Princeton vs MIT vs Dartmouth vs Vanderbilt vs Williams vs Duke vs Amherst vs Penn...

College Search & Selection
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<p>None of these schools will fulfill ALL of your wishlist, but Williams seems to fit all of your requirements. That you “particularly enjoyed the atmosphere” is a plus. I would give Williams a slight edge over Amherst because of Williams strength in studio art and art history. You can also ski. .</p>

<p>As for your parents’ reaction to LACs. . . Poor name recognition is a common issue among families, especially those outside of the northeast, but it is not a problem for employers and graduate schools. Williams definitely offers research opportunities. The science facilities and network are excellent.</p>

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<p>Judging by your interests, MIT is not for you. ( I <em>like</em> MIT very much. But that is not the point.) I think you are sorely mistaken in this idea that there is less drinking at Williams than at Dartmouth. But in neither case are you FORCED to drink at all, much less to excess. </p>

<p>Princeton, Brown, and Dartmouth would all present you with a balance of intimacy and opportunity. I would suggest Brown because you say you dislike the cold, and it is both more temperate and less Greek than Dartmouth (although the Greek scene at D is far more inclusive than at other schools, and girls, certainly have no need to join a sorority to have a thriving social life), and it is less prone to social snobbery than Princeton.</p>

<p>I agree with Momrath re the virtues of Williams.</p>

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<p>You’ve done quite well in the college admissions process.</p>

<p>Let’s see if I can deduce a few things from your posts…
Based on where you have been accepted, I’m going to guess that you also applied to Harvard and Yale (perhaps Stanford, too). You’re probably on the wait-list at one or more of those schools. If you didn’t apply to Stanford, it’s because you thought the CA school wasn’t “intellectual” enough. (It’s a great school, by the way.) You probably earned a perfect ACT score, were extensively involved in various extracurricular activities (music-cello, oboe?), performed well in academic competitions (geography/spelling bees, writing/art contests, math (AMC)/chem/physics olympiad, etc.), and are in the running for valedictorian at your high school (Jackson Prep?). You took the ACT or SAT in 7th grade under the auspices of the Johns Hopkins (CTY) or Duke gifted student search. You’re a girl who’s great at math and science, so you’ve been targeted by every single STEM program under the sun. I presume you’re also being considered for some prestigious regional scholarships. Good luck with those. The scholarship(s) should reduce the student and parent contribution portions of your financial aid package.</p>

<p>Have you toured any of the colleges at which you have been accepted? If not, you should visit your top 2 or 3 choices. Many colleges have a visitation weekend for accepted students. Take advantage of such programs (even if it means time away from studying for your upcoming AP tests). Stay overnight on campus with a student host. Sit in on a few classes. Meet with professors. Hang out with current students. Ask lots of questions. Imagine yourself as a matriculating student there.</p>

<p>You’ve listed numerous stereotypes associated with each college in your list. Once you look past those stereotypes, you’ll find that you could have a great experience at any of those colleges.</p>

<p>Workload is dependent upon the person. I never understood people who opted to take challenging coursework and then complained incessantly about it. Choose your courses with care, and the workload will be manageable. College is as stressful as you want it to be.</p>

<p>Your academic interests are varied enough that I don’t see you being unhappy at any of the colleges you listed. If you choose to apply to med school, you’ll do fine in the admissions process coming from any of those schools.</p>

<p>I’d recommend selecting the school that will surround you with the brightest, most motivated students. Their outlook on the world and work ethic will certainly rub off on you.</p>

<p>When all is said and done, I predict you will choose the college with the most prestigious name (Princeton). You’ll do great there…or at one of the schools at which you have been wait-listed. Lots of wait-list shuffling occurs in May and during the summer. You never know what might happen. :-)</p>

<p>Enjoy college!</p>

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<p>What are your thoughts on Amherst, Duke, and Penn? :D</p>

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<p>

@goldenby8784: Those schools are great! I’ve had close friends/colleagues who matriculated at each one of those schools. In my opinion, however, Boston/Cambridge > Philly or Durham.</p>

<p>I tailored my comments to the OP. For high school students seriously interested in attending a LAC, I would recommend Amherst, Carleton, and Williams. Add Wellesley to the list if the applicant is female. The OP applied to a bunch of colleges…without knowing what she really wanted. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, that’s what I did when I was in high school. It’s hard to predict whether you’re going to get into the most selective colleges…even if you’re a very strong applicant like the OP.</p>

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<p>You sound like a GREAT fit for Williams. And regarding your cons, first, did you show your parents both the U.S. News rankings (Williams first among liberal arts colleges for ten straight years) and Forbes (Williams has ranked 1, 1, and 2 over the past three years among ALL college and universities)? Might help assuage their concerns to see it ranked so highly, even if college rankings are generally speaking a bit silly. Most parents fall in love with Williams even if they initially have reservations due to the fact that they were, for example, more Ivy-focused (just ask the posters here :))! </p>

<p>Lack of research opportunities is NOT a con at Williams. If anything, you will have MORE research opportunities because Williams has tremendous science facilities, a ton of on-campus research, and you won’t be competing with grad students for plum research opportunities – it’s just you working one-on-one with professors. See a bit more here:</p>

<p>[Spotlight</a> on Student Research | Williams College](<a href=“http://www.williams.edu/feature-stories/student-research/spotlight-on-student-research/]Spotlight”>http://www.williams.edu/feature-stories/student-research/spotlight-on-student-research/)
[Catalytic</a> Encounters - YouTube](<a href=“Catalytic Encounters - YouTube”>Catalytic Encounters - YouTube)</p>

<p>I’d also disagree with the folks who say that Dartmouth has all of the Williams pros, but none of the cons. As someone else who has ZERO interest in attending a school with fraternities (like you, it sounds), the frat-dominated culture of Dartmouth really scared me off, and there has been a lot of recent publicity about the problems engendered by that culture (Rolling Stone, etc.). I also felt that Williams was just a friendlier, less serious place overall, but that was more of a subjective feel.</p>

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<p>O.K., so like the rest of us, you want the expensive college but you want to keep your savings, too. Bottom line: cost apparently is not a very important factor in your decision. </p>

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<p>I agree. If you know about grade deflation at Princeton, don’t you think med schools will know about it too and adjust accordingly? You’re concerned about drinking at Dartmouth, but you’re sure to encounter the same problem at any of these schools. So request a substance-free dorm. If elitism bothers you, well then you shouldn’t have applied to so many super selective, expensive, “elite” colleges, because you’re likely to find elitists at each and every one of them. Practice your leadership skills and establish an elitism-free dorm :)</p>

<p>Seriously, if you have no strong preferences for LAC v. university, urban v. rural, or a specific major more or less unique to (or especially strong at) one of these schools, then you could just about number them 1-12 and roll a pair of dice. The skiing, orchids and greenhouses at Dartmouth, plus your apparent preference for a smaller school, suggests to me it’s the place closest to your heart. You can deal with the cold (bundle up) and the drunks.</p>

<p>One could make a case for any of the others. Brown seems like a good fit but you hardly mentioned it in your first post. Amherst also has an open curriculum, plus the advantages of the 5-college consortium.</p>

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<p>Start with MIT</p>

<p>then mix in a little bit of Amherst and Williams</p>

<p>and you end up with Princeton</p>

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<p>Bartleby007
Oh wow. You’ve got me pinned. I did apply to Yale, Stanford, and Harvard, but I was rejected from all three. I wasn’t a huge fan of Stanford and Harvard, but Yale I liked. I really did like Yale. A lot… :(</p>

<p>I really am totally clueless. I don’t know what I want to do or where I want to go because my definition of “I” changes every moment. I don’t know who “I” is!</p>

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<p>So most are thinking Williams and Brown, and I have to say that Brown sent me a very impressive folder of goodies! :wink: Not as impressive as MIT’s silver tube of confetti and balloons, though.</p>

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<p>Bartleby007</p>

<p>Perfect test scores
piano, flute, ukulele
Geography Bee (& alternate for the JP Spelling Bee if that counts :))
Scholastic Art Awards & and a few writing awards
AMC 12 stuff
YES, I do go to Jackson Prep.
I took the ACT in 7th grade as part of Duke TIP…</p>

<p>You have to know who I am?! Either that, or you’re just plain good. Btw, are you a Melville fan? That’s all I can possibly deduce. :frowning: Maybe momrath is a Lewis Carroll person.</p>

<p>I have toured all of these colleges (except Case). The only ones I haven’t visited recently are Princeton and MIT, and I am going to both of their selection weekends.</p>

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<p>san, I’m thinking Williams and Princeton. Similar personalities, different environments. Williams gives you the advantages of an LAC; Princeton the advantages of the Ivy League. Brown also, but, if you’re leaning toward the culture of Williams/Amherst/Dartmouth, then I’d choose Princeton.</p>

<p>From what you’ve told us, I’d think that MIT fits less with your desire to experience and experiment with a wide range of disciplines. Although MIT offers humanities it is, at the end of the day, a science/tech school. For social sciences and other humanities you’d do well at any of the others.</p>

<p>At Williams you have both very strong science/math and very strong art/art history.</p>

<p>At this point I’d choose two that speak to you most strongly and do overnights (or admitted student days) at both. One will rise to the top.</p>

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<p>11% of Princeton’s classes have 50 or more students, the highest percentage in the Ivy League after Cornell. With grad students, at 7500 it’s triple the size of a typical LAC. Dartmouth is a bit smaller, but also has a medical school.</p>

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<p>@san2chi:
Eerily accurate, eh? I never would have guessed the ukele. Pretty cool.</p>

<p>I have no idea who you are. Really. I based all of my guesses on your comments regarding your state of residence, where you were accepted, etc. You fit the stereotype of a successful applicant at all of those schools. The high school was a lucky guess. One of my classmates in college went to Jackson Prep. I assumed it was a good school (best in MS?) because she went there. As far as I know, she was the only student from MS in our year at college. :-)</p>

<p>I suspect that I was correct on a couple of other guesses as well – wait-list at Harvard and/or Yale, did not feel like applying to Stanford. I could be wrong, but I have pretty good intuition when it comes to these things. Based on where you were accepted, it makes sense that you would have applied to Harvard and Yale as well. :-)</p>

<p>I think it’s a great idea to attend the pre-frosh weekends at Princeton and MIT. That’s what helped me decide when I was in your shoes.</p>

<p>Attending a school with an affiliated med school may give you more undergrad research opportunities. My gut feeling, though, is that you’d figure out a way to get lab experience even if you ended up at a college that didn’t have a med school. Look into summer research programs at the “big” colleges and NIH. They’re wonderful introductions to the science world.</p>

<p>I could tell you more about my taste in books…but I would prefer not to. ;^)</p>

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<p>I agree with tk2…the research oppurtunities at williams are amazing…they fund summer research in all fields for eager students and professors are very accessible (one of the amazing benefits of attending a primarily undergraduate, small school)…I heard that if you wanted to, you could co-author a paper with your professor as early as your first year, or second…I keep forgetting. Also, Williams has a fantastic residential system called the entry system!</p>

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<p>Also, I’m not sure if you’re interested in law/business/med/graduate school…but Williams has a verrry impressive acceptance rate at elite grad schools</p>

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<p>Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth, Duke, Vanderbilt, and Williams all have their class schedules on-line, and all show enrollment (for the current semester or quarter) and capacity, so you can check the actual class sizes for the courses you are most interested in.</p>

<p>MIT, Penn, and Amherst on-line class schedules do not appear to list enrollments or capacities.</p>