<p>St. Mary’s College of MD (public honors LAC, 1900 students) in Maryland – lots of merit $$.</p>
<p>SUNY Geneseo (NY) is a great Public LAC option. It has been on the “radar” list for many families who are looking for a great education at an affordable price. </p>
<p>A little more about Geneseo:</p>
<p>Geneseo is classified as a four-year public liberal arts college and is colloquially referred to by New Yorkers as the “Ivy of the SUNYs” or “Harvard on the Hill” because of its rigorous academic curriculum and its location atop a promontory on the western edge of the Finger Lakes region. Geneseo has 48 undergraduate majors, six graduate programs (Master’s only), and 25 interdisciplinary minors.““Undergraduate Bulletin””. Of these, Biology, Business, Communication, Education, Social Sciences and Psychology are the most popular majors.</p>
<p>The student population is approximately 5,000, with a student/faculty ratio of 19:1 and an average class size of 25. Nearly 90% of Geneseo’s full time faculty holds a Ph.D. or other terminal degree. Geneseo ranks number one in the nation for four-year graduation rates among comprehensive colleges and is currently tied for highest freshman retention rate in the SUNY system.</p>
<p>Geneseo has developed into a highly selective institution. According to the college’s admissions department there were 11,000 students who applied for less than 1,000 seats in the class of 2013. Geneseo’s freshman acceptance rate for the class of 2013 was roughly a third of its applicants.</p>
<p>For the class of 2013, The mean SAT score (CR+M) is 1340 and the mean high school GPA is 94. The middle 50% ACT of all admitted students’ scores ranged from 28–30, second only to The College of William & Mary for public college/universities.</p>
<p>Nearly 60 percent of this year’s freshmen ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school classes - an all-time high for the College.</p>
<p>In 2008 Kiplinger’s Personal Finance listed the college as the number one “Best Value Public College” in the nation for out-of-state students, and number six in the nation for in-state residents. Geneseo has been distinguished in Kiglinger’s Top Ten “Best Value Public Colleges,” both in and out-of-state since 2005. US News & World Report’s 2005 edition of Guide to America’s Best Colleges: Geneseo is ranked No. 12 in the category “Best Universities-Master’s” for all colleges, public or private, in the northern region. Geneseo is also ranked No. 2 among the top public universities in the north. Geneseo was listed in the 2005 “Fiske Guide to Colleges,” a guide published annually by former New York Times Education Editor Edward B. Fiske. In the Fiske guide, Geneseo is highlighted as a “Best Buy” school, and is lauded for its academic programs, accessible professors and hometown atmosphere. The Princeton Review profiled Geneseo in the 2005 edition of “The Princeton Review’s Guide to the Best 357 Colleges,” and the college was ranked No. 3 on that publication’s list of “Best Bargains – Public” among all public colleges and universities nationwide.</p>
<p>Geneseo has been regularly profiled in the Princeton Review, Kiplinger’s, Fiske, and US News and World Report in annual publications since 1985. In 2008, Kiplinger’s reported that SUNY Geneseo “could just be the best public college you’ve never heard of”, as the publication ranks it the #1 public school in the nation for the best valued “first-rate education” for out-of-state students. U.S. News & World Report magazine has named the State University of New York at Geneseo among 80 colleges and universities in the country with a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching. The special list is contained in the magazine’s 2010 rankings of the country’s top colleges and universities.</p>
<p>Other national distinctions include recognitions from Money Magazine and Yahoo! Internet Life’s 100 “most wired” campuses list (#90 in 1998, #49 in 1999, and in 2000 the list was divided by type of school and Geneseo placed #82 in the “larger universities” category).</p>
<p>Recent recognition for Geneseo has also come in the New York Times. In July 2006, the Times profiled 20 colleges and universities of “established or rising scholarship” which are fast becoming viable alternatives to Ivy League institutions. In addition to its characterization of Geneseo as one of this country’s “hidden gems,” the Times noted that the college is “increasingly seen as a first choice for high achievers” and further observed that as the “most selective of SUNY’s comprehensive colleges”, Geneseo is fast becoming New York’s alternative for students who “chose not to go to the Ivies”.</p>
<p>The college itself considers Boston College, Colgate University, Cornell University, Hamilton College, and the University of Rochester as its primary competitors and claims that it ranks among the "two or three most selective public undergraduate colleges in the nation.</p>
<p>very familiar with Geneseo, my two sisters graduated from there. Took D there to visit this past year. She really, really did not like it (surprised me!). I think she was really turned off by the presentation when they kept stressing how competitive it was, how it was “public ivy”, etc. The last thing she wants is to be in a place with a lot of type A students and that is the impression she got. Also, a lot of students from her school will end up there, which is another negative. In addition, for some reason the town turned her off. I think it is adorable, but she found it Stepfordesque! Oh well!!! She does like 3 other SUNY colleges…Potsdam, New Paltz and Oneonta…all of which she should be admitted to if you look at the stats.
Thanks for the suggestion though Geneseograd.</p>
<p>Since you’re NY residents, you might want to look at Mass College of Liberal Arts - the last time I looked, they gave a tuition discount to NY residents. It’s tucked up in the NW corner of Mass near VT and NY.</p>
<p>Linfield and Evergreen</p>
<p>Another vote for a hard look at Smith. Get those scores up some and she may be in competition for some merit-based aid.</p>
<p>GensesoGrad: you represent your institution very well, even if it doesn’t click with the OP’s D.</p>
<p>OP: fwiw, my thumbnail for Smith is “bright and quirky.” Don’t know how your D is on the latter. Mine had a spectacular four-year experience with a junior year split between Washington, D.C, and Budapest and a double major in Government and Math. Northampton is a town of 30,000 or so but very hip with restaurants, art, music, etc. Drop by the Smith College forum under “Liberal Arts Colleges” if you want to ask people for more info. I know that when we were first exploring options, the then-current students were the most impressive bunch of articulate potential peers…and things haven’t changed.</p>
<p>TheDad, thanks for your suggestion. I have told her about Smith in the past because I have heard great things about it. She will not consider going to a women’s college. Too bad!
1098zyx: will check into your suggestions.</p>
<p>I never dreamed my D would go to a women’s college, fwiw. The contact at a prospect party turned her head. For me, a thumbnail contrast: an unnamed Ivy in NYC was D’s #1 on paper. She e-mailed the orchestra director about meeting and he e-mailed back, “Get admitted, come to the audition, then we can talk.” The orchestra director at Smith not only set up an appointment with her for the day we were visiting but on that day when he found that we weren’t leaving for New Haven until the following morning, he invited D to come back that evening and sit with her prospective instrument section on stage while they rehearsed an upcoming performance. And I found that virtually everything about Smith was like that: what can we do make this better for you? I even pried some extra FinAid $$$ from them when they came in behind another school that was high on her list and they beat it by something like a couple of hundred a year, which beat $1,500 less per year. The womens college experience isn’t what some people think in terms of being cloistered and monastic, big LOL. Which is not to downplay dating issues but it’s not as bleak as one might suppose. On the positive side, reduced alcohol use and reduced sexual harrassment and much cleaner bathrooms are all environmental plusses.</p>
<p>TheDad, believe me I have tried to convince her about applying to women’s colleges. The best students in my law school came from small women’s colleges. I wish I could convince her. I have one more year to work on her…so we’ll see!</p>
<p>Another big supporter of the women’s college experience here, though Barnard in some ways is women’s college, light. In other ways, it isn’t, because Barnard women are continually called upon to defend themselves to the Columbia guys (in a playful way usually) and Columbia women (which can get sticky at times.)</p>
<p>So more guys, more dating, more issues of feminism etc debated in the outer world.</p>
<p>Excellent preparation for law school for D.</p>
<p>The graduation with Hillary Clinton as speaker was truly inspiring as an empowerment of women. One of the student speakers was so amazingly articulate that Ms. Clinton gave her her card and said, “Contact me.” Hm. A job in the State Department right out of the pen. Amazing.</p>
<p>Love the school TheDad’s D attended, too. My D’s second choice. His D was reversed.</p>