<p>I've never really seen myself as a small school kind of person--probably more in the 3,000-15,000 range. But the more I think of it, the more I wonder if I am doing the right thing by ignoring all small schools. Two of the major factors I want in a college--an intellectual atmosphere and a nice-looking campus--seem to be present at most LACs but not many larger schools beyond Ivy-caliber reaches. I'm also not that huge on rural towns, but I'm not necessarily looking for any one type of city either, and would be willing to go to school in a town of 10,000 if it had the features I mentioned above. Should I be looking in to this possibility?</p>
<p>That depends on what you want to study and how you want to study it.</p>
<p>I’ve never really understood what “an intellectual atmosphere” means. Could you elaborate?</p>
<p>I think it’s pretty clear what an “intellectual atmosphere” means. Have you visited any LACs? It’s true, they can be VERY small, but for the right kind of person, they’re heaven. A couple of ideas to consider: A school like Brown, which is beautiful but a bit larger, or Cornell, likewise. Or, a school like Amherst, which is surrounded by other colleges and which has access to two great towns, Amherst and Northampton.</p>
<p>
If you want to interpret it literally, it would just mean a school where use of the mind is required. I daresay you can bury yourself in books at any school, and most large places will have a number of other people who wish to do so.</p>
<p>If you’re competitive for the Ivies, you should consider Swarthmore. Excellent, premiere LAC located 10 miles away from Philadelphia. The campus is beautiful, and the students proud of their intellectual pursuits.</p>
<p>Swarthmore sounds perfect for you. If you research it, you’ll realize it.</p>
<p>There are compromises between LACs and big universities.</p>
<p>Case and point: University of Richmond. Trust me, look into it.</p>
<p>Why don’t you try visiting? If there’s an LAC in your area, go over there and see whether you like it. It’s hard to know what you want in a school when you can’t really grok how “small” or “intellectual atmosphere” translates in the here-and-now.</p>
<p>Very few schools, LAC or otherwise, actually have an “intellectual atmosphere.”</p>
<p>Haverford, Pomona, Swarthmore, and Reed seem to be the four that jump to mind for you. They are definitely worth looking at… you have nothing to lose by checking them out.</p>
<p>Haverford: [Haverford</a> College Office of Admission: Admission Videos](<a href=“http://www.haverford.edu/admission/videos/]Haverford”>http://www.haverford.edu/admission/videos/)
Pomona: [Pomona</a> College | Guided Java VR Tour](<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/tours/javatour/javaguided/guided_home.shtml]Pomona”>http://www.pomona.edu/tours/javatour/javaguided/guided_home.shtml)
Pomona: [Pomona</a> Live - Pomona College<a href=“click%20on%20the%20first%20link%20after%20Discover%20More,%20then%20type%20in%20Pomona”>/url</a>
Reed: [url=<a href=“http://www.reed.edu/apply/tour/index.html]REED”>http://www.reed.edu/apply/tour/index.html]REED</a> VIRTUAL TOUR](<a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/Admissions/discover-more/pomona-live.aspx]Pomona”>http://www.pomona.edu/Admissions/discover-more/pomona-live.aspx)
Swarthmore: [Swarthmore</a> College | Admissions](<a href=“Admissions & Aid :: Swarthmore College”>Admissions & Aid :: Swarthmore College)</p>
<p>
This is basically the root of my “dilemma.” I’ve been to Williams and Dartmouth, and decided that I’d rather go to a school in a more populated area (not necessarily a city, just not a place where the school is the town). However, I would rather go to a school that qualified as having a strong intellectual student body than a place where I would be a big fish in a small pond in this regard. Would you then suggest I look more into LACs, even though they may not be “perfect” in my mind, and if so which ones?</p>
<p>
Can you explain this please? I realize the term is open to many different interpretations. When I described an atmosphere as potentially “intellectual,” I meant a school where almost all of the students possess a passion for learning for the sake of learning, as compared to the type of students one might find at a public high school or a large university.</p>
<p>^ Since I doubt you’ll interact with “all of the students” except perhaps at a sporting event or at graduation, I don’t know that this is really important.</p>
<p>With that said, the best thing you can do to find intelligent peers is look at schools with high SAT stats. These will include both LACs and universities.</p>
<p>Also, applying != matriculating. You can always apply and then change your mind later, but if you don’t apply at all you’ll never have the chance to make that choice. So go for it.</p>
<p>Check into Vassar - intellectual and in a small city</p>
<p>Bard is intellectual also but near a tiny town not a city. However there is a train to NYC not far away.</p>
<p>One more for you - Brandeis - intellectual and near Boston</p>
<p>
I’m talking more in terms of campus vibes though, which are made up by the student body as a whole and not individual people alone. This doesn’t necessarily correlate with prestige or SAT scores either, as schools like MIT and CalTech probably wouldn’t score high in this category unless we were considering only passions for science.</p>
<p>“When I described an atmosphere as potentially “intellectual,” I meant a school where almost all of the students possess a passion for learning for the sake of learning…”</p>
<p>What you describe is an ideal and does not reflect reality.</p>
<p>Realistically speaking, though, at an LAC like Swarthmore or Amherst, say, the majority of students, regardless of their unique backgrounds, will take their academic experience seriously. That you can depend on.</p>
<p>Okay.</p>
<p>One other question though:
Is there are big difference between schools of around 2,000 ans schools of around 3,000 students? I was thinking that maybe I should try schools like Colgate and Richmond first before considering schools in the Swarthmore range.</p>
<p>Dunbar~ as a parent I can’t tell you which school to choose, but I can tell you my DS’s experience last year as he tried to narrow the list. He considered everything from Georgetown, Columbia, Boston College, Harvard, W&M, Wake Forest, to Dartmouth and Williams and Amherst. He thought he wanted the “city” environment and a school at about 5000. Turns out after visiting that wasn’t the case. After coming off tours he much preferred the Williams, Dartmouth, Amherst environment. Ultimately he chose Amherst due to the fact that while it is an excellent school, he still gets the feel of being in a small city and there is much to do within Amherst and the town of Northhampton (a quick, free bus ride away). I can tell you now, after being almost done with freshman year, he has loved his classes and is definitley found his niche…and on top of it is never bored. He always is off doing something, somewhere…</p>
<p>I suppose you get a feel in your visits like DS did. Go in with an open mind and take in the sights. A small school is not a great place for eveyone. If you told me my DS would be at a school with 1600 students I would have doubted you…but I think at Amherst knowing there are tons of other students in town and that it really is a small ‘city’ it makes it feel bigger.</p>
<p>Wesleyan is a bigger LAC (about 2800) and I think the town, though maybe nothing great is bigger than Williamstown.</p>