Help editing list of (mostly) LACs (or smallish universities) with strong science

College Search & Selection
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I’m not knowledgeable about any of the schools your listed, however, when I read your description, it sounded like Harvey Mudd to me. It’s an LAC…it definitely has the quirky/geeky vibe…it’s a top notch education with small class sizes. No greek life, there is athletics but it is not a dominant part of the culture. While it is known for it’s science and math, it has a strong emphasis on humanities as well. In fact within your humanities requirement you must also “concentrate” on a specific humanity. In fact music is one of these concentrations. Because of the consortium, your son can also join a choir, an a capella group, an orchestra, a jazz band, take lessons at a very reasonable cost, or simply use the practice rooms anytime to play.

If a school of 800 is too little–no worries–the other 4 undergrad schools make a consortium of about 5,000 students so you never feel too small.

Why add California? The weather, the beaches, the mountains, the variety of things to do…need I say more?

Reason to avoid HMC? It’s very intense and GPAs are low. However, acceptance to grad schools and job opportunities are very high, so apparently the low GPAs don’t hurt them in the long run, but it does take getting used to–so much so, the first semester is pass/fail.

22

I would definitely keep Reed on the list, with its geeky/quirky vibe. Plus, Portland is a fantastic city.

Although I have never visited, Bowdoin seems to have similarities to Kenyon (other than location). In fact, last year one student here on CC had the hardest time choosing between the two. She said she felt like “crying” at the thought of not attending Kenyon, but ended up choosing Bowdoin. I know you visited Kenyon and it apparently is not on your list any longer. So there is some possibility that Bowdoin would not be a good fit.

U.Rochester and CWRU are very much peers. If you liked Case, I bet you will like UR at least as much, perhaps more (it has a much nicer campus). Carnegie Mellon is better than those two, and Pittsburgh is actually a great college town.

I agree that Ithaca College looks like an outlier. Don’t go out of your way to visit, unless it has something special.

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Carnegie Mellon - probably too intense.

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If the interest in computer science grows into wanting to major in it, look in the catalogs and schedules for offering and frequency of junior/senior level CS courses like algorithms and complexity, theory of computation, operating systems, compilers, databases, networks, security and cryptography, software engineering (or project course or projects in other courses), hardware courses like computer architecture, and electives like graphics and artificial intelligence.

25

Hmm, my junior sounds a lot like yours, apart from the interest in science. Wants to continue with music and the arts, though not likely to major in either. Doesn’t want a dominant preppie or conservative vibe, wants small to non-existent Greek life.

The schools he has liked the most are Grinnell, Dickinson, Bates, and then also Kenyon and Denison. No Greek life at Grinnell and Bates, and they make a big deal about being an inclusive community and that is why there is no Greek life as it, by definition, excludes some. My kid loved Dickinson, and we heard that Greek life continues to shrink in relevance to its social life there. Kenyon he likes, but I don’t like the 30% Greek life with in-dorm fraternity living clusters. Denison was a another surprise favorite, which no longer has residential Greek life and the administration seems to be continuing to work to shrink its influence. At each of these schools, my kid felt like there was a good blend of types of kids.

Carleton – we know some kids there, my kid doesn’t have the stats to apply, it sounds a bit too much of a pressure cooker for him even if he did have the stats.

St. Olaf, he is turned off by numerous distribution requirements, really quite extensive. Maybe in practice, it is easy to knock them off, but he wants fewer requirements.

Mac – seems to fit a specific niche for kids who want urban LAC. We haven’t been that impressed by the actual offerings, don’t shoot us, just our own view. We weren’t looking to add schools to our kid’s list, so after an initial lack of enthusiasm, saw no reason to continue to explore.

Lawrence: neat kids, pretty campus perched above the river, great conservatory experience. Appleton seems like it has plenty of quirky shops for the college students, though for us, the drive north of Chicago to Appleton seemed endless. Probably stays on my kid’s list as a possible early acceptance through EA.

Oberlin came off my kid’s list – too quirky, was helpful that he found a place that went too far on the liberal quirky barometer for him, so we could scale back from there.

Wooster was a funny one – I was very impressed, he through it screamed safety and didn’t have an open mind. I may take him back for another look.

Good luck with your search!

26

FWIW, we visited most of the schools you listed, and our S had similar interests.

He ended up choosing Trinity University in Texas. Very strong sciences and CS programs, Tier I in Rugg’s Guide, and the facilities were the finest we saw anywhere. Brand new $230M integrated science building, opened last month.

Worth checking out.

Good luck!

27

Haverford should not be considered as intense as Swathmore. It’s an academically challenging environment but competition is within the student and the feel is collaborative. There’s no Greek life (at either). We met some recent graduates last weekend. A chem major we met said he was doing research in his second week at Haverford. He’s currently getting his Masters at Harvard.

According to parents and current students I’ve met they seem to have a healthy work/life balance. The Honor Code is a big deal, and the fit of the student is really important as it’s such a small school (1200?) We have visited 3 times and just attended an accepted student’s event (off campus). This is a kind, fun, interesting and bright community of people.

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@epeemom’s comments above are spot on. If your child is intellectually curious but doesn’t want a competitive atmosphere, Haverford can be a special place - kind, accepting, involved students. Another plus to the honor code - many exams can be self scheduled and self monitored, which can help keep exam stress somewhat in check.

29

If you want help removing schools…

If the focus is on small LACs with good science, why University of Vermont, Carnegie Mellon, and University of Rochester? Vermont has 10,500 undergraduate students, and is a public research university. If it’s your in-state safety that’s cool; if not, then I’d suggest maybe removing it and instead adding an in-state public safety. CMU has 6,237 and Rochester has 5,643, which are more LAC-ish - they’re bigger than your average LAC (which usually has < 3,000 students) but both do have strong sciences. However, they both do have graduate students and faculty research is a priority, which diminishes the LAC-ness of the places. In other words, they are liberal arts universities that emphasize a wide-ranging liberal arts education, but they are not LACs in the sense that they are only focused on undergraduate education and endorse a small environment. I think he’ll get more of the liberal arts feel at Rochester than CMU, which tends to be techie/science dominated, but they’re both of course excellent schools. I might put them near the bottom. (Note that I’m only saying this because you want some help thinking about schools to remove - honestly, both of them are excellent choices.)

Likewise, Ithaca is larger than the average LAC (~6,000 students) and might feel a little more pre-professional than most because of their great schools of communication and the health sciences.

About a quarter of Willamette students join Greek organizations. That might not be a deal breaker to your kid, but it’s something to consider. (It’s also about the same at Beloit.) Denison is also heavy on the Greek life - 30% of young men and 46% of young ladies. I don’t know how the proportions influence social life, and apparently Denison doesn’t have residential Greek life (but residential life isn’t necessary for Greek students to have outsized influence on the social scene - it just depends).

I’m loathe to add any more schools to the list, but what about Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs? No Greek life, and the quirky vibe comes to mind - I knew a couple of Skidmore students on my study abroad and they definitely described the place as quirky and offbeat. Vassar is pretty diverse and has no Greek life either, and I also thought of Colgate and Hamilton, although Hamilton is more known for its writing program.

30

A word on the Maine colleges-
If you’re considering a visit to one you may as well try to hit all 3. They’re close together and Bates-Colby-Bowdoin or Bowdoin-Colby-Bates makes an easy loop. If you flew into Portland you could do the driving portion of a visit to all 3 in a little over 3 hours.

31

Dickinson has great post grad results and fantastic study abroad as well as terrific dorms etc…

32

Brandeis and Muhlenberg are both strongly Jewish , if you are trying to avoid religion.

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^^muhlenberg is one third Jewish, one third catholic, one third Protestant. It’s actually a Lutheran school. But it’s not a religious school IMHO. It’s not a Messiah or Grove City or BYU or any place where a student will feel pressured to be “religious”

34

My impression is that Dickinson is a better fit for social sciences and humanities. I would not choose it for a physics program.

A previous poster mentioned Bucknell. My son is a physics major there and I think it would be a much better choice due to the engineering program and students, for a physics major.

True it does have Greek life. But my opinion is that the same activities and cliques exist a similar small school like Dickinson, it’s just not branded with Greek letters. We have friends em whose kids have gone there and hear similar stories of lax parties vs frat parties.

Ursinus has a strong science and pre med program which is worth checking out if the school is not too small for you. I’d also recommend muhlenberg.

35

Ok. Whatever people want to say. Check out Dickinson , my daughter probably not going there because she has offers from Ivies and equivalents. But Dickinson made the short list. That school has a lot going for it and will be on the move up.

36

Thanks for sharing :wink:

37

If Wooster and Beloit are considered matches, take a look at Kalamazoo College.

38

On your list, Beloit, Denison, and Lawrence all offer excellent merit aid. My D applied to Beloit and Denison, got $23k at each school. At Reed, you will get zero merit, and pay close attention to the culture there…

Did you also visit Lewis & Clark and U of Puget Sound? Both lovely, with merit aid.

In the end, our D decided she did not want the PNW or Midwest, and she is deciding between southern LACs. If not out of the question, there are many excellent schools to consider - Rhodes, Centre College, U of Richmond, Southwestern U (TX), Sewanee, Hendrix - all hidden gems, and at least $10k less sticker price per year than most NE and Midwest schools.

39

Reed is INTENSE! It is for kids who want heavy academic focus and plan to go to grad school. If some places are “too intense” for your kid, I can’t imagine Reed wouldn’t be.

I would think Lawrence, Beloit, St Olaf and Grinnell are best upper midwest schools for what you list. Macalester if you want some urban flavor, Grinnell only if you can tolerate small town life. (Not sure where you are from). All these places will be cold and snowy in the winter, and winter is long here. For my kid, Lawrence is probably best choice (good merit money, high academics), Grinnell is best choice if we had the money to pay (dreaming of merit). She won’t consider Beloit because of the town. She won’t consider St Olaf because she knows too many people there (and merit is not very good, so I’m ok with that). My husband went to one of your Maine schools 20+ years ago, and he wouldn’t have her apply there because of cost. We’re a little fixated on price here apparently.

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@4kids4colleges Can you be more specific about what you mean by “pay close attention to the culture” at Reed? (We have not visited any PNW schools yet, and likely wouldn’t prior to any application.)