Hidden Gem Colleges - PA and Midwest

Why about Drew in NJ?

You mention small universities, as well as LACs. Not sure how small he wants, but you might consider some Catholic schools. Scranton (4,000 undergrads), Xavier (4,500 undergrads), and St. Joe’s (5,400 undergrads) would have very good merit opportunities (probably $20,000/year awards with full tuition a competitive possibility at all three). All are urban although not located downtown. Duquesne is a bit larger (6,000) and doesn’t offer full tuition awards, but he’d probably get $20,000/yr there as well. Greek life is usually not a big factor at Catholic colleges (if it exists at all).

Gettysburg and Knox (IL).

Look to see if CTCL has a roadshow coming to your area: http://ctcl.org/events-all/

Would definitely add Beloit and Juniata to the list

Denison has Greek life for sure but none of it is residential. So it’s a bit different.

Muhlenberg is in Allentown, PA and probably more NE Pennsylvania then Central. I agree with the sentiment that it has a very good academic reputation, happy and creative vibe and a very small Greek scene. They are definitely worth a visit. Best of luck to you!

Dickinson and Denison have higher greek life participation among women than among men. We know a bunch of kids (male and female) at Denison and Dickinson, none are in Greek life, and have active social lives without it.

When researching greek life on campus, consider questions like, (1) when is rush – fall or spring semester, as spring rush gives the freshman time to develop relationships on campus and decide whether they want to affiliate with greek life (Dickinson and Denison are spring rush); (2) housing – is greek life residential or non-residential and, if residential, do students have to live in the houses for a specific number of years (Denison is non-residential, Kenyon has sections of dorms set aside for greek life members); (3) affiliation with national organizations – Knox, Wooster, and Lawrence have greek life, but describe it as “non-traditional” – I think Wooster and Knox are not affiliated with nationals, and therefore have more control of their own chapters, but someone else may know more specifically Your mileage may vary, but my kid found that, as long as greek life hovered around 30%, it was not a dominant part of campus life.

I echo those who mentioned Denison, Ohio Wesleyan and the College of Wooster. Denison and Ohio Wesleyan are both about a half hour from downtown Columbus if your son likes a smaller atmosphere with access to a larger city.

About Colleges that Change Lives - note that several of the schools mentioned in this thread are in that book and one plus side of that is that those schools will compete with one another in the generosity of their financial aid packages. Allegheny in particular will fight hard to get accepted students by increasing their initial aid offers. Hope College is known for being way less generous in financial aid. Hope scores low on diversity too and has a bit of a history of anti-gay attitudes, even in hiring. Earlham has a significant party culture that is not well-handled by the administration but it has amazing professors. Kalamazoo College offers a wide array of opportunities to get involved and to pursue career interests.

Thank you to everyone for responding! This will give my son some helpful research to do before and after our trip. To address some questions and comments:

@mamaedefamilia and others on Beloit and Lawrence…I wish hope will consider Wisconsin. I used to travel there for work and always enjoyed it. Will get him to do some research on the schools.

@NJWrestlingmom thank you for the insight on Dickinson, Ursinus, York, and others. I am interested to see his thoughts from his tours in a few weeks and will have him look at the others! What are the top three for your son?

@momofthreeboys and @Midwestmomofboys thank you for Kalamazoo and Hope. Kalamazoo looks interesting and with the town there, could be a good match.He’s thinking Michigan is not where he wants to attend, but I may pull that out for the mom choice to visit!!

@mom2and He is in the top 10% for his class and with his PSAT will at least be commended. Thank you for the info on Franklin & Marshall. He had received something in the mail and had originally been interested in it but we saw no merit aid so it’s not going on the list. Hoping this thread with your comments and others can help a wide group of families. I will have him look into Marist.

@LuckyCharms913 Thank you! He is not opposed to Catholic schools. We know someone at Duquense, she’s enjoying it. My son doesn’t care to be right in downtown Pittsburgh but will have him look into the others.

Thanks again to all who have posted. It’s very helpful to our family and hope it is to others taking the journey!

I have to say I’m a little surprised at some of the recommendations given the fact the OP’s S doesn’t want to be in a remote location. For example, while I haven’t been to little Collegeville, PA (population 5,300 or so) in a while and it could have a changed somewhat over the years, I would definitely label Ursinus remote. The biggest landmark close to it is Graterford Prison. Isn’t Juniata also in a very rural location? The population of Huntington PA is only around 7,000 people, and the school is known for having a country campus suitable for environmental programs, eg. a fishing pond etc. And correct me if I’m wrong, but while TCNJ is close in proximity by car to Trenton, Philadelphia, and Princeton, it’s essentially a suburban campus and does not have a true downtown around it.

Heck, my D will be attending Dickinson in the fall, and while Carlisle is a bit larger (about 19,000) than some other towns and has a downtown, I still think of the school as a bit remote because it isn’t particularly close to any major city. Even if you count Harrisburg as major, it’s about 40 minutes away.

@TheGFG while my son prefers not to be in a remote location, as I mentioned he is not dismissing it. He would prefer more choices at this point than less as he will narrow down his list later. Suburban is fine, and we are actually touring Ursinus and Juniata along with Dickinson and Muhlenberg so that he can get a feel of the students and programs. That would take higher priority. Thank you for pointing out location and size of the towns as that is helpful. The more information the better not only for our family but others reading!

Here’s a table I made for a number of LACs showing % students getting merit aid and average size of merit aid. I was looking at STEM strength, but collected info on need-based and merit aid since that was important factor for many also.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19801988/#Comment_19801988

BTW, there are many more LACs than this. This selection was based on the “Oberlin Group” with others added that cropped up often in data related to STEM at LACs. However many/most of the LACs mentioned on CC appear in the list.

Yeah. Juniata College and Huntingdon in general are located in a pretty rural spot. It’s 40-45 minutes drive to either State College or Altoona, the nearest larger towns. Three-hour drive to Pittsburgh; about the same to Philly I believe.

The campus is a typical small-town small-LAC campus. Also, there’s no “fishing pond” unless you mean Raystown Lake, where Juniata has its environmental field station. That’s about 15 minutes drive away from campus, but it’s no pond. It’s an 8,300-acre impoundment and the largest lake entirely within Pennsylvania. It’s a pretty major outdoor recreation destination for central PA.

If you already have a tour planned, it’s worth keeping it, even if your student doesn’t think s/he wants that setting. Sometimes they get a different vibe once they actually set foot on campus.

If you are visiting Muhlenberg I’d suggest that you stop by to see Lafayette as well. There is Greek Life at Lafayette, but it is not dominant (there are only 4 fraternities). For full disclosure my D recently graduated from Lafayette and had a really great experience there. If you have any questions about the school you can feel free to PM me.

@liska21 Thanks for the link! My son is probably also STEM, math or computer science. He will eventually look at faculty and classes offered which I’m sure will further reduce the list.

@happy1 Nice to hear your daughter enjoyed her time at Lafayette! My son he is okay with some Greek Life. Something he read makes him think females may fair better there than males? Not sure why or what he means…will talk with him.

Also to those who mentioned Case, Ohio Weslyan, Wooster, and Dayton, he had previously researched these and a few may be added to the tour list. Denison is one we toured this summer that looked great on paper. It just didn’t click with him unfortunately…maybe it was the hills?

Anyone have information/experience with Butler University or Valparaiso University? It looks like there is a cultural requirement with Butler? Many years ago we knew a female who went to Valparaiso and she had pressure from other females regarding religion. I don’t know if that was a special circumstance or wondering if that has changed over the years? Don’t have much info on either university.

Butler is in the basketball tournament.

@jcmom716 fwiw my S is a first year at Lafayette and is really loving it. He also got the marquis scholarship (i.e. Not the big award but still substantial). He was a strong student but by no means perfect with several Bs scattered throughout hs and his ECs were fine but nothing unusual or outstanding. So I see lafayette as a real possibility for your S.

Butler requires attendance at 8 events over the 4 years. I think it’s pretty easy to fulfill- campus speakers, plays,etc. We have one grad and a current student- Butler has been a great experience for both .