<p>HELP....
My kid got in to Colby, Oberlin, Kenyon, Conn College, and Lewis and Clark. He also got in to with partial scholarship to Hampshire, Bennington, and Puget Sound. He has no idea what to do. I know nothing about these schools. Other than the typical list of pros and cons, anyone just love or hate any of these schools?</p>
<p>The first place to start investigating would probably be the individual college forums here on CC. Just go read some of the threads on each college and see if you can find any valuable discussion about them.</p>
<p>As a general rule, most of them are probably pretty liberal.</p>
<p>Oberlin has great music programs and is known for being environmentally conscious. Ohio is lovely if you don’t have any objections to the Midwest.</p>
<p>Kenyon is a very novel college experience. I had their system explained to me once, but I won’t try to reiterate it. I’m sure I’d mess it up. It’s a very cool college if you’re looking for something nontraditional, though.</p>
<p>Well, congrats on all the acceptances. That’s quite the list. Has your child visited them all? Are they all affordable to you? </p>
<p>Next, I would have your child take a closer look at the class catalog, specifically in his/her intended major. Or if major is undecided, are there several that sound possible?</p>
<p>After you compare those important factors (affordability & available majors), check out what extra-curricular clubs or sports the schools feature. Does a particular college appear to have the right atmosphere for your child to spend the next 4 years?</p>
<p>Wow, that is a great list. Does your son know what he wants to study? Have you been to visit or could you narrow the list a little and then visit in the coming weeks?</p>
<p>I don’t know why anyone would apply to a bunch of schools that they know nothing about.</p>
<p>Oberlin has great strengths in the sciences as well as the arts, humanities, and social sciences so if he’s not sure of what he wants to do…it’s a great place to consider. They also have a topflight Conservatory of Music. </p>
<p>However, I’d be a bit concerned about Bennington as their strengths lay mainly in the arts and humanities. If he’s a social science or a STEM-leaning kid…I’d look elsewhere. </p>
<p>Hampshire College provides written evaluations in lieu of grades and is heavily projects-based. Great for an independent self-starter looking to direct his/her own educational path. </p>
<p>Also, heard great things about Colby and Kenyon. </p>
<p>What does your son want to study and what kind of college experience is he seeking?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The poster didn’t apply; his/her kid did. And the kid obviously knows something about the schools because they make a nice list. No need to be snarky.</p>
<p>FIrst of all, congrats to your son… Start reading up on the schools; maybe look at a FIske or Princeton Review Guide that will give some narrative descriptions with a capsule of stats.</p>
<p>Do you have financial constraints? That is something that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Talk to your son about which schools are the highest on his preference list. </p>
<p>Again, congratulations and I hope you have fun going through these choices and picking. Maybe visit the top 3 choices.</p>
<p>I live near L&C and have a son at Oberlin, which is a school I LOVE. Of your schools, L&C is probably the only one located in a city, which is cool thing, while the others are out of the way a little more. You have great choices, but what were your son’s applications based on originally?</p>
<p>First of all, that is an impressive list of schools and you should be very proud of your son. My D will most likely be attending Kenyon next year and I can tell you it is a wonderful school with the most beautiful campus ever. It has a reputation of being strong in humanities but I think it is great in science too.</p>
<p>If I were to narrow it down, even without knowing your son, I would say </p>
<p>Oberlin
Kenyon
Colby
Lewis and Clark</p>
<p>But these 4 are scattered about the US so i guess you need to think about location and of course finances.</p>
<p>Just my .02 cents Congrats to your son!</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone can recommend Oberlin without knowing the kid. There are kids who will love it, and kids who will hate it. A conservative, heterosexual, tech minded white male…maybe not so much. At least that’s what I’ve heard from people.</p>
<p>That kid would be unlikely to come up with that list.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>FYI: Oberlin has excellent 3-2 Engineering programs with Caltech, Case, and Columbia SEAS. </p>
<p>Regarding politics/culture: Unless he/she thrives on being the gadfly personality like some classmates or being the nonconformist contrarian. There’s more of those than you’d think. There’s also those who focus on the academics and avoided taking the political aspects too seriously. </p>
<p>More importantly, judging from what I’ve heard from more recent graduates within the last 5-6 years…Oberlin has become much less radically progressive left than it was when I attended in the mid-late '90s…a development which caused much angst among some of my more radical classmates.</p>
<p>“More importantly, judging from what I’ve heard from more recent graduates within the last 5-6 years…Oberlin has become much less radically progressive left than it was when I attended in the mid-late '90s…a development which caused much angst among some of my more radical classmates.”</p>
<p>That’s good to know. Nothing more boring than being in one’s own echo chamber. But having a little bit of diversity and disagreement shouldn’t really cause angst, it should be cause for celebration. If the ratio of socialists to republicans is less than 50 to 1 now, things have changed, haven’t they? I’m just curious, and it is always important to know the truth before a kid chooses a school. There are certain environments that I know my kids would be uncomfortable in, that of extremes, little diversity in viewpoint, too much conformity, or too religiously observant. People should not feel that they have to hide their opinions to fit in. At least, not for my ideal school.</p>
<p>Hampshire is a member of a college consortium allowing cross registration at a variety of nearby colleges i.e. Smith and Amherst.Transportation is provided.</p>
<p>We live in the northwest and lots of kids look at Lewis and Clark from our area. They either love it or hate it and there seems to be very little middle ground. If it’s a serious contender, your kid really needs to visit.</p>
<p>What does your kid want to study? Also, as another posted suggested, finances need to be considered (especially if they are going to study something with lesser job/salary prospects – large loans are a mistake if that is the case).</p>
<p>It is extremely difficult (and stressful) to select a college without visiting. What are the chances of you getting him to these colleges to look at them prior to May 1? </p>
<p>We have visited some of these schools. We just came from Oberlin, and had a pretty awful visit – mixups on the classroom for D’s course visit (mix up by admissions, and D had emailed the prof ahead of time), snarky professors (two of them!), mediocre tour guide, and – honestly – too many students who had not showered recently enough. We WANTED to like it so much… one of D’s favorite relatives went there, and we wouldn’t have visited if she wasn’t truly interested. We are also pretty liberal, so that was not a problem for us. 
Redeeming item of the day was a fabulous science department tour by a current science student. Not quite enough to turn D’s opinion in their favor, but at least she called the day “mixed” at the end instead of a “total disaster”.</p>
<p>Kenyon is remote and very beautiful and “collegey” (is that a word? Anyway… look at the website, they know how to show this off). Especially strong in English/writing, but all around good school. D will be happy to attend if she gets in (next year). Not sure what Kudrayavka is talking about regarding Kenyon’s “system”. As far as I can tell, Kenyon isn’t too different from many other LACs in how they handle majors, credits, etc. They don’t have any odd timing for the school year or block scheduling or anything like that. Pretty standard LAC fare in terms of the “system”, I think.</p>
<p>Hampshire is unusual. Sort of counterculture, but I think the students there like it very much. The campus is not very attractive (buildings are sort of squat and drab, IMHO), although that region of MA is very nice around it. And they have the 5-college consortium to take classes at other excellent schools. </p>
<p>Colby & Conn College – some will vehemently disagree, I am sure – seemed full of kids who were there as their second choice because they did not get into an Ivy or a top tier LAC. Just my opinion, but we got this impression pretty strongly on both campuses. Students seemed a little checked out. Maybe just too cool to show enthusiam or something… but it was a turnoff.</p>
<p>So… of all the colleges we have visited on this list, for every one of them I would say it could be a big (and expensive) mistake to send a kid there who has not visited.</p>
<p>thank you all. He has visited them all or is going to visit the rest this month. he will do history or poli sci so the curriculum is not as important to him but he has been turned on by the hampshire flexibility --like design your own classes with no rules. He is also a hockey kid so he likes the conn and colby hockey clubs. he is also a drummer in a good band so he likes the drum lessons at oberlin. he is also a little bohemian so he liked Lewis and Clark’s class and woodsy summer camp atmosphere. Money is not an issue but he seems happy he got some money. And he got some money at oberlin and that is a highly ranked school. And the one writer was right, the list was developed by a paid for college counselor, with my kid, as a smattering of lacs. We visited some before he applied but we just don’t have a clear choice. I think i will count my blessings for sure and leave it up to him. If anyone has visited or has a kid at these schools please give me your insight. thanks again…</p>
<p>All good schools and this is a “problem” that many applicants and their parents would love to have. To me, the school that stands out in this group is Oberlin. Everyone I’ve ever known who went there absolutely loved it. Academically it’s at or very near the top of this group, but it would also fit the bohemian side of your kid.</p>
<p>Can he narrow it down to his top two or three? A second (or third) visit can really help, but he still has a long list. For my kids, a lot came down to the students they saw walking around campus. E.g., with DS#1, he and I both agreed that Kenyon had the prettiest campus we visited, and he was fine with being in a teeny tiny town, but he couldn’t see himself fitting in with the student body.</p>
<p>And I definitely agree this is a great problem to have. In the end he’ll be fine wherever he ends up.</p>