Less Selective Liberal Arts College

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I am looking for some less selective liberal arts colleges for my daughter. Her list is currently stacked with reaches/wild card schools (Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin) etc. I have suggested Mt. Holyoke, but she isn't sure she wants an all girls school.</p>

<p>Any suggestion for LACs that are a little less selective?</p>

2

<p>A speaker at Williams College once suggested that Whitman College is in many ways the West Coast’s answer to Williams. </p>

3

<p>I second Whitman, a very good school that few know about.
I also suggest Occidental College in LA.</p>

4

<p>Truman State has some automatic merit scholarships for certain levels of stats.
<a href=“http://www.truman.edu/admission-cost/cost-aid/types-of-aid/scholarships/automatic-scholarships/”>http://www.truman.edu/admission-cost/cost-aid/types-of-aid/scholarships/automatic-scholarships/&lt;/a&gt;
It is also relatively low priced to begin with.</p>

5

<p>Might look at Holy Cross-top25 LAC 1 hour from Boston. HC has very nice campus and meets 100% of demonstrated financial aid.</p>

6

<p>For Lib Arts colleges, you can look into Hamilton, Colgate, Bard, Bucknell, Lafayette, Haverford, Wesleyan, Connecticut College, Trinity, Bates, and Colby.</p>

7

<p>Lawrence University is great, though Wisconsin is a little eh in terms of location.
Franklin and Marshall is another option.
Rhodes is a great school, but you and your daughter have to consider its location in Memphis.
Some others (I don’t feel like adding a description to all of them):
Macalester (MN)
Lafayette (PA)
Occidental (CA) </p>

8

<p>Just be aware that while they’re not at the level of Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Swarthmore, many of the above mentioned schools are near or below the 25% level for admission rate. That’s still very selective, basically 3 no’s for every yes. Ivies were at that level not long ago.</p>

9

<p>Mount Holyoke is fantastic, but if she isn’t into women’s colleges, I would recommend Skidmore, Franklin and Marshall, Dickinson, Muhlenburg. Vassar is highly selective but worth looking into as well. Hamilton and Grinnell are great.</p>

10

<p>Have you looked into the “Colleges That Change Lives?” There are some overlooked gems in there. Does she prefer New England? If so, Wheaton is worth a look. It was an all-women’s college, but it’s co-ed now. Davidson might suit her, if she’s willing to head further south. If her academic credentials qualify her to consider applying to some of the colleges you mentioned, then Drew, in Madison, NJ, would probably be a safe school for her. </p>

11

<p>Is she more artsy or more conservative? I’m going to guess more conservative from her list. But if slightly more artsy, try Skidmore. If intellectual, try Bard. Also maybe Vassar. And also, maybe just try to get her to visit Mount Holyoke? I can’t tell you the number of young women I’ve met who were originally dead set against a women’s school who ended up totally falling in love with MHC. (Plus she can take classes and socialize at Amherst!)</p>

12

<p>@geo1113‌ </p>

<p>Is Wesleyan less selective than Williams & Amherst? How “less selective” is Haverford? </p>

13

<p>Denison, Kenyon, Lewis and Clark</p>

14

<p>‌@NewHavenCTmom

I think historically it’s always been Amherst, followed by a drop down to Williams, followed by another drop to Wesleyan. For example, last year the admissions rate was Amherst - 14%, Williams - 16%, Wesleyan - 19%. However, this year, apparently because Wesleyan no longer counts applications that lack certain items, its acceptance rate rose to 25%. Williams has risen to 17%. Amherst has dropped to 13%.</p>

<p>However, that’s not the whole story. Each of them have their individual followings and for residents of New York City, or a female, Wesleyan may be as difficult to get into as any Ivy and the same may be true if you are a private school graduate with an athletic hook applying to Williams.</p>

15

<p>@circuitrider‌ </p>

<p>Thank you for the info. But aren’t those acceptance rates basically in the same range, meaning that they are pretty equal? Acceptance rates in the teens vs acceptance rates at 40-50%? Or do those slight numbers really matter?</p>

<p>It’s funny, because I always thought Wes was more selective than Amherst & Williams. All great schools of course and DD was accepted to Williams and Amherst. I was really rooting for Williams! A wonderful place all around.</p>

16

<p>OP, circuitrider answered well. My intention was to suggest colleges that were a varying range of steps down. So Haverford is a small step down from William, Colby small step down from Haverford, and from there Lafayette. What you want is choices among tiers.</p>

<p>The moving into the 40-50% range, you have places like Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall and Muhlenberg.</p>

17

<p>Acceptance rates are not that reliable as indicators of selectivity, since the strength of the applicant pools can vary.</p>

18

<p>Okay! </p>

19

<p>

</p>

<p>This is actually a very good point. The best tool available, if you have it at your HS, is Naviance. It doesn’t tell the whole story, but you can look at your HS history of getting kids into certain schools with a set combination of GPA and test scores. You’ll find that below a certain GPA, admission is unlikely no matter what the test score, and there’s usually a test score threshold as well. Once you pass the thresholds, admissions rates start to rise, sometimes dramatically. </p>

<p>The fun part is when your kid has a combination that’s never applied to the college before - then you have to guess which side of the line they’re on. And rigor is never available as part of the scattergrams, and that can make all the difference - that’s where a good GC can interpret the graphs for you, since they know which past applicants make up the graphs.</p>

20

<p>A few years ago, Papa Chicken posted the following Selectivity Ranking:
<a href=“Selectivity Ranking: National Us & LACs combined, USNEWS ~method - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/687793-selectivity-ranking-national-us-lacs-combined-usnews-method.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>His formula isn’t necessarily the last word on how to calculate selectivity, but as far as I know nobody on CC has improved on it (or updated his list). No doubt a few schools have moved up or down quite a bit since 2009. Nevertheless, it’s still a fairly good presentation of where the US News top ~40 LACs stand relative to the national universities and to each other in admissions selectivity, if that’s important to you in building an application list.</p>