<p>Can anyone do a little compare and contrast between these schools? I have the impression that they are as follows:</p>
<p>oberlin: highest ranked of the above mentioned. students are a litttle out there (similair to hampshire, sarah lawrence, bennington). </p>
<p>Skidmore: lowest ranked of the above mentioned. students are sorta hippyish and lots of fun. (Sort of like a diet-Vassar in terms of academics and student liberalism)</p>
<p>Colgate: a little under Oberlin in terms of ranking. students are verrry into greek life and sports and fitting the prep image (similair to bucknell, lehigh)</p>
<p>Connecticut College: I have no idea where this school falls. I visited it and honestly was just confused by the whole experience. I remember the students on the surface having a "waspy" image, and then finding that they were veryyy into politics and anti-bush campaigns and sorta hippyish. However, I really know nothing about the school other than that the town is dead.</p>
<p>University of Rochester: highest acceptance rate, but perhaps most academically oriented. Students have a clear science/math bend. (similair to SUNY Binghamton? not sure)</p>
<p>Please add to my desciptions or change them around. Other than these 5 schools, I also applied to SUNY Binghamton where I have been accepted and SUNY Geneseo.</p>
<p>I think you've hit the nail on the head in most ways. However, I would ignore rankings for this group - I'd say the differences in academic quality and experience at all of these schools is very minimal. In short, you can get an excellent and challenging education at any of these schools, regardless of where they may "rank." So, the bottom line is === choose the school that best fits your personality.</p>
<p>Oberlin is higher than Colgate? Hmmm... I guess I didn't see the 2005 rankings, because in 2004, Colgate was a few spots higher. I guess it just goes to show theres really not a big difference in academic quality. All of the schools on there are excellent. URoch is the only full-fledged university (with the feel of an LAC) so it may offer some advantages the others may not, but it all depends on the person. What is your major? I sorta-kinda applied to one of the schools in your list, Oberlin. I was part of their scholars program (pretty much guaranteed admission) but I didn't actually complete a formal application (I didn't do part 2). I can tell you one thing, though... the administration are some of the best people you'll ever meet, and the students are very friendly and congenial people. I fell in love with the school, and MIGHT have ended up there, had I not gotten into my ED school. The downside was that it's in the middle of nowhere... cute town... but still nowhere. Ah, I still love it though. Good luck with your decision-sorry I didn't really help.</p>
<p>I have a child at Oberlin now, and while on the one hand there is some basis for comparison with the schools you cited, there is on the other hand a valid comparison to a school like Swarthmore. There is very serious academics going on there, with a large number of students aspiring to doctoral studies.</p>
<p>Skidmore and Rochester are very different in several ways. Small, resort town for Skidmore, urban for Rochester. Strong focus on arts at Skidmore, strong focus on science at Rochester. Emphasis on the liberal arts tradition at Skidmore, emphasis on research university perspective for Rochester. Rochester is about twice the size of Skidmore. Rochester has many graduate and professional programs, Skidmore has a small liberal studies masters program. Conn and Colgate are probably more like Skidmore than they are like Rochester.</p>
<p>Happened to read some stuff that suggested urban environment of Rochester is not particularly "safe". Visited Saratoga (Skidmore) and found it beautiful and safe (also enjoyed my day at the races).</p>
<p>thanks alot for the replies. right now skidmore is my top choice (just really worried about the money aspect). Does anyone know any more about Connecticut College? For some reason, i walked away from the tour knowing nothing about the school and not getting any definate feel for it.</p>
<p>U of R has some really smart students. Actually, all of the ones on your list probably do, but U of R is definitely an academic place. </p>
<p>Colgate can be rigorous if you want it to be. A lot of students take full advantage of the resources and learn a lot, and others take full advantage of the amount of slacking that can be done.</p>
<p>A skidmore sophomore is looking over my shoulder right now and telling me that Skidmore students generally smoke a lot of weed. But it's a great place to be.</p>
<p>He said it depends on the subject. He feels that music is not rigorous, but that english, psych, and history are. He especially stressed that american studies is pretty hardcore, but very good.</p>
<p>Skidmore can be rigorous if you want it to be and you would find many faculty mentors to help you in that pursuit but it is probably not the modal student attitude.</p>
<p>well as im currently thinking about psych, english, or philosophy, this works out well!<br>
I dont mean to be annoying, but my final questions: do students have a fair amount of academic freedom with no strict core curriculum? and how smoothly does double majoring work (thinking about majoring in english and philosophy) THANK YOU! I APPRECIATE THIS VERY MUCH!</p>
<p>There are distribution requirements but these are not onerous. Double majors are pretty common and any combination of pscyh, english and philosophy is possible although there are some senior project requirements for majors.</p>
<p>yeah i know theyre very different. I think i got a very distorted view of colgate when i visited. It was my first college visit, and it was during the summer. they realllly downplayed the frat/sports/toga aspect of the school as to be almost nonexistant!</p>
<p>Although the frat scene is very prevalent, I don't think it's really oppressive. </p>
<p>Word of advice if you go there, as told to me by a freshman girl: When you find yourself table-dancing at the Jug two nights in a row, you need to seriously re-evaluate what you're doing at college.</p>
<p>brian, i think skidmore is trying to really expand theyre science department. its probably too late at this point but i know they have a $40,000 Porter science scholarship.</p>
<p>My daughter is a sophomore at Conn Coll. and loves it. In fact I haven't met a kid there who wasn't happy. She is a philosophy major with a minor in Chem, thinking pre-med or law!!!! Last year she roomed with a dance major, this year she has a single. She loves the honor code whereby students decide when they take their exams and have input in most everything on campus. Profs are very approachable, lots of class discussions. Down town New London is not great, but 2 miles down the road on RT 82 lots of new development, Best buy, Dick's sporting goods, Borders books, TGIF, OliveGarden etc, New Mall etc all geared to college students. Also Mystic seaport is 10 minutes away, college sits between the river and the beach. Short ride to Providence, train ride into NYC, Boston. Fabulous study abroad program, one time summer stipend of $3,000 between Junior and Senior year. New Arts/Science initiative.
My daughter would not consider herself preppy, but yes, very middle class school, seeking actively to increase diversity. Many artsy, political types, but my daughter is neither and a Bush supporter and is still happy there!!!</p>