I agree! I read “the most Minnesotan” and immediately thought Gustavus!
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For me, St. Olaf went too far when they appeared in that CTCL book. A college that changes lives? Why?
The point of a college is to provide a solid education and a good choir.
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CTCL is a marketing thing. They market their colleges on a road show.
My friend who is a professor said “ALL colleges change lives. Otherwise, why go to college?”
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True, it is a marketing thing. Am I correct that it started out as a college reviewer identifying schools that were not typically thought of as “elite” and pointing out the ways in which they were special, and did very good work with students.?
And colleges didn’t choose to be on the list - they were put there?
fiftyfifty1: “The point of a college is to provide a solid education and a good choir.”
Hilarious! And that was what changed my life in college, a good education and a great choir! 
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So, just a comment on the Greek life. I went to Bucknell and recruited from there until a few years ago. GREAT programs across the board. Its one of the largest Liberal Arts colleges (2x most) with about 4,000 people because it has Business and Engineering in addition to Liberal Arts & Sciences. So, it’s really a small university. But… while the tour may not have emphasized Greek life, it has always been big there. Still, it’s large enough that people make their own fun, Greek or not.
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Yeah, Bucknell is in a small town in a fairly low-density part of PA (although not the lowest). Many people have great experiences going to colleges in settings like that, but “making your own fun” sort of goes with the territory. And often, not always, that involves a lot of Greek Life, because that is one of the traditional ways of organizing college fun.
Again for the right kid, all of that could be great. Indeed, Bucknell is yet another one of those colleges where way more often than not, the alums I encounter are very positive on their Bucknell experience.
But other people might not want that at all, and that is fine too.
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I am very familiar with Bucknell University and have been for many decades. Beautiful campus, great school, but even “making your own fun” outside of the Greek system involves a good bit of alcohol–and not just beer–lots of hard liquor.
And, I agree, alums love Bucknell & their time on campus, but some students just want more.
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I wanted to throw out a nice story about Macalester. My S22 applied RD and was accepted with a very generous award. Anyway, while he was really leaning to attend, there was a one-year college program he wanted to attend, which, as we know, is typically frowned upon for a gap year.
My husband (who was pretty clueless about the intricacies of college admission) took it upon himself to email the Macalester president asking for permission for our son to take college classes during a gap year. Lo and behold, she emailed him back the next day and approved the request and sent a very lovely note.
I do think it befuddled the admissions dept who had to scramble around to change his gap year form, but the fact that the president took the time to email him back was really a top-notch act.
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Family member had a similar experience regarding a full tuition scholarship to law school, although the response was quite different.
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That right there could be a lead story in a “So why do some families love small liberal arts colleges?” essay. Obviously not every experience is positive, but things like that are at least possible with institutions like Macalester.
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Have to be careful with merit scholarship awards as opposed to need-based financial aid awards. Need-based awards typically allow great flexibility; in the law school situation (and for undergrad as well) merit based scholarship awards are typically limited to freshmen or first years with little to no higher credits. That is probably the reason for the different responses.
Macalester was very clear if a student requested a gap year that the student would be entitled to the same merit post-gap year. However, as it turned out my student went to another university for his second college year and was offered merit from 5. Now without a doubt, he probably would have received more had he gone as a freshman, but it still was 24K per year. I think many regional private colleges (not as selective) are really amping up their transfer game. My son’s offers were between 16k and 33K for a transfer.
@liska21, which school has 3/4 singles?? Sounds fabulous!
She said Bates, but I really don’t think that’s true.
No, Bates definitely doesn’t have that many singles. Most students don’t generally have a chance at a single till junior year (though there are some suits with single rooms nad shared common space, I think). I think I’ve heard that most students, even first-years, at Haverford have singles.
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Yes, Haverford has singles all four years. And they have a questionnaire to try to place first-years purposely in the halls with students who aren’t like them, including distributing varsity athletes around so they aren’t all together.
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I’m not sure if it’s 3/4, but Trinity College has very few traditional doubles. It’s primarily singles and two room doubles.
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Thank you!
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Thanks, D. You’re right that Bates definitely isn’t full of singles. I went there myself and was on campus recently.
That sounds great, YoLo and Shelby. Thanks.
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