Help a prospective environmental major

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a rising senior (getting ready for that awful application filing period) and trying to figure out where I should apply. I want to major in environmental science or studies (depending on the school) but also have a school that is environmentally bent outside the classroom as well. On top of that, I'd also like a place that is gay-friendly, has vegan options (or a co-op that specializes in veggie-friendly food or easily accesible facilities to prepare your own meals), rather liberal, opportunities to participate in theatre, and have lots of outdoor activites available (ideally I'd be able to minor, or even double major in theatre and/or outdoor leadership). I also want small class sizes, which usually goes with smaller student bodies (I'm taking a class right now with ~40 and I've determined that that's too big. In school I've never had one with more than 20 and the average is in the low teens, so I'd greatly prefer small class sizes). So I pretty much know exactly what I want. </p>

<p>The one problem, well not really a problem, I have is that a lot of these schools sound amazing and I'm practically falling in love with many of them, but I'm concerned I guess about the level of intellectual stimulation outside of the classroom (just with some) and potential for there to be mroe slackers than I might enjoy. </p>

<p>I'm not in the top of the class, nowhere near actually. But I go to an intense private school and really enjoy learning and having discussions both in and outside of the classroom. </p>

<p>I have a 2020 (720-CR 640-M 660-W) on the new SAT and a B+ average. I've heard about the following schools as being particularly strong in environmental related fields and are pretty liberal and most of them fit for the most part what I'm looking for:</p>

<p>Antioch
College of the Atlantic
Earlham
Evergreen State
Guilford
Humboldt State
Lewis & Clark
Oberlin
Sierra Nevada College
UVM
Warren Wilson</p>

<p>So what I'm curious about is, what do people have to say regarding these schools in general, and if there's any others that I should consider. Also, if there's any that don't seem to fit. In some cases I feel like I'm underestimating myself a little bit. Any advice is greatly appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Mmm, COA. Nice choice.</p>

<p>Stick Bates and Bowdoin on there, especially Bates for culture and Bowdoin for strength of program. Colby is also good, but probably not a match culturally. St. Lawrence University in New York should be on your list, along with Paul Smith's.</p>

<p>Seriously, if I could have four majors (two is enough already), I'd tack on Environmental Studies and Geology. Oh, so much fun...</p>

3

<p>Oh, and just so you know, you're going to have some large classes pretty much wherever you go, especially those mandatory first-year ones everyone hates. This will typically be more prevalent at public colleges than private ones.</p>

4

<p>"I'm a rising senior (getting ready for that awful application filing period) and trying to figure out where I should apply."</p>

<p>Well, it shouldn't be that difficult because all you really need to fill out is one application. Don't waste paper, or electricity filling out those additional ones:)</p>

5

<p>TD --</p>

<p>Good initial list. The other schools that you may look at include:</p>

<p>Unity College in Maine
Sterling College in Vermont
Marlboro College in Vermont
Northland College in Wisconsin
Prescott College in Arizona</p>

<p>Out of the schools listed above, I believe that Marlboro has the best academic reputation. You design your own major at Marlboro and the place is generally known to be academically challenging. I think that you would find many like-minded students there. I think because of its size, it really doesn't elicit much discussion on these boards. Personally, I think you would be hard pressed to find a school where you would receive as much personal academic attention as you would find at Marlboro. </p>

<p>As for the other schools on my list, I would personally rank them a step (or two) below Marlboro in terms of academic reputation. However, this does not mean that you would not receive a quality education if you attended one of these institutions. They all focus on environmental education/ outdoor leadership. However, I don't know the strength of their theatre programs. I get the sense that with many of the environmentally focus colleges, they attract many serious students, but also a fair number of students who think it would be cool to hike and camp during the school year, but who are not terribly academically oriented. My guess is that most of these students last only a couple of semesters and then either drop out or flunk out, leaving mostly serious students after the second sophomore semester.</p>

<p>In terms of academic strength, I would personally group your original list this way:</p>

<p>Oberlin
gap
Earlham
Evergreen
small gap
Antioch
College of the Atlantic
Lewis & Clark
Warren Wilson
Guilford
UVM
gap
Humboldt State
Sierra Nevada</p>

<p>In terms of my additional schools, I would personally place Marlboro in the Earlham/ Evergreen group; Unity and Sterling in the next group; and the other schools in the final group. </p>

<p>Note: you should take my rankings (along with all other rankings) with a grain of salt. I readily admit that they reflect my personal bias. It is much more important that you feel that you fit at a place than to simply choose a school based solely upon their academic reputation. I could certainly understand if, for example, a student decided to go to Warren Wilson or Marlboro instead of Oberlin, even if that person got into Oberlin. Each one of these schools offers something that none of the other schools has. </p>

<p>Also, Livejournal has a community that focuses on alternative colleges. There are a number of posters on that board that may have some valuable advice/insight. If you have any questions about the atmosphere/academic reputation/strength of particular programs, you will likely get someone with firsthand information to answer your inquiry. The link is:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.livejournal.com/community/outsidethelines/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.livejournal.com/community/outsidethelines/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Good luck.</p>