<p>Does anyone know anything, particularly anecdotal information, about Ripon College in Wisconsin? Information on the Greek scene, prevalence of alcohol, academic quality, and "vibe" are especially appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Ideas? Thoughts?</p>
<p>No one, really?</p>
<p>Ripon is not a big party school at all. I have a friend who goes there and says he transferred from DePauw to Ripon because of that. Ripon has a really small greek scene. Almost nonexistent. Don't take my word for it, but I think they might not even have a greek scene.</p>
<p>Thank you very much! It's good, and heartening, to know. I'm definitely not looking for a Greek/party scene.</p>
<p>Academics is my first priority, though. Would Ripon be adequate for a self-motivated, high-achieving student? I don't mind being near the top of the class, but it would be nice if most people cared about their studies and participated in discussions.</p>
<p>The students there are very motivated and are hard workers. I myself plan on applying there. Some schools that is very similar to Ripon are Beloit and Kalamazoo. You might to look into those as well.</p>
<p>Oh yes, I love Beloit. Kalamazoo's K-Plan isn't for me, but it's a wonderful school as well.</p>
<p>Does anyone else have thoughts on Ripon?</p>
<p>Anyone? Is Ripon really that obscure/underrated/bad?</p>
<p>No Ripon is just a really obscure small lca in the midwest. It is still a good school though. However it does have a lower academic standing than Kalamazoo and Beloit.</p>
<p>Never heard of it, but that's a funny name haha, rip on our school :D</p>
<p>Unless it's pronounced RIPE-on.</p>
<p>I don't have any first-hand knowledge of Ripon, but I'll try to make some general comments. USN&WR ranks it as a tier 3 LAC. I know all the problems with these rankings, but I think that they can provide some general guidance. To me this would mean the school is a couple of notches, in terms of overall academic quality, below schools such as Carleton, Macalester, and Grinnell, and a notch below a school like Beloit. The acceptance rate is about 80%, and the average GPA of the most recent incoming class was 3.4 - smart, but probably not the overall quality of students at higher ranked schools. Ripon is a small school in a small town. Although it's web site boast students from 34 states, I would guess most are probably from the upper Midwest. I work at an LAC that is slightly larger and located in a town twice as big, and I know students can find a school this small at times suffocating, but at other times extraordinarily nurturing and supportive. There are fraternities and sororities at Ripon, and if my school is any guide, they will provide the bulk of the social scene (i.e parties). However, at a small school like this, their parties will probably be open to the campus, and a non-member could participate or not. Ripon seems to offer a good range of academic programs and cultural events - good but not great. The library is, again, good, but not great. There doesn't seem to have been much new construction on campus over the past few decades - mostly remodeling; the newest building is a suite-style residence hall. There is a good range of off-campus programs. One figure that jumped out to me is that about 30% of the students participate in intercollegiate athletics - that's high. It suggest to me that the athletic department is being called on to recruit a significant number of an incoming class. The tuition is substantially less than more highly ranked schools, but on the other hand the school doesn't have a very large endowment. I think I also saw on the web site that Ripon has rolling admissions. Finally, I see that your location is given as Delaware. I lived in both Delaware and Iowa for several years - Wisconsin winters will be snowy and cold, but spring and fall will be gorgeous. Bottom line: I think for the A-/B student who is looking for a Midwest LAC, Ripon would be a school that deserves some consideration. For the motivated student, who will actively seek out and take advantage of all the opportunities the school offers, it can provide a quality undergraduate liberal arts education at a good value. But there are reasons it is ranked lower than some other Midwest LAC's, and these need to be also taken into consideration. Other Midwest LAC's comparable to Ripon might be Monmouth, Coe, and Cornell. Slightly above in overall quality might be Beloit, Knox, and Lawrence (LAC with a music conservatory). I'm curious as to what caught your attention in the first place.</p>
<p>Thank you for the insightful analysis, JustaGuy. You presented no new information but your synthesis pointed out several considerations that I had overlooked. I'm curious about why you think 30% athletes is a high number--it's right about there at many elite LACs.</p>
<p>I've definitely chosen Beloit as a safety, and it's one that I really love; but my parents are anti-Midwest and I want some merit low-matches as inducement so that I'm not stuck going to UD (a very, very deep safety). The price and FA opportunities at Ripon caught my eye, as I'm looking for at least full-tuition (min. 75% tuition at cheap places) for merit to make a difference over need.</p>
<p>Also looking at Coe with considerable interest, perhaps even more than Ripon because I've had a positive response from a professor there on a niche issue. How do Coe and Ripon compare with each other (for a quirky A student who's socially liberal and lifestyle conservative), or with other lower-tier Midwest LACs like Hiram or UM-Morris?</p>
<p>I think its pronounced RIP-EN. Beyond that, I don't really know much about it. It is near Osh Kosh west of 41. The area that it is in is certainly beautiful but if you are not ready for midwest winters, do a good job of finding out what that is like before you commit. I had briefly considered Ripon when I was a senior in high school but had decided against it due to the lack of faculty in the biological sciences. They had a small faculty then and according to their website, they have only 8 right now. That sure doesn't provide much in the way of diversity of advanced coursework or research opportunities. Though interestingly, they do have a department of "psychobiology" which most schools do not. People who go to small LAC's often swear by them, but for my money I chose to go to UW Madison which was able to offer an enormous diversity of departments, concentrations, opportunities etc at the cost of individualized attention when I was an underclassman. Good luck in your college search.</p>
<p>Could someone give me a link to the tiers of the lacs? I would really like to see where some of the schools I am considering are on what tier.</p>
<p>belevitt, thanks for the warning about winter--it's certainly a concern, although I think I can at least survive the cold regardless (five years on a Canadian island...). UW Madison was perhaps a good choice for you, but I don't require such an enormous diversity of opportunities and I'd much rather have individualized attention. I agree that LACs aren't for everyone but they can be wonderful for people suited to them. Personally, I would succeed but I wouldn't thrive at even a mid-sized public like UDel, even aside from its academic weakness for what I want to study.</p>
<p>country day: Liberal</a> Arts Rankings - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report</p>
<p>All of a sudden now I am very nervous about getting into Carleton.</p>
<p>Beloit and Kalamazoo are considered tier 1 schools.</p>
<p>I also plan on applying to Ripon. I have visited two times, including an overnight visit.</p>
<p>There is in fact a Greek scene but probably not your typical Greek scene. They seem to be mostly community service oriented and not so much party oriented. Still though, if you wish to avoid them it would be easy considering they have their own separate dorm housing. </p>
<p>When I visited, I really liked most things about. I got to sit in on an English class and the teacher was awesome. The campus is also great. There's some construction going on right now but regardless, the campus is beautiful.</p>
<p>The only thing I didn't really like about Ripon was the people. Everyone was really nice but did not seem to be the kind of people I'd make friends with. Obviously this is very biased considering I was only there one night. </p>
<p>I think the academics are considered good even though they're not ranked high. There's a lot of collaboration between students and teachers. A lot of the students I spoke with said they really like the relationships they can build with professors. Also, I heard graduates of Ripon have a lot of success getting into great grad schools. </p>
<p>If you have any more questions, go ahead and ask. I'd say I know Ripon pretty well.</p>
<p>Keilexandra --</p>
<p>This is getting creepy. I grew up in a town near Cedar Rapids, where my family still lives. Outside of you, I'm probably one of the few people on CC who have heard of Coe; I've also actually been on its campus. Growing up, I wanted to escape Iowa, and so wasn't interested at all in either UIowa or Iowa State. The far-away, exotic place I picked? UDel, where I graduated. In the summer of 2007 my granddaughter and I made our first trip to NYC. Knowing nothing about the city, I kind of blindly picked out a hotel. It turned out to be (for us) a perfect choice. In looking at Coe's web site, I saw it offers a term in NYC program. Where do students live? Yep, the same hotel the two of us stayed at. I think that if you look at the <strong>general</strong> overall academic quality of Ripon and Coe, the two are probably comparable. However, there may be a <strong>particular</strong> program that is better at one or the other. Neither one will be well-known outside of their immediate area, so "prestige" is a non-factor. Coe is slightly larger, 1300 students vs. 1000. That may not seem like a big difference, but at this size it can be. Coe is in a city of 125,000, Nobody is going to say Cedar Rapids is one of the great college towns, but it will offer the kinds of things to do a town of 7,000 won't. Coe, however, is 30 minutes away from Iowa City, which IS a great college town. Coe is in a more urban area, a few blocks from the downtown area of CR, while Ripon is in a rural one. At Ripon you can probably get on your bike and be in the country in about 5 minutes; won't be able to do that at Coe. Coe does have a kind of honors program, which seems to provide select students with an enriched group of courses. Both offer overseas programs. As mentioned Coe also has a term in NYC program. Coe has a very compact campus, located on the main avenue running through CR. Ripon is right off of the downtown, which is described as "quaint". In poking around, it seems that both schools have large numbers of in-state or surrounding states students. I'd guess the faculty at both schools would be more liberal than the local population, and the students slightly more conservative (politically, at least) than the faculty, but more liberal than the local population. That's the way it is at my school. I'm going to have to pull back on my statement about athletes. You're right, Ripon is no different than many other LAC's. Once you get past the elite schools, this is probably more of a general issue, rather than with any particular school. Coaches are being asked more and more at schools like Ripon, Coe, and mine, to be adjuncts to admissions, and are expected to bring in certain numbers of athletes to fill out incoming classes. At Ripon, there are 1000 students, of which 48% are males. There are 100 players on the football team, which means one in every five males on campus is a football player. As for your parents, it seems funny that we extoll the benefits of studying other cultures, and most schools now offer some level of international studies. But we don't feel the same about experiencing the different "cultures" of our own country. Send my kid to "The Midwest" or (gasp) "The South"? Never! I feel going to school in a different region, even if you don't intend to live there the rest of your life, is an education in itself. One final thought. Both have relatively small endowments. With the current economy, each have probably suffered hits. I'd at least give some thought, or ask some questions, as to what this might mean for their ability to maintain current levels of financial support.</p>