My DD has narrowed her choices down to these schools. She’s an ardent student, with special interest in history, creative writing, and psychology. Wants to attend a school with smart, engaged students in a liberal setting. So far she feels Oberlin wins on creative writing, Whitman on west coast location and happy students, Sarah Lawrence on personal attention from professors. But Smith has been her number 1 ever since she visited and felt at home. Anyone have any insight on these 4 schools?
Has she visited them all?
Seeing Whitman this week. Has seen the others, though before she was accepted.
If you look at Sarah Lawrence’s catalog, it has only a small range of subjects with lots of course offerings – most others have only a few offerings. Fortunately for her, history, writing, and psychology are some of those few. But if she is likely to have an interest in other subjects in depth, she may want to see if there are sufficient offerings in those other subjects.
Are all of the schools affordable?
I’d love to hear what she thinks of Whitman after she visits. My son attended and I’ve visited several times, with and without my husband. I think it’s a special place. In fact, I’m sad those family weekends came to an end, I looked forward to charming town, the gorgeous campus and the incredible people. My son had a great 4 years.
Revisit if you can. However, if she “felt at home” at Smith I would go with that. I believe she will find a strong creative writing program there as well, along with strengths in history and psychology.
She will get personal attention from professors at any of those schools. And she will find happy students at any of these schools. So I would focus on the strength of her academic programs of interest at each school.
However, if after visiting Whitman, Smith still feels like “home”, I’d say, go with Smith. She’ll also have access to the 5 colleges consortium.
I assume you are somewhere on the east coast? The travel logistics to Walla Walla might be a bit cumbersome - something to consider as part of the overall picture.
She has four wonderful choices - can’t go wrong with any of them!
They are all wonderful choices. If she feels like she would be most comfortable/happy at Smith I’d go with it. When I looked at LACs with my D a few years ago, we really felt that the schools had distinct vibes – some she eliminated immediately as she did not feel the school was a good fit for whatever reason, some she really liked, and one was her favorite. Don’t discount gut feel as part of the decision process. If there is any doubt, maybe you can go back for accepted students day at Smith and her second choice.
Thanks for all the helpful input. We live in CA, but she wants to experience another part of the country. She’ll see Whitman on Thurs. Meanwhile I’m in the Midwest with her twin brother looking at his schools. Maybe I’ll post a similar question for him. Doing this college thing with twins is tricky! Thanks.
I have nothing to add but to say that’s a tough call and wealth of excellent choices. You’ve done a great job with your search. I can’t tell you how often I see these X vs Y vs Z posts and marvel that the particular schools in question ended up on the same kid’s list. Not so here. I hope you enjoy your visit to Whitman – that school has a special place in my heart and I’m just a bit bummed that neither of my kids is going to end of having gone there.
Checking back in, D just visited Whitman with my husband and texted: ‘I like Whitman. It’s on par with Oberlin, but Oberlin is close to Cleveland, while Whitman is close to sweet onions.’ I think perhaps she’s pared the list down by one. Lol.