All LACs that seem relatively similar on paper. I’m wondering if anyone can share any fundamental differences between these colleges that could help me narrow them down. I’ve researched them heavily but I’m coming up short. I’ve already compared them based on study abroad programs, their English departments (the main reason I’m looking into them), graduate programs, endowment, alumni networks, etc.
Because of their selectivity I could just apply to all of them, but I’d rather narrow them down further and spend less.
I’m a transfer applicant if it helps. Here’s some more criteria I could think of narrowing them based on, but it’s harder to find information.
-Transfer acceptance rate (are any of them exceedingly difficult to get into as a transfer student?)
-Satisfactory theater program (nothing fancy, but something with a good theater program open to non-majors would be nice, I’ve already researched this aspect and found most productions put on by these colleges are open to non-majors to audition, but nothing on the quality of the productions themselves)
-Student-to-professor ratio
I may end up thinking of other criteria, but as of now I’d love to hear the advice of anyone familiar with these colleges.
You can look at each school’s common data set to get transfer acceptance info.
As an example, here is a link to Kenyon’s.
http://www.kenyon.edu/directories/offices-services/institutional-research/common-data-sets/
Look at section D of the CDS for transfer info. In Kenyon’s, you will see that in the last admissions cycle, 101 transfer students applied, 50 were accepted and 13 enrolled. It also breaks it down by gender so useful info for sure.
I think you’ll get a strong English dept. at any of those schools but Kenyon and Midd have very strong reputation. I’d suggest looking at specific course offerings at each school and see which ones interest you the most.
I also think you will find that getting involved in theater as a non-major at LACs is pretty easy.
Some things to think about:
Do you prefer living closer to a city or bigger town (Swat, Amherst), in a cute town with easy access to a city (Bowdoin) or something more isolated (the rest)? Ease of traveling between home and college?
Are outdoors pursuits important? Swat is probably the weakest on that front followed by Kenyon.
How do you feel about greek life? Kenyon has it and Swat to a much lesser extent.
Would you favor colleges in a consortium? Swat and Amherst.
Swat is going to be a less jocky and preppy than the other colleges.
@hapworth. You are needed here
Agree with @doschicos that additional factors to consider are: (1) greek life, which is present at Kenyon, banned at Amherst, check the Common Data Set for info on others; (2) geography/location, Gambier and Williamstown are picture perfect, but some may find them claustrophobic, others may find love them (3) ease of travel, getting to Swat, which is on the commuter rail, is a lot easier than Williams and Kenyon – if someone were coming from an inaccessible location, simplifying the travel on the college-end of the trip can make a difference; (4) gen eds – as a transfer, are the gen eds a burden, does the school take your transfer credits for gen eds, or is there an open curriculum, like at Amherst, where that really isn’t a factor.
In terms of the factors you already mentioned, we visited Kenyon many times, and best I recall, heard that competition is fierce for roles in major theater productions, though there is always student work that needs actors. Kenyon is known for its theater program as much as for its English program and the Kenyon Review, so I suspect that its program will be more competitive than the other schools.
@doschicos and @Midwestmomofboys are asking all the right questions.
You can look up student-faculty ratio, but it’s a safe assumption that it’s low at all these schools, and not a cause for concern. Location differences are significant.
Locations are different among some of these. Amherst, with the other schools nearby especially, has a great college city vibe. Williamstown, like Middlebury, is in the middle of nowhere but has rural beauty and attractions (though Burlington is not THAT far away). Gambier is a one-saloon town, but Columbus is only an hour away and another small city is only like 10 minutes away, so people sometimes make too much of Kenyon’s isolation. Swarthmore is in Philadelphia, for crying out loud, and don’t let people saying “suburbs” change that fact.
Location is a perfectly reasonable basis for deciding among colleges. You will live there for 8-9 months a year for four years, and the real academic/prestige difference among them is usually overblown.
Eye of the beholder and all, but I would not call Mt. Vernon, which is 10 minutes from Gambier, a small city. It feels like an aging, industrial town whose economic center collapsed. You can get Chipotle and Starbucks there, but it is not much of a destination. Columbus is an hour drive from Gambier, with some of the route on 2 lane roads – slow going. Swat is is a suburb, accessible to Center City by the commuter rail but, coming from this Philly girl – not an urban school. With its gorgeous arboretum, Swat can be best of both worlds, at least physically – gorgeous campus with city access.
Thinking about priorities and preferences for the location/accessibility would be worthwhile exercise for the OP.
I believe a majority of transfer students at Amherst, come from community colleges as part of a program that Amherst is involved in, which would make transferring in to Amherst from a regular college more difficult
Although all of these schools would likely meet your needs, Midd has an exceptionally strong study abroad program, an excellent English department, and a robust college theater scene. It’s significantly larger than most of the other schools you mention, exceeding some of their enrollments by 1,000 students. Agree that location is the single-largest differentiator.
@Midwestmomofboys Maybe Mt Vernon isn’t all that, but I have seen post after post after post lament Kenyon’s isolation and list the handful of businesses in Gambier, never noting that there IS a Starbucks and a Chipotle and many other places just down the road. As a Midwesterner also, I don’t give driving 10 minutes a second thought—less than a 1/3 of my kids’ high school classmates live within 10 minutes of their high school.
The greater point I was making is that for many of these very small towns that LACs inhabit, there are several other small towns, large towns, or small cities nearby. One thing I have done in scouting colleges is to locate them on Google maps, then zoom out to see what is beyond the horizon that otherwise reflects nothing but pasture. I am sometimes surprised that just down the road there is far more than you would be led to believe, and at distances that would not faze someone living in a small to medium-sized city.
It matters what’s walkable vs. what’s accessible by public transportation vs. what requires a car.
Also, since when is Swarthmore IN Philadelphia? It’s pleasantly accessible to Philadelphia by public transport, but not IN it.
Swarthmore is not in Philadelphia. And Kenyon is isolated.
@BooBooBear I understand the goal of not looking too narrowly at the geography. I think Mt Vernon offers the necessities – Walmart, gas stations. While the student parking lot past Kenyon Athletic Center looks quite full, so plenty of kids have cars, it is a different experience driving to Mt Vernon than walking down to street. Not better or worse, just different.
@Publisher @porcupine98 Swarthmore is 10 miles as the crow flies to the Liberty Bell. I think that is close enough to count. I wasn’t aware a college only counted as “being” in a city if it was in the municipal city limits of its namesake, regardless of the definition or description of its metro area. Geez, people. We are not talking about people in Poughkeepsie claiming to be in NYC.
Re Kenyon, I explained what I meant.
AGAIN, my point was merely about using location/geography as one of the differentiating aspects among colleges. If you want to be pedantic about whether Swat is in Philly or in a suburb of Philly that is fine, but it is certainly a far cry from the setting of Williamstown or Middlebury, which is the whole point. Likewise, equating Gambier with Williamstown is not really accurate, because Columbus is only an hour away and there is another town with many amenities right down the street—as close as the nearest Target is to my own house. THAT is all I was saying and all I meant.
Swat is in its own town making it a suburb. You don’t get to reinvent the meaning of city and suburb. 
Top-ranked LACs may be extremely difficult to transfer into. They have small enrollments to begin with, and they tend to have very high retention rates, so there may be only a handful of slots (sometimes less than 10) that open up in any given year. And there can be high demand for those few slots. Check Section D2 of the Common Data Set to get an idea of the accessibility.
The latest Williams Common Data Set, for example, shows 275 transfer applicants for Fall 2017, with only 13 admitted, for an acceptance rate of 4.7%. That was well below the Fall 2017 freshman acceptance rate of 14.6%. They ended up enrolling a grand total of 6 transfer students last year.
I’ve heard that Middlebury unintentionally overenrolled its freshman class a few years ago. They compensated by accepting 0 of the hundreds of transfer applicants the following year.
@doschicos I think I explained the point I was making quite thoroughly. I am disappointed that the only thing you drew from it was whether or not I am using “city” versus “metro area” correctly.
Yeah, we get the differences and there are differences as I and others have stated in our own posts prior to yours. You weren’t the first to address geographical differences but you were stating it in ways that weren’t technically accurate. A lot of us have visited the schools. There is a difference between close-in suburb and city. If the OP or other readers haven’t visited, it is better to give an accurate description IMO not your definition of such. I’m disappointed that you are so bristly about other people providing an accurate read on the situation.
OP,
You’re a transfer applicant, so it would be nice to know where you currently are. If you wish to keep this private, well, maybe general details? Are you currently attending an LAC? Where geographically? I’m assuming you have a strong GPA, some involvement in campus life, and other criteria that would seem attractive to these very selective schools? As @Corbett and others mention, do your research. Find hard data on transfer rates.
Also, I don’t know, but shouldn’t you have–to borrow a term from first-year college admission seekers–have a match school and a safety? Perhaps you are currently attending a strong school, so it might be foolish to take a step down, but a lateral move?
Why are you transferring? Are you at a four-year school? Are you a community college student? I was a transfer student too, but I was moving from the two-year environment to a four-year one. I too wanted to attend a LAC (and did), though I was aiming for much more modest schools.
You have 175 posts, so maybe others here already know your situation? I sort of don’t know how to make recommendations when I know so little about where you’re at, why you’re transferring, etc. But, yeah, these are all great schools, of course. And I have no idea how open they are to transfer students. Best!