The best LACs in highly urban settings

<p>What are some of the best Liberal Arts Colleges which are also located in urban settings? Occidental comes to mind but I want to hear your suggestions.</p>

<p>Macalester is in St. Paul, Trinity College is in Hartford, and Barnard is in NYC.</p>

<p>Rhodes College in Memphis, Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Reed College in Portland OR</p>

<p>Reed is on the edge of Portland, in the suburbs, with a wildlife preserve lake, so don’t think of a setting like Barnard! But it is only 15-20 minutes from downtown.</p>

<p>Besides Occidental,the best combination of high quality academics and a highly urban environment, in a coeducational LAC, probably is Macalester. The downside to Mac is the cold Minnesota winter climate. Occidental avoids that problem.</p>

<p>Other LACs I can think of involve one compromise or other. Examples:</p>

<p>Wesleyan University, Colorado College, Trinity College (Hartford): good academics but smaller cities. </p>

<p>Philadelphia-area Quaker colleges (Haverford, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr); Reed: good academics but suburban settings (bus/train ride into city center). </p>

<p>Rhodes College: urban setting (Memphis), but outside the top-50 USNWR rankings (if that matters to you.)</p>

<p>Goucher College: suburban setting (bus into Baltimore), farther outside the top-50 USNWR.</p>

<p>Barnard (and Bryn Mawr): women-only.</p>

<p>Occidental is in a suburban area, not a city center.</p>

<p>Barnard in Manhattan</p>

<p>Swarthmore is only 11 miles from Philadelphia :)</p>

<p>Lewis & Clark.</p>

<p>Trinity is in San Antonio. Emerson (not exactly a LAC) is in Boston.</p>

<p>For females, Agnes Scott is fairly close to Atlanta. Among smaller universities, Rice is in Houston and Case Western in Cleveland.</p>

<p>While Lewis & Clark is also 15 minutes from downtown Portland, parts of campus (like the east side forest above the Willamette) feel downright remote and rural, and very beautiful! The general area is surrounded by forests.</p>

<p>Holy Cross located in mid-size city(Worcester), which is only 1 hour from Boston. Also Davidson is near Charlotte. HC has very strong alumni network in Boston.</p>

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<p>Trinity College (the NESCAC liberal arts college) is in Hartford, CT.
Trinity University is in San Antonio.</p>

<p>Kalamazoo is in the heart of that city. It’s not Chicago but it’s a real city.</p>

<p>University of Richmond is near the heart of, well, Richmond.</p>