<p>I’ve been to many of the schools you listed. Top of the list are Centre and Denison in that order. Center is much smaller. Denison is in a better town. Hope is in a nice town on beautiful water. But the school is inferior to the others, although conservative like you want. In my opinion, Wooster and Wittenburg are not as strong as the others. I strongly suggest you look at Depauw, Oberlin, and Grinnel, as well. They are all three excellent LACs.</p>
<p>Can you tell us more about what kind of student culture you are looking for? Describe the typical student at your perfect school.</p>
<p>OP, I think someone noted in a previous post about how easy or hard it is to travel between your college and where you live. The expense is also something worth considering. I now live in LA, like you, and travel occasionally between here and Memphis, where I grew up. Because Delta has a monopoly on that route, airline tickets tend to be more expensive than you might think. Just as a note, I would have considered Rhodes (which was called Southwestern way back then) except it was too close and I wanted to go farther away. It is a beautiful campus with great academics and Memphis is a wonderful city to live in. I applied to both Centre and Oberlin and considered a few of the other schools on your list. I ended up at Oberlin as a math major and had several friends in the sciences who went on to grad school and are now professors. So, LACs can most certainly lead you in that direction. I loved being in a small town at a relatively small college. It was a nice change of pace from city life (although Memphis is not nearly as urban as LA) and I can understand your preference.</p>
<p>If you are choosing a smaller school for the size and merit, check out University of Minnesota Morris. If you are a NMF, their merit is excellent (I think full tuition). The state flagship, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, would probably give you the $11,000+ per year (they stack) if you would want to consider a large urban school.</p>
<p>Haven’t read the whole thread so maybe this was mentioned but you may want to look at Miami University in Oxford, OH. They just increased their scholarship offerings. Here is the link.</p>
<p>My eldest D preferred small schools and initially looked at both LACs and Engr schools until she decided her major. She ended up ChemE, but Hope was her top choice if she had gone sciences/education. She loved the environment at Hope, the size, accessibility of professors, the friendliness of the students, the town and the scholarships. As to the seriousness of study and academic rigor it felt like there was a pretty wide range.
We now know several kids that go there and every one loves it. Those in the sciences in particular rave about Hope. One is on a large scholarship (she is national merit) and is pre-med in biology. She has been doing individual research since her first semester and has presented at several national conferences already. I understand she finds Hope sufficiently challenging.
Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Being from Ohio we looked at some of these schools over the last three years. We visited Wooster twice. Everyone is friendly and the campus is beautiful. The town is small so there is not much to do off campus-maybe that contributes to the reputation for drinking. Also getting to the airport (Cleveland or Akron which has Southwest) may be a hassle. Wooster leans left, although not as much as Oberlin. My daughter in the end did not want to devote a majority of junior and senior year to the research project, which was stressed over and over at every discussion. </p>
<p>I know several students who transferred out of OWU this past year. We visited and thought it was okay but I had a sense that they may be struggling financially. There were really no positives above Wooster and Denison and since we have heard of all the transfers I would now be wary. Interestingly 3 of the transfers were to Ohio State. Previous posters have stated OWU to be conservative but I have heard otherwise from students themselves so I would check that out a bit further. </p>
<p>Denison is also a pretty campus in a small cute town. It is not far from the Columbus airport. I felt like it was academically the best of the three. It is also the most conservative of the three. Previous posters have commented on drinking issues and I have heard likewise. I know a recent graduate who felt that there just was not that much to do socially and felt bored.</p>
<p>Here’s my shameless plug: look at Ohio State. They offer merit aid and additionally the National Buckeye Scholarship for out of state students. It is large, no doubt about it, but it is a very friendly, very organized, very doable large. My three kids are there and thriving, one of which I thought really would fit best at a small LAC. As stated on a large campus you will find every academic, research and extracurricular opportunity you could imagine. Also you will find plenty of support for any side of the political or religious spectrum. There are too many kids to classify these large campuses as left or right, although certainly departments may lean either way. Yes, there is alcohol but my daughter says she has found there are plenty of kids who don’t drink and she is very comfortable going out and not drinking. </p>
<p>For PhD’s as cited in an article. Are those percentages or gross numbers? A relatively small percentage of a large population can still mean many more people with similar interests and abilities to interact with. Students at large U’s such as Wisconsin DO get to know professors and work in grad labs or with them.</p>
<p>Thanks for the different perspectives. Interesting to see such varying experiences with Hope. It seems the consensus is that Wooster, Centre, and Denison all have strong academics, Denison does have some drinking issues (though unclear how avoidable these are), and OWU is not at the same level as the previous three.</p>
<p>Hope is “known” for the strength of the sciences. Hope is, of course, known for other things but if you had to pick one area of strength it would be the sciences. If you are going to visit Hillsdale, try to make a trip to Holland they are about 3 hours apart, maybe less. Holland is a fun town and who can complain about the Lake Michigan beaches in Holland for 4 years. I’m not pushing Holland or Hope, but if you visit Hillsdale, you should probably do your best to formulate your own opinion about Hope. </p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I have never heard if Centre, but I have been on graduate admissions committees for chemistry and biochemistry. If an application from someone attending Centre crossed my desk, I would have to really look at the letters of recommendation to see if that person has had some quality research experience, and how they did at it and also look at the level of instruction at the school. I have to admit, although it would not make me reject the person outright, I would need to be convinced of a quality education a little more than at a slightly more well-known LAC. (I have not heard of Hope either.)</p>
<p>^^Kalamazoo College might be stronger than Hillsdale and Hope (as far as Michigan colleges go) for the sciences, but it doesn’t fit the OPs interests as well.</p>
<p>It’s strange that Centre would be seen as “not very well-known”. I understand large research universities don’t necessarily know all the LACs but Centre is a Top 50 National LAC, it’s not St Mary of the woods or Kentucky State…</p>
<p>Grinnell College has excellent sciences and is known for giving good merit aid. I know several scientists at our public flagship (University of Minnesota) who did their undergrad at Grinnell. And Grinnell’s alumni roster includes such notables as Mary Sue Coleman, President of the University of Michigan and a biochemist; Robert Noyce, co-inventor of the integrated circuit and co-founder of Intel Corp.; Thomas Cech, Nobel laureate in chemistry; and numerous distinguished science and medical professors at schools like Cornell, Yale, Caltech, Emory, WUSTL, UC San Francisco, and others. So they must be doing something right in the sciences.</p>
<p>Umm . . . Haverford is in a Main Line suburb of Philadelphia, about 20 minutes by train from Penn. I don’t think that counts as the Midwest. Great school, though, and yes, it’s very strong in the sciences.</p>
<p>“Top 50 LAC” - seems to me this category comes after you eliminate major private U’s.</p>
<p>Addenda, looked up 3 schools. Quote on the Centre College website from The Washington Post- “…in its region”. Kalamazoo College ACT 50%ile is only 24-30- lower bottom score than some regional flagships. Hope College emphasizes its Christian aspect- therefore limited audience.</p>
<p>The message is- these small schools work for some people but be sure to read the “fine print”.</p>
<p>Haverford and Grinnell I have heard of. Sorry, not Centre, which is top 50, as I’ve since learned. It’s 49 on us news and world report in the LAC ratings, amidst many LACs I have heard of. Maybe it is the nondescript name that never stuck with me.</p>
<p>bclintonk, errr, sorry about placing Haverford in the Midwest. I’m a lifelong west-coaster, so things get a little foggy for me east of Nevada. :)</p>
<p>IMO you are way over-qualified for all of the schools on your list. Given your GPA and SAT scores you should be able to get substantial merit aid at much, much better schools than these. Even to consider them strikes me as perverse.</p>
<p>DePauw has a very high percentage of students in fraternities and sororities, so you may want to consider whether that kind of social environment is what you are looking for.</p>
<p>jmgradon-- on what basis do you define “better schools”? Do you have substantial experience with those on my list? I am curious to hear your reasoning as I have been extremely impressed in my research of those four particular colleges. CC also has several ardent supporters of Rhodes, St. Olaf, and Hillsdale (Santa Clara less so).</p>