My daughter is just starting her college search, and likes the idea of a LAC—small classes, able to form connections with professors etc. but thinks she would like to be close to a city with access to theatre, dancing, restaurants etc. Her older sister will be attending Kenyon in the fall and she likes the friendly community feel (and intimate classes etc) but isn’t sure about the isolated town. Looking for a friendly, not overly competitive vibe on campus, with down to earth students. She hasn’t taken any standardized tests yet (is a rising junior) but psat practice tests have been good— thinking schools in the same range as Kenyon will be appropriate target/reach schools.
Denison will most likely be a safety, although she would like it to be closer to Columbus. Others she’s considering are Macalester, University of Richmond, Wesleyan and Colorado College. Reed came up but she seems to think it has an overly quirky vibe that she wasn’t sure about.
Would love to hear your impressions and experiences with any of these and any other suggestions. These are all pretty far from us so I’d like to narrow down the list before we start visiting. Thank you so much!
DS is also interested in LACs near cities. There are precious few…especially if you also need to factor in potential for merit $. But there are some terrific suggestions in that thread!
Davidson (suburb of Charlotte)
Goucher (suburb of Baltimore)
Haverford (suburb of Philly)
Holy Cross (Worcester)
Lewis & Clark (Portland)
Occidental (LA)
Rhodes (Memphis)
Swarthmore (suburb of Philly)
Trinity (Hartford)
Trinity U (San Antonio)
Willamette (Salem)
If she’s open to single-sex colleges, you could add Agnes Scott (Atlanta), Barnard (NYC), Bryn Mawr (Philly), Wellesley (Boston), etc.
It puzzles me that Occidental seems to fly under the radar here at college confidential, especially given the intense interest in other California schools. Regardless, Oxy is actually in (not just “close to”) the very large city of Los Angeles, which offers everything that your daughter wants and more. If Kenyon is a target, then Oxy should be roughly comparable.
I’d especially second Macalester, Holy Cross, Rhodes, Occidental, and Richmond, though there are other excellent suggestions above, depending on the best fit for your daughter. I love Colorado College too. Is the one-class-at-a-time setup something that will work for her. Macalester is big city and cold, and has an international vibe. Academics at Holy Cross are very strong. Rhodes is beautiful and know a friend’s kid, a recent grad, who had an amazing experience there. Richmond (RVA) has more of a pre-professional vibe than a Kenyon, and is southern preppy, if that’s a plus or minus. Richmond itself (RVA) has really become a desirable city for college students and young professionals. Wesleyan is terrific too. Good luck, have fun in the search!
Loyola New Orleans is a university, but has a similar feel to LAC’s. Relatively small student body, small classes. Right in New Orleans next door to Tulane and across from a park. On the streetcar line.
Very laid back vibe, or “chill” as my kid said after visiting.
Denison is 25 minutes to Columbus, a quick 25 minutes on the highway. Acceptance rate was 34% this past year, about the same as Kenyon last year (Kenyon’s acceptance rate for incoming class has not been released, as far as I have been able to tell), so I’d be careful of counting it a safety unless a student has a 34 ACT and an unweighted 3.8 and shows interest and fit.
Macalester, Barnard, Rhodes are accessible to city life but, depending on what someone considers “too far,” Oberlin is about 40 minutes from Cleveland, Haverford and Bryn Mawr are about 20-30 minutes to Philly, Carleton and St Olaf are about 40 minutes to Twin Cities. Not sure what Wes is close to, Hartford is the capital but not a destination for many people. And Portland is charming, but a (very) small city, so I wouldn’t consider Bowdoin as close to city life, though it is in the eye of the beholder.
Wellesley is another thought, about 25 min from Boston, thought I’m not sure it fits the bill of “not overly competitive” or 'down to earth" vibe as it is often described as pretty intense.
University of San Diego. Very dedicated to LAC undergrad philosophy (Catholic). Most beautiful US campus on several lists (Princeton Review for one). Nice medium size (just under 6000 undergrad). 5-10 minutes from EVERYTHING, Old Town, Mission Bay, downtown, airport. Best climate, sun, surf. Decent merit and FA. Maybe too far away from your home base, but fun to think about! California dreamin’
Eugene Lang College (NYC/Greenwich Village) is another urban LAC.
You may also want to consider a few small to mid-sized universities, some of which have average undergraduate class sizes comparable to the top LACs.
Example:
Rice University (in Houston; not a LAC, but with only ~4K undergrads, isn’t much bigger than one; ~71% of classes have fewer than 20 students, according to its USNWR profile)
Colorado College is rather unusual. The setting is urban but most surrounding buildings are low-rise; crime and pollution don’t seem to be major issues. The nearby mountains offer some of the best outdoor recreation in the country. Denver is about 90 minutes away. Major ski resorts are not too close (Breckenridge for example is over 100m away) but the frequent “block breaks” (Wednesdays to Mondays) allow plenty of time to get out and back. The block plan also facilitates off-campus field work (since students can schedule it without worrying about other course obligations). The campus has good, fairly new facilities for both physical sciences and the performing arts. The recently rebuilt Tutt Library apparently is the “largest academic library in the country built to be carbon-neutral and net-zero energy” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfYxv2xuCpU).
CC is a “work hard, play hard” place. When students aren’t studying, they often are on road trips, snowboarding, biking, climbing. If you’re the kind of person who’d rather just hang out, you can do that too, but might prefer a campus with a few more nerdy, sedentary classmates who aren’t as likely to leave campus on long weekends. Average family income is rather high. While CC claims to cover 100% of demonstrated need, admission apparently is need-aware (at least for borderline cases), and the percentage of incoming students who receive FA is a bit lower (at ~36%) than at some peer LACs.
My daughter is a rising sophomore at Macalester. Location was definitely a factor in her choice, and that’s why Kenyon, which she loved on paper, moved down her list once we visited. It is in a mixed commercial/residential area that is upscale, safe, and full of the kinds of places that college students love, like coffee shops, used record stores, etc. You step off campus right into the town, which feels like part of the campus. Public transportation is excellent and cheap and you can be in downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul in about 10 minutes. The airport is a 10 minute Uber ride away. The Twin Cities has more theater seats per capita than any other city in the country other than New York City. My daughter attended multiple shows with both an English and a theater class. There are also tons of concert venues and clubs, many of which are 18+ for admission. There are endless opportunities for internships and community service . Even with this, it is a school with a real campus and feels that way.
The student body is really friendly. I cannot even count the times my daughter exclaimed over how nice everybody is and how easy it is to talk to people. The faculty is this way, too. Everybody is damn smart but laid-back about it, collaborative rather than competitive. It is academically rigorous but there is a lot of support. If I had to say there was a type there, I would say a lot of the kids are quirky-cool with a smidge of nerdy-cool. Very LGBTQ+ friendly. There are tons of student organizations and even though it’s an urban school, they still bring a lot of events to campus.
Someone mentioned Richmond. Excellent LAC in beautiful part of the country. 10 minutes from downtown Richmond which is a cool city. Not massive, but big enough. Plenty of restaurants, art, history and natural beauty. Actually home to several major companies and VCU so there is a lot going on.