<p>ive been scrounging thru the respective websites for days and still cannot decide which is best for me.. was wondering if there were any alumni on this forum that could possibly share some of their experiences there!! im looking for a school with a strong study abroad programme, a nice writey-artsy culture, a non-racist env, and wonderful wonderful teachers! and also job/intern opportunities... ^_^ thanks!!</p>
<p>me 2!!
i would say williams and middlebury ar better than the other two</p>
<p>I visited the pomona campus and I wasn't impressed at all. Middlebury is known for their great language programs and a ton of study abroad opportunities. AND they have a great creative writing program</p>
<p>Vassar will definitely be the most "artsy".</p>
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<p>Williams is the most prestigious of the four schools, followed closely by Pomona. Vassar is surprisingly well-known, but is generally considered more in a category with Middlebury, Bowdoin, Haverford, etc than Williams or Amherst. </p>
<p>That said, they're all really great schools. Middlebury runs a lot of study abroad programs and has a strong language program, but is probably the preppiest of the bunch. Williams runs a couple amazing study abroad programs, and has one of the more generous study abroad finaid plans around (and it's of course quite easy to get into other programs as a Williams student). Vassar is probably the most artsy of the four, and Pomona is in California, and is consequently a little culturally different.</p>
<p>Basically, you're going to find what you're looking for at any of the colleges--visit them all and figure out for yourself which one you like the most.</p>
<p>haon :Pomona is in California, and is consequently a little culturally different.</p>
<p>how different..in what ways.. sorry if the question is stupid.. i m in intl. student and have no clue what you talking about.</p>
<p>also can u tell me more about middlebury..</p>
<p>thanks for all ur advice.. but haha im an intnl student so its a bit hard to visit these campuses... been trying to get impressions from the webpages but html-expertise isnt rellie representative haha but yepp thanks again! </p>
<p>n prachi all i know about middlebury is that its in vermont, near quebec, has overseas campuses (i think) in europe or something... so it's pretty cold.. but it sounds like a pretty neat place too </p>
<p>kowtows</p>
<p>Many kids who look at Williams also look at Middlebury. They are both wonderful schools in cold climates. I visited Williams with S and found it to be a wonderful place and would be MY choice if I were applying to college. But, alas, it is my son who is applying to college, and he is leaning towards a larger, more urban school which I also love.
Pomona is part of a group of schools known as the Claremont Colleges. You can take courses at the other schools- I'm sure you know that from your research. Since it is in California, there is a lot of sitting out on the lawns and studying- year round. The academics are rigorous and the school has an excellent reputation in the academic community, although it isn't as well known on the east coast as Williams and Middlebury. Williams and Middlebury take their athletics seriously- especially Williams. Pomona fields some strong DIII teams as well, but athletics isn't quite as much a part of the school's culture. (I'm saying this as someone who LIKES athletics to be part of the culture, by the way).</p>
<p>haha i like sports! i juts saw some article on newsweek about the hOTTEST colleges or smth.. swarthmore's hottest for intellectuals! sounds like a pretty cool place too.. allthese LACS sound so happy and lively.. </p>
<p>oh yes but would you agree momofwildchild that williams, middlebury and amherst may be a bit too isolated from cities/city life?</p>
<p>all four schools are excellent choices and you would be fortunate to attend any one of them. i believe middlebury and williams have more of an athletic/partying culture than vassar and i believe vassar would have more of an artsy/alternative lifestyle culture than williams and middebury. just a matter of which culture you prefer.</p>
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im looking for a school with a strong study abroad programme, a nice writey-artsy culture, a non-racist env, and wonderful wonderful teachers! and also job/intern opportunities
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<p>These four schools all have what you're looking for. Of the four the only one I've visited is Williams (my son goes there) so I can't give you direct firsthand descriptions of the others, but I can say that there is a fair amount of overlap in applicants and ambience. </p>
<p>If you're looking for visual arts like art history and studio arts, of the four I'd say that Vassar and Williams are the strongest. </p>
<p>If you mean music, dance or theater then I would give Williams top place. None is, as far as I know, especially known for creative writing, although all have respected writers and poets on their faculties and all have excellent English departments.</p>
<p>Williams and Middlebury are more remotely located than Vassar and Pomona. Williamstown is a small village in a profoundly beautiful mountain valley. It has a long, snowy winter. However, there is a vital and lively sense of campus community and the kids enjoy the insularity. Pomona is in "sunny California." I don't mean to say that one is better than the other, just different.</p>
<p>All four schools send a respectable percentage overseas for study abroad programs, their own and approved programs that are sponsored by other schools. </p>
<p>You can check the diversity figures for each. Diversity -- racial, ethnic, religious, economic, political, sexual -- is important to these schools but you will not find as wide a range as you would at a larger university. International students are well represented at Pomona and Williams. I don't know the situation at Middlebury and Vassar.</p>
<p>Some other schools that I would recommend in this same ambience would be Skidmore, Hamilton and Kenyon. If you are female, Smith.</p>
<p>thanks momrath! =)
Vassar has about 650+ students per level, williams 500+ .. middlebury only 400+ i think... and middlebury and williams are need-blind to international students.. so hurray!
was wondering about amherst too.. it's a bit like williams right? a bit isolated, tranquil countryside.. insular-ish?</p>
<p>Amherst is in a vibrant small town so it's not so rural as Williams (and I think Middlebury). It is also part of a consortium that includes four other colleges, one of which is Smith. The student body is similar to Williams, except, I'd say that there is a lot more focus on the arts at Williams.</p>
<p>id pick williams out of the four</p>
<p>I can only comment on 2 of your choices. My son visited Williams, and spent the day there. He did not apply. Though he thought it was probably an excellent school, he thought it was "preppy central". He was a 3 season athelete in HS, and Williams is big on sports. But the Clothes and Car crowd was not for him. He is not a freshman at Vassar, and he loves it. Vassar has more of a free spirited, take you as you are thing going. Clearly a more artsy place. Not the place to go if you can't tolerate a wide range of different type people.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>Boy, you could tell its 3:30 in the morning reading my last post. Excuse my spelling, grammer, syntax, etc......</p>
<p>Williams had a problem recently with a professor using the N word during a faculty meeting. There was also a problem with a student making racial comments to other students. If you are really into the policially correct crowd, try Wesleyan or Swarthmore. Excellent schools with much to offer. If those are too difficult to get into, try Hampshire as well.</p>