Intellectual yet Laid-Back

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hey everybody!</p>

<p>Just wondering if anyone could give me any schools similar to Brown and Vassar. I really like;
-the intellectual yet laid-back vibe
-the open-curriculum (though I don't mind some curriculum lol but I really like the idea of being able to pick what I want to study)
-schools in the northeast
-schools in cities or in small cities but nothing too rural</p>

<p>Atmosphere, location, and freedom.</p>

<p>Schools I'd like people to give me their opinion on if you could (anything from admission, faculty, academics, atmosphere, etc, etc.) are Brown, Vassar, Amherst, NYU Gallatin, and Bard.</p>

<p>Any suggestions for colleges, etc?</p>

2

<p>bard is VERY artsy. according to collegeboard, 37% of graduates major in visual or performing arts. it's also quite clique-y.</p>

<p>studentsreview is a good website to learn about specific colleges beyond plain numbers and statistics, though.</p>

<p>brown students are some of the happiest, but i'm not much of an ivy league person.</p>

3

<p>Are you female? If yes, you should look at Smith. Laid back atmosphere with intellectual people/faculty to talk to. Furthermore, it has an open curriculum.</p>

4

<p>Wesleyan seems a natural addition to your list. Brandeis has some required courses but otherwise might be a good match as well.</p>

5

<p>Bowdoin College - intellectual and very laid-back.</p>

6

<p>Sarah Lawrence seems to fit in with the others you've listed. Atmosphere-wise.</p>

7

<p>I also kind of got that intellectual-chill vibe from Fordham.
Although, the core is probably a bit larger than what you want.</p>

8

<p>Gallatin is very free, you can take courses in any college of NYU, including Stern. On the other hand, you have to watch yourself and make sure you actually have some sort of coherency, aka not majoring in "evil".</p>

9

<p>Wesleyan? They are pretty hippyish, but if you are into that... Bard too.</p>

10

<p>fhqwgads2005: I wouldn't call Wesleyan much if any more "hippyish" than Vassar (and a lot less so than Bard). </p>

<p>Some thoughts on the schools you listed:</p>

<p>Bard: From what my friends and Bard say, it's a lot MORE "artsy"/counter-cultural than the other schools on your list. As one Bard friend who visited me at Wes put it, you can find Bard-types at Wes, but you can’t find all Wes types at Bard (and you could substitute Brown and Vassar for Wes there). Some people love it, but I'd really suggest visiting. </p>

<p>Amherst: Probably more "preppy" than Vassar or Brown, but it's definitely no Williams in terms of "preppiness." I don't know much about it, but I do know that my roommate, who loves Wes, had Amherst and Brown basically tied as her second choice, so I'd imagine it's worth looking into for you.</p>

<p>NYU Gallatin: I don't know much about it, but it's definitely very free in its curriculum. I'd imagine that that atmosphere would be rather different from that at the other schools you've listed, though, just because NYU is a rather large school (I mean, the Gallatin program is not, but the feel of overall school is important too), and doesn't have a campus. Some people love it, but it's very different than a LAC or small university feel.</p>

<p>As for other schools to look into, I agree with all of the other suggestions. I'll especially pimp Wesleyan, since I go there and know about it ;) I think you should definitely check it out, since Brown and Vassar are two of the schools I think are most like Wes, so if you like them, I'd think you might like Wes too. It's very much got that laid back intellectual feel you're looking for, and it’s distribution" requirements" are very minimal (3 math/science credits, 3 social science credits and 3 humanities/arts credits), and actually, aren’t requirements for graduation, (though some majors require them and they are normally needed for honors). </p>

<p>Some other ideas (note, I'm not entirely sure about the curriculums at these schools, but most LACs tend to have distribution requirements that aren’t that hard to fufill): Skidmore, Barnard (if you're a girl), Connecticut College. Also, if you're willing to stretch the northeast requirement, you might like Haverford.</p>

11

<p>id add wes to ur list as well, it meets the criteria. I would visit it first though, i visited and ended up hateing it.</p>

12

<p>definitely add connecticut college</p>

13

<p>According to a friend who goes to Amherst, it is INSANELY competitive... of course that's just his perception, but if it's at all like he describes, I wouldn't call it "laid-back" in the least.</p>

<p>I'd recommend Swarthmore College as another school to look into which is rather similar to Brown and Vassar from the standpoint of its feel.</p>

14

<p>I've heard that Swarthmore is worse than Amherst for work load. Definitely not laid back. You work like a fiend for a B at Swat.</p>

15

<p>kollegkid....thats nothing compared to what I've heard of MIT......</p>

<p>If ur looking for "laid-Back"....Stanford!.....Stanford!....Stanford!</p>

16

<p>Thanks for all the responses everybody: brilliant.</p>

<p>1) yeah, I guess I'm a bit of a hippy in mind-set. Don't mind that atmosphere at all but I'll be visiting.
2) I am a girl so I will be checking out those colleges lol thanks.
3) See, I hear Stanford is very laid-back, but not very intellectual outside of class. I've visited Vassar multiple times and I LOVE that you can walk around the campus and hear students and faculty discussing mathamatics, science, or debating the latest political statements at one table while at the next you get people talking about the game last night or something like that. I just get this great feeling that there's a bunch of really intelligent people who don't mind speaking their mind but don't mind partying or chilling out. Is what I've heard about Stanford wrong?</p>

17

<p>Vassar's a terrific school, and I think it fits what you're looking for well. The school has brilliant students and has a buzz to it that comes from students learning because they want to learn rather than students learning because they feel they need to get a certain GPA.</p>

<p>To put Stanford in context: one of my best friends is a student at Stanford, and she is pretty much unable to have a conversation that doesn't somehow revolve around something nerdy. Though she's quick to point out that Stanford is home to a lot of different "types," including people who don't seem intellectual but are nerds at heart and students as academic-minded as she.</p>

18

<p>ive never visited but how about hampshire?</p>

19

<p>I'd suggest looking at Pomona College since you've taken a look at Stanford. Should fit the "intellectual yet laid back" phrase.</p>

<p>The compulsory "Gen Ed" curriculum is very flexible, one course each in 5 areas: : Creative Expression; Social Institutions and Human Behavior; History, Values, Ethics and Cultural Studies; Physical and Biological Sciences; and Mathematical Reasoning. </p>

<p>And as always, the cross registering between CMC, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Scripps is always a plus. </p>

<p>It's in Claremont, not exactly a vibrant town but not that rural either. LA is about 1 - 2 hours drive away, and there's a train to LA as well.</p>

<p>So, sounds about right for you. I'm attending there this fall and so far these are the relevant stuff that I can provide. As for profs and classes and students and overall feel, you'd do better to ask students who are already attending. But I've heard almost nothing but good things about the professors. Students are friendly and not competitive too from what I can gather thus far. </p>

<p>A helpful starting point - check out the "Top 10 reasons to attend Pomona" thread inside the Pomona forum here: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=175120%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=175120&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Good luck! =)</p>

20

<p>I'm going to put in another vote for Wesleyan; it just seems to fit what you are looking for rather well. </p>

<p>Plus it's just great ;-)</p>