Does anyone know of any colleges that would help me directly with personal growth? I did not really grow up at all during high school and I did not have a good high school experience. I am a high achieving student and I would like to go somewhere with strong academics.
Look at Earlham. It felt like everyone there was really committed to students as people.
I second Earlham, as I love how centered it is on students, a gorgeous campus, and the egalitarian emphasis.
Also look at other small LACs. Small LACs are known for being more student centered. If you’ve done well academically, you may want to consider–
Marlboro (very small and students help govern the school–might be good for personal growth; they also have some full scholarshps, called Renaissance)
Bennington (another small school where students have more of a say)
Quest U in Canada-- a truly unique school in a lovely setting, ripe for personal growth
Hampshire–self-growth plus advantage of 5-college consortium
More traditional LACs–
Hendrix – has the Hendrix Odyssey program.
Haverford (more traditional but also includes students as part of self-governing)
Oberlin
Colorado College–block system allows you to take one class at a time, which can mean exploring things more deeply during that single focus.
Occidental
Lewis & Clark
Whitman–has trips throughout the west
Sewanee is very traditional and has a 13,000 acre campus
Soka–has a more Eastern philosophy, excellent academics
Allegheny–requires you to combine two different disciplines that aren’t usually put togehter, like computer science and art, for example, in order to stretch your thinking.
Pitzer is like Hampshire in a way but on West Coast. You can define your area of study.
There are many more such schools. YOu may want to pull up a list of LACs and see which appeal to you.
The Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL) group is a good place to start.
I would second the recommendation to look at the CTCL colleges.
Also, we went to a local presentation and Wilammette brought current students to speak to the HS families there and what came through the most was that these kids weren’t sure of themselves in HS and that Wilammette provided them with what they needed to grow and mature during their college years. I am sure there are other wonderful colleges out there as well, but this was the one presentation that we went to that really focused on growth.
This recent posting on Hampshire’s website does an excellent job of showing how a Hampshire education is student centered.
I realize that these are all great schools but I’m looking for a school that’s a bit closer to home, like on the east coast or in the midwest. I couldn’t go farther than there because of financial and personal reasons. (I live in PA by the way)
I second Hampshire and Haverford
Juniata!
@Alexkoz47 what are you planning to study? What do you like to do in your free time? In what ways would you like to grow? What did you have difficulty with in high school and how would you like to be? The answers might help us to steer you more specifically…
CTLC schools aren’t all a great fit with really high achieving students. But I agree that LACs are a good starting point; there tends to be a lot of direct faculty interaction and mentoring. I agree that more info would help point to specific LACs, though. Are you male or female?
@intparent I am male, but I am very sensitive and introverted.
@inthegarden I don’t really know what I want to study. I don’t really do much in my free time, I mainly just did things for the sake of doing things. I never did anything that would challenge me or anything. I would like to grow to become a more independent person and gain the self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-image I need to have a better life. I need to learn how to stop hating myself and learn how to really be who I really am. I had a lot of difficulty with social/interpersonal situations in high school (I have social anxiety but I didn’t know I had it at that time), as well as not being able to be the person I wanted to be and I was too scared to do a lot of activities that I wanted to do or thought about doing. I am very sensitive and introverted so that hurts me a lot. I just want to be more comfortable with myself as a person in social situations. I only focused on academics in high school and that’s basically all I looked for during my college search, I didn’t check out the social scene or the inclusiveness or the “family” atmosphere or anything like that and I think that is what I really need to grow as a person.
Alexkoz47, some introverted people are most comfortable in situations where little interaction is required (such as large lecture halls) and enjoy being able to be anonymous in a crowd. Sometimes that is freeing in the sense that the person can gradually try out/practice new social behaviors without worrying so much about making mistakes because there’s a more fluid social scene and you don’t stand out.
For other introverted people, large, anonymous places are just lonely and a feel a bit meaningless. They really crave close interaction, good friends and interesting or deep conversation…they just don’t need tons of friends or crazy parties all the time. Since you mentioned inclusiveness and family atmosphere, I’m thinking you are feeling more this way and would like a smaller school where you can get to know others?
Is that true? That would influence your search for a good “fit” college. Also, you mentioned finances…how dependent are you on financial aid…would you qualify for need-based aid; and will you need significant merit aid?
One school I keep hearing a lot about on CC that people tend to say has friendly, down-to-earth students / professors, and very good teaching quality is Susquehanna University in PA. Though it is not tippy-top elite school I think it is solid academically, and a nurturing place. I remember reading more than once on CC anecdotes where students visited there on their college tours focusing on much more selective schools (stopped at Susquehanna just because it was convenient to do so) and were surprised at how much they liked it… If your grades/scores are high maybe you could get some merit aid (but I don’t really know this…just something to check out.)
Another school that is unique, and would only appeal to a certain type of student academically and socially is St. John’s College in Annapolis MD. If you are the type of introvert that likes to have deep conversations, it might appeal to you. The college is very small and tight-knit and students really get to know professors, so there would be a lot of mentoring. Everyone there studies the same “Great Books” curriculum, exploring Western civilization from the Greeks on, in a discussion format. I don’t know anything about admissions or financial aid though.
The college of Wooster in Ohio is another small selective (though not tippy-top) college that emphases a strong student-professor mentoring process that might be appealing and beneficial to you.
St. Mary’s of Maryland (a public honor’s college, not a religious school) is small, has a beautiful campus on the Chesapeake, and I believe has a very close-knit community of students.
This is just a start. There are so many others! I Hope other posters with a lot more knowledge than me will contribute suggestions. Can you go to visit schools you may be interested in? I think that’s very important to do if you can.
I’m wondering if it might not be a good idea for you now to see a counselor to help you jump-start the self-growth you were writing about. Reading what you said about hating yourself is an alarm bell to me…it would be better to participate in counseling now, and build your confidence, self-knowledge and skills with some professional help than to have to deal with these feelings while adjusting to college and college-level work stress. You may be just expressing some normal teen anxt by saying that you hate yourself, but if you think it is at all true, and if you have really been miserable during high school, please get help! There are ways for you to climb out of this tunnel, and I think it should begin before college. Going away to college can be challenging in so many ways, it would be extremely helpful to build yourself up and get help if there are problem areas, before going away. Some students who hated high school find college a wonderful and liberating experience. However, I noticed this fall, so many college freshmen posted on CC about feeling lonely, distressed, lost, overwhelmed, etc…I think the more you prepare yourself emotionally now, the happier you will be in college.
Let me know what you think of this…
I can think of one that transformed my sister from a quiet, insecure person to a confident leader. Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, Wyoming. It is a 4-yr Great Books program in the Classical Tradition. With… an Outdoor Leadership element to it. Freshman arrive about a month earlier than the rest of the college to prepare for and go on a 3-week backpacking expedition in the Wind River Mountain Range. (They even get re-rations by horseback mid-way). The Freshman class are split up in groups of 8-10 with 2-3 upper-classmen that are trained and certified in leading wilderness expeditions including wilderness first responder certified. The college also includes 4 - outdoor weeks into their academic calendar whereby students arrange various types of outdoor trips from mountain biking, rock and ice climbing, kayaking and river rafting, canyoneering, etc… Students are required to participate in 2 of these kind of weeks a year. Oh and also in Freshman year, they have to return a week earlier from Christmas break to do the Winter Expedition. Yep- Cross-country and and snowshoeing into the back woods ( I believe in the Teton area), then they learn to build their igloo snow shelters to sleep in. I think the last 2 days of that expedition is for downhill skiing in the Mount Jackson area.
I spent two weeks there in the summer when they had a HS session for prospective students to check out what it would be like at the college. I had a blast and I loved the outdoor activities and the socratic way of teaching and discussions were intelligent and very satisfying but the college was too small for me and I really wanted to study Biology and Neuroscience more. But it was Perfect for my sister. Also, you don’t have to be Catholic. There are several atheists in the school and they also love the place. Check out their website if this looks interesting to you.
http://www.wyomingcatholiccollege.com/
For people offering advice: OP reported on several other threads that he is enrolled as a first year at Johns Hopkins with a likely 2.7ish GPA. So he’s looking for transfer advice that will work within the range of his current GPA. He got into JHU though, so he must have a good high school record which will probably help.
I agree that a supportive and non-intense LAC sounds like a better fit.