Looking for the Perfect School for English Lit

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I honestly hate these threads too, but I figured I might as well exhaust all of my resources. I'm a rising senior looking for match schools that are strong in undergraduate English Lit. My plan is to afterward attend grad school. </p>

<p>My stats: SAT 2310, CR 800, M 740, W 770. I only took it once so this isn't super-scored.
Class rank 4th in a class of about 300.
Freshman GPA was a 91.9, Sophomore 94, Junior 95.9, which averages out to an unweighted 93.96. SAT II US History 800, planning to take Literature in October.
AP Tests: 5 in English Language and Composition, US History, and Chem
Senior Schedule: AP Literature and Comp, AP Psychology, AP Calculus AB, AP Spanish, Physics, and two extra English classes, one honors.
ECs- Odyssey of the Mind 2 years, paid work 12-20 hours a week at the same store for 2.5 years, school's literary and art magazine 2 years (I hope to lead as editor next year), NHS 2 years, Spanish NHS 2 years, Multicultural Society Club 3 years
recipient of the school's Harvard Book Award for “most promising junior”
white, unfortunately
STRONG recommendations and (I think) well written, revealing essays</p>

<p>About me: I'm interested in serious academic discussion on the classics from all over the world, although I have a special interest in American literature. I'm not interested in a creative writing program, though I would like a school that's strong across the board, especially in history/philosophy/psychology. Basically I'm looking for a school with a strong humanities program.</p>

<p>I'm a Massachusetts resident from a lower middle class family. I'm open to school virtually anywhere across the continental United States. I know cost is a big issue but I'm expecting good financial aid because of my family's situation and I'm looking first at where I would best fit in. I am not religious and would prefer a nondenominational school. I'm female but the thought of an all girls college makes my skin crawl, so I'd prefer co-ed. I am also a libertarian, not expecting or even looking for a conservative school, just hopefully a place where my opinions will be respected. I support liberal social issues but they aren't at the center of my life, ie I'm looking to avoid the hippie thing, no offense intended. I also don't want an environment stifled by political correctness.</p>

<p>I'm definitely not afraid of hard work and a lot of studying. I'm personally not at all interested in partying/wasting my tuition, but I don't care about the social reputation of the school if it has strong academics. </p>

<p>This next one will probably start some fights, but it's the truth: I consider myself an extremely independent person and would prefer a school without or with a short (ie. One year or less) residency requirement. I value what a lot of liberal arts schools say about a living-learning community and I'm looking forward to meeting interesting people in college, but I personally need to feel I have an identity outside of the college bubble. My hope is to be able to get my own off campus apartment (with a roommate) as soon as possible; I'm aware this is way more work and oftentimes more expensive than living on campus, but it's an important thing that I value. That being said, I know that two semesters in a dorm wouldn't kill me. </p>

<p>I'm hoping to find a school with great professors. Personalized attention and small class sizes would be nice, but I'm not shy and I really feel I wouldn't have a problem at a larger institution where I had to put in more effort to get to know the professor, as long as they're available if you seek them out. I'm hoping to find a place with intense lectures and class discussions. </p>

<p>Basically I'm not a coffeehouse, poetry slam type person, but I'd like to study literature and one day voice my opinion in the field. I'd also like to work off campus and live on my own for the longest amount of time that allows me to fully go through the academic experience at an intense, challenging, stimulating school.</p>

<p>I'm going to list some schools to give a better idea of what I'm looking at. I'd appreciate opinions on my chances, but I'm more concerned with recommendations: tell me I'm wrong about a school, pick one off the list and tell me it's right for me, or point me in the direction of one you think fits. General advice (big schools vs. LACs; you're an idiot, don't major in the humanities) is also welcome. </p>

<p>Help me narrow down the list or add a good fit!</p>

<p>Amherst College- I like the open curriculum, five college exchange, create your own course program, and the people I met on the tour: confident, articulate people getting a top notch education. I don't like the fact that the tour guide told me it was virtually unheard of to work off campus.</p>

<p>Swarthmore College- I've heard their honors program is like a taste of grad school. I like the intense environment, proximity to Philadelphia, and the fact that the administration supposedly gives students a say in school policy. Dislikes: again, relative lack of freedom. You have to pass a swimming test?</p>

<p>University of Chicago- I've been told it's an Ivy League education with less of the... Ivy League. I like the academic climate, the core curriculum, location, and pretty much everything about it honestly. I'm not sure about living in the shadow of all those grad students. </p>

<p>Columbia University- The core curriculum sounds like a once in a lifetime opportunity. You live in New York City and not in an isolated college town. </p>

<p>UC Berkeley- Seems like a liberal hotbed but also a school full of brilliant minds. Big reach for OOS students. The English grad program is strong, so to me this means great professors and interesting classes; am I wrong in assuming the brilliance will trickle down to undergrads?</p>

<p>Washington College- Hugely strong English program with talented writers coming to speak. I want a chance at the Sophie Kerr Prize. I don't like the location (Chestertown, MD) and the 2 year residency requirement; are there more schools like this elsewhere? </p>

<p>University of Michigan- Strong, solid programs, challenging courses, world-class professors. Freedom to live where you want.</p>

<p>University of Washington- Challenging academic environment, strong English program, and a largely commuter campus.</p>

<p>Emory
John Hopkins
Wash U in St. Louis</p>

<p>Tufts- Boston location but a 2 year residency requirement. I've heard the English program is strong. Can anyone think of a better match school in Boston?</p>

<p>Colorado College- One class at a time and school at the foot of a mountain. Might be too laid back for me and I'm not sure about the block scheduling. </p>

<p>The College of New Jersey- Seems like it has solid academics and the liberal arts college feel, but people don't take themselves too seriously. It's a safety but one I'd be happy with. </p>

<p>Vassar- No core requirements, English program is really strong, but I don't like the skewed gender ratio or that 98% of students live on campus.</p>

<p>Thank you for reading this far and I appreciate any input!</p>

2

<p>Take off Cal…if you’re low income and need lots of aid, then that school won’t work because - at a minimum - you’d have to pay about $23k per year plus OOS travel costs. </p>

<p>Your best bets are privates that meet need. If so, then residency won’t matter.</p>

3

<p>Tufts- Boston location but a 2 year residency requirement</p>

<p>It’s private, so why does this matter? Besides, aren’t you already a MA resident?</p>

<p>Wash College is private. Residency won’t matter there, either.</p>

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<p>Sorry, by residency I meant the number of years students are required to live on campus. Thanks for the advice on Cal; I have heard that they stick really high tuition on out of state students.</p>

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<p>She is talking about requirement to reside on campus, not state residency.</p>

<p>whew, OP, you are asking ppl to do a lot of work here.</p>

<p>I agree take off CAL and likely Michigan and U Washington because of OOS cost. I don’t see Colorado College suiting you at all, don’t know how that one got in there. There isn’t exactly a lack of colleges strong in English Lit so keep looking.</p>

<p>Chicago has an intimate undergraduate population and caters to their education. I don’t get the impression students are overwhelmed by the grad school. You won’t be mixing with the MBA’s. I do know of students who did research with grad profs, though.</p>

<p>Where is Brown? Is it the residency? Open curriculum, strong humanities, well pretty much strong across the board. My daughter started living off campus jr year. Students do work off campus but there are so many on campus jobs of amazing variety. Undergrads get a lot of opportunities with profs because of the small grad school.</p>

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<p>

What is the basis for this expectation? If it’s just an assumption, you could be going down the wrong path. Have you run the Net Price Calculators for the schools you are interested in? The results will provide critical info. Given your stats you should also look at schools that offer guaranteed merit aid for high GPA’s and scores. Finding the most appealing English Lit program in the country will do you no good if you can’t afford to attend.</p>

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<p>Checkout Sewanee</p>

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<p>I’m a Massachusetts resident from a lower middle class family.</p>

<p>Are you saying that your family’s income is like $40k or so?</p>

<p>Do you have a non-custodial parent? IF so, those top schools will consider the NCP’s family income as well.</p>

9

<p>BrownParent, I totally agree, thanks everybody for reading! It’s the end of summer and I’m driving myself crazy alone in my room with my Fiske Guide so I thought I’d let out all my thoughts here and see what everybody thought! </p>

<p>Brown isn’t on the list because I’ve visited campus and it’s a hipster haven. The environment seemed fun but not for me. You’re right about the academics, but one can only have so many reaches, and there’s places that fit me better.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice on UChicago. I think that there, if I can get in I’ll go, but I wasn’t 100% sure about a large research institution. </p>

<p>Everyone worried about financial aid: My parents are married and I have 3 younger siblings. My mom stays home and my dad makes less than $50K a year. I’m a little surprised to hear so many warning me against OOS tuition; you don’t think I could get any merit aid? Sorry, I don’t mean to turn this into a discussion on what I can afford; I’m definitely worried about it but in this thread I’m just hoping for some information on fit. </p>

<p>SeattleBulldog- What makes you say Sewanee? </p>

<p>Thanks for all the input!</p>

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<p>Re: on-campus residency requirements</p>

<p>In general, big universities are much less likely to have on-campus residency requirements beyond frosh year (or even in frosh year). They might even not have enough housing to guarantee space in on-campus housing for all those who want it. You need to check each school’s web site to see what the policies are.</p>

<p>Re: financial aid</p>

<p>Go to each school’s web site and put “net price calculator” in the web site search box. Then use it to get a financial aid estimate. Do not be optimistic about out-of-state publics besides Virginia and North Carolina (Chapel Hill).</p>

<p>Re: large merit scholarships</p>

<p>Go to the financial and scholarships section and look at the sticky threads on top about automatic and competitive full tuition and full ride scholarships (look near the end for updated lists). If you make National Merit Finalist (or Semifinalist in some cases), there may be more; dig through the National Merit scholarship thread for a list of the bigger ones. Also, check your in-state public schools for large merit scholarships available to state residents.</p>

<p>Re: academics</p>

<p>You may want to look in the English department web pages of each school to check course offerings and faculty interests to see how well they match yours.</p>

<p>Be sure you have at least one safety that you know you will be admitted to for sure and that you can afford for sure.</p>

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<p>If you like the Amherst consortium concept, but want a richer urban/suburban environment for work/life outside college, check out the Claremont colleges (LA area) or the rest of the Philadelphia-area Quaker college consortium (along with loosely affiliated UPenn and its Kelly Writers House).</p>

<p>Washington College? If you want a small college with a “hugely strong English program”, check out Kenyon (although you may not find Gambier, OH a big step up from Chestertown, MD).</p>

<p>Colorado College is not exactly laid back in pace (actually, it’s a rather intense work hard, play hard place) but you’d need to visit to see if you like the atmosphere. Outdoor recreation (hiking, camping, winter sports) is very big there. </p>

<p>At Chicago, these days there are nearly as many undergraduates as graduates. Check out the average class sizes (< 5% have 50 or more students.) Check out the undergraduate House system. When I was there, it seemed like the College was almost in its own bubble, with grad students lurking on the fringe but without seeming to encroach very much on our resources (residence halls, dining halls, undergraduate library, Core professors.) As for the location, you may or may not like the Hyde Park neighborhood.</p>

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<p>Thanks tk, that was extremely helpful! I’ve looked into the consortium thing and it seems like a cool opportunity. I like Haverford in addition to Swarthmore, but another reach school in the mix? I do love Pomona though. Any of the other Claremont Colleges strong in English Lit? And are the consortia I haven’t heard of?</p>

<p>I’ve looked at Kenyon but their residency requirements are way too strict for me; all four years? Or am I wrong? I was under the impression Kenyon was better known for creative writing; is that true?</p>

<p>I’d love to hear a little more about Hyde Park if you’ve been. I’ve heard from some that it’s dangerous, and from other’s that it’s an upper middle class bubble in the middle of a ghetto. Will I be safe there? On the contrary, will I be sheltered there? Do you know anything about faculty attention at UC? Thanks again everybody!</p>

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<p>Emphasis on literature, creative writing, etc. can be noted by comparing the course listings and faculty interests (in faculty rosters) at each of the schools under consideration.</p>

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<p>*I’m a little surprised to hear so many warning me against OOS tuition; you don’t think I could get any merit aid? *</p>

<p>I’m not sure which posts you’re referring to. If people are concerned that OOS publics won’t be affordable, that could be true. Yes, you might get merit, but since OOS publics aren’t usually good with need-based aid (which you ALSO need), you may get a huge gap that your family can’t pay. </p>

<p>think about it. An OOS public might cost $40k - 50k. You might get a $20k merit scholarship, and a $5500 loan. You’d still have $15k-25k to pay per year. Your parents couldn’t pay that.</p>

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<p>I’m a rising Second Year at the University of Chicago, so I’m going to add my two cents to the questions about Hyde Park and faculty attention. I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on the area, but it didn’t seem that dangerous to me. I took the time to compare the daily police reports of the campus police with that of other colleges that were on my short list and found that UChicago didn’t really fare any worse than my other top choices, which included schools nobody would think about as being in a bad area. Obviously, you need to be careful and avoid doing things like walking alone at 3 am in sketchy alleyways, but that’s common sense stuff that would apply to any urban campuses. So, will you be safe? Yes, as long as you use your head. Will you be sheltered? I’m guessing you mean this in the sense that you will not be exposed to people of different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. In that case, no. If you want to explore the area, you will come across people from all walks of life, which to me is exciting. </p>

<p>Faculty attention, at least during your first year and especially for somebody who is taking mostly social sciences/humanities, can be fantastic. I have friends who were dissatisfied with their professors and dropped their humanities sequences as soon as possible, but I also have others who had amazing professors and enjoyed their classes immensely. I was lucky enough to be in the latter group. The largest class I took was a Biology class that had a little over fifty students, but the professor always made sure to engage as many students as possible during class and was always available outside of class to answer any extra questions or hold office hours. I would linger after lectures and she was always willing to answer any questions or comments that I had. The next largest was a Calculus class with 30 students. That class was taught by a grad student, but honestly at my level I doubt that it would have made much of a difference (higher level sequences get bona fide professors), and she was fantastic either way. I don’t think her research got in the way of helping out her students, at all. She was always willing to hold extra office hours and study sessions. The rest of my classes, Sosc, Hume and a language, were capped at 19 students (yes, probably because of USNEWS, but I really don’t care as long as we benefit) and the professors were all great. I often would stay behind after class to discuss any lingering thoughts I had about the discussion and the professors were always willing to chat with me. Based on those classes, I would say that the Core does a great job, or is at least capable, of providing the small, intellectual seminar classes that are often thought of as being more characteristic of LAC’s.</p>

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<p>You mentioned Haverford. My sense is that it is a very tight community there (my D2 thinks of them as almost “communal”). D2 is quite independent also (although honestly does not see the need to live off campus, but might like a single eventually); she was kind of put off by the Haverford vibe. My D1 thought it was great, but just wanted to mention what D2 thought.</p>

<p>Michigan is another school where OOS FA isn’t always so great. Again, the net price calculators are very important to your search.</p>

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<p>I really think you’d love UChicago and would benefit tremendously from the school. Great, great school. (I’m a Williams alum, so no allegiance to UChi at all–that said, you should consider Willaims…I studied English there and loved it).</p>

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<p>Hyde Park is 7 miles from Chicago’s downtown Loop area and about a mile in from the commuter train line. So it’s a bit of a hike to attractions in the Loop or Near North. It is not like living in Cambridge, or parts of Brooklyn or Manhattan, where you can step out your apartment door and start a long walk from neighborhood to neighborhood through fairly safe, interesting city blocks. Hyde Park itself is largely residential with a few good book stores, restaurants, and shops. The community is pretty much an academic and residential island surrounded by areas you’ll probably want to avoid. Winters are long and cold. Although some students may disagree, to me on balance the location is a negative. If the University of Chicago had a location more like Harvard’s, NYU’s, or Georgetown’s, it would be hands down one of the 3 - 5 most desirable colleges for top students in America. I feel it’s the location, more than the tough academics, that lend truth to the “where fun goes to die” joke. On the other hand, Chicago seems to attract an interesting, quirky cast of characters that (along with the academics) for you may more than make up for any negatives I’m describing.</p>

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<p>As a general statement, all academically rigorous colleges and universities have strong English Literature programs. So you shouldn’t focus so much on the strength of the program, but rather on building a balanced list (reach/match/safety) of schools that fit your wishlist criteria.</p>

<p>Most small liberal arts colleges pride themselves on having close knit communities, so living off-campus may be a challenge; however, I’m sure there are exceptions. Even at Williams (my son’s alma mater) where almost all students live on campus all four years, there are a few who get apartments or share houses in town. Williams fulfills most of your requirements, but you may not like the rural aspect. Amherst is very similar in character.</p>

<p>If you want to stay urban, then I would also look at Barnard (even though it is nominally all women’s it shares a good deal with Columbia), Pomona (part of a consortium like Amherst) and Wesleyan (not exactly urban but close to both New York and Boston). Possibly Cornell which is big enough to get lost in and more similar in ambiance to big State U’s than the Ivy League. Also, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Melon.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t worry so much about whether the college has an open curriculum or required courses. The latter are usually not so difficult to fulfill. A core, like Columbia and Chicago have, is something completely different.</p>

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<p>I would not necessarily disagree, but …</p>

<p>Compare Kenyon’s English department course offerings and faculty bios with the same for a few other LACs. Kenyon’s English department offers ~100 courses and 29 faculty members. That is a LOT for a LAC with ~1600 students. Even at some larger, more selective LACs, you won’t see those numbers. </p>

<p>Especially if you are strongly leaning toward a specific major, and when you are looking a notch or two below the Amherst/Williams/Swarthmore level, I wouldn’t ignore indications of very strong (or very weak) program strength.</p>