<p>Except slipper what you're seeing is all the top caliber students that were successful in the process; not the ones striving for Dartmouth, but not good enough to get it and wanting to fortify themselves with a similar experience. Bucknell is similar to both Colgate and Dartmouth in that it is northeastern, rural, in a small town, strong fraternity presence, similar size at over 900 per class probably the largest LAC (halfway btwn Colgate and Dartmouth), even has engineering and plays on the same sports level. While there might not be too many people at Dartmouth who applied to Colgate and even less to Bucknell, I know when I was at Colgate that 61% of the class applied to Dartmouth and would guess that it would be similar at Bucknell. I would agree Holy Cross is less similar on these measures except for size, sports and relative geograhic proximity and reasonably strong academics.</p>
<p>Really, at least Penn, Northwestern, Emory are much less similar to Dartmouth than Colgate or Bucknell with regard to size, tons of grad programs, campus environment, etc.</p>
<p>
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I just want backup choices that offer just as much Dartmouth does. I like their academic focus and their curriculum. Best of all, majority of the classes are very small. I like the location, and I like the feel of the place.
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If you like Dartmouth's location, undergraduate focus, small class sizes, and overall "feel", then you should probably consider northeastern liberal arts colleges like Williams, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Colgate, and Colby.</p>
<p>(1) These schools, like Dartmouth, have a strong undergraduate focus. In fact, they have even fewer (or zero) graduate or professional students, so their undergraduate focus is even stronger. But be aware that these schools have smaller enrollments and more limited degree offerings than Dartmouth. They don't offer engineering majors, for example.</p>
<p>(2) Class sizes would be small, as at Dartmouth. In fact, they may even be smaller (for example, Williams caps enrollment in its upper-level tutorials at two). </p>
<p>(3) These schools are located in small towns in rural corners of New England, like Hanover (exception: Colgate is in a small town in upstate New York). Recreation tends to involve outdoor activites like sports and hiking. Be aware that towns like Middlebury, Williamstown, or Hamilton are even smaller than Hanover. </p>
<p>Most of these schools are slightly easier to get into than Dartmouth (exception: Williams, which is more or less comparable in selectivity).</p>
<p>I hate to take over, but how about similar schools that are even less competitive than Williams, Middlebury etc that have a great focus on the social sciences?</p>
<p>
[quote]
how about similar schools that are even less competitive than Williams, Middlebury etc that have a great focus on the social sciences?
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One of the defining characteristics of Dartmouth is Winter Carnival. So let's just say that "similar" schools are those that send ski teams to compete at Dartmouth Winter Carnival. It's as good a definition as any.</p>
<p>Of these, we will eliminate the Ivies (Dartmouth, Harvard) and the NESCACs (Middlebury, Williams, Colby, Bates, Bowdoin) as too competitive. </p>
<p>That leaves the University of Vermont, the University of New Hampshire, the University of Maine-Presque Isle, St. Michael's College, and St. Lawrence University.</p>
<p>So those might be schools to consider. Of these, I would nominate SLU as one that is the most Dartmouth-like, while being less competitive than Dartmouth or the NESCACs. And according to collegeboard.com, the "social sciences" are the most popular field of study there.</p>
<p>I went to Dartmouth, too, and I concur with the Middlebury, Williams, Amherst, and Colgate suggestions. Also, Lafayette and Lehigh. (I know two students currently at Lehigh whose first choices were Dartmouth.) Bucknell doesn't have the same feel at all, although that doesn't mean that a student can't like both.</p>
<p>You might want to add Hamilton to the mix as well.</p>
<p>^^How do Lehigh and Lafayette have a similar feel as Dartmouth, but not Bucknell? From what I've seen of campus environment and students, I would say Bucknell is closer than either.</p>
<p>I understand that the OP likes the location of Dartmouth, but if you want to consider other schools outside of the NE, then I second the earlier mention of Wake Forest and I especially suggest that you give Davidson College a look. Like Hanover, Davidson, NC is a small town (one stop light) dominated by the college. The college is full of very bright, outgoing students, over 50% of whom are involved in varsity athletics at the D1 level. Two clear advantages are the weather is immensely better and the school is much closer to a major city (Charlotte is 30 minutes away) than Dartmouth is from Boston (2 hours). I have been to Hanover many times and like Dartmouth very much, particularly its many clubs, especially the Dartmouth Outing Club. But if you're willing to consider a southern school as part of your application mix, I suggest that you give Davidson a look.</p>
<p>I just think that the LAC-y Southern schools are much more religious, conservative, and much less diverse which would make them a no-go for most Dartmouth students.</p>
<p>I think Washington & Lee would be a closer fit than Davidson, at least from a campus environment, fraternity-oriented social scene perspective. I get the impression while W&L has a conservative reputation, it's more overblown than currently accurate, much the same way that Dartmouth is sometimes portrayed because of how it was in the '80s.</p>
<p>slipper,
I think your observations have a kernel of truth, but they are a little outdated. Places like Davidson and W&L have worked hard in the last two decades to build more diverse student bodies-ethnically, geographically, politically. They are less so than most of the New England LACs, but I would not say so much so that they are a no-go for Dartmouth applicants. Perhaps someone who hails from the South and has more direct knowledge of these schools can comment on Davidson and W&L, but it is my impression these schools are more like their northern counterparts than is appreciated.</p>
<p>The Souther universities might be working hard at increasing diversity and open-mindedness but they aren't working hard enough. Take diversity numbers:</p>
<p>Duke and Emory are the only top southern schools with the diversity levels around Dartmouth's. I feel a considerable percentage of the Dartmouth student body would feel uncomfortable at Davidson, Wake, and especially W&L.</p>
<p>slipper,
Fair enough, although I suspect this is influeced by a lack of broad awareness of Davidson and W&L outside of the Southeast/Mid-Atlantic and the natural inclination of northern students (a larger % of whom are minorities) to stay closer to home. </p>
<p>In any event, while I don't know the exact changes in minority numbers at Davidson and W&L, the numbers you present are almost certainly quantum leaps for them. More importantly, they want these students and the local environments are different than what you would have encountered 10-20 years ago. Heck, W&L was all-male until the late 80s! Academically, both are in the same general neighborhood as many of the mentioned LACs of the Northeast. So again, if the OP is looking for other schools to put on the evaluation list, and is willing to consider schools in Virginia and North Carolina, these are two pretty good choices.</p>
<p>Minority representation at Holy Cross is 15%-very similar to Colgate and Bucknell's numbers. Also, from athletic perspective, Holy Cross plays Dartmouth in more sports than any other school.</p>
<p>William & Mary would be a similar experience to Dartmouth with the obvious geographic exception. Beach instead of Mountains. I think approx 30% diversity.</p>
<p>William and Mary is about 22% minority (same as Vanderbilt). Its diversity numbers have improved substantially over the last couple of years, but they are still below Dartmouth and most of the top Northeast schools like Brown, Penn, etc.</p>
<p>Unregistered that is for the class of 2010. The overall school is 31%.</p>