Hi, I am an international student and I have been accepted to these colleges. I really cant decide between them. Though I am leaning more towards DePauw and Beloit. I am an Asian so there’s no way I could check out these colleges first hand by visiting them. Its really hard deciding because they all seem equally good, though DePauw is better ranked.
Here’s how much I have to pay to each after financial aid:
Beloit (21k)
DePauw (28k)
Wooster (26k-27k)
(costs include everything - Tuition, Room and Board, Personal expense, Travel etc)
I am looking for strong sciences and good campus vibes, like how the people are, club/activities and internship opportunities etc. I want to major in Computer Science or 3-2 Engineering.
Here’s what im looking for/prefer in order importance:
(though I think they all matter to me a lot, but still)
- Strong Academics (Sciences)
- Campus Life
- Value of Degree/ Prestige etc.
- Location
- Amount to pay
- Clubs/Activities/opportunities
Please help!
Beloit at the lowest cost makes terrific sense – it is about 90 minutes from Chicago O’Hare airport, so for an international student, will be easy access, and there is a coach bus that runs from the airport and the town. Beloit is known as an open, inclusive community, and I believe – though you should do a Beloit search here to confirm – that they have expanded science facilities recently.
Depauw has a very strong greek life on campus, I believe 75% or more of the students are in fraternities/sororities, and that affects the type of social groups on campus. Wooster is a neat place, but is not close to any particular airport, and is known for its capstone senior research project for all students. But is it worth more than $6-7 k a year, I wouldn’t think so.
Congrats, and good luck.
I would go with Beloit. Definitely the best value and it matches what you want 
However, for details : Wooster is famous for mentored research.
Beloit is quirky and friendly, with a good mix of academics and social opportunities.
DePauw is ‘work hard party hard’ and has substance abuse issues. Unless you’re into heavy partying, I don’t think it’s be a good fit.
Kids and I drove hours across Indiana cornfields to see DePauw. Found a keg party on a frat lawn at 10:30 a.m. I was like " Yes!!!" but daughters weren’t so impressed.
Yes my #1 concern about DePauw was the dominant greek life and ‘party school’ tag.’ But what i did learn about DePauw is that the people seem to respect other people’s choice and dont pressurize them to drink/party. This was a major concern for me, until i contacted some students there from my country and they said its not a big issue. They actually stressed how important greek life is to meet people and make connections and make use of alumni benefits, though im not sure how helpful that can be. I’d appreciate knowing how much alumni connections matter.
On the other hand, it feels nice to hear good things about Beloit. I did read that the science center is newly built (2008) but im not sure if Beloit is strongest in Sciences and if new facilities signal better departments. I think ill like the campus life there and I will fit in. Also, Beloit will have meal plans that suit me, since i’m restricted to certain foods by religion. Though its sort of strange that the campus is only 47 acres total since most colleges are much much bigger than that.
thanks for your responses. Ill appreciate more details about these schools
DePauw has a very strong computer science major. It is one of the most popular majors with 50 or so graduates a year and a number of international students choose to major in computer science. If you are talking to students going to DePauw be sure and ask specifically about CS. This year’s graduates, as well as those in previous years, have had many and varied job offers. Not sure if you are male or female, but DePauw has an especially good program for women in CS with one of the highest percentages of female majors in the country. Three of the eight faculty in CS are women. So if computer science is your main interest you should definitely consider DePauw. My understanding is that international students are not too involved in the Greek system but you can learn more from current students about this since you are in touch with them.
Funny thing is I’ve read 40 acres, 47 acres and 65 acres online. Who knows. It didn’t feel too small to us, and we expected it to, but that’s a personal choice.
Sciences in general seem good at Beloit, and yes, it’s a great building. Don’t know about Eng and Comp Sci in particular; I’d just suggest looking closely at the coursework via the online catalog and portal. But some thoughts on Beloit vs DePauw (basically answering q from other thread, don’t know about Wooster):
- Engineering programs seem comparable; neither has engineering per se, but both have pre-engineering and a 3-2 arrangements with engineering schools. So you'd need good grades and the ability to afford those other schools later on unless scholarships transfer. For Comp Sci, your goal would presumably be to be employable straight out of school. So again, check if the courses you want / need are available.
- "Ranking" isn't very meaningful at this level. You won't get jobs based on a school's ranking; "value of degree" doesn't work that way. Both are good, but neither one is MIT, Va Tech, etc, so again, look at the skills you'd gain and connections you'd form (profs, internships, alumni etc).
- At DePauw, are the people you're in touch with from your country members of frats, or are they just saying they feel it's not as bad as they thought? Greek-based networking element is really only available to people who pledge that particular frat; going to parties doesn't put you in touch with the network, even if the frat members are nice and don't pressure you to drink and all while you're a student at their school. BTW if a school doesn't have a heavy Greek life, that doesn't mean it lacks a good alumni network; it just means that networking isn't linked with Greek life.
- Frank question: Do you feel more attuned with American liberals or American conservatives? Hopefully both campus have all kinds of people, but I'm sure you're familiar with differences between Obama / Clinton / Sanders and Trump / Cruz / Bush in terms of world view. So it's not really "are people nice?" (hopefully most people are nice everywhere) but "where will I feel the most sense of belonging?" Not trying to paint with too broad a brush here, but making a decision from a distance without on-the-ground experience in a place can be hard, so that's food for thought.
My thought would be that DePauw is more expensive and has Greek life as a downside, so it comes down to what the courses and departments actually offer – not ranking-wise, but courses you’d take and skills you’d develop – to see if it’s worth the extra money. It could be, but that’s what you’ll need to be asking yourself …
Thanks for the detailed response @MomOnALaptop. About Greek Life, the intl students said that they too at first were very concerned about it and thought all sorts of weird things happened in greek life, but that was far from the truth. They ended up joining greek too and say its not at all about just drinking but meeting people etc. So i dont know, i think its not too bad at all. I think ill be able to find my place at DePauw too?
Also, about the liberal/conservative thing, i really dont know what you mean by that. I am not into politics at all and certainly not into American politics, though i think obama is good lol. So i dont have any problems with what people follow or believe in, unless its something ill have to worry about. It just doesnt matter to me unless someone targets me on something you know? I dont have any such beliefs or worry about them if thats what you mean. I did see that beloit is very “liberal”. Not sure what it means, really.
To put things differently : would you rather be friends with a Trump supporter or with a Bernie supporter ?
Do you think college should be free ?
Do you think immigrants are a big problem in the USA ?
Do you think Obama did a good job or didn’t ?
Do you think it should be legal to discriminate against gay people if your religion tells you they’re unclean/bad (for instance, refuse to serve them in a shop), or do you think all people should be treated the same regardless of who they love, and religion should guide your personal decisions but not impact others negatively ?
I would narrow it down to Beloit or Wooster with respect to fit and value. Wooster, by the way, is served by three airports - Akron (45 minutes), Cleveland (1 hour), Columbus (1.5 hours). However, @Midwestmomofboys is correct that you can probably get a direct international flight to Chicago, but highly unlikely that you can access regional airports in Ohio without an additional connecting flight.
Main differences I see between Beloit and Wooster are size of student population (Beloit around 1200-1300, Wooster about 2,000), longer, colder winters in Beloit vs. Wooster, and somewhat easier access with respect to international travel for Beloit. Beloit would be more economical for your family. Both are good quality liberal arts colleges - I believe that they are peers in academic quality. Both have charming campuses, accessible professors, and serious students. Either would be a great choice.
Beloit and Wooster are going to have more in common in terms of campus culture – open, inclusive, tolerant, with the differences in size of the student body noted by marmaedefamilia. Although we didn’t do a formal visit at Beloit, we were on campus, and it is lovely – mix of architectural styles, plenty of grassy common areas, nestled by a residential neighborhood and a walk to the downtown community. Campus doesn’t feel particularly small. Beloit is also about 45 minutes from Madison, WI, the capital and home to University of Wisconsin. While it wouldn’t work for regular visits, certainly, there would be an opportunity for a Beloit student to go to major events in the Madison area (President Obama spoke on campus once and in town once while my kid has been at Madison, and there are major musical acts coming through town).
My kid was admitted to both Beloit and Wooster, and spent a fair amount of time at Wooster - which has a larger student body and a larger physical campus. Wooster is known for its IS – every student completes an independent research project as a senior.
As noted, Depauw is more of a work hard/play hard environment and, as I live in Indiana, I will say that Depauw has a reputation as generally more conservative, more pre-professional environment.
You can have a great experience at each of them, hope that the info on this thread helps you sort out the community which feels most like home.
I don’t think you will find many people at DePauw (if any) who think immigrants are a big problem to the US or that it should be legal to discriminate against gays. If someone spoke those views publically they would suffer a lot of backlash. I also would find it very hard to believe that those views would be well regarded at Beloit or Wooster. Most small liberal arts colleges that don’t have strong religious ties are generally more liberal than the general public. Now the communities each of these schools are located in are probably more conservative and you will find people expressing those types of views. I will admit that Beloit seems to be less diverse politically than DePauw. While you will find students at DePauw who admit to be Republican you may not find too many at Beloit. I am less familiar with Wooster.
So from all this im guessing ‘liberal’ people are the best kinds? they have their own views but they respect other people’s views too? Honestly, I dont plan to talk about politics with anyone or discuss who’s doing a better job at office etc etc and neither do i tend to worry about it; i dont even do that here in my country. I think people should accept varying views and not stereotype each other based on politics or religion. They should rather try to reach out to meet new people etc and ask them about their culture and experiences, interests etc and how they are similar, not different or try to promote negativity. We should foster good cross-cultural interactions. Like just talking good or staying quiet and minding your own business, im that type. So id be in that sort of happy college one whos people care for eachother, ones that’s not hot politically. It just sounds scary.
Apart from that, I think location wise Beloit and DePauw are sort of similar. Ill only have to go to the airport like once a year hardly, so thats not really an issue, even though there’s an intl airport both in Chicago and Indianapolis for that matter.
And what I think about DePauw is that, yes, they might party a lot and be a ‘work hard play hard’ school, but not everyone has to join them. Apart from the 70% greek, there are 30% independents too. So I think I will be able to find my place at DePauw too.
Only thing im now not sure about is wether a Beloit education will be equally as good as a DePauw one? Since I do know now that DePauw does have a great CS department. If CS at DePauw really is better and might benefit me more in the longer run, I would definitely spend 7k more and go to DePauw. ( i plan to go to grad school afterwards and do masters)
I would look very closely at the course offerings at both Beloit and Depauw in CS, and also look at factors like general education requirements, what else does the school require to graduate? Personally, I would not advise my son to spend $7k more a year for Depauw, but that is a very personal response.
Beloit and DePauw are of similar quality overall. The big difference is liberal vs. conservative, and Greek life (there’s Greek life at Beloit too, much more “mellow” than at DePauw). Check the CS offerings at each.
In the US, when people talk about the liberal-conservative spectrum on college campuses (or cities or parts of the country), it isn’t really about party preferences or people debating the elections. It’s just one way to get a sense of world view, etc. Of course people will hopefully be welcoming everywhere, but when you ask about campus social life and vibe, that’s part of understanding it regardless of whether people talk politics.
Anyhow that’s clearly a secondary concern for you – first is the coursework. (Money also appears to be of secondary concern, so it’s great to have that freedom.) In addition to the course catalogs, I’d say to check the current online portals for both schools to see what’s being offered this fall and check around for a few years each way. Good luck with your decision, those are great choices to have!
Thanks a lot everyone. I found CS to be stronger at DePauw so i committed to them and look forward to the years ahead! Thank you for your detailed responses.
Thanks for letting us know. I’m sure you will enjoy DePauw. The international students seem to be very supportive of one another.