<p>My friend is having a hard time deciding between these two schools. Can anyone offer any means of comparing them? In terms of social life, academics, anything. What are the positives/negatives of each school? Thanks!</p>
<p>I thought that Goucher’s campus was more rural and isolated when I went there. I never went to Lewis and Clark, but Goucher’s social life was very dead, which is part of the reason I transferred. Academics are strong, outside of their Computer Science program, and they have one of the most respected undergrad prestige rankings in the known world. however, it has a pernicious reputation as “suitcase” or “commuter school” that lacks school spirits; many of their students come from the nearby Maryland area and return home, so if your friend is out of state they might get bored if all the people they met during the week return home for breaks, weekends, etc.</p>
<p>Bedouin, when did you go to Goucher?</p>
<p>Has your friend visited both schools? If not, read all the recent threads and visit reports on CC for both schools.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman at Goucher and loves it. I have posted many things about the school. I don’t know anything about Lewis and Clark. The Goucher campus feels rural when you are on it; it is beautiful, with big old trees, riding stables, 300 acres. But it is located in Towson, on the edge of Baltimore. It is walking distance to shops, restaurants, a mall. This past year, Goucher added the post of Director of Student Engagement, to make sure there are things to do on weekends. A multipurpose building called the Athenaeum opened. It is the new center of the campus and many events happen there. My son has never said that the school empties out on the weekend. The people are a mixed bag. Many are artsy, creative types. Left leaning politically. </p>
<p>Academically, the school is strong, but I would not go so far to say “it has one of the most respected undergrad prestige rankings in the world.” Lots of people have never heard of Goucher, unless they have read Loren Pope’s books, “Colleges that Change Lives”, and “Beyond the Ivy League”. His purpose was to find those gem schools that people don’t know about.</p>
<p>Good luck with the decision.</p>
<p>I just chose goucher over lc. I chose it because it seemed more accepting and although the art department (which is my major) wasn’t as strong, I felt that no matter what department you are in at Goucher everyone around you wants you to succeed. When you visit both campuses you are in aw of beautiful campus and a gorgeous surrounding, but at goucher I also felt a sense of community and belonging that I didn’t feel at LC. Also, I felt that, because Portland is such a ridiculously amazing city, I would spend a large amount of time off campus and therefore lose out on experiences on campus. Since Baltimore isn’t the greatest of cities and Towson is a bit slow (but full of anything and everything you need, including amazing thai food) I feel that i will be more involved and active on campus.</p>
<p>Try making a pro/con list. That really helped me decide. Either way your friend will be happy. They are both amazing schools, but if they choose the Gouch they can be friends with me!</p>
<p>To address a couple of Bedouin’s points:</p>
<p>1) I don’t see how you can call a campus “rural” or “isolated” when it’s bordered to the north by the Baltimore beltway and to the south by a busy suburban commercial district including multistory office/retail buildings that dominate the view from areas around the Athenaeum and administration building. It’s true that the campus itself is leafy, bucolic and spacious, but it’s very much an enclave. The only way the area around it could get less rural is if you plunked it in an urban downtown.</p>
<p>2) I’m not sure what the in-state/out-of-state mix was when you went, Bedouin, but right now it’s at 76% out-of-state according to the College Board site. So even if all the Maryland kids went home on the weekends, it’s hard to see how that would amount to a suitcase school.</p>
<p>I think that Bedouin might be talking about Goucher from a few hundred thousand years ago, not recently…</p>