<p>ok i want to apply to at least one LAC to keep my options open.</p>
<p>the ones i'm interested in are the major ones. amherst, williams, middlebury, vassar, wesleyan, wellesley, macalester, washington and lee, grinell, carleton, bard...</p>
<p>what are some major differences between these schools? could someone give a brief description of what kind of personality/student would most fit in at these schools? like "to fit in at <em>_, you'd probably be more athletic, party type, etc" or "to fit in at _</em>, you'd probably be liberal, artsy, etc"</p>
<p>i'd be really thankful if anyone could help me! :)</p>
<p>also if someone could rank them from hardest to easiest to get into?</p>
<p>i know it's a big task but i'd be really grateful to have a clean outlined picture of all these schools.</p>
<p>An enormous resource for me in finding out the general feel of schools before visiting them as been a mysterious site that apparently I’m not allowed to advertise… which has things like a summary of student’s opinions, top 10 best/worst things about the school, and other fun things where you get to hear about actual students enrolled - though sometimes these become a bit repetitive with “the people are awesome but the weather sucks”. Nonetheless, very cool for picking out the general feel of each school.</p>
<p>Though I can tell you right now, Amherst and Williams are known as the best schools out of what you listed… whatever that means. Go with what you like, not with what’s rated the best!</p>
<p>Just go to the US News and World Reports rankings for liberal arts colleges. Selectivity roughly tracks with the rankings, although in some cases (such as Grinnell) a school will have a much higher admit rate than adjacent schools in the list.</p>
<p>Plenty of information about each of these schools already is posted on this and other sites. Use the search function. But here are a few major differences:</p>
<ul>
<li>the midwestern LACs generally are a little cheaper, and grant merit scholarships (which the New England schools generally do not)</li>
<li>most are in rural or suburban settings (Macalester and Wesleyan being exceptions among the ones you listed)</li>
<li>Wellesley is for women only </li>
</ul>
<p>CollegeGuide.org, USNWR, P.Review are all good sources of information about them.</p>
<p>Of the schools you’ve listed, Williams and Amherst are probably the 2 hardest to get in.</p>
<p>Honestly, I think they are similar schools in terms of size, resources, location, and many other respects so I’m applying to both. I recommend you do so.</p>
<p>lol yeah even i as typed “wellesey” on the list, i felt like there was something about it i knew but was not thinking of at the moment that made me hesitant to include it! haha.</p>
<p>I agree with others: college review sights like Princeton Review, etc. will probably be able to tell you more than us. But, a quick response to the ones you listed:</p>
<p>Vassar, Wesleyan, Bard, maybe Mac are the most liberal/hippy/artsy/hipster (Bard the most so, I think, at least hipster/artsy)</p>
<p>Grinnell and Carleton are not as edgy as those I just listed, but are definitely quirky.</p>
<p>Amherst, Midd and Williams are a little more “well rounded,” maybe a little more preppy. Midd is very good if you like the outdoors. </p>
<p>Washington and Lee is definitely the most preppy, with the biggest Greek Scene, etc. </p>
<p>Other things to think about are size (some of these are relatively much larger than others), location (urban vs. rural, different parts of the country…), strength of majors, etc.</p>
<p>one thing that makes me wary of amherst, midd, and williams is that they are known for big party scenes/drinking, right?</p>
<p>are there any of that list that don’t have as big of a drinking/party culture?</p>
<p>and the unis i’m looking at are cornell, yale (almost definitely won’t get in, though), princeton (same as yale), uc berkeley, ucla, usc, nyu, stanford, u of michigan, i think that’s it…</p>
<p>what i would most like in a lac is high-ranked academics (obviously), a great college town/beautiful location, and plenty of social life but not like all people do is party and drink when classes are done.</p>
<p>They are all high-ranked LACs. Bard might be less selective than oters. I think Weskid summarized the best. If you don’t want party scenes/drinking scene. You should drop Amherst, Williams, Washington and Lee. You already have Yale, Princeton, and Standford, I don’t think you need more highly selective schools. </p>
<p>What are your safeties? If you believe that you have chance in Stanford or Michigan, Bard should be your safety. Add one more financial safety. Vassar, Wesleyan, Carleton, Wellesley, Macalester, and Grinnell chould be your matches. </p>
<p>Oh…Macalester is in a big city if that make any different to you.</p>
<p>Sorry to hijack the thread, but what do you guys think of Hampshire College? I know it has a reputation for partying (which I dislike), but do you guys have any other insider info on it? What kind of students it attracts? I like their experimental course system, but I haven’t been able to find out much else about it.</p>
<p>Yeah, yeah, we’ve all heard that before. There will be partiers at every school, yes, but there are definitely schools with party scenes much less prominent than others. Compare UChicago and UC Santa Barbara for one glaringly obvious example.</p>
<p>um, no. I mean, much as I’d like to go out on a limb and say, they don’t drink or do drugs in Iowa, I realized as soon as I said it to myself, how ridiculous that sounds.</p>
<p>I think the most you can hope for at any of these great colleges is that you won’t be the only non-drinker and that there will be plenty of festive occasions where alcohol will not be served – in public.</p>
<p>Why do people always equate partying with fun? I know several people who go to UChicago (and many other non-partiers at different schools) who have had tons of fun at school and can actually remember the fun they had the next day; fancy that! :)</p>
I recommend you do so.</p>