My name is Nick and I am in quite a predicament. I applied to many liberal arts colleges and to be frank, I didn’t think I would get into most of them. I am having a tough time deciding between these colleges that I have just been accepted to. They are all about the same cost of attendance. I have been accepted into the following:
Kenyon College
Macalester College
Colby College
Hamilton College
Oberlin College
If you would please list your opinion of the top 3 colleges from this list and the reasons why I should attend, it would be appreciated. I would also like to note that I plan to go into pre-med and have a strong background in music.
Strangers on the internet can’t help decide this for you. These places are very different. Your job is to learn about them, visit as many as possible, and figure out your best fit. Good luck!
Have you visited the schools? What are your academic areas of interest? Where do you live (proximity and travel cost/time)? Do you prefer living in or near a city or would you rather go to school where you could easily go hiking/skiing, etc.? Do you prefer more of a preppy scene or more hippie/hipster?
Congrats on your acceptances. If you want help in narrowing it down, you need to tell us more about yourself and what you are looking for.
Have you visited? That can help, especially if you are able to sit in on a class or two.
They are all excellent LACs, but for music, it would be hard to beat Oberlin and its conservatory. There are multiple perfomances daily and most are free.
If you want a more urban environment, then Macalester is great but still in close proximity to the Mississippi if you want to take in some nature.
If you like outdoor recreation, then Hamilton or Colby.
Kenyon is located in a VERY small town. For some that’s part of the appeal, for others not so much.
For my kid, it was helpful to go through the course catalogs for each campus and see what sparked her interest. You could also read up on the faculty in departments of interest. How many are there? What are their areas of specialization, etc.
Congrats! You can’t really go wrong with any of them.
Oberlin will have many opportunities to listen to music, be surrounded by amazing performers, which could be wonderful for a student who wants to be in a music-rich environment. At the same time, if the goal is to perform, rather than just have the opportunity to listen, then Oberlin will present challenges because there are fewer opportunities for non-Conservatory students.
For a student who thrives in/appreciates a more rural, isolated community, then Kenyon, Hamilton and Colby all suit the bill (in fairness, I have not visited Colby or Hamilton). If that prospect is not welcoming, then Oberlin is in a nice college town about 45 minutes from Cleveland and Mac is in a residential part of St Paul.
Distinguishing features in brief, based on my opinion:
Macalester: Provides a direct urban experience. Presence of international students adds to diversity.
Oberlin: Excellent academics and vegan food. Musically oriented, but presence of conservatory might limit options for students in the College.
Kenyon: To select Kenyon would be partly to select Middle Path and Gothic architecture. Gambier can be viewed as either a tiny college town or a fantastic student center. Fine arts such as music are very strong here. Highly appealing athletic center.
Hamilton: Benefits from the curricular, architectural, spatial and cultural legacy of having once been two colleges of complementary characteristics and emphases. Strong in music. Adirondack area location seems suitable for collegiate pursuits.
Colby: New leadership appears to have further enhanced an already strong school. Offers outdoor opportunities for which NESCAC schools tend to be known.
This is a very personal decision. In my opinion, it is important to fit in with the campus culture at LACs since you can make a large university small, but you cannot make a small college big. Congratulations !
Seeing from your other posts that you are in Michigan, one consideration might be ease of travel. We are in Indiana, and my kid loved some of the New England schools, but didn’t relish the prospect of 12 hour travel time, especially for some more remote schools where there is still a 2 hour drive after you get to the airport. So, think about whether you care about ease of travel. Presumably, Mac and Oberlin and Kenyon will be reasonably accessible by car for you.
Similarly, some small schools are much more of self-contained communities than others. Kenyon is 1600+ students, the village of Gambier is its backyard/family room. While you might get to Mt. Vernon for Chipotle, the daily experience is very much about Kenyon/Gambier.
Haverford is 1100 students, so technically much smaller than Kenyon, but also has Bryn Mawr a mile away to expand the course offerings and student population, and is a short walk from the Main Line commuter rail which makes Center Philly (and, then with Amtrak, the east coast) accessible.
Agreeing that “small” in some schools can be expanded, not so much in others.
Oberlin and Kenyon would likely be the nearest schools, but Hamilton would be a few hours closer than Macalester from some of the highly populated areas of Michigan.
OP: Since you are from the Midwest (Michigan), I would recommend Hamilton College in order to get exposure to another region of the country. But, this is just one reason out of several that should be considered by you.
Regarding size, I wouldn’t overlook spatial factors. Some “small” colleges offer more expansive campus attributes than their “large” school counterparts. This can be in the form of an appealing science center, a variety of choice in dining and residential facilities, superb athletic complexes (e.g., those with ice rinks or another factor that might appeal to you personally), or simply acreage.
Congratulations. These are solid choices for pre-med. If you can get to any accepted students events, try to do so.
I will echo the concern @merc81 had about Oberlin. While in high school, my son was told by his music tutor that as a non-music-major, his opportunities to perform would be limited at Oberlin because of the conservatory. Liberal arts colleges where he could participate in a strong music program as a non-major were must-haves for him. Macalester, Colby, and Kenyon all met that part of his criteria. Look on all of your schools’ websites to get more information about their music programs. Any questions not answered there can be put into an introductory email that you send to the school’s music department. It would also be good in the email to mention a bit about your musical background and interest by way of introduction.
OP stated that the cost was about the same for the schools. So in that sense COA is not a factor. Presumably they’re all affordable. He/she has probably already received financial aid awards and cost information from the schools.
Hey Nick. Congratulations! Many would love to have your “predicament”.
I can weigh in on Oberlin, Kenyon and Hamilton as my DD is also considering those along with some others.
Oberlin: Music is infused throughout this community. When you say you have a strong background in music do you mean you would be competing with conservatory students for seats and roles or just that it is an important part of who you are? The significance of music on campus could be wonderful for you UNLESS you are muscled out of participating at the level you would like. Oberlin is very liberal and has a very laid back feel while still being academically rigorous.
Kenyon: Has a beautiful campus, friendly feel. They have greek presence as does Hamilton (Oberlin doesn’t). It felt small. Great for writers. It is in the middle of nowhere and we observed confederate flags in the vicinity which made DD uncomfortable.
Hamilton: Also a gorgeous campus. Idyllic really. DD loved the lack of required courses although since you are pre-med, you will be required to take plenty.
We did visit Colby and DD decided not to apply because it was so far from home and would be hard to get to. I would think you would have a similar concern.
As parent of musician who spent a lot of time visiting Oberlin as a non-Con kid, the message was pretty clear that there were limited performance options for non-Con musicians. There is a “College” as opposed to Con, Orchestra, and non-Con kids can take lessons from upper level Con kids.
Technically, non-Con kids can also audition to take private lessons from Con professors, but we were told it would be extraordinary for someone to get accepted for private lessons as they would have to be Con level players who would have gotten into Con if they had applied. As a jazz player, my kid was not interested in the non-Con options available to him at Oberlin.