I wanted to start this to compare the reputations of prestigious liberal arts colleges to that of private - and often times better known - universities. This is also in an effort to get LACs more attention, as they offer a fantastic education and community.
Here’s a list to get us started:
Williams -
Amherst -
Swarthmore -
Carleton -
Bowdoin -
Claremont McKenna
Wesleyan -
Grinnell -
Colby -
Wellesley -
Vassar -
Pomona -
Haverford -
Middlebury -
Kenyon -
Eleven of the 17 colleges listed are in the northeast, so the comparisons to some of the mid-sized east coast universities is a bit easier to make. For example, I would say all the snowier region LACs (Williams, Colgate, Bowdoin, Middlebury, etc.) are comparable to Dartmouth to one degree or another. I would add Hamilton to that group. Wesleyan is nearly always compared to Brown.
Wesleyan and Colgate are universities. If you include them in the list, then maybe Tufts also belongs.
Macalester probably also belongs in this list.
Also, if you include Wellesley, then there are other women’s colleges to consider (Smith, Bryn Mawr, etc.).
Acceptance rates are not always a good indication. Colby is a wonderful school but easy to apply to. No supplemental essay is required, so they get more applications that have no shot of getting in.
@sammythang1234, Pomona’s acceptance rate for the class of 2019 is 9.76%, and Claremont McKenna is projected to have a single digit acceptance rate this year as well. I saw a post also predicting that Swarthmore may be around 10%. Pitzer and Harvey Mudd were 13% last year but I haven’t seen their acceptance rates for this year yet. So there are quite a few highly selective LAC’s. But I agree with @dadstressed that acceptance rates are only part of the story. LAC’s are really all about fit and focusing on undergraduate education.
Williams - Dartmouth
Amherst - Brown
Swarthmore - Yale
Carleton - U Wash St Louis
Bowdoin - Dartmouth
Claremont McKenna - UCLA
Wesleyan - Brown
Grinnell - U Wash St Louis
Colby - Dartmouth
Wellesley - Harvard
Vassar - NYU
Pomona - Berkeley
Haverford - U Penn
Middlebury - Dartmouth
Kenyon - Tufts
Hamilton - Cornell
Colgate - Dartmouth
Oberlin - NYU
Bates - Brown
Davidson - Rice
Washington & Lee - Vanderbilt
Barnard - Columbia
Smith - Brown
Bryan Mawr - U Penn
Holy Cross - Boston College
My thoughts based on school environment, not prestige.
Williams - Dartmouth (similar student body)
Amherst - Princeton or Harvard (less rural and less characteristic than Williams/Dartmouth)
Swarthmore - U’Chicago (intellectual)
Carleton - U’Chicago/Rice (intellectual but more friendly)
Bowdoin - Dartmouth (similar student body)
Claremont McKenna - USC or U’Penn (Preprofessional and urban)
Wesleyan - Brown (similar politically leaning; artsy)
Grinnell - Cornell (down to earth and hard-working, rural)
Colby - Dartmouth (similar student body)
Wellesley - Columbia (diverse and semi urban)
Vassar - Brown (similar student body)
Pomona - Stanford (science/tech focus relative to HYP or WAS, similar students, sunny)
Haverford - Rice (friendly, tight-knit, quirky)
Middlebury - Dartmouth (similar student body)
Colgate - Dartmouth (similar student body)
Oberlin - Brown (similar politically leaning; artsy)
Bates - Brown (similar politically leaning; non-traditional, artsy)
Pitzer - Brown (similar politically leaning; non-traditional)
Davidson - Duke (top regarded in the south, similar students)
Washington & Lee - Vanderbilt (conservative, frat culture)
Barnard - Columbia (consortium)
Holy Cross - Boston College (religious)
Mudd - MIT or Caltech (emphasis on STEM)
Don’t know much about Kenyon, Hamilton, Smith, or Bryn Mawr.
I think @nostalgicwisdom really got most of them, and I don’t see many of the previous matches. I especially think the Amherst/Harvard/Princeton match is right on. Amherst is nothing like Brown, it’s definitely more “refined”. I don’t mean this in the snobby/haughty way, but people there have an aura of being more traditional, and held back. Hard to really describe this stuff, but Swarthmore was more happy intellectuals who are fine being more eccentric, and Amherst students seemed more “cool-kid” not quite preppy, but conscious of their social standing.
I think LACs draw in a slightly different crowd, hence the attributions of Brown to many of them. But they definitely have their nuances.
Sorry, Nostalgic, but Pomona and Stanford are hardly similar. Take your pick from a couple of Ivy League schools starting with Columbia or look at WashU. Stanford? Nope!
It seems like there is some overlap between Ivies (especially Brown, it seems) and these liberal arts colleges. And in terms of repute, LACs aren’t nearly as well known as Ivies or top private schools so it might be unfair to make a comparison with regards to that (for which I concur with @nostalgicwisdom). Chances are most employers will have never even heard of top 10 LACs, although academia seems to be more cognizant of what they have to offer to students.
Although, it seems some very bright young students have turned down name-brand, prestigious schools for LACs because of school atmosphere, community, and the liberal arts educational philosophy.
I didn’t include a few,since don’t know enough about them.
Williams - Dartmouth or Yale
Amherst -Yale
Swarthmore - U Chicago
Carleton – Norhwestern, or Cornell?
Bowdoin - Dartmouth
Claremont McKenna - Princeton or Dartmouth
Wesleyan - Brown
Wellesley - Brown
Vassar - Columbia
Pomona - Harvard (agree wth xiggi…definitely not Stanford- Pomona more intellectual)
Haverford - Columbia
Middlebury - Dartmouth
Kenyon - U Chicago
Colgate - Cornell
Davidson- Duke / Vandy
Washington & Lee - Duke / Vandy
Barnard - Columbia
Bryan Mawr - Penn
Harvey Mudd - MIT or Caltech
Pitzer, Reed, Oberlin - Brown
Although I previously said LACs aren’t nearly as well known and thus do not have has as much name-brand value, what are the most well known LACs that employers would recognize?
For me, it seems like Vassar and Wesleyan are pretty well known even by people who don’t realize they’re LACs.
I think in terms of flat out, pure name recognition, Vassar, Wesleyan, Colgate, most of the Seven Sisters (Bryn Mawr, Wellesley, Smith, etc.) Oberlin and Swarthmore are as well known as any university.
