Muhlenberg seems like such a great place and a really nice option for us. I don’t want to get caught up in worries about rankings but I do want to make sure that we aren’t overlooking something important. I read a lot on here about the top 50 LACs and Muhlenberg is 71. From what I could tell a lot of the problem is with high school guidance counselor reputation. Is there a problem that I should be aware of? Is Muhlenberg a significantly lower quality school then Sarah Lawrence? Bard? etc? My D liked it so much better than Sarah Lawrence and yet it is ranked so much lower.
Hello, I cannot answer this, but I am also interested in anyone’s input - my D was accepted at Muhlenberg and we need to visit. She was also accepted at Bard so we need to compare. I hear good things about both, but can’t give informed input.
Everyone’s rankings are subjective. The best thing that you can do is your homework. Look into each school and specifically the department or departments of the intended major(s) and talk to people there. Talk to students, staff, professors and learn all you can from them. Visit during the semester and spend some time on campus. Eat, hang out, and talk to everyone. If you know graduates of the school talk to them about their experiences. Look at graduation rates and what percentage of graduates go on to professional programs if that is your intent. It isn’t an easy decision but after putting in the work it should be an easier choice to make if you are in possession of all this knowledge. Best of luck to you!
FWIW, I have heard that both Bard and Sarah Lawrence have reputations for having an unfriendly student body. I’m sure they are somewhat unfair stereotypes, but I have seen a recent thread on here from a Bard student who is experiencing that unfriendliness, and I have heard there is a saying at SL called “being Sarah Lawrenced” which means having a person you spoke to in class ignore you when you see them on campus.
We visited Muhlenberg during our college search and found it to be pretty great overall, with what appeared to be a nice, down-to-earth, friendly student body.
Don’t worry about rankings. Pay attention to academic offerings and social fit and you’ll be fine.
Hi! I thought I would give you my input about Muhlenberg. My DD is presently in her first year there and loves it. When she started her college search, she wanted a medium to large size school with a big sports program and a college town. Muhlenberg is the total opposite and wasn’t even on our radar. After reading CC, Muhlenberg’s name kept coming up for its good pre-med program so I encouraged her to take a look and visit. I went to a small LAC and thought it would be a better fit for her. Even though we both did not have big expectations because of the small campus and suburban location (right on the edge of Allentown), we really enjoyed the school. The campus was compact but all of the facilities were really nice, especially the dining hall, athletic center, science building and performance center.
More importantly, she got a great vibe and feeling about the place, and the students and staff that we met were all down-to-earth, friendly and welcoming. We were also looking for merit-aid, and Muhlenberg is very generous, which we would not get at a much higher ranked school.
I really can’t answer your question as to why Muhlenberg is ranked so low. I think “fit” is more important than rank. The only thing I can think of is that Muhlenberg is not highly selective with a 50% admissions rate, which may hurt its ranking. One other drawback is that the student body is not very diverse. Most of the students also primarily come from PA/NJ/NY area. I highly recommended visiting the campus and talking to the students.
@mikey777 My daughter is also interested in Muhlenberg. There aren’t many threads about it, but the name does keep coming up. I’m really glad to hear your daughter loves it. Is she doing pre-med? When we visited, they really raved about the advising. Is it as good as they say?
@Mikey777 I’m glad to hear that your daughter loves Muhlenberg. My daughter is accepted and we are going to visit again in a few weeks. We are hoping that it’s a great fit!
@gallentjill Yes my D is pre-med and one of the major reasons she chose Muhlenberg. It has a good reputation for pre-med. The science classes are very rigorous and students are weeded out. Her intro bio and chem classes were about 100-125 students, which are the largest classes at Muhlenberg. But there is a lot of support and resources for students, such as additional workshops and tutors. My D has used them all and gone to office hours. The professors are receptive and generous with their time. My D said that she has never studied as hard and I believe her. Pre-med is difficult everywhere, but Muhlenberg offers good academic support in a smaller setting.
Since my D is only a first year, the pre-med advising hasn’t been extensive and I really couldn’t give you much info. I believe they told the first years to take intro bio and gen chem as a freshman, which is typical at most places. Note that Muhlenberg’s intro bio sequence is divided into 3 classes, whereas most colleges have intro bio divided into 2 semesters. I don’t know much about the pre-health advisor, but she is also the pre-law advisor at the school too. I have read that the previous pre-med advisor at Muhlenberg was really good. Hopefully it carried over.
It’s almost anathema to say this on College Confidential, but rankings are kind of pointless. The US higher-education sector is strong enough (excluding the for-profit sector) that you could completely get rid of the best half of the colleges in the country and still have hundreds of really amazing colleges to choose from.
Well, unless you’re doing status signaling—but there are cheaper ways to do that than to send your kid to a college with high prestigiosity levels.