Hi everyone. I recently got into Hamilton, Colgate, Colby, Boston college, and Middlebury. I did not apply for financial aid and I’m really grateful for the fact that Cost of Attendance will not impact my selection.
I hope to major in compiter science and I don’t really care about the weather at this point (these five locations are all pretty darn cold anyway).
Congratulations! It sounds like you will have a lot of great choices. S22 was accepted at two of those (Hamilton and Middlebury as a Feb) as well as a couple of others (Davidson, Carleton, Colorado College). Is anyone familiar with the CS departments at these schools?
There are 2 posters on the Colby forum who are CS majors, so take a look there. Their center for AI creates a pretty cool intersection between CS and liberal arts disciplines, which your choice of schools suggests could be of interest. I’d definitely give that one a pretty serious look.
Vibe-wise, the differences are probably not so great-- I would guess that having made this list, you’d like any of them. Colgate and Hamilton feel a tad more in NY’s orbit while the others feel more in Boston’s. Subtle difference.
To compare these schools, I would recommend trying to map out your 4 years from the course catalog, taking into account all requirements, both general and specific to your major. This may highlight some of the differences between the schools, whether in terms of offerings, focus, flexibility, study abroad, etc. At LACs, you have the ability to dabble in non-major areas or even pursue them deeply, so that may matter to you as well.
All great choices!
S18 did not apply to Colgate, but was accepted to the other four schools you mention. All are great schools, Congratulations! He chose Colby and will graduate in May as a CS major with minors in both Math and Econ. He did not start off as a CS major, so he did not choose Colby based on its CS program and I don’t know much about the CS programs at the other schools.
As far as Colby goes, my son’s experience with the CS department has been very positive. The professors are all extremely available and willing to help students. The job my son will be starting in June is a result of a professor (who was on sabbatical, but still came to campus on several occasions to meet my son for lunch) making an introduction for him that resulted in an internship opportunity last summer. Additionally, Davis Connects, Colby’s career center, has a person dedicated to tech jobs.
As @gardenstategal mentioned, the new Davis Institute for Artificial Intelligence is something unique to Colby among LAC’S and offers some interesting opportunities. Amanda Stent, the institute’s director Is extremely accomplished.
My son has Colby friends who work at companies such as Google and Microsoft, so it is possible to get a good job in tech coming out of a LAC. I’m not a tech person so I can’t speak to the breadth of the CS classes offered, but my son never has complained about not getting into a class or a topic of study not being available to him.
If in person admitted student events are happening this year, Colby does an exceptional job. It is worth attending if possible.
You have several great choices, I know students at all these schools (D20 is at BC) and they are very happy. You don’t have a bad choice here! Good luck!!
You may be interested in the below articles, which should offer you a sense for the experience in CS at Hamilton, most notably with respect to research opportunities.
This story focused on artificial intelligence research seems especially interesting:
This article indicates the level of coding proficiency you will achieve:
If you have an interest in the reinforcing concepts of mathematics, this story will offer you insight into Hamilton’s math students:
This article, which mentions aspects of Colgate’s and Hamilton’s CS programs, may be of interest as well:
Congratulations, all great schools.
The easiest approach is to first eliminate the two you are least interested in. You almost surely have a few of these schools you are not as interested in as the others. So be ruthless and cut those two. It will be much easier to now focus on the ones you’re most interested in.
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You might find it interesting that Hamilton professors helped establish a model CS curriculum for smaller colleges in general. At about the same time two of them co-wrote a popular computer science textbook which was used nationally, The Analytical Engine.
Agree, and also consider what CS and other electives of interest are available.
Also, check schedules to see if each course is offered every semester, every year, or less frequently.
good advice! ive eliminated middlebury.
For brief comments on your choices, see post #7: Struggling with D21's List. ED & ED2: Amherst, Hamilton, Wellesley, Vassar.
Just curious: what prompted you to eliminate Middlebury? S22 is also interested in CS and is trying to decide between several LACs, including Middlebury.
This list might be of interest. Many of the schools mentioned here are on the list.
hey middlebury is just TOO isolated and ARTSY for cs imo. their cs course offerings are not as good as other lacs on my list either.
If you aren’t drawn to Middlebury’s setting, then you would be unlikely to be drawn to those of Hamilton, Colgate or Colby either.
The first part varies person to person. Even if they look similar on paper you should visit in person before making a decision on the environment.
The second part is not really true. Middlebury being a larger school (minus BC) in LACs do offer more courses. And their CS major is #2 right after Econ in terms of popularity. You can check their CS outcome by going to their LinkedIn page → alum → filter by major.