We are residents of Indiana. I’m guessing that the arrest rate for the county has to do with the opioid problem that is so prevalent in areas of the rust belt over recent years. That being said, Indiana is a pretty safe place to send your student. We visited Earlham in the fall and really liked liked it. My daughter said, “It doesn’t really feel like it’s in Indiana.”
I’m the OP and I really regret initiating this thread with what seems like a negative spin. As it happens, this school is starting to seem like the front-runner for my son, despite its lackluster marketing and location. It seems nearly custom-designed to suit him academically and he made a connection with professors there during a recent visit. I think the location may make it difficult for them to find talented support staff. It may also be that they are really dedicated to making a top notch education affordable to a large number of students, and also to maintaining the level of geographic diversity they are celebrated for–and thus, they may have a smaller-than-ideal administrative staff because they choose to spend their money elsewhere–just a hunch. It isn’t perfect, but show me a place that is. My hope is that the new leadership this coming year will offer students a fresh perspective. Clearly the school does have a lot to offer the students it serves. I am hoping for the best and want to support them. Thank you to students and families who have posted here and given my family greater clarity in understanding Earlham’s unique contribution to the LAC landscape.
Basbleu, it looks like your son may be in EC class of 2021. So is mine. He chose Earlham over Kenyon for its diversity and less competitive, more quirky vibe. I’ve worked with and employed several EC grads and been very impressed; whether they graduated 35, 15, or 5 years ago, they consistently speak highly of their experience and especially, of the close relationships they developed with EC faculty. We are excited to see investment in the EPIC program and are optimistic about Alan Price’s leadership.
OP’s son is probably going to be at Earlham in a few weeks, if indeed that was his eventual choice.
My son, also on the spectrum, went to Earlham for two years. He loved his first year there, and loved it a little less his second semester. He struggles with socializing, even if he definitely has the desire to do so. Earlham is wonderful in that it is an incredibly accepting school, with liberal values in a small setting. My son ended up having to leave after two years – I think he got depressed that second year – when the structure of freshman parties and mixers dropped off, and students are expected to make their own friends. We had been advised to maybe have him go to community college when beginning his college career, but we were enthralled with Earlham and thought that he would do fine there.
Earlham is a fine school. My son’s issues were singular to him, and he is now thriving at a community college. He will eventually go to another university – probably a state school – but the difference in his maturity level from four years ago is amazing. Earlham will be good for your son if he’s super into Japanese culture and language. Earlham is also wonderful in that it is SO DIVERSE. Wonderful students attend Earlham. One of my small complaints about the college is one that could be made about any smaller school … that they didn’t offer enough sections of classes, so it made planning a class schedule very difficult. I still wish, however, that he could have stayed at Earlham, because the students and the teachers were such nice people.