How are my Schools Based On What I Want

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Can you tell me how well all or some of my schools fit my list of criteria? THANKS! :D
Small to midsized (1,500-10,000 students)
Undergraduate focus
Good social life
More on-campus (meaning not suitcase school and also parties and social life mainly on-campus)
Not freezing
Not right in a city but not totally isolated- need civilization
School spirit
Welcoming, inclusive atmosphere
More conservative politically</p>

<p>My List:
Princeton, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Penn, Amherst, Williams, Cornell
Georgetown, Middlebury, Duke, Notre Dame, Colgate, BC
Hamilton, Davidson, Bucknell, Lehigh, Holy Cross, Trinity
Connecticut College, Lafayette, Gettysburg, Franklin & Marshall
SUNY Binghamton, Providence, Dickinson, Villanova, Wake Forest, Loyola Maryland</p>

<p>I don't know a ton about most of the schools so saying how they really fit or don't fit my criteria would be really helpful!</p>

2

<p>dartmouth's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. and cold.
brown is in providence, a city - albeit a smaller city, but definitely not conservative
yale is in new haven, which is definitely a city, and i'm not sure if that's such a welcoming, inclusive atmosphere.
georgetown is more conservative than most, but in DC which definitely is a city
providence is in the ghetto part of providence but probably more conservative because they're a christian school.</p>

<p>good luck!</p>

3

<p>Brown is a very liberal "hippie" school.
Amherst and Williams are both in the middle of nowhere.
Cornell is over the 10,000 undergrads limit.</p>

4

<p>Cornell is pretty big. A bit isolated but the town is pretty cute from what I've heard. It's pretty cold..but that depends on what you're used to.</p>

<p>Dartmouth is pretty much isolated. Pretty campus though.</p>

<p>Well the atmosphere of Yale would be welcoming...the more shady parts of New Haven might not be...but you probably won't go there much unless you're with a bunch of people. Everything you really need/want is in the good part of New Haven surrounding Yale..or you can go to Boston/NYC for more excitement since they're both fairly close.</p>

5

<p>Notre Dame, Williams, Colgate, Dartmouth, Middlebury, Cornell, and Hamilton are all freezing and in isolated areas.</p>

6

<p>None meet all of your criteria but Princeton seems closest of the top colleges. Downfall there is that it's not the most welcoming/inclusive.</p>

7

<p>^
False stereotyping?</p>

8

<p>I forgot to put in my list of what I want that I want a friendly and laidback school, definitely not cutthroat</p>

9

<p>thoughts? anyone?</p>

10

<p>Well, Rice meets all of your criteria. You might want to add that to your list.</p>

<p>It IS in a city, but with a very discrete campus that gives it more of a suburban vibe.</p>

11

<p>Thanks, blackeyedsusan, but I don't really want to travel too far from home for college, so Rice (being in Texas) wouldn't be one of my choices.</p>

12

<p>Holy Cross is not cut throat: As one premed student pointed out:</p>

<p>The great thing about the sciences at Holy Cross is that they are not as competitive as you might find at other colleges. Instead of competing with each other, we work as groups and encourage one another to do well. There is a real sense of teamwork among the students here. The professors also contribute to this environment by always being there for anyone who is seeking further elaboration on a lesson or an answer to a question.</p>

<p>FROM: College</a> of the Holy Cross Information, Introduction, Academics, Admissions, Financial Aid, Students, Athletics, Local Community, Alumni, Faculty, Alumni, History, Campus, Students, Faculty, Address, Tuition, and Football</p>

13

<p>Who can tell me anything about Villanova? What is it like to be a student there? What, if anything, is a disadvantage of choosing to go there? Is the social scene mostly restricted to campus, or do a good number of students venture into Philadelphia fairly regularly? Is there really very little diversity among the student body?</p>

14

<p>Who can tell me anything about Villanova? What is it like to be a student there? What, if anything, is a disadvantage of choosing to go there? Is the social scene mostly restricted to campus, or do a good number of students venture into Philadelphia fairly regularly? Do students take advantage of the city? Is there really very little diversity among the student body?</p>

15

<p>I would probably take Brown off your list... it doesn't really seem to match any of your criteria except being laid back. In the middle of Providence, a fairly large city, it's one of the most liberal colleges in the country, and cold.</p>

<p>The schools that seem to fit you the most would be ND, Georgetown, BC, Holy Cross, Villanova. They're all highly spirited (Georgetown less so), conservative as far as colleges go, and have more of an undergrad focus.</p>

16

<p>Your requirements seem hard to fulfill... I can't speak to all of your choices, but many of them don't fulfill all your requirements (which you probably know).</p>

<p>If you're looking for a school farther from those, Stanford might be a good choice--it's definitely not conservative, but there is a prominent conservative element on campus. (Funnily enough, the only thing you can see wherever you go on campus is Hoover Tower, which is where the very conservative Hoover Institute is.) Also, it's a bit more than 10,000--closer to 14,000-15,000. It fits the rest of your criteria, though.</p>

<p>
[quote]
None meet all of your criteria but Princeton seems closest of the top colleges. Downfall there is that it's not the most welcoming/inclusive.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I can see that--I got the same feel from Princeton, that it's "exclusive," not merely "selective" (as is the case at other top universities). That was actually one of the reasons I chose not to attend.</p>

17

<p>I think Emory meets most of your criteria.</p>

18

<p>Penn and Yale are both in cities. Philadelphia is a more noteworthy city than New Haven, but Penn is at the upper limit of your desired undergrad population (usually having just under 10,000)</p>

19

<p>Dartmouth is in the middle of nowhere, freezing cold, and not really conservative.</p>

<p>HA! Brown should definitely be off the list if the politically conservative thing is important to you.</p>

20

<p>I don't know what you mean by "totally isolated" -- I mean, obviously most of those schools are in towns and are nearby civilization, but I don't think you mean that literarally (since the only college I can think of that is deliberately not by civilization is Deep Springs College). But for the record, Dartmouth, Williams, and Middlebury, for sure are in small towns with not much to do around there. And Georgetown is right in the big city -- it's on the edge of Washington, D.C. in a wealthy area, but still in the city proper. Penn is definitely right in the city -- when you walk off-campus you're in Philadelphia, and not one of the better parts of Philadelphia either. Boston College is in Boston, obviously.</p>

<p>Some of the other schools are technically in cities -- Yale (New Haven), Brown (Providence), Duke (Durham) but they are small cities and you may feel comfortable there.</p>

<p>I also don't know what you mean by "freezing." To some people the Northeast is freezing and to others 30-degree weather is just fine. I will say that at least half (more, I think) of the schools on your list are in the Northeast -- I live in New York and it's 42 degrees right now, but the temperature in the past couple weeks have ranged from a couple strange 60-degree days to 25 degrees. Mostly it's cold, and if you live near the shore/water, it's windy, too. Williams, Boston College and Dartmouth will suffer the most as they are the farthest north. But most of the schools in the Northeast (Princeton, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Penn (but not so much), Amherst, Williams, Cornell, Middlebury, BC, Lehigh (but not so much), and SUNY-Binghamton) will have cold days during the winter.</p>

<p>I also don't know what you mean by "school spirit" -- do you mean people love their school or do you mean they participate in sports? Georgetown, Duke, Notre Dame, and Bucknell are the the bigger sports schools on your list, with perhaps Lehigh and Wake Forest and maybe Colgate bringing up the rear. Far as I know at the small liberal arts colleges (Amherst, Williams, and Davidson especially, but Davidson gets a pass because it's in the South and most people like sports there :D) there isn't much sport activity going on.</p>

<p>Yale doesn't <em>really</em> have an undergraduate focus, and Cornell definitely doesn't have one. You'll get a good undergraduate education at both schools but their primary concern is not undergraduates.</p>

<p>Brown is a very liberal school, and Dartmouth is pretty liberal as well. Most colleges are liberal, though, so you may have a tough time finding a truly conservative campus. The schools in the South may help a bit. Cornell is larger than you want.</p>

<p>And to Fireflyscout -- Emory does fit the majority of the bill, but the focus is not undergraduate education, it's relatively liberal (I'd say liberal-to-moderate, but maybe conservative as far as universities go) and it's in a large city (Atlanta -- even though it feels like it's in the suburbs, it's still in Atlanta).</p>

<p>Why not look at Vanderbilt? It's in a city, but Nashville isn't much of a city IMO.</p>