Marlboro vs New College of Florida

College Search & Selection
1

<p>ok so all 2 of you that have heard of both of these schools, maybe you can help me out.</p>

<p>i originally applied to 12, and now im deciding between these two. after scholarships and finaid, they are within $3k of each other (negligible.) I would like to study: philosophy, economics, politics, psychology, anthropology, sociology, human geography, history, and everything else. </p>

<p>Marlboro</p>

<p>Pros:
- strong community
- great professors
- skiing
- vermont beauty
- decent food
- 2 year independent study (the Plan)
- outdoor program
- mostly out of state
- super small classes</p>

<p>Cons:
- possibly only 1 professor for each concentration
- vermont cold
- parties?
- closest airport ~ 2 hours away</p>

<p>New College of Florida</p>

<p>Pros:
- location in florida, on the water
- sailing club & windsurfing
- parties
- almost as strong of a community
- small classes
- airport 1 minute away
- independent study opportunities
- good profs</p>

<p>Cons:
- mostly in-state kids
- crappy food?
- no outdoor program</p>

<p>other things: </p>

<ul>
<li>the difference in locations is a big factor, i dont like cold much, but i do like the ruralness of marlboro, and the beauty of vermont. </li>
<li>however, to cancel that out, my impression of the admissions committee is higher for marlboro. new college tries harder to "sell" their school, marlboro is more humble. i dont get the impression that new college is run all that well, and i think there are more mediocre profs. </li>
<li>i think i could be more than happy at either place, if i didnt have to think about how happy i MIGHT have been had i chosen the other place.</li>
</ul>

2

<p>I don't know much about Marlboro, but New College is nearby and I've heard good things about it. It's sort of a quirky kind of place, and the student body is self selecting. If you think it's a good fit culturally, I think you would like it more based on logistics, conveniences, and geography alone. Trust me, those items take on much greater importance after the newness wears off. New College is Florida's Honors College and I've heard the academics a quite strong.</p>

3

<p>if you do pick marlboro, be prepared for a really small student body to spend the next 4 or so years with. there are less than 320 students on the entire campus and no where to "escape" near by.</p>

<p>I don't know anything about New College.</p>

4

<p>Statistically, New College is more selective than Marlboro. This is probably why New College is in a higher "tier" than Marlboro in the US News rankings of Liberal Arts Colleges. </p>

<p>New College has the better reputation for strong academics. For example, a few years ago, the Wall Street Journal [url=<a href="http://wsjclassroom.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf%5Dsurveyed%5B/url"&gt;http://wsjclassroom.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf]surveyed[/url&lt;/a&gt;] some top business, medical, and law schools, to see which undergraduate programs were most successful at "feeding" their students into highly ranked professional schools. The Top 50 list included only four state schools:</p>

<h1>30 University of Michigan</h1>

<h1>31 New College of Florida</h1>

<h1>33 University of Virginia</h1>

<h1>41 University of California, Berkeley</h1>

<p>Those results were an eye-opener for a lot of people who had never even heard of New College.</p>

5

<p>the class sizes at new college and marlboro are so small, that those statistics are meaningless. for instance, new college is #31 despite sending only 3 to top programs.</p>

<p>and while new college is ranked higher, i dont know how much more selective it is. they both have a 70% acceptance rate.</p>

<p>heres something strange:</p>

<p>marlboro
sat Verbal 590-690
sat math 510-650
act 29-32</p>

<p>new college
sat verbal 630-720
sat math 590-670
act 25-30</p>

<p>so new college is +30 points on sat verbal, +40 on math, but -3 on ACT?</p>

6

<p>New College is a great school that will allow you to explore your interdisciplinary interests. Looking at your interests I have a hunch that you will most likely end up in graduate school and New College has an excellent reputation placing students into graduate schools.</p>