Help me compare Amherst, Dartmouth, Middlebury, Brown and Haverford!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Right now, I like them all equally, but I'm anxious to have a clear personal ranking by the time letters come in. As I've already gotten into one school that I really like, I don't feel too uncomfortable about seriously considering these schools before I even get accepted.</p>

<p>*<em>I'm also considering Tufts and Vassar, though the others stand out more to me.
*</em>*Thanks for reading! I appreciate your insight.</p>

<p>A bit about me: I'm introspective and analytical, though I like expressing myself through writing and singing. I value genuine friendships and late-night talks, but I like quirky, out-of-place convos, too. I am a big fan of nature, but have never seen snow and currently enjoy 60-70 degree weather year-round, so I'm a bit apprehensive about East Coast winters (though autumn probably makes up for it.) Currently, I'm thinking of a major in psychology or sociology, but perhaps tempering that with another major in something more practical, like biology or economics. I'd like to be a social psychology researcher in the future.</p>

<p>College criteria: (in rough order of importance)</p>

<ul>
<li>I'm now attending a large high school (2,700) and I've never built up the personal relationships I wanted to. I'd like to be somewhere with a strong sense of community, where close relationships are easier to develop. I don't want exclusive cliques, though, which I think are more noticeable in smaller schools (please correct me if I'm wrong).</li>
<li>Easy to get involved in sports (just intramural, I don't plan on tackling serious sports), easy to get in involved with acapella. I'm really looking forward to trying new things out in college, not just in the realm of academics, so accessible extracurriculars is incredibly important.</li>
<li>The schools I've listed will have an abundance of people who are smart and intellectual curious, but hopefully, they'll be laidback non-grade-grubbers who value cooperation over competition.</li>
<li>I don't see myself partaking in frat activities much. Lectures, hanging out around town, or just having fun in the dorms sounds fun to me.</li>
<li>Plenty of study abroad opportunities. I think Brown, Amherst, and Dartmouth have their advantages here; Brown and Amherst, with their flexible curriculum, and Dartmouth with its D-Plan.</li>
</ul>

2

<p>Haverford, Middlebury, and Vassar best fit your personality. I have no idea which of these schools are the best in psychology or biology, but Tufts is known for its economics department.</p>

3

<p>I would actually say that you’re wrong about smaller schools being more cliquey. With big schools, it’s easy to fall through the cracks and become socially anonymous, but in a small school with a strong community you can really be friends with anyone. Dartmouth is notoriously fratty and really jumps out at me as being completely different from the other 4 schools on your list. The social exclusivity you get from frats seems to be exactly what you’re trying to avoid. Moral of the story is: you can get a great education at any of these schools, think about the sort of environment you will really thrive in.</p>

<p>^I agree with your assessment, Keilinger seems to be someone who would do best at a LAC</p>

4

<p>I’ve heard that about Dartmouth too, although the only two Dartmouth alums I know weren’t involved with frats and still had a great time there. That said, I’d be out of touch with a huge part of the social life if I were to avoid frats.</p>

<p>The size does seem to be a nice compromise between a mid-size and tiny (like the LACs that have 1k-2k student populations). But I suppose I have a soft spot for it, if only because it was the first OOS, off-the-radar college I considered, two years ago. Rationally speaking, I probably would be happier at some of the other schools than at D.</p>

<p>country day, may I ask why you left out Amherst?</p>

5

<p>perhaps because Amherst, though a LAC, also has a considerable “jocky” atmosphere</p>

6

<p>oh and New Hampshire is freezing, so Dartmouth is no go on that front too</p>

7

<p>Well as a Dartmouth student I’ll chime in. While Dartmouth greek life is big, that does not equal “social exclusivity.” Actually, Dartmouth’s frat system is completely open (anyone can go to basically any party/enter the house on any given night). In terms of not taking place in frat life, I never dreamed I would before I came here. However, after spending some time here I’m almost certain I’m going to rush next year (Dartmouth does not allow freshman to rush, which contributes to a very close class). There really is a “frat for everyone” so to speak, and certainly not all of them are your stereotypical ragey places.</p>

<p>Dartmouth also has an amazingly inclusive atmosphere. This stems from our strong sense of community, openness, and cooperative spirit (discussing grades at Dartmouth is actually a giant social blunder, the idea of competing against yourself and not others is very prevalent).</p>

<p>If your a fan of nature, we are literally smack dab in the mountains of New Hampshire (In fact, one of the first things new freshman do are DOC [ Dartmouth outing club] trips, which are amazing. I spent the first 4 days of my college experience canoeing down the Connecticut river in the Dartmouth land grant and sleeping under the stars. Beyond the very active Dartmouth outing club, we have tons of intra mural sports opportunities, and many freshman floors will even draft their own teams. We also have tons (over a dozen) acapella groups, and they are quite popular.</p>

<p>Dartmouth’s study abroad is also one of the best in the nation. With over a 70% participation rate, it is fairly difficult to find a student who hasn’t studied abroad at least once. The D-plan makes this very easy, and very possible to study abroad as many as 3 times in your undergrad career (personally, I’ll be spending next winter in Rome with the Italian department).</p>

<p>Our econ department is great (we are known as one of the top pipelines to Wall Street, and Psychology and biology are both some of our most popular majors here. Dartmouth is also ranked #1 in undergraduate teaching, so you know whatever you decide to pursue here, it’s a quality affair.</p>

<p>Now I write this not to say all these other schools you’re considering aren’t awesome (they are). I can also see you doing well at Middlebury and Brown. However, when faced with a similar decision, I ended up choosing D, and definitely haven’t regretted it. If you have any one questions about Dartmouth feel free to pm me.</p>

<p>-Spunaugle</p>

8

<p>elytron is correct as to why I left out Amherst.</p>

9

<p>I’d encourage you NOT to rank these schools in your mind before decisions come in. They are all so selective that the odds are strongly against your being admitted to all of them. So, let the process narrow it down for you and you’ll be less disappointed if your top pick does not go your way. They are all excellent schools; you probably could adapt and thrive at any of them.</p>

<p>That said, if you decide to emphasize certain criteria over the others, then that will tend to eliminate at least one or two in each case. For instance, if you listen to your “fan of nature” voice, then Dartmouth or Middlebury stand out over the others. But if your fear of cold winters gets the better of you, those are the two worst choices. Fall and Spring are rather short seasons in Northern New England. Winter not only is long and cold but also sees far less sunshine than much of California does.</p>

<p>Amherst and Haverford both have the social and academic advantages of being consortium schools. Brown has similar advantages by virtue of its larger size, the fact that it has graduate programs, and is in an urban setting close to other schools and urban centers.</p>

<p>So, I suggest you put Amherst, Haverford and Brown in one cluster, Dartmouth and Middlebury in the other, and think about what “features” you prefer instead of focusing too much on individual schools. In case you cannot reconcile your “nature” v. “society” criteria, a couple of these schools seem to be better compromise choices than the others. You may find the same is true even if you divide them differently than I have.</p>

10

<p>Admitted student weekends are about the most helpful thing, so unless you get into ALL of them and can’t coordinate it, you could get to 3 of the admitted student weekends and compare. I think there’s a thread where people are listing the admitted student dates because you don’t have much time to plan once April 1 arrives and the admitted student weekend is April 14!<br>
Re: study abroad—Dartmouth does have the advantage of the D plan but Middlebury’s study abroad program is GREAT and you can combine your semester abroad with J-term.</p>

11

<p>Where have you gotten in? That might help us understand your preferences, some of which contradict each other right now.</p>

12

<p>Some things I ought to clarify: I enjoy my alone time in nature, but my standards are low when it comes to natural surroundings, as I currently live in an urban area. (The nature reserve in my city is an hour-long bus ride away.) If the campus isn’t practically all brick and cement, I’m happy. Brown and Tufts would probably lose points there…</p>

<p>glassesarechic, I’ve gotten into Amherst (early-write, not ED).</p>

<p>Thanks to everyone! This has been quite helpful. I know that I can find student reviews of their schools online, but it’s been useful to have some comparisons between the schools.</p>