Hi All,
I’m really into open curriculums or free curriculums alike. Strict core requirements are not for me, but I would be open to some if absolutely necessary (I can’t just apply to open curriculums). Here’s what I really like, so far:
-Brown (Behavioral Decision Sciences or Business, Entrepreneurship, Organizations)
-USC Marshall or Iovine Young (Entrepreneurship concentration and minor in Product Design OR the Iovine Young major) **I love the number of electives I can take and choose from!
-Northeastern (Business + Psych, Entrepreneurship + Innovation, or another. I love their combined majors. Likely double major because I love so many of their majors.)
Amherst (open curriculum! Likely Econ + Psych or a minor in logic)
-Northwestern (Manufacturing and Design Engineering) Cool major, great location, and sports!
-Dartmouth (location is awesome)
-UDub (Foster or Product Design). I love Washington state.
I want to avoid a really political campus, especially ones that require you to take a bunch of humanities courses. Weather and location don’t matter much, but I would prefer to say no to the south. Sports would be cool, but more of a bonus than a necessity; same with modern buildings and dorms. I like the option for suite-style living. Rural or suburban is ideal but I’m not confident in that yet.
With respect to Amherst from your list, Hamilton offers a similarly flexible curriculum and might be even stronger for economics. However, you may want to consider the appropriateness of any liberal arts college in the context of your congeries of potential majors.
Definitely look at Williams for economics and math (probably the best econ/math out of the top LACs). It fits basically all of your criteria, I think. There’s also other strong NESCAC schools.
@merc81 Thanks for the comment. Yeah, I’ve been skeptical to add any LACs to my list because of the size, politics, and curriculum. I do, however, think that adding some LACs would be worth it if they can offer me a good curriculum. The issue with LACs is I’m not sure what I would want to take for a major. Economics, Psychology, and CS all seem like something I could enjoy, but they aren’t something that I would be excited for like I would be for a school like USC or Brown.
Thanks for the link, I’ll be sure to consider that if I decide to go the economics route. I am doing a tour of a lot of schools from Dartmouth to Brown so I should be able to get a good feel for what I like and don’t like.
@writingpumpkin03 Thanks for the comment
I’ll definitely check out Williams. If I remember correctly, it is extremely similar to Amherst. I do remember choosing Amherst over Williams because of the open curriculum; I think I would only enroll at an LAC if there was an open curriculum. That way I could double major a lot easier and get a program similar to those at Northeastern but without the core requirements.
Just a correction—Williams doesn’t have any core requirements, it has distribution requirements (you have to take at 3 classes each in the humanities/arts, the social sciences, and the natural sciences). It’s pretty flexible. In fact, the number of double majors is the same at both Williams and Amherst (40% of the student body at each). Double majoring in economics and a social science would automatically fill in nearly all of those distribution reqs other than maybe 2-3 humanities classes (in the same way Amherst has required seminars). Of course, it’s not an open curriculum, but it’s worth a look. I mainly suggested Williams because you were looking at both Amherst and Dartmouth, and Williams combines aspects of both.
Side note—you can’t generalize LACs as being “political”. That’s not what the “liberal” in liberal arts means! (Just joking). But I’m curious—if you don’t want a political campus, then why apply to Brown?
As suggested above regarding politics at LACs, I’m pretty sure they’re not like you might think they are, particularly with respect to the general atmospheres at the majority of NESCACs.
Interesting about Williams! I’ll definitely look into that.
I chose Brown because their open curriculum paired with Behavioral Decision Sciences AND their incredible entrepreneurship resources seem to be designed for me-- I love it. I think that above all else I want a school where I would be comfortable with academically. If I need to go from my online, weird, flexible schedule to a bunch of requirements and a major that I’m not too excited about, then I might have troubles adjusting. I’ve done some research on Brown and it doesn’t seem to be too big of a force on campus. People seem to like having their mind changed, and I really respect that.
I apologize for my generalization. Politics isn’t the only reason why I wouldn’t apply to many LACs, but I definitely made it seem like it was. The size, the class sizes, the collaborative environment, the lack of programs I like, generally fewer opportunities, and lack of any kind of prestige are all factors here. I have no clue what size of school I want yet, but I know that I would have more troubles adjusting to a small classroom and campus where everyone knows my name than a classroom with ~30 people where I am just another face in the crowd. The programs I like (product design, entrepreneurship, business) aren’t offered at these schools either, which gives me no real incentive. Lastly, prestige is something that is definitely on my mind. I know it really shouldn’t, but it is. I am going to take six years to finish online school; I’ve been constantly doubted and embarrassed over the past few years, and people seem to think that I’m just ‘slow’ and have no work ethic or anything.
-Class sizes would be ideal at 20-50.
-Entrepreneurship resources/minors/majors are really important to me.
-Great intramural programs would be a big bonus.
-Ideally, the campus would be suburban with close access to a city with an international airport, sports, entertainment, etc. (e.g. Chapman, Northwestern, UCI).
I’m not questioning your perspective, @FakeName1332 – it simply reflects your experiences as of this time. However, even though I don’t think the fit would be there for you in general, when you think “smart,” you should think top LAC (among other, academically comparable schools): https://amp.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9.
@merc81
If this is in regards to the prestige aspect, I assure you that I would never make a decision solely based on prestige. It’s just something that I would prefer to have, especially when I am asking my parents for $400k USD. It would help if they knew the name of the school rather than something like “Williams,” which pretty much nobody in my province (state) knows.
I think my list really represents this with schools like Brown, USC, Northeastern, Northwestern, and Babson. If I were more concerned with prestige, I wouldn’t choose Brown and Northwestern over, say, Harvard and Cornell. I’m working on finding a fit, and I think I’m pretty content with my criteria at the moment.
I’m definitely going to consider LACs, don’t get me wrong. I’m even going to tour some this summer. I would, however, question how well I would fit at some LACs.
I’m curious, are you an international student? Williams is basically tops in prestige, especially amongst the old-money east coast Wall Street crowd. It’s brand is pretty niche, though, so internationals often times aren’t aware of it.
Just to clarify this, Amherst has only ONE required seminar, the first semester of the first year. After that it’s all up to you and whatever major(s) you choose.
Saying that most LACs are political is very odd. With a couple of exceptions, I don’t think of LACs as being political. For example, a big school in Texas that allows students to carry guns on campus is making a far more political statement than a group of students protesting something. If you want to avoided taking a bunch of humanities classes, you should reconsider applying to Brown, Amherst, and Dartmouth.
Most US college degrees are rooted in the traditional liberal arts education. That doesn’t mean they are politically liberal.
@Lindagaf My mistake. I will definitely reconsider that aspect of LACs; however, there are still many other factors I listed above that suggest LACs wouldn’t be the best fit. I’ll still apply to a few-- probably Colby and Amherst-- but I need to tour them this summer before I would add any more to the list.
I haven’t done too much research on LACs (obviously), but I read about two or three in the Fiske’s college guide and they all mentioned a fairly to very political campus. Of course, I’m not too worried about the people there being political, but it is a concern.
As for the humanities courses, this is just a single non-deciding factor for an ideal college. Dartmouth can offer me a fantastic campus and a lifestyle like the one I have now; Brown can offer me a Behavioral Decision Sciences course with a strong entrepreneurship program alongside an open curriculum; Amherst can offer me a similar program, with an easy double major and an open curriculum.
I’m not too keen on any core requirements, to be honest with you. I do not want to take sciences, I do not want to take FL, and I do not want to take certain humanities courses. I have a very distinct path I want to take for my career and these courses won’t help me in that regard, so I would prefer to spend my time on more courses that are pertinent to this path. Of course, I would be willing to spend some time taking those courses, but it’s not ideal. Same with not living in Washington State or California, but I’m willing to forfeit one aspect for another, especially if I am getting something just as good if not better.
Go to college in Europe, where most degrees only require courses directly related to a chosen major. You’ll be done a year earlier (at least in the U.K.) and will save a lot of money.
You do realize that every single college you list is extremely difficult to be accepted to? Barring UW, which might be a match if you’re instate, you have nothing resembling a match or safety school. Again, except UW, all of those colleges are reaches for all. High reaches at that.
@lindagaf OP is a Canadian student, so will be applying as an international…meaning even lower relative rates of acceptance at the US schools on their list. Based on their other threads, OP has safeties/matches in Canada, but the UK or EU options could make sense…
You have discovered what is the crux of college search when looking for a good balanced list of colleges. It’s easy to get those schools with high name recognition. Trying to get similar education from less known colleges requires further digging, a lot of work.
Look at LACs with higher accept rates than Amherst and see which ones have similar programs. Williams is not going to help much in spreading out your odds of acceptance as it has a similar very low accept rate. Look at Dickinson. Look for schools less known than Dickinson, with accept rates far higher than that. That’s what you should be doing
