<p>I have applied to all these schools and I'm choosing which college would be the best one to attend. I got rejected
by Oberlin and I did apply to other schools like Reed, Macalester, Wesleyan and Vassar but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get rejected by those colleges. I'm looking for a liberal arts college environment, obvs where the student body is
very progressive and open-minded. I'm also looking to major in creative writing, specifically poetry and fiction writing. I also crave a strong LGBT-friendly environment that provides many services to such students. I'm also looking forward to taking a part of student politics and was wondering which college would be the best to do so? I feel like all these colleges provide only one good thing and I can't make up my mind about any of them. I'm leaning towards SLC because of its proximity to NYC but I want to go to Pitzer because I feel like student politics are much stronger there (a friend tells me that SLC is really bad with student g'vt and it's basically non-existent). I want to get involved on campus and usually colleges that have a dedicated student gov't make it easier for freshman students to meet other people and such. I want a great education, but I really want a social life and hopefully a boyfriend (HA).</p>
<p>Another thing to factor into is knowing which college is also the best one with dealing with fin. aid? I want a college that is going to give me the best package my family can afford and I know that these colleges are very, very expensive but I'm still curious which college would be the cheapest option? </p>
<p>On a side note, as a person of color, which liberal arts college out of all the ones that I've listed would be the easiest for me to find a strong peer group? I know most liberal arts college are predominantly white but as someone who's half Asian and half black, this worries me. :/ Should I worry about this or all LAC's pretty accepting towards persons of color?</p>
<p>I only have experience with a few of your schools but I do have some thoughts about your question. It seems like the best thing to do is to wait until you have your acceptances in hand with each school’s financial aid package, and then narrow down your choices based on aid. THEN, really, you should try to go visit the few schools you’ve narrowed it to. There’s really nothing like spending a day -and better yet also an overnight- on campus to see if it feels right.</p>
<p>Did you run the Net Price Calculators for these schools already? I can tell you that, for our family at least, SLS and Bennington were not able to give us anywhere near the aid we needed. Bard and Hampshire did a pretty good job. Skidmore seemed to have the best aid for us. (Bard and Hampshire’s ACTUAL finanical aid offers were pretty close to the Net Price Calculator. We haven’t heard from Skidmore yet.)</p>
<p>My only other thought is re: progressive/open-minded/LGBT-friendly. My sense is, out of the 5 schools I mentioned, Skidmore is the most conservative. On the other hand, it’s also a big school, and does have a significant portion of more liberal kids… it’s just not like 100% like, say, Hampshire :)</p>
<p>Still, I think you should narrow down your choices based on cost, then try to visit in April to make your final choice. Good luck!</p>
<p>^ Ditto. Wait for offers to come in, then visit the ones in your short list that are affordable.</p>
<p>I’m most familiar with Colorado College. Admissions apparently are rather need-aware, meaning high need could tip you into the rejection pile if you are anywhere near the borderline and have no hooks. The good news is that, if they do want you, they seem to be rather generous with need-based aid.</p>
<p>My S went there and had LGBT friends. Dunno how much service/support the college administration provided, but the students seemed to be one big happy family with intense classes blending seamlessly into afternoon hikes, weekend road trips, small dinner parties, big costumed theme parties etc. It did not seem to be a very cliquish environment. There may be subcultures like the hockey players, but everyone seemed to get along. </p>
<p>thank you for your replies! I’ve actually narrowed down my list and taken out Pitzer and Skidmore. I looked into Skidmore and I found out that it might be a little traditional and more conservative for my tastes. I’ve eliminated Pitzer because it’s way too close to where I live (I want to live in a new state). Now, I’m leaning towards SLC, Colorado (I like that the educational system is modeled after Oberlin’s), Bard, and Hampshire</p>
<p>Note that SLC very much emphasizes visual and performing arts, some humanities (literature, history, writing), and psychology (area and ethnic studies can combine the same courses differently, of course). Offerings in other subjects appear to mainly be for students to take for breadth. So consider your academic interests in context with the offerings there and at the other schools.
<a href=“Disciplines and Programs of Study | Sarah Lawrence College”>http://www.slc.edu/catalogue/</a>
Also, note that SLC is 71% female, which may make it harder to find a boyfriend.</p>
<p>If you are a California resident, did you apply to UCSC and HSU? Not as small, but in-state with good financial aid, and with the left-leaning vibe.</p>
<p>As far as cheapest option goes, you should run the net price calculator on each school’s web site to get an estimate. Ideally, you should have done this before making your application list.</p>
<p>No, I don’t want to go to school in CA. I want to go to a college on the East Coast that has some kind
of access in going to New York City. I know Hampshire provides a shuttle to NYC so I’m primarily focused on
going to a northeast LAC that specializes in the visual arts and creative writing where I can still occasionally go into an urban area. SLC is actually an ideal school for me, except the fact that it is predominantly female, lacks a student gov’t, and has a bad social life run by cliques. </p>
<p>Consequently, I’m going to assume this is NOT a genuine question from someone who’s genuinely trying to decide where to attend. Not sure what your game is here, but it’s not very nice of you to waste our well-intentioned time!</p>
<p>You don’t have to be so rude just because I ask these questions. Alot of people have these questions and just because these questions are put out there, that doesn’t make me a dishonest person. My cousin didn’t want a CC account and she wrote this question by herself out of her own curiosity. Yes, I am wondering whether or not I should transfer to Purchase and my cousin is wondering about going to SLC albeit for entirely diff reasons than mine. </p>
<p>You should have simply said from the outset that you were asking for someone else. Inconsistent posts make people very suspicious, as you’ve seen. Now you know for next time.</p>
<p>My daughter applied to many of the same schools so I have some familiarity with them and I will warn you that if your cousin is interested in creative writing then Bard might be a problem. It is a very popular major there and you have to apply for your major (they use “progressive” words for this but it’s basically applying for your major) at the end of your Sophomore year and not everyone is admitted to their most popular majors (ie - photography, creative writing). If you are not admitted to your major you have a few choices, switch what you want your major to be, apply again the following term, or transfer colleges. None of these are good options IMHO.</p>
<p>Pitzer is somewhat limited in their offerings unless you are happy with utilizing all five schools to obtain what classes you want. </p>
<p>Hampshire is very hipster and not as progressive as it was when it started.</p>
<p>Sarah Lawrence is beautiful and a quick train ride into the city and they have an excellent creative writing program. They are heavily female still, if that matters to you.</p>
<p>Skidmore is more traditional than the rest, as you’ve surmised.</p>
<p>Emerson is very LGBT friendly and they have a new campus for internships in LA. Their financial aid is getting better but Colorado and Pitzer are likely to offer the best aid among the colleges mentioned.</p>
<p>I have experience with Bard, and with the Claremont Colleges. I don’t agree with @amtc that having to apply for the major is a problem at Bard - yes, you might not be admitted, but it is rare - and it’s like any other quality based program - if you do get in you’re guaranteed to be surrounded by peers of an equal level, and, if you don’t get in, you may not be ready for that path yet as a serious endeavor but should consider other areas. Of the few not admitted to Creative Writing, most often they choose to be English Majors, which is hardly the end of the world.
And at Pitzer, the glory of the 5 Claremont Colleges is that the majority of courses are open to students at all the colleges. It is one easy registration procedure with all the courses listed together. Almost all students take courses at the other colleges. It is pretty much expected. You can even major at one of the other colleges, if your college doesn’t offer that major.</p>
<p>I don’t want to go to Skidmore and Pitzer anymore. I am, however, interested in attending Hampshire because of its alternative curriculum and five college system. My cousin tells me that its like a lot like his college-SLC which I do want to attend but don’t want to at the same time because of his negative exp with the college. Would going to Hampshire allow you to do the same that you would at Pitzer? I know Hampshire lets students create their majors, but do all Hampshire students register with the other students from the other four colleges and have the liberty of taking the majority of the courses offered at the Five Colleges? I’d like to take some or even most of my classes at the other four (spec. Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Amherst). </p>
<p>It’s highly unlikely you’ll be able to take “most” of your classes outside Hampshire. The 5 College Consortium is not intended to give you a back door into attending another school. The idea is that you can take classes not available at your home campus or even take a class with a prof whose work you have a particular interest in. And the extent to which you’ll be able to take classes at the other schools will depend on whether they have openings for Hampshire students (my guess is that at least for some courses the school’s own students get priority) and whether you can fit the travel times to and from the other campuses into your class schedule. I would ask the admissions office for data regarding how many Consortium courses the average Hampshire student takes to get a better idea of how things work out in practice. </p>
<p>I’ll add that Hampshire is a very unusual place. You need a great deal of self-direction, self discipline and drive to succeed there–and there are a goodly number of stoner types attending who will never succeed there at all but are just passing the time in a laid back environment on their parents’ dimes. Bard’s unique curriculum also requires a lot of self-direction, self-discipline and drive, but it’s a more selective school and has a higher proportion of committed students. You might say that Hampshire is Bard Light.</p>
<p>The 5 Claremonts are pretty all on one big campus so you can walk to your classes regardless of what college they’re at. For the five college consortium, although they’re not far from each other - they all within driving distance - you have to take a shuttle; so, effectively, you can take one or perhaps two classes per term at the other colleges, one MWF and one TTH.</p>
<p>The five colleges of Hampshire, Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, and University of Massachusetts are not next to each other, but a short bus ride away. Not quite as convenient as the Claremont colleges are to each other.</p>
<p>Hi everyone, I currently attend Hampshire College, and can testify to the fact that it is both very open-minded and progressive. One major downside though is the location, it’s about two hours to Boston and three to New York City. I’m wondering if any one here has any knowledge of Lang, how progressive it is and what classes are like etc? </p>
<p>Eugene Lang is very progressive, and I think that its profile keeps rising. It offers a lot of the academic freedom that you’d find at Bennington or Hampshire, but on lower Fifth Avenue. Costs are a huge drawback, if expenses are a concern. You might have difficulty obtaining a merit scholarship as a transfer student. Although the nominal cost of attending isn’t that much higher than Hampshire’s, you will not be able to economize by moving off campus at Lang. If you can manage it financially, it sounds like a great match for you. I was very impressed when I visited with my older son. The only other warning is that the college is - even by its own admission - very weak in the sciences. I inferred from your earlier posts that you would not mind that, but it’s worth noting. Some other colleges that it might otherwise be compared to have solid programs, especially in environmental and life sciences.</p>