S24 is recruited athlete at these schools in no particular order, looking to do econ and/or business in small highly selective LAC setting. Pre-reads/offers have started to arrive. Looking for school-athletic/“family”-social balance and not environments with a culture of academic snobbery or open competition in class (with subculture of putting down each other rather than supporting each other). Not taking into account location or prevalence of frats, preppiness etc, and focusing solely on teaching quality/support, relatively pragmatic/innovative curriculum and internship/career support and alumni network, quality of residential/dining facilities and outcomes (including reputation for purposes of employers and MBA programs), how would you rank (pardon my French) these and why? Would appreciate both firsthand and by-reputation-only feedback, duly identified in each case.
For this they are all going to be equally unless you happen to run into someone with a personal relationship with a school. The reality is that 98%+ of the population has no knowledge of these schools. For the few that do, they would like put them in the same category.
Has he visited? When I looked at LACs with my D we found they all had a definite “vibe.” She gravitated towards some and dismissed others after the visit. Assuming they will all be comfortably affordable, I think fit with the school and the team should be the most important factor.
I think your son’s outcome after college graduation will be much more dependent on what he achieves at any of these fine colleges rather than which one he ultimately attends.
How would you label that category?
trinity conn? or trinity texas?
If Trinity Conn, I would say that has a more well known reputation than the others. But it has a distinct vibe which may or may not be for everyone. Otherwise, I agree you could lump them all together and where your son/daughter wants to live after school should be factored.
Thanks, just clarified
Thanks much. Do you happen to reside in or be from the Northeast? What would you say are the geographic spheres of influence of each?
All solid mid-range LACs, largely unknown outside of Northeast.
IMO these colleges will all be “known” to potential employers and grad schools.
Not sure there’s a difference here in rank, etc. For example, if you read US News, a Macalester is “ranked” higher than Skidmore but Skidmore, in my guess, will be better recognized - for whatever that matters. And I don’t think it does - as I think in general terms, none of these names are overly known - but obviously all have great success in society and are known enough by the right people…
For purposes of MBA - I wouldn’t rank these any different than one another or Boise State or Northern Florida or anywhere else. Work experience, GMAT, and GPA will impact what level of b-school you get into - and you’ll need to work at least two years after to get into a strong b school. It won’t be because of attended any of these over one another.
I do think the environments have to be looked at - some are city, some are rural, etc. but since you don’t want that factored in, I wouldn’t comment - but for example, if a student wanted to have a job or internship during the semester, it might be easier at a Rhodes or Mac vs. a Denison, as an exmaple.
Good luck.
Thanks; yes, let’s keep out location etc. We have the research done firsthand on the excluded variables. (btw, Denison is 20-30 mins from Columbus, tried and tested, and has a mini campus downtown for internship liaising and training)
I always thought Trinity had more of a Wall Street pipeline than the others.
Depends where in. We drove it. About 35-40 but forgetting that it’s different than say 5 away.
In the end, where does your daughter prefer, including the coach ? Or possible playing time etc ?
Perhaps certain schools excel in an academic area vs another but I don’t think one is reputation-ally gaining you anything over another.
Good luck.
Kenyon, Macalester, and Denison are in the Midwest, and Rhodes is in the SE.
Mac is really strong in terms of community partnerships – lots of internships and experiential learning opportunities in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The others might have similar opportunities (especially those located in or near cities), but I know this is a particular strength of Mac.
I know where they are. Alas, they are not really well-known within their own geographic region;just not as LAC-oriented as the NE is
No. I live out West but grew up in Ohio. I’ve researched all these schools for my 2023. They all have very good reputations.
Midwestern LACs are well known and very popular in the Midwest. As a Midwesterner, who has spoken to many Midwestern parents, I can tell you that people in the Midwest know their local LACs.
However, distance is important, and the distances in the Midwest are far larger than those in the NE. The distance between Chicago and Mac is slightly more than the distance, say, Colby is from NYC. The rest of the NESCACs are closer to NYC. The NY LACs like Vassar are even closer. Cities in Ohio are almost twice as far from MN LACs as NYC is from the most popular NE LACs.
BTW, Kenyon College is closer to NYC than Cleveland is to Macalester or Carleton…
Also, the Midwestern culture and college culture is different, which affects who is interested in LACs. But that is a different story for a different time.
Reputations from employers are going to be locally based for each of these colleges. If your son has an interest in NYC/finance then Trinity and Skidmore would be the best. For jobs in midwest, then I’d lean towards Kenyon/Denison/Macalester.
These are all very similar schools in terms of reputation.