I got into these 3 schools (and my safeties) and was waitlisted from Emory and Bowdoin (my original favorites). I’ve visited them all and liked them but am having a hard time choosing. I do want to play a sport and can likely walk on at all except Davidson (D1). I do want a challenging academic environment, friendly people, good professors etc. it’s getting hard for me to distinguish between different LACs though. right now i am leaning towards choosing Hamilton but staying on the 2 waitlists as well. Any knowledge/advice about these schools appreciated!! thanks!
Davidson College has a beautiful location & campus. Leans conservative–and a significant number of students are quite conservative.
By way of contrast, Bates is fairly liberal & has a crunchy, granola contingent which you will not find at Davidson.
Hamilton College is right in the middle.
Are they equally affordable ?
thanks! yes, cost will not make a difference.
I grew up 15 minutes from Davidson and have spent several summers on a research project abroad with Davidson students. The school is not conservative. At most one can say it’s moderate, and it arguably leans left like virtually all top colleges these days. That said, conservative students will feel more welcome at Davidson than at some of the more stridently liberal LACs.
In addition to the DI/DIII difference, Davidson differs from the other two in being close to a large city. Consider whether you’d rather be in a small town functioning as a suburb to a city (Davidson) or a small town in a rural area (Hamilton). Bates’ town is larger than either Davidson or Clinton but smaller than Charlotte, so it may be a good compromise.
Davidson is big on the honor code. Among other benefits, students can schedule exams as they’d like (you can space them out, take them all on the same day, wait to take them or get them out of the way, etc.). At Hamilton and most other schools, you have to take the exam for a class in a specific classroom at a set time and day with the instructor present.
Hamilton can be distinguished by its history of having been formed through the union of two colleges of complementary characteristics and emphases. Curricularly, architecturally and spatially this legacy serves to offer some of the better qualities of a larger school within what nonetheless remains a classic small-college environment. This description could mean little if it doesn’t personally resonate with you, or a lot if it does.
thank you everyone! i know this shouldn’t really be a deciding factor or anything but is there a big difference between any of them in reputation/opportunities after college?
U.S. News includes early salary data and lists Hamilton highest among the NESCAC LACs. There’d be a gap before Bates and Davidson, but they follow in that order.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/hamilton-college-2728
The differences in reputation and opportunity are minimal in the big-picture sense but the devil is in the details. Hamilton will open some doors in New York that Davidson might not. Conversely, Davidson will open doors in Atlanta and Charlotte and other thriving sun-belt cities. Contact the schools and ask where students get internships. Grad schools know and respect all three.
The data is heavily skewed by cost of living. According to Davidson’s most recent career survey, twice as many students stayed in the South as those who moved to the Mid-Atlantic or New England (150 vs. 70 respondents). In contrast, 80% of Hamilton seniors wind up in the Mid-Atlantic and New England.
“Davidson is big on the honor code. Among other benefits, students can schedule exams as they’d like (you can space them out, take them all on the same day, wait to take them or get them out of the way, etc.). At Hamilton and most other schools, you have to take the exam for a class in a specific classroom at a set time and day with the instructor present.”
I liked your comparisons a lot. I only point as it relates to this part of your post the following. I wonder if there is a good (or mediocre) school in the country that doesn’t have an honor code or that says they’re anything other than serious about it. Honest question. It hardly seems like a truly distinguishing mark, but that doesn’t stop, for example, the Haverford crowd, with whom we spent a fair amount of time during D’s recruiting, from going on and on and on about it. I liked Haverford (and I really liked the Mainline area) but I grew weary of this point after a while. Not saying you’re doing that here, but I have to ask: is Davidson, or Haverford, or ________ College truly any more serious about not cheating than Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, or Trinity? I would guess you get in some degree of hot water.
The many other schools that recruited my D, including the one she attends now and Hamilton, all pointed out that tests could be taken at different times in different locations on the honor system. I think that’s relatively common, though I’m sure there are some schools that don’t allow it.
I can’t imagine what this belief would be based on. Hamilton maintains an active honor code:
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/education/edlife/the-fading-honor-code.html
Some of these things have already been mentioned:
Hamilton and Bates are cold; Davidson is not as cold.
Davidson is D1 in some sports; Hamilton & Bates are NESCAC, D3.
Davidson is like a suburb to Charlotte, Lewiston is a small city (the largest of the three), and Hamilton is very rural.
Bates is the most liberal overall, Hamilton is fairly moderate for a LAC (probably center-left overall), and Davidson is the most conservative of the three and probably fairly moderate overall. But lively discussion can be found at all three, or avoided; you can find kids with interests similar to yours at all three; and none of them is known as a particularly militant setting politically. In other words, I wouldn’t put too much into the politics of these schools. You coukd be yourself and get along just fine.
Most importantly, are you a Continental, a Bobcat or a Wildcat? I personally feel like “wildcat” is a mascot cop-out: can’t you pick a cat species? All the non-domesticated cats are technically wildcats. 
If it came down to the mascots, I’d be a Continental.
Red and white, maroon and white, or buff and blue?
They’re all good. I’d choose on academics (look at majors, academic schedules, curricular styles at least), sports/social vibe, location/environment, and cost if they are not similar.
The Bates, Hamilton, and Davidson websites make their exam policies quite clear.
thanks everyone! i will probably revisit them but still leaning towards hamilton. i welcome any more input!
The excerpted material (reply #12) does not address for all of these schools whether exams are taken “with the instructor present” (reply #3).
@sadied89 : If you have gradually gained a sense of what may be important to you, then maybe your final decision will turn out not to be that challenging. Wishing you luck with your revisits. I hope they will all be good, but ultimately decisive, experiences for you.
thank you! i’m not completely sure about the honor code conversation, but if they exist at all 3 it is DEFINITELY most emphasized at davidson. no one mentioned anything about one or there being self scheduled exams at the other 2
Another poster contradicted my earlier statement that Davidson College leans conservative.
Within the past several years, there were (are ?) private displays of two types of very conservative flags in students’ rooms. One was (is?) the Confederate flag & the other I won’t name because I have not seen it.
A top scholarship winner at Davidson College from outside of the South wanted to leave Davidson College & give up the full ride scholarship due to the very conservative opinions & artifacts. The family asked me to intercede & persuade the student to stay. I refused to do so.
Of course, definitions of liberal, moderate & conservative are somewhat subjective.
And I love Davidson College’s location, setting & campus. And recognize that it is a great school.
good to know, thank you @Publisher
Also, an aspect that I like and am comfortable with, is the not insignificant presence of religious students. To me, this is a beautiful part of the South & of being Southern. I mention it as an indicator of the vibe of the campus as opposed to someone seeking a liberal leaning environment.