life (go Greek or go home). We also really like Connecticut College for D, but their buildings seemed quite old and tired compared to Dickinson–especially the athletic facilities (namely the track, which was worse than her high school’s.)
In sum, I’d ignore it and go with your observations.
I wouldn’t pay too much attention to that score. Carlisle is a small town and if a student enrolled wishing to be at a party school in a town with a hopping nightlife they are going to be disappointed and give a lower rating. That is why the right college fit is so important. My daughter, a Dickinson sophomore, is not into partying. She does enjoy participating in the multiple activities run by the language clubs (ethnic dinners, dance performances, movie and game nights, etc), the Dickinson Christian Fellowship and the Center for Service, Spirituality and Social Justice (volunteering opportunities, speaker series…).
I have found the facilities top notch (library, athletic center, science center, etc…). There are a few buildings that could use some sprucing up, but overall I believe they do a good job. They just announced that construction will start this spring for a new residence hall. My daughter’s rooms the last 2 years have been more than fine.
Transportation options are better if you are heading east (towards Philly). You have a choice of trains and buses. We live in the Pittsburgh area and the buses from Harrisburg are not very convenient, plus a student has to go east for 1/2 hour (in the opposite direction) to catch a bus. We have been carpooling with local familiea during breaks.