Hey Guys! Im a senior going through the gruelling IB Program and juggling a bunch of extracurriculars at the same time. With all this workload I even need to somehow make a decision about which school I want to call home for 4 years. This is why I have come to you. These are the 5 schools I have been accepted to(no rejections, yay!!!) and from these I need to decide where I want to go. Here is what I want from my college experience.
Excellent Academics: Top of the line professors and thought-provoking classes that will actually make me want to learn and not FORCE myselt to study
Party Scene: As a great rapper once said “Work Hard, Play Hard”. I want a college experience that revolved around great academics and a great party scene at the same time. I want to balance both equally well(more importance towards academics though)
Student Body: I want to be surrounded by an intellectual group of people with very varied opinions(social, political or anything). I don’t want high-school drama during my college years. I want people who are very open and not judgemental about anything.
4)Career Services: The only reason my parents have agreed to let me attend an LAC is because I have convinced them I will go somewhere and major in a subject that can actually get me a good job after graduation. This is very important for me.
5)Student Govt: I want to continue to be involved in Student government in college as I have done through my entire high-school life. I want to go to a school where the student govt. has an actual voice and power and aren’t just figure-heads.
U of R: Promises a lot of these things(I have a friend there+Niche) and also because of the PPEL Major which I think is a good fit. Leaning towards it
Skidmore: Amazing food and dorms and combines a lot of the above mentioned. Good connectivity to major cities(NYC, Montreal). Also in the list of New Ivies.
Bard: Got accepted EA and have fallen in love with the place researching about it since december. Great academics but a lot of people complain about a lack of alumni networking and job placements
Wesleyan: Probably the best academics amongst all but I’m considering whether I should even accept the waitlist because I don’t think there is that big of a difference between Wes and U of R in terms of academics or prestige.
Union(back-up): I don’t think I want to go here but I got accepted lmao. If you think it’s a better fit for me than the others, let me knoe.
Thank you guys so much and please let me know soon!!!
ImThatLACGuy
@ImThatLACguy As everybody seems to agree, Richmond seems to be the best fit. However, I think it would be useful to respond to your criteria in order. Please note that I know more about UR than the others as my son applied there and I am ignoring Wesleyan for now as you only have a WL
1)Excellent Academics - All of these schools seem similarly rated by USNWR. However, I think that UR is extremely upwardly mobile academically. They are hiring some rock-star professors and are giving a good amount of merit scholarships to improve the quality of the kids there.
2) Party Scene - UR seemed like a social place and the kids I met were really friendly (probably a bit more suburban than urban cool kids, but that is not a bad thing for the social scene. Also, having Div 1 sports events should make weekends a bit more social when the teams are playing.
3) See #1 above. The merit money is also improving diversity which should lead to a variety of opinions in class and the dining hall.
4) The $4,000 research grant is fairly unique and pretty cool. It should help you stand out when looking for a job later. Also, UR seems pretty linked in with the Richmond and DC job markets which should help out with internships.
5) No idea, but I’m sure that there is student govt opps if you look for them.
@londondad Thank you so much for all of this information!!! Few points I had
Since when did USNWR become the ultimate ranker of the quality of academics? Niche 2016 ranks URichmond as #12 in the country and Wesleyan as #15, while CollegeChoice 2016 ranked Richmond #19 with Wesleyan at #16(Skidmore was in the 30’s while Bard and Union were unranked)
2)One more thing about Richmond that I’m finding appealing about Richmond is the Greek Life. I think the Greek System is a great way of making friends, having a good time and establishing contacts. If we had things like tailgating like you mentioned, that’s an added bonus.
My Question: Should I waste time by accepting the Wesleyan wait-list? Do you think it can offer the above better than Richmond?
Once again, thank you for this information, it’s really going to help me make this decision
If URichmond is more appealing to you than Wes (which has a much artsier vibe IMO) then send your deposit in to UR, buy your hoodie and have a great 4 years there. Don’t bother getting on a waitlist unless you really prefer a school.
Do you prefer a hipsterish vibe or a preppy vibe? I heard that Bard is very hipsterish and I don’t think there’s any Greek life or tailgating. Skidmore is a combo of artsy, hipster, a little prep, and a little sporty. Union is probably a combo of preppy and geeky. Wesleyan is very hipster with some sporty types thrown in.
It seems like University of Richmond and Wesleyan are probably a better suited towards what you want. UR sounds like an excellent fit for you.
(I don’t know how Skidmore has good connectivity to NYC or Montreal…yes, there’s an Amtrak station, but Saratoga Springs is 4 hours from NYC and 7 hours from Montreal on the Amtrak. That wouldn’t be good for anything besides the occasional weekend fun trip.
@citymama9 I think I’m more waspy and preppy than hipster. Everyone seems to think U of R is the best fit and I think the same. Plus the 4,000$ they’re offering will really help me further investigate my Extended Essay that I wrote for the IB Program.
One more confirming data point: Bard had by far the freakiest and artsiest student body of any LAC I’ve been to. I think roughly 25% of Bard students major in art. I’m with everyone else; U. of R sounds great for you.
If you’re interested in Greek life, Bard would not be a good fit and Richmond would. Richmond has a more conventional and conservative student body. “Waspy and preppy” probably fits right in and you’ll find similar students.
However, in your original post you said you’d fallen in love with Bard. What was it that you loved? The intellectual passionate student body and the professors and course offerings? Perhaps another way for you to compare is to look at the actual course listings and see which of the schools offers classes you’d be excited to take.
I think both Bard and Richmond give that feeling that you are huddled together in the middle of a wooded forest. Otherwise, they couldn’t be more different
@SpiritManager !!! I’ve seen you on so many Bard posts and one of the main reasons why my love for Bard started was through reading your posts. I honestly love Bard, especially the people. One girl on the Bard class of 2020 page started the first LGBTQ Association in Turkey and another girl empowered 100’s of young girls across the Middle East by coaching soccer to them. That’s what I mean by interesting people who I want to be surrounded by. Bard has this but that conflicts with Richmonds chances of finding me a better job and a great social scene in terms of parties.
I want to major in something along the lines of politics/economics/public policy. I know Bard has Levy which is supposed to the next big public policy think tank but that’s mainly for post-grad right?
@ImThatLACguy Can you please do us a favour and post some of your stats (IB score prediction, SATs, ECs) and location? My daughter will be applying to some similar schools next year and this would be good info. Also, were you selected for Richmond Scholars? Thanks.
@circuitrider Honestly, I haven’t visited these schools. I don’t live in America. Everything I know, is through research, whether it be via alumni’s or websites. But thank you for the info.
@londondad Alright!! IB Predicted Score of 39/45. Top 20% of my class. ACT:An absolutely horrible score of 25(Submitted to Richmond and Skidmore since they’re not test optional. Not Submitted to others.
EC’s(This is why I got merit money from all these schools)- Im an IB student and I had tons of leadership positions such as 4 consecutive years of student council(graduating VP), Executive Director of the Global Issues Network Conference in my country and I also managed to get 4 internships throughout my High school life(Asian Development Bank, World Bank, European Union Comission and Dept. of economic affairs in the Indian Government). Apart from the above I had stellar Rec’s and my counsellor told me my essay was one of the best he read this year(especially my Richmond Supplement). Co-Captain of my school’s Forensics and Debate Team. Our school represented Philippines at IASAS(All South-east Asian). We won a team gold medal and I won a Bronze medal for Original Oratory(bunch of local level medals too). I’m also a Part-Time Social Activist and I’ve protested against many issues across India about issues such as corruption, women’s rights and female infanticide through the urban art of Street Plays(what my common app essay was about).
Got money from all of the above schools and Richmond Scholar Semi-Finalist!
OK, if you haven’t visited and won’t be able to, keep asking LOTS of questions here. I’ve only visited one of them myself, but friends/family have visited two of the others, and they are all very very different from one another. Size? Location? Frat life? Preponderance of majors? Sports scene? Very very very different. collegedata.com can be helpful for raw numbers, niche.com for student impressions (take the specifics on niche with a huge grain of salt, but the trends can give you a general flavor).