<p>Hi,</p>
<p>son was overnight and interviewed at wes, has decided ED but we want to be prepared if he doesn't get in. What LACs are most like wes in terms of student body and fit?</p>
<p>tia,</p>
<p>Not an expert here, but as a parent of a Wes freshman, I’d say (in order):</p>
<p>Oberlin
Vassar
Middlebury
Pomona</p>
<p>Although, truthfully, there’s no place quite like Wesleyan (and the same could probably said about most top LACs).</p>
<p>@johnwesley could probably give a more detailed and authoritative answer. Hopefully, he’ll chime in.</p>
<p>I would add Swarthmore on the strength of Fiske’s book, where he says (my paraphrase) ‘Wes is usually thought of with the other two (Williams and Amherst) but it’s really more like Swarthmore.’ {Disclaimer: I’ve never been to Swarthmore.} And, fwiw, Fiske’s own college was: Wesleyan. So on a personal basis and apart from his work as education maestro, he should know, yes?</p>
<p>thanks, anyone have any thoughts about:
bard
grinell
carleton
colby
bates</p>
<p>S diverted to Ohio primarily to check out Oberlin (which always comes up when looking for a Wes comparision), but fell in love with Kenyon instead. Kenyon has a great vibe, world class writing, and is an easier admission than Wes (some of the other suggestions are at least as tough, if not tougher than Wes). He did end up at Wes, but felt there were some other choices where he could have been happy, and Kenyon was among them.</p>
<p>I do think Carleton has some similarities with Wes. About the same level academically, IMHO. My D visisted both, and decided they were similar enough to only keep one on her list… she kept Carleton, as it was closer to home.</p>
<p>And this may seem totally off base for your S, but when mine applied to Wes ED, he also applied EA to UMichigan to their residential college (a little college within a very big one). He was not in sold on UM by a longshot, but we felt he’d get in (which he did), and we wanted to mitigate what would have been horrible news (a no from Wes) with at least some positive news. You might consider applying EA for that reason. Even if the EA school isn’t the first choice, getting in somewhere early can help if (God forbid) there is a painful early rejection – otherwise it is a long wait until spring.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>great minds think alike! he’s applying to UM and Tulane EA. I do think there’s a pretty good chance of painful, early rejection so EA admission (hopefully!) will help. </p>
<p>We’re keeping our fingers crossed on his recent sat re-take, hoping to pick up 100 points or so to get him into the 2200 range which should help his chances. Visiting Wes really motivated him to study, he seems to think he nailed it but we’ll know in two weeks.</p>
<p>looks like oberlin is in, we like carleton but it’s a flight, we’ll take a look at kenyon. Middlebury and Swarthmore are pretty tough…</p>
<p>If you do look at Kenyon, let me know what you think. I’d be curious. S really did love it even though he had announced before we saw it that it was too small, and too rual, and we we only seeing it because it was between Oberlin and the Columbus Ohio Airport.</p>
<p>will do, right now we’re in a holding pattern until we hear about wes ed as he’s seen a whole lotta schools. if epr from wes, we’ll get to oberlin, kenyon, bc and maybe colby and bates…and maybe emory.</p>
<p>does your s like wes?</p>
<p>Hi QuietDesperation:</p>
<p>My son is a sophomore at Wesleyan and during our tour of 27 colleges two years ago, he actually liked Hamilton, Swarthmore and Brandeis as most closely feeling similar to Wesleyan. Now, of course, Swarthmore is even more difficult to get into than Wesleyan, but Hamilton and Brandeis are less so. He found the community feeling on the Hamilton campus to resemble that of Wesleyan as he knows it now, and he felt that the intellectual atmosphere of Swarthmore and Brandeis resembled Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Let me toss out a wild card that is definitely easier than Wesleyan and is virtually ignored on this website when discussing top LACs: Knox College. He had an interview with an admissions officer from Knox and though we never visited, he was awarded a nice merit scholarship and really got the feeling that it offered a top liberal arts education as well as a warm community. Check it out.</p>
<p>And here is one more: Macalester. Similar in terms of the percent of students who go on to PhDs, similar politically and just about as diverse as Wesleyan–perhaps even more so in terms of percent of international students.</p>
<p>Colleges that he felt were very different from Wesleyan? Amherst, Colgate, Williams, Occidental among the LACs.</p>
<p>QuietD, in answer to your question, S loves it. He is such unique fit (very bright, very intellectual, clever and self deprecating, but bored easily, turned off by greek life, not into “rah rah” college spectator sports and admittedly doesn’t suffer fools very well … and yes, burned out a bit by a very competitive high school experience), that sometimes I think Wes is the ONLY place that would have worked so well for him. He loves the fact it is really a challenging academic environment with really smart kids, BUT he does not feel competition with the other students at all, and he loves that too. He’s making lots a friends who have interesting backgrounds and views. Now my D, a social whirlwind and truely loved everywhere she goes, would run screaming from the place. She is quite smart, but not intellectual (I don’t mean that as a put down…in the end, maybe she goes fartherest in life because she is so adept at manipulating the world to work for her). So the fact S is so happy, I recognize doesn’t mean everyone would be.</p>
<p>morganHill - thanks, we’ve looked at Macalester…I think most people do when looking at carleton but knox is new to us and we’ll definitely take a look. Hamilton is on our list but post-visit/interview, it looks much more conservative than wes. </p>
<p>Pickwick - you’ve described my son to a T and should my son be admitted, I’m much more comfortable it’s a good fit.</p>
<p>two great posts,thanks so much for your help!</p>
<p>Hi Quiet,</p>
<p>I have heard it said that Hamilton is a “conservative” campus, but I take issue with that. My boyhood friend Maurice Isserman is a Professor of History there and he has been asked by the college to write its official history. Now who is Maurice in addition to being a top professor there? He is one of the most prominent democratic socialists in the US and author of a wonderful biography on Michael Harrington–a great read if you have interest in 60’s politics. Another former Wes classmate is a professor there, and she told me just last year, that Hamilton is very similar to Wesleyan except not at the same level academically. Now, certainly Wesleyan has a unique socio-political vibe that I love, but Hamilton certainly has its share of left-oriented students, with a special interest throughout the college in green politics–not surprising given Hamilton’s locale. I’d be curious to know more about your perception about it being much more conservative than Wes, as my younger son may apply there.</p>
<p>I didn’t go to hamilton, my son and wife did. My wife would have been thrilled if he’d gone ED there, she thought the campus incredibly beautiful and bought into the teaching style and curriculum. </p>
<p>On the other hand, my son, in his words, liked the “whole free-thinking vibe” at wes. His sense was at Wes, people would try things (like improving the campus) without being certain of the outcome. He’s comfortable with that sort of ambiguity and inquisitive about the outcome…similar to Pickwick’s son, he’s bored easily and an uncertain outcome will keep his interest. </p>
<p>Also, he said he knows it’s superficial but there was pretty wide divergence in the way people dressed on the two campuses with hamilton the much preppier of the two. He also noted most of the people being interviewed had a blue brooks brother jacket and khakis. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what my son is saying in his interviews but when asked what he wants to do when he graduates, I’d guess it’s something like “become dictator of the world. What sort of curriculum do you have for future world dictators and how many have you graduated?” My sense is that sort of frippery was much more welcomed at wes than hamilton (though the hamilton interviewer made a point of saying he’d had a fabulous interview).</p>
<p>every time I think about it, it seems to me it would be a great fit but he’s probably not getting in. I’m sure we’ll find a fit somewhere.</p>
<p>Quiet - Wes was a great fit for my son, who graduated two years ago. He sounds a lot like your son and Pickwick’s, too. He wanted a school that valued a wacky sense of humor and thinking outside the box, and he got that and much more. </p>
<p>The other schools he was most interested in were Vassar and Oberlin (waitlisted at both), Bard, and Brandeis. He came close to choosing Bard, but in the end thought Wesleyan would be a bit more rigorous. Thinks he would have been happy there or at Brandeis, whose vibe he liked, too. </p>
<p>Wishing you the best!</p>
<p>Found this thread while exploring which colleges might be similar to Oberlin, which my D (not a music student) really loved! She definitely liked the size being a bit larger than your average LAC, the feel of the adjacent campus town, and best of all the vibe: activist, eco-minded, free-thinking, progressive and a close sense of community far more on the supportive than the competitive side. D is more of a doer than a thinker, and often does not appreciate intellectual discussion for it’s own sake. Itching to get out and do something to change the world! (She also liked Pitzer.) I had already identified Wesleyan as closest in vibe to Oberlin and we will visit there, and I will certainly check out some of your other suggestions here. Any more?</p>
<p>FYI, she found Kenyon way too isolated, small and not diverse enough.</p>
<p>FYI Bard has EA which also pairs nicely with Wes’s ED.</p>
<p>I will throw another school into the mix, if you are willing to consider the deep South: Hendrix College. As the website says, "Every Hendrix student completes at least three hands-on learning experiences selected from six categories:</p>
<p>■Artistic Creativity
■Global Awareness
■Professional and Leadership Development
■Service to the World
■Undergraduate Research
■Special Projects"</p>
<p>My son talked to a Hendrix admissions officer for over an hour at a college fair, and he came away impressed that it seemed like a solid liberal arts college that encouraged social activism, had a great internal sense of community, and a great faculty. It is not a Wesleyan nor an Oberlin, but it is worth a look. It is located 30 miles from Little Rock in Conway, a city of 60,000.</p>
<p>I would recommend Vassar or Sarah Lawrence. As someone else suggested Bard is a good option, as well. Colgate is great, too.</p>