Small Liberal Colleges with Good Psychology Program & Some Photography Courses

College Search & Selection
1

Hi, I’m a sophomore in high school but I’m looking at colleges now so I’ll know what’s going on when it becomes important next year. Here is my criteria for a college I’d want to go to:

-Above all, must be academically challenging. I currently have a 4.0 unweighted GPA and don’t want to go to a college where I’ll be bored.

-Location: Anywhere in the United States but preferably somewhere warmer. I live in Michigan and the cold winters are rough. East coast is preferable over west coast just because it’s closer, but I have looked at some colleges in California.

-Atmosphere: It’s very important to me that I go to a liberal college. By that I mean loose core requirements, a politically involved student body, and individualized education plans. It doesn’t have to be super hippie-dippie but I’m not going to a college in Texas or a military academy, for example. Think along the lines of Oberlin.

-Strong Psychology/ Social Sciences program, as this is what I think I’d like to major in.

-A Photography program. I’d like to be able to take at least maybe 5 classes in photography, not necessarily for a career but just to advance my skill and for fun. Photography is one of my favorite hobbies and I’m about to start my third high school class. A minor in photography or a film darkroom would be added pluses. I’ve already done some research on this: https://docs.google.com/document/d/112ATwOg7c0x_0Wi05Q1sqIeQF77plVQWBjBOEVLS248/edit?usp=sharing

-I’d prefer a smaller school, like less than 5,000 students.

-A good study abroad program would be great.

Thank you so much for taking your time to look at this, any input would be greatly appreciated. Happy holidays!

2

Sorry, the link’s not working, I’ll try it again: https:// docs.google.com/ document/d/112ATwOg7c0x_0Wi05Q1sqIeQF77plVQWBjBOEVLS248/edit?usp=sharing (delete the spaces)

3

Look into The New College of Florida and Eckerd, also in FL. I think if you were willing to be in a colder climate you would find more colleges that meet your criteria such as Hampshire, Bennington, Univ of Rochester and Hamilton

4

The link may not work because it’s the the type of link that we don’t allow here (Links to Forums, Blogs, Social Network Pages, Photos, Videos, and Personal Sites). See the Terms of Service for more info.

Most top colleges that are known for being academically challenging, and that you’d be competitive for, have strong social sciences. So I’d focus more on the other things. Also, all liberal arts colleges are known for encouraging exploration and coursework in a variety of areas - that’s why they’re LACs. Very few have completely individualized education plans, but even the ones who do have some distributional requirements usually design them to be looser and allow for a lot of coursework outside of your major.

New College of Florida sounds perfect for you - it’s in warm and sunny Florida, is a very liberal campus, and allows students to shape their own areas of concentration. It’s a public college, though, so I’m not sure if financial aid or scholarships are an issue for you. I’m not sure about their photography offerings.

There are some other ones that aren’t in warm areas that I can think of. Amherst and Hampshire Colleges, both part of the Five College consortium, are known for being super-liberal places with individualized education plans and/or a lack of core requirements. Amherst is obviously very selective; Hampshire is less selective but still an excellent college (and may be a good match or safety for you depending on your test scores). The Evergreen State College, in Olympia, WA, is another super-liberal, very individualized school - similar to NCF. It’s also a public college, though.

Pitzer College (one of the Claremont colleges) was also known for being an experimental college; it was founded in the 1960s. It used to have a pretty high admissions rate of the Claremont Colleges, but in the last 5 years the school’s applications have risen about 65%. (One of my favorite things is a USA Today article from 2006, showing the acceptance rates of many top colleges in 2004, which was the year I entered college. I always look at this list and marvel about what a different world we’re in. Pitzer’s was 40% in 2004. I think they’re around 13% now.)

Most top LACs are located in colder areas - either the Northeast or the Midwest. There are some in the warmer reaches of the country, though. Davidson College (in NC), Sewanee-the University of the South (in TN), Rhodes College (TN) and Occidental College (in CA) are some.

For the ones in the colder regions, I thought of Grinnell (in IA) and Macalester (in MN). Colorado College may also appeal to you, given it’s sort of non-traditional course offerings on the “block” plan. It was also ranked as the #1 most innovative LAC (tied with Bates, Davidson, and Franklin & Marshall).

5

I’ve heard Bard mentioned for photography (and I’m sure they’re strong in psych too, that’s pretty standard for top LACs). It also matches your atmosphere description very well.

6

Very few LACs have core curriculums (which means all undergraduates take the same required courses). Quite a few have distribution requirements, but those are not too restrictive and allow a fair amount of freedom to experiment in courses outside your major.

Psychology is a fairly common major; you won’t have a problem finding academically rigorous colleges that have good social sciences. Same with study abroad opportunities. Most colleges offer a wide range of programs, even if they don’t administer them themselves.

So, I’d concentrate on the culture you want, the weather you like and the availability of photography courses.

Swarthmore and Haverford are quite liberal and the weather is not extreme. I’m not familiar with their photography offerings, but Haverford has a very good art department.

In the cold weather zone:
Wesleyan, Smith and Bard are also quite liberal. All have very good arts programs. Sarah Lawrence is liberal and has very strong photography program. Williams, Kenyon, Hamilton, Conn College and Skidmore are more middle road politically (though still liberal) and have excellent art departments.

You don’t mention your financial situation. If you need or want financial aid, this is what you should address first.

7

For context, photography and video is well established as an area of studio art (along with painting/printmaking and ceramics/sculpture). As you become familiar with some colleges that might be good for you, simply check their art department course descriptions to see if they have sufficient appeal for you in terms of your interest in photography.

For psychology, look for courses distributed across the major branches of the field: clinical, cognitive, educational, developmental, personality, physiological, sensory and social psychology.

Liberal arts colleges with notably flexible curricula include Amherst, Grinnell, Hamilton and Smith, though as noted above (#5), few LACs are unduly restrictive with respect to this.

8

We currently live in Michigan (non-native) and both Ds have no desire to live in cold climates. My oldest daughter searched for warm-weather LACs last year, and we toured many (except for those in CA; going there next year for D2’s college search). Here is a list of the better ones in the “south” (many are excellent):

Trinity (TX)
Southwestern (TX)
Hendrix (AR)
Rhodes (TN)
Sewanee (TN)
Elon (NC)
Davidson (NC)
Wofford (SC)
Furman (SC)
Agnes Scott (GA; female only)
Rollins (FL)
New College (FL; public but financially on par with private LACs)
Eckerd (FL)

Of these, the most politically-divergent student bodies from the southern stereotype would probably be Agnes Scott, Eckerd, New College, and Hendrix, although I don’t know much about Davidson or the LACs in TX.

If you like the outdoors, Sewanee is your first choice hands down.

In CA: Chapman; Occidental; any of the Claremont colleges; U of Redlands; a few (more expensive) church-affiliated LACs in southern CA.

Good luck!

9

The two schools that came immediately to my mind were Hampshire (but it’s in MA) and New College of Florida. As everyone mentioned NCF is a public LAC but the last few years it has offered a $15,000 discount to OOS students (now the Presidential Scholarship) who decide to attend by some given date. This brings the cost down to something pretty reasonable. I also like Hendrix College in Arkansas, but I don’t know where photography fits in that particular school.

10

Hendrix might be a good fit for photography classes too: https://www.hendrix.edu/art/art.aspx?id=62579

11

@momrath, I don’t think core always means the same classes. U Chicago is an example of a college that uses the term Core, but students have some choice in how to fulfill it. Harvey Mudd is an example of a school where there is almost no choice (a couple of the core humanities courses and one lab, I think, is all that they have a choice in – all the other classes are the same).

But…, that is an aside from the OP’s question. OP, for each college you look at, you should look at the courses offered online and see how the selection of photography courses looks.

12

Be careful with schools like Bard because photography is such a popular concentration (their term for major) that it is unlikely you’ll be able to do much as a non-major and the competition to apply for a photography concentration at the end of your Sophomore year is incredibly fierce. Make sure that the photography courses beyond intro will be open to you as a minor or non-major at whatever school you look at.

I strongly suggest you look at Knox but it’s in western Illinois and doesn’t fit your warm weather desire.

13

Thank you so much everyone for the advice! I’ve looked into New College of Florida, Hampshire, and a few others, but there were some suggested I hadn’t heard of but will be sure to look at now. Thanks again, very helpful

14

Rhodes offers cross-registration with the Memphis College of Art, which is directly across the street from Rhodes in Overton Park. The park also houses the art museum and zoo. Psychology and the sciences are very strong at Rhodes.

https://www.rhodes.edu/departments/psychology

https://www.rhodes.edu/departments/art
http://mca.edu/academics/registrar/course-descriptions/#photo

15

D, who is at Sewanee, took a photography class this semester and loved it. Her teacher was amazing. He also runs an off-campus program in Haiti each year. They have a terrific psychology program too, which includes an interesting partnership with Yale. The “My Sewanee Story” short videos on Youtube provide a good look at campus life and academics. It’s a wonderful school, somewhat under-recognized outside of the south. Admission has become increasingly competitive the last couple of years, and classes are indeed challenging.

16

If you’re in MI take a look at Albion College, a small LAC known for its psych program and does offer photo courses.

17

Thanks for the response. Albion looks great but I would prefer a college with no religious affiliation.