<p>Dartmouth if it counts, otherwise Amherst or Wellesley</p>
<p>Dartmouth
Amherst
Reed</p>
<p>How come nobody mentioned Swarthmore?
It's the best LAC I know (and no I'm not the parent of someone who goes there).</p>
<p>Without even seeing LAC rankings, I'd say Amherst.</p>
<p>Swarthmore is a great school but it tends to be under the radar.</p>
<p>slipper 1234, could you elaborate please? How do you mean "under the radar" and why do you think that is?</p>
<p>The interesting thing is that Pomona was even mentioned in one post above. I see it mentioned so infrequently, yet, based solely on the quality of the incoming students' test scores, it stands head and shoulders above any other LAC - 1370 (old test) at the low end of middle 50%. Removed by a good margin from the next, which is Amherst,followed closely by Williams.</p>
<p>I have no idea why the Pomona kids test so much higher than any other LAC, and higher than five of the Iveys + Stanford. Regardless, I think the Pomono rep is severely lower than the facts warrant. West coast bias?</p>
<p>Back to OP's question, Amherst was the only one I was aware of back in 1974 when I applied to colleges.</p>
<p>IDK, i never really heard of them until i got onto CC.</p>
<p>Wellesley, definitely.</p>
<p>My parents, before I started looking at colleges, knew pretty much of 4 colleges, and Amherst was the only non-Ivy of those 4 (they're immigrants).</p>
<p>Barnard
I'd love to go there. I'd get all the girls.</p>
<p>Pomona is awesome. And socal is just awesome. I applied ED. Kids from Pomona are pretty spoiled which is what I'm scared of. They are always happy and sometimes they need a good kick in the face to come back to reality.</p>
<p>I agree with Roxxy, definitely Wellesley.</p>
<p>Most people don't know what a LAC is...If you explained what it means then probably Amherst, Emory (which is not), Northwestern (which is not), Wellesley. If it were 20 years ago the answer would easily have been Radcliffe.</p>
<p>Honestly, I never knew anything about Williams or Pomona before I started really looking into colleges. Until I really started researching, I'd only heard of Amherst and some of the seven sisters (Mount Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley, and Vassar... I had only heard of Radcliffe a few times, didn't know much about Barnard, and knew nothing about Bryn Mawr).</p>
<p>"Kids from Pomona are pretty spoiled which is what I'm scared of. They are always happy and sometimes they need a good kick in the face to come back to reality."</p>
<p>????!!!!????!!!!</p>
<p>Hmmm, I know many of my friends are apathetic about politics, but I don't think this makes them naive. Or uninformed, and delusional. I think they love this school, and this makes them happy. The weather sure helps. And why would you say we're a spoiled bunch? Just because we are happy and not seem to have a care in the world? We work as hard as students in any good college, we worry as well, and we understand the need to be independent and responsible. </p>
<p>With regards to the other comment about Pomona and its underrated rep, what can I say about it? Is our marketing sub par? Are our students not achieving enough when they graduate? West coast bias? Confusing us with Cal Poly? I don't know. Having said that, Pomona has a good rep with those in the know, such as employers, grad schools, academics, and some parents. You don't hear about us much, but when you do, you hear little else but good things about it. That's fine. As for the rep, all we can do is to continue to strive hard and believe that our school deserves to stand with Amherst, Williams, Swat, Carleton and the other top LACs. The perception of the public is something we can't control most of the time, so let it be, I guess.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The interesting thing is that Pomona was even mentioned in one post above. I see it mentioned so infrequently, yet, based solely on the quality of the incoming students' test scores, it stands head and shoulders above any other LAC - 1370 (old test) at the low end of middle 50%. Removed by a good margin from the next, which is Amherst,followed closely by Williams.</p>
<p>I have no idea why the Pomona kids test so much higher than any other LAC, and higher than five of the Iveys + Stanford. Regardless, I think the Pomono rep is severely lower than the facts warrant. West coast bias?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the numbers are not quite correct. Pomona does not stand head and shoulders above the other LAC's. That "honor" belongs to another school in Claremont. As far as comparing Pomona's SAT scores to the Ivy League, there is more than looking at the 25% percentile. Caltech, and the best Ivy League schools have better SAT scores than Pomona. </p>
<p>However, what is probably more remarkable is the number of LAC on a list of all selective schools with an admission rate below 20% might be very surprising to most -- and the absence of schools such as Duke, WUSTL, and Chicago. </p>
<p>
Schools Below 20% Admitted Applied Rate
Harvard Ivy 2,058 22,955 8.97%
Princeton Ivy 1,791 18,942 9.46%
Yale ...... Ivy 1,860 19,323 9.63%
Stanford 2,464 23,958 10.28%
Columbia Ivy 2,255 21,343 10.57%
MIT ........ 1,553 12,445 12.48%
Brown ... Ivy 2,683 19,097 14.05%
Dartmouth Ivy 2,166 14,176 15.28%
Penn ...... Ivy 3,637 22,646 16.06%
CMC ...... Lac 670 4,140 16.18%
Pomona ... Lac 964 5,907 16.32%
Caltech ............. 605 3,595 16.83%
Swarthmore Lac 890 5,244 16.97%
Amherst . Lac 1,167 6,668 17.50%
Williams Lac 1,190 6,448 18.46%
Bowdoin Lac 1,130 5,961 18.96%
</p>
<p>People I've met thought LACs were junior colleges.</p>
<p>I have friends who did very well in school and got into selective colleges, and look at me weird when I say I might transfer to Wesleyan or Vassar. </p>
<p>A quote: "Why do you like the weird colleges that no one has ever head of?"</p>
<p>Heck, my friend at Northeastern is convinced that NEU is obviously a better school than Bard because its "prestigious".</p>
<p>D.T. - I lived in Socal until 1972. Then Mexico City. In 1974 when I applied to colleges, I had heard of Claremont Men's College, but had not heard of Pomona at all. I will be that in 1974 the quality of the school is not what it is today (same can be said of USC on a lower scale, for example).</p>
<p>I'm not sure if you realize that the test scores of admitted Pomona students is the highest of all LACs (excluding Harvey Mudd since it is a little like Caltech).</p>
<p>It seems strange to me that the LAC in the #1 position in test scores, and an exciting 5 college consortium environment, is not more well generally known. Yet, clearly very high test scorers know about it and attend!</p>
<p>xiggi,</p>
<p>well, i am not surprised at all. i'd think it's easier for them to have low admit rates because of their small size. they don't even need to have decent yield to achieve theat (if i am not mistaken, their yield is nowhere comparable to ivies). but how about their mid-50% SAT ranges?</p>
<p>Overall, the best known LACs are probably the "7 Sisters" women's colleges. Prior to 1970 or so, most elite private universities only admitted men. So schools like Wellesley, Smith, Bryn Mawr, etc. were historically the top choices for high-performing women. </p>
<p>Obviously women now have more options. But because of historical factors, a high percentage of prominent women, both in the US and abroad, have women's college educations. For example, Wellesley is probably the only LAC with significant name recognition in China, because Madame Chiang Kai-shek went there. Here in the US, Hillary Clinton is probably boosting Wellesley's name recognition as well.</p>