@gardenstategal - Ha! We live really close to Haverford. He wants no part of suburban Philly - wants to spread his wings, and I don’t blame him. But we’re going to tour anyway, because he needs to start seeing what different schools feel like (and I actually used to live right next door to the campus and want to tour it. Ha.)
@homerdog - I am from a small town in upstate NY. Was third in my class, very active in school, etc. I signed up for an interview at Williams, which was basically 45 minutes in a room with someone dressed very shodily (I believe she was in jeans and a flannel shirt?) who basically started off the “interview” by telling me I had very little chance of getting in because I didn’t go to a prestigious school. I made the best of it, and sold myself the best I knew how, but found the whole thing to be very disrespectful. And then my Dad and I witnessed a roommate fight in the dining hall. It felt very “mean girls” This poor girl was in hysterics for being mistreated by her roommate and the roommate and her friends (Buffy, Biffy and Chip) just laughed at her. I just didn’t get “the feels” there. But it was a loooong time ago. You should definitely check it out for yourselves.
@4junior The common data set for Colby has not been updated. This year they had a 13% acceptance rate with average SATM 760 and SATV 730. Approximately 90% of admits in the top 10% of their class
OP, it would be good if you would provide some feedback to the responses on this thread. Then we can give you more advice.
Each of those schools is great and each will have its own strengths and weaknesses. You need to think about what is important to you in terms of living situation, to be honest, because they will all have good profs and the general benefits of LACs. If it’s important to you to have access to an urban area and a diverse vibe, go with Macalester. If you are more conservative and want a really loose curriculum, go with Hamilton. If you are very creative and socially aware, choose Oberlin. If you are creative and want to live in rural paradise only an hour from a nice city, choose Kenyon. If you want access to the great outdoors and to get away from it all, choose Colby.
If you are liberal or conservative, I would rank them in this order: Oberlin, Kenyon, Macalester, Colby, Hamilton. But you will find all types of students at all of them, I think. You have a good choice to make.
Congratulations on your acceptance to these wonderful schools. I agree that it would be helpful if you would add more information about what you are looking for in a college environment so that we can better answer your question.
You did not make it clear exactly how you would like to be involved in music in college. I have heard what others above have said about Oberlin having limited opportunities for students who are not music majors. We visited Kenyon and while it is beautiful, it was just too isolated.
The only school with which I have direct experience is Mac, as my daughter is a first year student there. This is what I can tell you about it as far as music goes. My daughter plays an instrument and sings, and has found a few ways to make music a part of her life even though she is not pursuing music academically. She participates in the chorale, and next year will take part in the advanced choir which has many performances aside from the ones on campus, including in the local area and during the tours they do during winter and spring breaks. She could not join the orchestra because, unfortunately, they rehearse at the same time as the chorale. However, she and some other students assembled a chamber group on their own and they get together once a week to play. In addition, practice rooms always seem to be available and she has been teaching herself piano, sometimes with the help of friends. There are frequent performances to attend on campus as well. She took a music class with a phenomenal professor. She is also taking voice lessons with a faculty member. So there are plenty of opportunities to participate in music there. And the location can’t be beat if you can handle the cold.
@dreamcather3 We were at the open house at Hamilton this week and they reported that their stats for the class of '22 are quite similar in terms of median SAT, top of class %, median 33 ACT etc. Hamilton gets half the applicants Colby does for the same class size, and their acceptance percentage this year is 21%. That may be because Hamilton has a specific essay, and Hamilton makes it clear that to be a competitive applicant you should interview (preferably in person) if at all possible, and they charge a fee for the application. You can see the Colby RD thread many accepted applicants had never heard of Colby before applying. At the end of the day, both schools end up extending offers to a very similar set of students. The Common Data set is what tells the public which of those students decide to matriculate, and Colby has not released that info in a while. It’s my guess that they would make those numbers known if it is beneficial to them, but until they do we have no way of knowing.
@lindagraf I am surprised that you find Hamilton so conservative, that has not been our experience. The LGBT presence at the Open house was quite visible - 2 out of 5 student panelists on the dais were openly gay (including the student body president), a gay dean leading a session, LGB and non-binary students were prominent in the reception areas. The Varsity Streaking team ran naked in the rain right past the entire stream of visitors, lending a feeling of irrepressible student non-conformity and an administration that supports their expression.
I had not heard of Hamilton 18 months ago, and perhaps its vibe has shifted. During the open house tour of the amazing new art and theater building, they said that supplementary arts applications had increased from 200 to over 600 in the past 4 years - maybe more creatives are choosing Hamilton than in the past. There certainly is a large and visible Boarding/Private school cohort that can lend (for lack of a better phrase) an old money vibe to Hamiton - but that does not correlate to a more conservative ideology. D goes to one of the most progressive, liberal schools in NYC (quite possibly one of the most liberal in the US) and 5+ out of a class of 120 will be heading to Hamilton this fall. I doubt that they would make the choice if the school is as conservative as you paint it. We found that unlike the liberal majority at Oberlin there was an ability to, as Hamilton puts it, “be who you are, study what you love” regardless of where you fit on the liberal/conservative spectrum.
OP, these are all really great choices and I am sure it will be difficult to pick. On the other hand, you really can’t go wrong!
“Hamilton gets half the applicants Colby does for the same class size,”
Yes, a few years back, Colby dropped both its application fee and supplemental essays leading to a surge in applications as well as a drop in both acceptance rates and US News rankings. Kinda gaming the system. Their reluctance to release CDS and avoid transparency feels slimy, IMO.
@everyone
I am now at the final stage of my college decision! Thank you for all your replies! I am currently deciding between Kenyon, Hamilton, and Colby ( I have visited all but Colby but imma go this week to see how it is).
In a college, I am looking for an emphasis on the accessibility of research opportunities over the summer. I am also looking for an emphasis on small classroom sizes. Finally, I really look forward to a community that is VERY inclusive and not too competitive. Again, I plan to go into pre-med and plan to play in an orchestra! Thank you so much!
P.S. At Kenyon College, I received the K-Stem scholarship and it’s like a 6 week summer program with good benefits. If anyone has any information about their personal experience, I would love to hear it!
I know you’ll love Colby if you go visit. Everyone there does research and to me the kids bopping around their labs with their head sets on listening to music looked liked the happiest kids I saw on any college tour.