<p>Someone started a thread about this a while ago but I can't find it. What are some good small colleges in urban areas?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1240735-rigorous-small-lac-near-city.html?highlight=urban+lacs[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1240735-rigorous-small-lac-near-city.html?highlight=urban+lacs</a></p>
<p>Holy Cross is located in Worcester, Mass which is 1 hour from Boston.</p>
<p>Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. </p>
<p>You get the rigors and intimacy of a selective LAC coupled with the cool offerings of an urban environment.</p>
<p>Besides Rhodes and Holy Cross, there’s Barnard… but are there many more aside from that?</p>
<p>No, not many (unless you are willing to relax your definition of “urban” or “LAC”).
If you want a selective LAC that is inside the limits of a city with a population larger than, say, 100K … then we’re talking about:</p>
<p>Barnard (women only)
Macalester
Colorado College
Holy Cross
Trinity College (Hartford)
Rhodes</p>
<p>Maybe I’m missing a few others. Many more possibilities open up if you’re willing to consider a school in a smaller city (such as Wesleyan in Middletown CT), or if you’d consider a small university (like Rice). Most other LACs are in suburbs, very small towns, or rural areas. There’s an historical reason for that, I think. Many small colleges located in cities of any size evolved into universities (in response to urban supply and demand factors). The ones in more remote locations did not (but figured out how to market themselves anyway.)</p>
<p>Reed and Lewis & Clark in Portland. Willamette in Salem (smallish city). Occidental in LA. Univ of Puget Sound in Tacoma.</p>
<p>
Some of these have already been mentioned, and the location of these varies. Some of them are directly in the city (Trinity U and Rhodes), whereas others are close to a city (Haverford and Wellesley).</p>
<p>Co-ed
Birmingham-Southern (Birmingham)
Colorado College (Colorado Springs)
Eugene Lang (NYC)
Goucher (Baltimore)
Haverford (Philly)
Lewis & Clark (Portland)
Macalester (St. Paul)
Occidental (LA)
Reed (Portland)
Rhodes (Memphis)
Swarthmore (Philly)
Trinity U (San Antonio)</p>
<p>Single-sex
Agnes Scott (Atlanta)
Barnard (NYC)
Bryn Mawr (Philly)
Mills (San Fran)
Morehouse (Atlanta)
Spelman (Atlanta)
Wellesley (Boston)</p>
<p>Arguable: Davidson, the Claremont colleges, U Richmond, Sarah Lawrence (not urban but access to NYC)</p>
<p>There are many other LACs like Oglethorpe that are less selective and LACs like Furman located in slightly smaller cities. You may want to expand your search, particularly when looking for safeties.</p>
<p>warblersule gave you a good list. A few more:</p>
<p>Rollins (Orlando)
New College (Sarasota)
College of Charleston (Charleston, SC)
Lake Forest (Chicago suburbs)
Ursinus (Philly suburbs)
Bowdoin (Portland, ME Suburbs :-))</p>
<p>Ursinus’s location is fairly rural. Unlike schools like Bryn Mawr and Haverford that are on the main line, it’s not a super easy ride into Philly. I love Collegeville, but urban it’s not.</p>
<p>But do students at colleges in the suburbs really go into the city?</p>
<p>^ probably depends on the college and the accessibility of the city from it’s location. there were a lot of young adults getting on and off the R5 at the Villanova, Bryn Mawr, and Haverford stations. If you’re somewhere that you need a car or have to take a bus, maybe not.</p>
<p>
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<p>not a LAC, but D is a junior at Brandeis in suburban Boston. in her first year she rode the “Bran Van” into Boston and Harvard Square pretty often, but now she is so busy and involved on campus that the city access which was a make-or-break criterion in her college search is pretty much a non-issue. just our experience - YMMV.</p>
<p>Oglethorpe University (in Atlanta, Georgia).</p>
<p>Again Holy Cross and Trinity are the obvious 2 choices.</p>
<p>But do students in suburban areas really go into the city?</p>
1 Like
<p>Adding Sarah Lawrence (30 min. and yes, the students head into the city often)</p>
<p>Vassar is a 1 hour train ride? or 1.5? (students head to city on weekends often)</p>
<p>Wheaton College (MA) students go into Boston (MA) or Providence (RI).</p>
<p>Wow, sorry - my phone didn’t show my comment the first time I asked that, so I wrote it again. Thanks for your responses! I guess there aren’t many others. Then again if you happen to think of another please do post back!</p>
<p>Here’s a list of colleges in large to medium cities. As for the “good” part, I selected those that had a graduation rate of 50% or better. </p>
<p>[College</a> Results Online](<a href=“http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/search2d.aspx?l=2,3&sec=1,2&is1=500&is2=5000&car=5,7,10,11&grr=Total&grg=Total&gryrt=1&gr1=49&gr2=100&y=2009]College”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/search2d.aspx?l=2,3&sec=1,2&is1=500&is2=5000&car=5,7,10,11&grr=Total&grg=Total&gryrt=1&gr1=49&gr2=100&y=2009)</p>
<p>It’s not comprehensive and I’m sure it includes schools that many would think shouldn’t be included, but it’s a start.</p>