<p>Hey everyone,
I was hoping someone would have some insight into Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY, St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, or both. Both are small liberal arts colleges in relatively rural areas. I'm not hugely enthusiastic about either (I like cities better) but they were the two that offered the most aid. I like the size of St. Lawrence, the facilities, and proximity to Canada (there's nothing to do in Canton) and I love the opportunity to go abroad with Hartwick (I could do that my first year.) St. Lawrence feels very homogenous and preppy to me...I don't know much about the Hartwick student body. Can anyone offer any insight or thoughts? Thanks!</p>
<p>St. Lawrence has the better reputation. Much more recognizable. Definitely not up with the NESCAC LACs, but not way far off.</p>
<p>St. Lawrence--great school. Underrated.</p>
<p>Hartwick--Great school. Underrated.</p>
<p>Seriously, Hartwick is a very strong school and is probably not as well known as St. Lawrence because it is smaller. Hartwick has raised and invested a ton of money over the last 3 years in upgrading facilities, from a new science center to upgrading dorms. Before making a decision based on what school is more recognizable, look more closely at what each institution offers.</p>
<p>One nice thing about Hartwick is that it is located in a great college town, because SUNY Oneonta is also located there. So, there's a lot going on beyond the campus itself. Most LACs don't have that. Don't know where you live, but do also consider the ease and time of getting to and from school if you plan to come home for weekends now and then. </p>
<p>I would describe the student bodies at both schools as somewhat similar.</p>
<p>St. Lawrence's geology dept. is one of the US' best known.</p>
<p>St. Law's endowment is four times that of Hartwick, (220 mil. to 57 mil.) Also, according to USA Today, Hartwick admits 88.3% of applicants, whereas St. Lawrence admits 61%.</p>
<p>I don't know how this translates to 'college experience,' but it seems that St. Lawrence has a few things going for it.</p>
<p>No one said that St. Lawrence doesn't have a lot going for it, it's a very good school. But just because Hartwick is not as well known and doesn't have as large of an endowment or enrollment (and your figures are outdated by the way...for both endowment and admit rate) doesn't mean it's not a solid school. Before trying to shut everyone up by quoting stats, make sure they are completely up to date.</p>
<p>"Before trying to shut everyone up by quoting stats, make sure they are completely up to date." - Wavelength</p>
<p>Wavelength: why don't you post the "up-to-date" stats, if you have such a problem with 'my' "outdated" ones? ("My stats," as you call them, were taken from USA Today--publication date: November 8, 2006.)</p>
<p>Congratulations on having school spirit, (or whatever,) but give me a break. Thanks. Also, "make sure" not to be a jerk when posting rebuttals like that--I wasn't trying to tear down your school.</p>
<p>Canton is definitely an isolated place with not much to do. I'm not sure what you intend to do in Canada either, the nearest city of any size is Ottawa which is ~one-and-a-half hours' drive away! With regard to Carolyn's comment though, Canton is also kind of a college town (SUNY Canton is nearby), plus Potsdam is 20 minutes up the road (Clarkson U. and SUNY Potsdam). These are all part of a consortium where you can take courses at any member school. Also, SUNY Potsdam, particularly the Crane School of Music there, offers a LOT of concerts. plays, and other arts diversions that give you much more to do than in a typical tiny town.<br>
My one data point re Hartwick is the son of one of my wife's colleagues. He got a free ride to Hartwick so he went there, but was somewhat disappointed by lack of challenge in his coursework and general academic environment. However, I don't know too many further details.</p>
<p>USA Today's stats, while published in Novemeber 2006, are still outdated. One must go to the Dept of Ed for the most recent numbers. </p>
<p>The up-to-date stats are these: Hartwick acceptance rate for 2006: 78%, Endowment as of 4/07: 63 million (surprising how well the school competes w/ a much smaller endowment than its chief rivals).</p>
<p>My apologies for sounding like a jerk JuJu, but no reason to over-react either. </p>
<p>Both schools offer so much more than these stats suggest.</p>
<p>My daughter is at SLU, a junior, majoring in geology, loves it. Never seems to complain about a lack of things to do or places to go! She has made a lot of friends & gone to the Adirondacks a few times. Watertown is 60 miles away & does have a lot of shopping options. It isn't necessary to drive to Ottawa for the ultimate shopping experience. In 2008 you will need a passport to drive into and out of Canada. It will not be sufficient to show two forms of ID anymore. On Hartwick, we knew a local boy who enrolled, but the aid did not seem to turn out as was promised and he left after his freshman year. I don't know exactly what the circumstances were. Also, SLU does seem to make the "Most Debt" list every year in the US News Rankings.</p>
<p>SLUMOM: I mentioned Ottawa because the OP specifically mentioned being in proximity to Canada and liking "cities". I guess Watertown sort of qualifies as a city (officially it is called a city), but how long does it take to get from Canton to Watertown on Route 11 anyway? I'm thinking about an hour and fifteen minutes or so which hardly makes it a short hop for a college student, especially when the weather is bad (which is often). So, I would not want to give the OP a false impression. Having said all that, if I had to pick between the two myself, I would take SLU because of the reasons mentioned above, not to mention I like the campus itself. My son is at Crane School of Music at Potsdam, and as I said before if you like music that is a great resource- they have musical performances almost every day which are open to the public (usually free) and if I were at SLU and could get a ride I would take advantage of thhat a lot.</p>
<p>Watertown is about an hour away(60 miles) on Route 11. The population is about 30,000 people. For more city life, a student could get onto Route 81 South from Watertown & drive to Syracuse:(70 miles) another hour away. Evidently a fraternity pledge at SLU (this past school year) had to drive to Syracuse to get take out food one night and drive back, according to Daughter & her boyfriend, that is about 260 miles, round trip! I will add that being a native of Northern New York myself, that waiting in line to go through customs into and out of Canada becomes more & more of a challenge since Sept. 11th. That does add to the time to go to Ottawa & back from Canton-it wouldn't just be an hour & a half. It would depend on the time of day & time of year. I know SLU promotes 90 minutes to Ottawa in its brochures, but it honestly does take longer than that because of customs and if they should detain you (have you pull your car over & search it) then that is another unforeseen time constraint in your jaunt over to Canada.</p>