<p>This is a great idea for posting some personal stories. I agree that many things factor into a students/family’s choice of school. I don’t see these stories as statements that one school is better than another- but adding a personal component- beyond what we can read on brochures, internet, rankings and so on…
It’s not easy to fly all over the country to visit all these schools, so it helps to hear how people feel about location, social climate, and culture. It also helps to hear how the students feel about being at the school and how they are treated by the professors there. My hope is to look at the schools as “holistically” as we say to look at our children- pick the ones that seem to fit, and go take a look. We don’t plan to exclude the obvious- well known, state flagships, but to also widen our perspective and college choices. It’s not that great schools are not great- but more about not assuming one size fits all. Thanks for the information and hope to see more personal perspectives.</p>
<p>MizzBee: You have to love small colleges! I know the New College of Florida only has 800 students and Marlboro has 296 students! Both are CTCL’s :)</p>
<p>I was probably aiming more for like 2,000 students at college, but it really didn’t matter when it came down to decision time. </p>
<p>I was actually the one who brought up Cornell College. My point was that it’s one CTCL that does not have an holistic admission approach. </p>
<p>Pennylane: I never visited any colleges until spring break of my senior year. We drove to GA to IL to IN to OH to PA to MA and back to GA. Even though I applied to 16 colleges, my family didn’t have the money to visit until after I was accepted. I was accepted into 13 colleges, but only 6 gave decent financial aid packages (more like 4 probably). So, we waited until I got the acceptances and financial aid packages to visit. For me, it worked out just fine. If I could go back, I would just tell myself to stop worrying about “falling in love with a college.” I think that’s unrealistic for a lot of people. I tended to just like or dislike most colleges. I did have a hard time choosing, but $$$ did come into play like usual :)</p>
<p>Thanks, in our case, DD may be studying out of the country when she has to decide, so I am trying to get her to as many colleges as possible before that. $$$ will also factor into the decisions. I hope she likes several of them. </p>
<p>The descriptions do help as she can consider ahead of time if a very rural area would be desirable or not, and experiences about the community and student life there. So please post about how you like Knox once you are there and the factors that made it appealing to you.</p>
<p>Please, if you are considering Cornell College, do not assume the school’s admissions approach is not holistic based on early_college’s experience. See the website for more information: [FAQs</a> About Applying - Admission - Cornell College](<a href=“http://www.cornellcollege.edu/admissions/apply-to-cornell/faq.shtml]FAQs”>http://www.cornellcollege.edu/admissions/apply-to-cornell/faq.shtml)</p>
<p>Early_college, even if you believe (or someone told you) that you were not admitted because of your SAT scores, that does not mean the admissions team at Cornell College does not take a holistic view; it could mean that you did not have enough other qualifications, in the eyes of the Cornell College admissions team, to overcome your relatively low SAT scores. Fortunately for you, that was not a concern at other schools, and you are ready to hit the ground running at a terrific school that appreciates what you bring to the table. </p>
<p>You should not presume that the admissions process at a particular school is not holistic because they didn’t admit you!</p>
<p>I withdrew my application from Cornell. And they may say they are “holistic”, but they are not. The admissions officer told me that they wouldn’t consider me because of my SAT scores. She was very rude as well. She told me I had to have a “learning disorder” because my scores were low and then she has the nerve to tell me Cornell is a much better college then Knox, etc. The other admissions officer I had a phone interview with was very unprofessional as well. A holistic view means they look at EVERYTHING. Wooster, Allegheny, Clark, etc looked at the whole picture. Cornell wouldn’t even look at my application as soon as they found out my scores. There is a difference, but Cornell is NOT the type of college I would recommend for students in my situation or who are looking for a real holistic application approach. If a college cannot get past some stupid test scores then it is not worth my time or effort. Also, I would have not applied if I knew there was so much emphasis on SAT scores. Their website is very misleading in my view. I have no problem if a college isn’t holistic, but I did feel very “played” by them. </p>
<p>I am glad that I will be attending a college that cares more about the overall student than ones SAT score.</p>
<p>GolfFather, go check out the Clark and Juniata forums. I don’t know if they’re very active, but you can always send private messages to past posters. There are parents of Clark and Juniata students who post on the Parents forum; try starting a new thread there asking about those two specific schools.</p>
<p>(and a suggestion: you might want to say that your D is wondering about Clark and Juniata, rather than saying she might consider them. No sense in getting people bristly from the get-go when you’re asking for help. 
)</p>
<p>Honestly, early_college, I have a hard time believing your account. But, regardless, you should not be bad mouthing a school because of your personal experience. It is not consistent with what I know about the school. You had a bad experience? That’s unfortunate. It does not mean others have or will, or that the admissions process is not holistic.</p>
<p>Pennylane: I understand where you are coming from. Feel free to PM me this fall with any questions about Knox. </p>
<p>My original dream school was NYU back in the day. I did NOT want a rural college, but a lot of LACs and CTCLs are in rural areas. I did not want the ruralness to be a factor in why I didn’t apply. I did think Galesburg was rural. I was not in love with the campus or town. At Wheaton in Norton MA, it had the perfect campus and location (40 mins from Boston and 20 from Providence). But are we picking a college based on academics or location? I love Knox’s trimester system and that I only have to take three classes at a time. Wheaton really couldn’t compare to the academic structure of Knox. I have my whole life to live in the northeast. College is only four years of my life :)</p>
<p>absweetmarie: Why would I lie about what happened? I would def want to know if I was a prospective student. What Cornell did was actually very upsetting to me. It was not the fact that they aren’t really holistic, but it’s the way they handled the situation. Everyone has good and bad experiences and everyone shares them on CC. I am entitled to my opinion.</p>
<p>early_college: Of course, you are entitled to your opinion. But you stated, in post #304, that you “wouldn’t suggest Cornell College because they don’t have a holistic admission approach.” That comes across as a statement of fact (which it is not) rather than as your opinion. This statement doesn’t jibe with the experience of thousands of other applicants and students over the years, nor is it consistent with what the college states on its website. </p>
<p>You say you had a bad experience with the admissions office. That does not mean anything other than that you had a bad experience. It needn’t be and hasn’t been the experience for many others.</p>
<p>Yes, you are correct. I wouldn’t suggest Cornell based on what happened to me. However, this has to do with admissions and not about the college itself. I’m sure one could get a great education at Cornell, but if one is looking for <em>true</em> holistic approaches (yes this is my opinion) than I would suggest other CTCL’s.</p>
<p>Wow, just signed up and already in the deep end of the pool. 
OK, will try to respond (in no particular order):</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes, I did check out the Juniata (and I think the Clark) forums. Very little there.</p></li>
<li><p>I meant nothing by writing that my D “might” consider those two schools. She never heard of them. I suggested them. Whether she does in fact look deeper and actually considers Juniata and Clark as potential places of study is completely up to her. Not me.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, I actually know where Juniata is. Agree, it is in the middle of nowhere. (I warned my D about this.) I actually drove nearby once (Route 22) a very long time ago on the way to a job interview. Very beautiful area.</p></li>
<li><p>The “holistic” approach and the Parcells quote is too lengthy an issue, I believe, to cover here. But I will say this - to those who stoop to make personal snide attacks against other foum members - it is a shame that it makes certain people feel better about themselves to attack others anonymously online. They can all *** as far as I’m concerned.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>GolfFather, one forum gotcha that’s bitten me before: when you check the forums the display options at the bottom are automatically set to only show posts within the last month. Make sure you look back at older posts, especially for the smaller schools. </p>
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<p>I’ve been experimenting with various 3-letter acronyms and can’t come up with anything that CC would block and which works grammatically within the sentence. I suppose it’ll have to remain a mystery. 
Either that or I need to get out more!</p>
<p>Juniata and Clark are so different! Clark was my third choice, Juniata would have been my fourth. I actually met a girl from Alaska at Juniata who was deciding between the two. </p>
<p>Huntingdon was the only place my cell phone didn’t work. Granted I have Metro PCS, but you get my point. It worked in Galesburg, IL and Richmond, IN (both rural areas) but not as rural as Huntingdon. It was really beautiful there. I had no idea it was in the mountains until I visited. My dad is actually afraid of heights (happened after driving through the Smokey’s) and I ended up driving.</p>
<p>There really wasn’t much in Huntingdon just about a Walmart and some restaurants . You have to go to Altoona or State College for a mall (my tour guide did online shopping). The other problem I noticed was airfare. You would have to fly into State College and it costed a lot more $$$. You could fly into Pittsburgh or Baltimore though and take the Amtrak. I have a similar problem with Knox. I’ll have to fly into Peoria instead of Chicago which costs more $$$, but it’s too much of a hassle to take the Amtrak to Galesburg. What I loved about Juniata is that they don’t require a foreign language to graduate. </p>
<p>I always thought I would have loved living in a city, but Clark just never felt “cozy” like some of the other colleges. It had a campus, but I don’t know. I just didn’t love it or dislike it honestly. I didn’t really get to talk to too many students because I visited Wheaton the same day. However, had I not visited, I probably would have went there. What’s great about Clark is that you can get a free masters degree!!! You can also take classes at the consortium (Holy Cross, Assumption, etc). It’s really a great school and I give it my highest recommendation. :)</p>
<p>jym, it was definitely Cornell University, the Ivy.</p>
<p>"Earlham is actually in Indiana, but lots of people get the flyover states mixed up </p>
<p>But Earlham does get several highly qualified students, including someone this year that turned down Smith and other more “prestigious” schools for its excellent foreign language programs, Bonner Scholar program and generous financial aid."</p>
<p>More than just several 
Especially in the sciences. Some people turn down ivies to go to Earlham for biology.</p>
<p>I went to Ohio Wesleyan quite some time ago and it definitely changed my life. I also met my husband there and we will celebrate our 30th anniversary in August!</p>
<p>My DD is pre-vet. I know that many of the schools offer the basic pre-reqs for pre vet- like biology, and so on, but there is little information about actual opportunities for hands on animal experience beyond an internship with a veterinarian. Does anyone have specific examples of pre-vet students at any of these schools and how they liked them? Thanks</p>
<p>Hi Veryscary, </p>
<p>OWU is on my daughter’s list. We liked it very much when we visited!</p>
<p>@Pennylane: Earlham has a fair amount of pre-med and pre-vet students. We’re unique as the only college/university in the country with a completely student-run equestrian program. Students get to work with the horses and the vets to a degree that is rare elsewhere.</p>
<p>Aside from the equestrian program, there are volunteering opportunities to work with animals/hospital settings, and the college provides free transportation to anyone who needs it. The Biology and pre-med program is top-notch, as well. 80% of bio majors study abroad, and a full semester is covered by your financial aid, so you won’t pay more to study herds in the Serengeti than you do on Earlham’s campus. We’ve sent students to Harvard Medical two out of the last three years on full academic scholarship, and there are opportunities to do research with animals (I’ve worked with Eastern Bluebirds, myself).</p>
<p>Most of the pre-vet students at Earlham are primarily interested in horses, but our pre-med program (which as I understand translates well into pre-vet) is very strong overall.</p>