<p>dg5052 --absolutely nothing is wrong with Earlham. I considered it myself a generation ago but decided it was too small--smaller than my high school population. My daughter simply doesn't like Indiana, period. We live in Illinois and I am from Ohio, so we travel back and forth across Indiana a lot to visit family. She doesn't like small towns in general, and old, rather worn out ones are even less liked. She also eliminated Knox and Truman ST for the same reasons--couldn't bear living there for 4 yrs. At least Richmond is relatively close to Indy, Cincy and Dayton but she still didn't buy it. She would live in Grinnel IA for Grinnell, although she hsa decided Grinnell would be too stressful for her. I thought she'd go for Lake Forest since it is a train ride to the Loop, but there is no 'campus town' around the college iitself so LF is iffy too. Sometimes, a teen's logic fails to penetrate older minds! One comment from Carolyn that stuck with my daughter is that Art at Earlham tends to be more on the crafts end of things, whereas my daughter is mostly into oil painting, and since she hopes to minor or second major, that is also a consideration. (Altho she never contacted the art dept to confirm this). So far, Beloit is the only small-town college still high on her list, except for some that are suburbs of larger cities.</p>
<p>flatlander--yr dtr sounds just like mine, except she keeps stumbling on the vegetarian path (tho most of her vegan friends pick her right back up!). I will use this info to keep Denison alive on the options list!</p>
<p>Hi Bookmom. Thought I'd chime in briefly. As you correctly recall, Earlham was high on my daughter's list for a while. She's now a freshman at Beloit, and very very happy so far. </p>
<p>At first glance, Richmond Indiana and Beloit Wisconsin might appear similar but my daughter has found them very different (she spent time in Richmond while attending Earlham's summer college program so she has some basis for comparison.) At Earlham, she felt you couldn't just walk off campus and go somewhere. Downtown Richmond is dead as a doornail. </p>
<p>While Beloit is no happening hot spot, the college has extended itself into downtown. The school's bookstore (and cafe), student run art gallery, center for entrepreneurship, and TV/radio stations are all located downtown. The town has also just donated its old beautiful library building to the college and plans are being considered to turn it into a concert venue. Downtown also has some restaurants and small shops. In short, Beloit students have lots of reasons to get off campus. </p>
<p>In Richmond, the main shopping options were a small mall and a Wal-Mart. Otherwise, you had to drive to Dayton or Indianapolis. No regular bus service to either, so a car would be necessary.</p>
<p>In Beloit, there is regular inexpensive bus service to both Madison and Chicago. It took us 40 minutes to drive to Madison. It's about the same drivetime to Dayton from Richmond. But Madison's state street is totally geared to college students. Dayton is...well, not exactly a college town.</p>
<p>Additionally, between Beloit and nearby Janesville (about 15 minute drive), you can find Wal Mart, Target, Kmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, BEst Buy, even Pottery Barn. My daughter laughed when she saw the Starbucks in the Janesville Target because at Earlham her roommate had asked how far it was to the nearest STarbucks and was told that it was in Indianapolis, which is about as far from Richmond as Chicago is from Beloit. </p>
<p>Both Earlham and Beloit are wonderful schools, but they do have slightly different feels. Earlham and its student seem to take themselves a little more seriously (not a put down, just that is the feel my daughter got) and they are also more politically oriented. Beloit and its students are a little more free spirited and easy going and not as politically oriented.</p>
<p>Carolyn, as always your post was a trove of information and put to reso some of my Beloit-town concerns. I'm glad to hear yr D likes the town--mine is hoping to meet her and Izzy on the next campus visit this fall or more likely in Feb for scholarships interviews. I think she will have her Beloit interview on the road in St Louis next month. I noticed Beloit was old and tired but did have a nice little downtown a short hike from campus and I did like the B&N school bookstore. </p>
<p>Beloit is still the # 1 LAC on DD's list but she is having panic attacks about going 3-6 hours away (not nearly as adventurous as yours to go 1/2 way across country!) and so is looking closer to home than a year ago (to either be nearer family or nearer her HS beau--hard to decipher). Her first app and first acceptance is to a state school not originally even on our radar, but it is near St Louis and 1/3 the size of Champaign-Urbana (U of ILL). She would be in top 2% based on test scores and in top 16% based on class rank, and by jr yr there are many jr college transfers. I worry she won't be stimulated, but I guess any school is what one makes of it--and she would be in honors program and already has a mentor in the pre-law advisory group. She is prone to overstressing, so has ruled out Grinnell akready and fears the 30K kids at Illinois will overwhelm her. Am I worrying overtime, or too caught up in school rep and cachet? I feel I should trust her to know her self and her needs best --but I do so like Beloit and Lawrence! And like yr dtr, I want mine to dance in the streets with joy as well next fall!</p>
<p>I don't know what state school your daughter has been accepted to or where you are located, but I gather you are in the middle of the country. Your daughter may want to look at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. It is a smaller state u with an honors program and is considered a Best Value in one of the books.</p>
<p>Shennie-thanks for the suggestion. I have to admit DD and I did not give Truman a fair chance. We drove over (about 3-4 hrs drive, 1/2 on 2-lane country roads) for a visit day and spent the night before--I managed to break my little toe on the bedframe, so that may unconsciously have impacted our feelings! We found the town depressing; admittedly it was evening and rainy but a Fri night. Only sizeable shopping place was Walmart. There were 2-3 Christian radio station billboards along the main rd, and that night at least I couldn't even pull in NPR from Mizzou 70 mis south, and DD can't do country music. The town certainly seemed isolated to us--more than an hour to any town of any size The next day we drove through campus and found it rather old and tired. It was in what I guess is the downtown area--at night the 4-way stop lights just flashed. My first born declared she couldn't bear to spend another day much less four years in the town, so we didn't even take the tour or do the visit activities. Out of a dozen+ college visits trips, this was the only one we didn't make good on. I understand the school is very good, and the expenses for out of state are less than our instate flagship, but rural MO is not for us. I do know one out of state valedictorian who passed up Washington U-St as she got a full ride at TSU, I was one too and I wouldn't have.</p>