Help me find a college - Senior with interest in LAC with great Humanities

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm interested in literature, philosophy, history, etc.. I'm not sure what I want to do with my life (as so many of us are). I definitely want a college with more of an emphasis on learning than practical job applications. Humanities are especially interesting to me, but obviously a lack of a science department will be a problem.</p>

<p>I have an 800 and 790 in SAT II, as well as a 2100 (bombed writing) SAT and decent grades in hard classes. Pretty good, not amazing. Pretty damn good extracurriculars. Maybe not Ivy, but up there.</p>

<p>Recommendations?</p>

2

<p>Haverford would be a good “reach” school for your interests and stats. Its consortium relationship with Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, and UPenn makes many more courses available than most LACs can offer. Swarthmore, Pomona, and Amherst also are good consortium colleges, but they are more selective. Bryn Mawr, Smith, and Mt. Holyoke are good consortium colleges, and would be well in range for your stats, but are women-only. </p>

<p>In the list below, all but the schools in parens claim to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need.
Schools marked by an asterix are in cities or relatively urban areas. Most of the others are in rural/suburban areas or small towns. </p>

<p>New England
Amherst, Williams (extremely selective)
Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley (women only)
Bates
Bowdoin
Colby
Holy Cross*
Connecticut College
Middlebury
Trinity College*
Wesleyan</p>

<p>Mid-Atlantic (including New York)
Swarthmore (extremely selective)
Bryn Mawr (women only)
Franklin & Marshall
Hamilton
Haverford
Vassar
(Dickinson, Gettysburg, Skidmore)</p>

<p>South
Davidson
(Rhodes*, Sewanee)</p>

<p>Midwest
Carleton
Grinnell
Macalester*
Oberlin
St. Olaf
(Kenyon)</p>

<p>West
Occidental*
Pomona
(Colorado College<em>, Reed</em>, Whitman)</p>

<p>All of the above are selective, expensive schools. If you cannot cover your Expected Family Contribution, then you’ll need a very different list.</p>

<p>Two public LACs to consider: St. Mary’s College of MD and New College of Florida. </p>

3

<p>I can’t think of any academically rigorous small LAC that doesn’t have a good selection of humanities and social studies. Aside from Harvy Mudd (and even that has access to the other consortium schools) LACs in general excel at “literature, philosophy, history, etc.” and many have fine science departments as well. Practical job applications, like business schools, are less common.</p>

<p>LACs have distinctive personalities so in order to make recommendations we’d need to know your preferences – e.g., urban/suburban/rural, geographic location, sporty, arty, politically active, Greek system.</p>

<p>Also, list your GPA and your most important ECs. </p>

<p>And most importantly, what is your family’s financial situation? Do you need or want financial aid? If yes, do you qualify for enough need-based aid to make it work for you? This is the most critical information when building your list. </p>

4

<p>St John’s College is dedicated to a more traditional liberal arts instruction.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for all your help so far!</p>

<p>As far as my GPA and EC go, I’m reluctant to post the latter as it would allow me to be publicly identified. However, it is very good (focus on politics). I have an UW 3.8 GPA. Money is a bridge I am going to burn later (I’m applying to several much cheaper schools as a backup, don’t worry. Just a separate list).</p>

<p>Culture is hard to define. I’m turned off by the radicalism of Reed (in particular the prevalence of drugs). Drinking culture is going to be everywhere, and I wouldn’t want to go somewhere with no alcohol. But a place where you can easily keep it in check would be nice. A non-religious school would be preferable. Small school, no strong preference for location (urban v rural), and I would prefer in the Midwest and Northeast. New England in particular.</p>

6

<p>Wheaton and Skidmore would be reasonable backup choices for you (a match/low-match). What about Vassar? Some of the traditional women’s colleges, that are now co-ed, are good options, because they always emphasized Humanities. Add Middlebury, Bates, Colby, Kenyon, Ohio Wesleyan, College of Wooster, Grinnell, Carleton, Macalester, Beloit, Swarthmore, Haverford, Denison, Dickinson, Bard, Bucknell, and then find a real financial and academic safety. If you’re pretty confident that your family can manage $40k or so, you should qualify for enough merit aid to make some of the Colleges That Change Lives (e.g. Guilford, Juniata, College of Wooster, et al) near-safeties. </p>

7

<p>If you would be happy to attend a school from your low priced list then that’s fine. Make sure you ARE willing to do that, though, or we could be reading an update in the spring about you needing to take a gap year.</p>

8

<p>I recommend adding at least a couple of small-ish universities to your list. Humanities departments are often small even at large universities, so they can be a great place to combine an impressive breadth of courses and resources with the faculty-student interaction of a LAC. My classics courses at my alma mater (a private university of about 6500 undergrads) always had fewer than 15 students, and about half had 5 or fewer. That said, you can never replicate the small and cozy social scene of a LAC at a university. </p>

<p>Johns Hopkins would be particularly worth a look for you, I think. It’s reasonably small (3500 undergrads in the arts & sciences) and has long had strengths in art history, Near Eastern studies, English, writing, religious/biblical studies, history, and various languages and area studies (e.g. German), and lately it has been aggressively building up its archaeology and museum studies offerings. Peabody at JHU has a great music program, and nearby Goucher (part of the Baltimore consortium) offers a very good dance program. </p>

<p>TK’s list is a good one except the curious omissions of Washington & Lee and Colgate. (I’m not sure either is a good fit for someone who wants to avoid drinking, however.) Get a copy of the Fiske Guide and the Insider’s Guide to the Colleges and check them out to see which appeal to you. </p>

9

<p>

</p>

<p>Oops. Yes, add Colgate to my “Mid-Atlantic” list and W&L to my “South” list. Also add the University of Richmond to the “South” list and Scripps (women only) to the “West” list. </p>

<p>The only “full need” LACs that I deliberately left off were Harvey Mudd and Claremont McKenna, just because I don’t think Humanities is the focus at either one. That’s not to say there aren’t many other good LACs with decent need-based aid, or that you can’t find the personal attention you want at some larger schools.</p>

10

<p>Doesn’t Claremont McKenna have a strong Poli-Sci program? Or am I mistaken? (Distinct from Humanities, but something worth considering)</p>

11

<p>Claremont McKenna is strong in history, philosophy, and, yes, literature. Folks tend to pigeon hole the school as only focused on economics, political science and international relations. There are also plenty of hard science majors there, as well as the soft sciences like psychology (a very good program.) What Claremont McKenna does not offer are the performing and visual arts - although one can major in those at the other 5Cs, as well as take courses in other humanities areas, of course, to supplement courses offered at CMC.</p>

12

<p>Awesome. Thanks</p>