<p>I am currently in the process of selecting a college and plan on double majoring in international business and Spanish. Several students at my school and I were invited to a scholarship weekend at a local liberal arts college. We were given a tour of the campus, got to stay overnight in the residence halls, and also got to participate in some on-campus social activities. At another visit, I sat in on some classes.</p>
<p>I loved the campus, the professors were great, and everyone was friendly. To add icing to the cake, they also gave me a very generous scholarship that I can also use to help pay for study abroad.</p>
<p>The problem? All the students seemed as dull and dumb as doornail. They were all very nice, but everyone seemed to fit to one stereotype. The students seemed to love to party, but few were interested in cracking open a book. I talked to the other students at my school who visited, and they all agreed with me. All of us liked the college, but the students were a huge turn-off (and no, not in a sexual sense ;) ).</p>
<p>I am seriously considering attending the school because it is so affordable, but I would also like to fit in. Something tells me that calling up the admissions office and asking about the quality and personality of their students would be rude, but it's the only thing keeping the school near the bottom of my list.</p>
<p>What advice do you guy have for someone in my situation? Is the school worth another visit, or is it possible I just got a bad first impression?</p>
<p>^
You probably only saw just a small margin of the overall student population.
Don't let the experience be the only factor to change your mind, plus there's the new incoming class coming in which I'm sure you'll spend a lot of time in dorms and such.</p>
<p>Usually when schools offer you generous merit scholarships it's because you are at the top of it's applicant pool. You may not find many academic peers at this school. And peer group, IMO, is the most important thing in choosing a college.</p>
<p>Clearly you saw a good swath of the school. Small LACs tend to have dominant cultures. I'd keep looking. If it become the best choice for financial reasons then give it a try, you an always transfer.</p>
<p>"Usually when schools offer you generous merit scholarships it's because you are at the top of it's applicant pool."
"Small LACs tend to have dominant cultures."</p>
<p>hmom5 is correct on both counts.</p>
<p>This sounds dangerously like the small, private liberal arts college I graduated from. I was awarded a significant merit scholarship due to being at the top of the applicant pool. The college seemed to be my least bad option. I had some gut-level misgivings about the students I met when touring the campus but ignored them. The misgivings turned out to be valid. It turned out to be a poor fit socially.</p>
<p>If you have no other options for financial reasons, there may be options you didn't think of.</p>
<p>i am gonna say to go with your gut on this one and look at other colleges...maybe a small LAC isnt the thing for you...look at a bigger LAC or even just a regular univeristy...there are hundreds of colleges to choose from..dont choose this one just because it looked nice and they gave you money...a major part of college is the community and the people there and if you didnt like them chances are you will be pretty miserable there.</p>
<p>Definitely me. I visited Hamilton and really liked campus, the staff, the academics, but it was a little too...different for me. I don't know how to put it into the right words, but I really couldn't see myself fitting in with any of the people there.</p>