I really love both schools, and plan to attend the overnight for both in the coming weeks. I’ve already visited both and I see a lot of very different strengths in both schools. I plan to study Environmental Science/Geology and minor in French. I also do improv and want to continue that in college, I want to be a part of the radio station, and I want to be a tour guide.
I live in NY so Mount Holyoke is about an hour closer than Goucher, but it’s not a huge difference. I’m a good student (3.8 GPA, my school doesn’t weight) and I got both merit scholarships and financial aid from both schools.
Goucher would cost about $11.1K , and MHC would cost about $13.7K, so Goucher is less expensive than MHC, and money is an important factor, but I’m still unsure.
I do like that Goucher is so close to Baltimore because of all the other college students in the area, and the proximity to DC, but I also like the 5 college area and the Pioneer Valley. I plan to study abroad, which is required at Goucher, and I’m not sure what it’s like doing that with financial aid and everything at MHC.
I’m also bi so I’m not really concerned with the male/female ratio in either direction in regard to that.
Any advice or suggestions that anyone has about either school would be greatly appreciated! I would love to hear other people’s experiences with these schools, as I’m pretty much at a loss here.
Go, visit, and see what you think. 2.6k might not be that big a difference each year, or it might be impossible to cover. So carefully examine those two aid packages, see how they are structured, and verify any GPA requirements for keeping merit money in future years. Here is a calculator that might be useful for you: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/awardletteradvanced.phtml
It really is OK for you to ask the financial aid office at MHC how aid would work for a semester or year abroad.
Goucher participates in academic exchange with some of the other colleges and universities in the Baltimore area. Happykid graduated from Towson and had at least one classmate in her upper-level theater tech classes who was a Goucher student.
For your majors, I’d go with Mount Holyoke. It’s stronger academically across the board but especially in science and French! It’s got more resources too - ask them how they handle financial aid for students who want to study abroad. They should have you covered. They even provide students with money if they take on an unpaid internship, so they can move their future career forward.
Mt. Holyoke has a traditional Geology program, as well as a more interdisciplinary Environmental Studies program. In general, I would pick MHC as the more STEM-oriented school.
Goucher has Environmental Studies, but not Geology. I searched for “Geology” in the Catalog, and got only one 200-level course in Environmental Geology.
I suspect that the French program is probably stronger at MHC as well. College Navigator shows 9 French degrees issued by MHC in 2016-17, compared to just 2 at Goucher.
Mt Holyoke and nearby Northampton is especially friendly to lgbt students It is also beautiful. And Amherst and umasss anherst offer you the ability to take very strong geological classes there and access to d1 sports and social scene. The town of Amherst is considered one of the quintessential college towns in America too