Of the private schools, maybe Hamilton (high), Oberlin, Colby, Kenyon, particularly if your ACT is superscored (30 in math is fine, 26 could be a problem).
sp (#18): Macalester.
I agree with merc81’s assessment. Of those listed in post #20, Hamilton will likely be most difficult, but they all have similar acceptance rates.
I suggest you look closely at a few additional schools with somewhat higher acceptance rates to round out your list. Skidmore, Connecticut College and Wheaton College (MA) are all excellent LACs with good art history and humanities options. You might find that one or more of them will provide the environment you are looking for with respect to academics, extracurricular interests and political correctness.
@urbanslaughter aren’t Middlebury and Williams reaches for most?
My kids have looked at many of the schools on your list. I want to second Conn and Skidmore (kids interviewed at both) since they liked them. We would have looked at Wheaton but fin aid estimate was not good in our case – for you it would not be a problem. They can remain on your long list in case you do not settle on an ED school or do not get in…but definitely do your visits as they like demonstrated interest, and it is a good idea so that you know how much / whether you like them when it comes to May 1st.
These might be some very basic distinguishing characteristics for some of your choices in terms of your expressed criteria:
Williams: Strong art history program and excellent art museum. May be an improbable admit for you.
Vassar: Strong art history program. Beautiful Library. A tough admit for female applicants in particular.
Hamilton: Curriculum balanced across humanities and fine arts, sciences and math and social sciences. Superb arts facilities. Favors big names as speakers. Gender balanced in admissions.
Middlebury: Nice library. As with Vassar and several others among your choices, a particularly tough admit for female applicants.
Oberlin: Excellent art museum. Values the arts in general. Good vegan food.
Colby: One of the few LACs that appears to be a statistically easier admit for female applicants. If you like what you see of this school, definitely apply.
Kenyon: Strong art history program. Excellent IPHS offerings. Belongs on your short list for these and other reasons.
Thanks again. I don’t really like the “vibes” of Wheaton, Skidmore, or Conneticut, although they were on my list before I narrowed it down. Does anyone know if Kenyon’s endowment affects the students and if so, how? Also, are any of the schools in particular run-down ? Should I bother applying to the discovery programs or just visit on my own? I’m Asian, so technically a URM, but since I’m not requesting financial aid, I doubt that they would accept me into the free visit programs. And should I retake my ACT? Most of the schools I’m applying to superscore the ACT, so I don’t know if it’s worth studying for the math section since I’m super busy right now, until early August and then school starts very soon after that.
Kenyon’s endowment per student is substantially higher than that of, for example, Georgetown’s, and would seem to be more than adequate for its needs.
I forgot to put Bates on the list. Do you think that it is a reach for me? And how is the art history program here, especially if I want to pursue a PhD?
Bates would be tied with Oberlin in post 14, should this serve as a rough guideline for you.
Check out some of the Colleges That Change Lives as well.
Have you visited Skidmore and Conn Coll and decided not to pursue those schools further? Or are you going on-line info about those schools? They historically have very strong art and art history programs, and the student body is consistent with Kenyon and some others on your list. Another school to consider, particularly for preparation for grad work in Art History, is Bryn Mawr – with academic/social cooperation at Haverford, it has a different feel than other women’s colleges. Otherwise, your list of LACs is very reach-heavy. You mentioned you didn’t like greek life at Colgate – Kenyon and Hamilton both have greek life as well, is that a consideration?
Where do things stand with recruiting? Have coaches asked for admissions pre-reads? Pre-reads are happening now at the LACs on your list, and coaches will be finalizing their list of recruits to invite to campus in the fall. Presumably, fall is “in season” for you so it will be difficult to do to visit a handful of LACs from CA. But for a recruit to commit ED, those visits are strongly advised to see if you “click” with the coach, team, and the school more generally. You said finances aren’t an “issue” – if that means you aren’t applying for financial aid – then hitting that ED button in Nov commits you to attend that school, since you won’t have the grounds to say the financial aid award is insufficient.
If recruiting and ED does not happen, then a list might include:
Williams, Bowdoin, Midd, Vassar, Pomona, Colby, Bates, Kenyon, Skidmore, Conn, Bryn Mawr. There are no LAC safeties on your list, anywhere – if you only get into your UC safety school, will you be happy with that choice? If not, then consider some midwest CTCL schools, perhaps Denison, which is 30 minutes from Columbus Ohio, with a thriving art scene (and gorgeous art facility on campus), or Kalamazoo, which is located in the very art-friendly small city of Kalamazoo.
No, I live in California, so I only plan on visiting my top choices-which is why I’m trying to narrow down my list so early on-or the ones with free fly-in programs. I don’t like Skidmore because it looks too “hipster,” and Conneticut College appears too conservative. I know that doesn’t seem like a good way to cross schools off of my list, but at this point, it is the easiest way. I didn’t know that Kenyon and Hamilton had greek life, so I’ll look into that more. I realized that Colgate had a huge drinking culture and upon checking the calendar of events, not many activities such as lectures, so I took that off of my list.
Yes, the coaches at Oberlin, Bates, and Colby have asked for pre-reads. I am injured right now-have been for seven months-so some of the other coaches have been rather reluctant. The reason why there are no LAC safeties is because my parents and I don’t see the point of paying that much money for a much lower-ranked safeties since I wouldn’t be getting any financial aid. So if I don’t get into a LAC of my choice, then I will be attending a UC.
So, then it sounds like, Oberlin, Bates and Colby are possible ED schools as a recruit, if the coach gets a green light from admissions. Hopefully, you hear back shortly in the pre-reads and have a better sense of where you stand with those three. The other LACs, like Williams, Vassar etc. would likely be regular decision then, if your don’t like your ED options or are deferred in the ED round.
We’ve spent a lot of time at Kenyon and Oberlin, with two kids, and have visited as prospective recruit at Conn, Bates and some others. I wouldn’t describe Conn Coll as any more conservative than Kenyon, and it has very strong arts. Oberlin is a distinctive community, students are rarely ambivalent about it – they either feel right at home, or not at all. It does have a wonderful art museum and an arts-rich community. We never went to Colby, but my athlete kid liked Bates very much, as a balanced type of community.
If you don’t like hipsterish schools you probably won’t like Oberlin. We saw Skidmore, and the kids looked like a real mix of athlete types, hipsters, mainstream etc. From what I know about Connecticut College, you will find both preps and artsy types
Kenyon has modest Greek participation (22% of males, 13% of females). Hamilton’s fraternities (28% of males) and sororities (21% of females) are atypical in that they are nonresidential.
Connecticut College is an interesting mix of artsy, preppy, etc – much like Bates. It is, however, one of those schools that will not accept a kid who doesn’t seem like one who wouldn’t seriously consider the acceptance (either because they’re over-qualified or didn’t show much interest), so if you remain ambivalent, it may not be worth the effort to apply. Colby has a very nice art museum, so I’d assume that it has a decent art history program (but I could be wrong about that.) I think your approach – to focus on the ED schools for now – makes the most sense. Given that you are pretty sure of your interests, I’d strongly recommend that you look at the requirements for graduation in your field and the course catalog (and study abroad programs if that’s of interest) so that you’re sure that whichever one you choose will meet your needs.
@citymama9 I’ve actually been watching a lot of videos and doing other research on Oberlin, and it looks like a mixture.
@merc81 So, Hamilton’s frats and sororities shouldn’t be a big issue?
Also, in general, how many faculty members indicates a strong department?
At Hamilton you would be in a 79% percent female majority and free to ignore sorority and fraternity activity at your discretion.
I’d be more inclined to look at the quantity and variety of course offerings than the number of faculty members. Strong art history departments will often offer ~30 or more courses, which is at least double the amount you would ever actually take. At some point not far beyond this, departments may reach the point of diminishing returns. If you have any special interests, look for representation of those in the course catalogs as well.
Re #35, yes, Colby does have a really nice art museum.
When you said about 30 or more courses, are you referring to per semester or in the course catalog? I’m confused because some of the colleges have over 30 courses in the catalog, but only around ten per semester.