@twoinanddone Regis, that was another school I was going to mention! I’ve heard of it, but don’t know a ton about it. Definitely not mentioned much here!
With the increasing popularity of Occupational Therapy I recommend looking at St. Catherine University (St. Kate’s) in St. Paul Minnesota. Well established highly ranked OT program. All women’s catholic LAC with approximately 4800 students.
I don’t believe they have direct entry (which I highly recommend) but they do offer a dual degree program, allowing students to work toward their advanced degree while getting their Bachelors.
St. Kate’s is also part of the ACTC (Associated Colleges of the Twin Cities) consortium with
Macalester
Augsburg
Hamline and
St. Thomas University.
A few that we liked after visiting and don’t see too much on CC are Gannon, Siena, and Merrimack. Never visited Washington & Jefferson, but it looked great on paper and D applied. Just realized that the first three are all Catholic, so maybe that’s why. All have very nice campuses. Gannon is in Erie, if you’re looking for a small school in a city setting. ABET accredited engineering. Merrimack is close to Boston. Solid liberal arts. Siena good for sciences and very service-oriented. Wash & Jeff strong for pre-med and liberal arts, fantastic merit aid.
I rarely see Bradley University mentioned here. ABET accredited Engineering (in the top 30 undergrad engineering programs per USNWR), well regarded business and nursing as well as liberal arts. The school is always ranked high regionally overall. Division 1 sports, nationally ranked speech teams, total cost around $45K and merit aid.
You’re totally right, though–when I started looking at colleges for my son I was kind of confused as to why Carthage doesn’t get more love. It has some really neat things about it and honestly the setting is beautiful.
Ooh I was just wondering what St. Catherine’s was known for, @bhs1978 ! We are touring Macalester in a few weeks and then I’m dropping D20 off at St Catherine’s to catch a bus to her summer camp (Concordia Language Villages). I think she has stayed on the campus there after flying into MSP previous years on her own for the same camp.
@Corinthian Evidently, although the personifications are generally based on pagan gods, Hope carries an anchor, or an anchored cross, because of that quote from Hebrews. So Hope College’s anchor and the anchor that lady Hope carries indeed have the same origin. It seems that I have also learned something because of the bit of trivia I mentioned
Just for your amusement, here is the illustration in question from the Hunting Of The Snark: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunting_of_the_Snark#/media/File:Lewis_Carroll_-Henry_Holiday-Hunting_of_the_Snark-_Plate_6.jpg
PS. The more unhappy woman in the picture is Care:
“They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
They pursued it with forks and hope;
They threatened its life with a railway-share;
They charmed it with smiles and soap.”
(First stanza, Fit the Fifth, “The Beaver’s Lesson”)
The link between Hope College and The Hunting Of The Snark is one more reason that Hope is an excellent college.
We had the senior theatre awards night last night, and three of my kid’s classmates are going to Susquehanna. Great merit for great artists, lovely campus if a bit remote. We know a kid who started there 2 years ago and is absolutely killing it - she was an average student in high school and has totally blossomed.
Drexel has a solid reputation, but “best of the best” is probably a stretch. Not that rankings matter…but it constantly falls in the 75-100 range. I have close friends who are Drexel Engineering grads (as well as business/econ), and they will tell you it’s a good school…but not among the best. Last I saw they still offered free applications and had an acceptance rate in the mid to high 70’s.
In Philly, the size of the school and the co-op programs deliver a nice network for students upon graduation (similar with other Big 5 schools…St. Joes, Villanova, Temple, and to a lesser extent and falling…LaSalle).
Drexel is also probably a bit large and too centrally located to be a “hidden” gem.
@ninakatarina Susquehanna is huge by us! Great merit often brings it to the cost of our in state publics in NJ. It’s high on D21’s list.
Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, CA. It’s in a safe, suburban area about 20 miles away from Malibu. It’s a small campus with friendly students. We recently took D20 to look at CLU and she really liked it. I like that she could live on campus all four years.
CLU doesn’t have an overly religious vibe. We visited nearby Pepperdine the same day as CLU, and Pepperdine seemed much more religious.
CLU has the Public Promise program, in which students who are also admitted to either UCLA, UCB, UCI, UCSD, or UCSB are offered merit aid that makes the COA for CLU equal the COA of the UCs; the current award is $26,188. The Public Promise merit is offered to out of state students, too.
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H has had encounters with Drexel (Civil) Engineering grads and has been less than impressed to say the least. They are only data points, so I won’t make a conclusion about their whole program of course, but they are data points connected to the school and I know he (and several he works with) definitely have their impression.
First impressions mean so much to folks. Penn St, Virginia Tech, great (for regional options). Some other schools? Not so much.
Thanks for starting this thread and keeping it going.
Here are a few others that I thought about:
Western Washington - I recommend this one a lot - beautiful campus in a very livable town, easy access to outdoor recreation as well as cities like Vancouver and Seattle (1.5 hours away). Medium-sized, lots of majors, and good OOS merit through WUE and other scholarships. Apply early for best chances of merit money because it’s finite. Also has an Honors program and an alternative residential college (Fairhaven) where students can design their own majors.
Appalachian State - only know about this one second-hand but I know a few graduates who went there and loved it as a relatively-low cost option where motivated students can get a good education and develop mentoring relationships with professors.
Ohio Wesleyan - not far from Columbus, OH. A CTCL school but larger than most LACs. Good merit and you don’t have to be a superstar to get it. Offers some applied majors like pre-veterinary programs (multiple animal science tracks). Also has great study abroad options both long and short term options (winter or spring break with course integration). Fairly diverse for a school of its type.
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@mamaedefamilia, I really like Western Washington, too, and know a number of graduates. Bellingham is on my list of cities I would move to.
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@mamaedefamilia Western Washington is amazing! I was hoping someone would mention it on this thread!
My H has a friend who went to Appalachian State and raves about it! Definitely an underrated gem!
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Perhaps Drexel did not do as much (or as successfully) as Northeastern did to game the rankings?
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Southern Oregon University in Ashland is another underrated school out west. It’s WUE which makes it pretty affordable for OOS students. It’s on the small side for a public school, which can be a plus. I’ve heard that the surrounding area is quite scenic and beautiful and a lot of people say Ashland is a wonderful town. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is in Ashland and I have friends that go every year. I wish S had applied to this school because it sounded perfect for him, but you can only apply so many places!
NAU in Flagstaff, AZ is another good, slightly underrated school. It’s a medium sized public school , it’s got a football team, and a large scenic campus. Flagstaff isn’t too big, but it’s not too small and it has everything you need and more. It’s definitely a college town! It’s a very beautiful part of Arizona and it never gets as hot as the desert areas. It does get a good amount of snow though. It’s close to the Grand Canyon and Sedona and two hours north of Phoenix by car. The town is served by Amtrak and it has a small airport with flights to LAX and Phoenix. It’s a great school for kids who love the outdoors. There are lots of hiking opportunities nearby. For those who like to ski and snowboard, Arizona Snow Bowl is a small ski area that is about 20 mins outside of town. Forestry and Hotel/Hospitality Management are the school’s most well-known and respected programs. The school’s programs in Nursing, Education, and the Sciences are also well regarded. Both my kids applied and got in. This school is definitely becoming more popular with students in California and it’s WUE which makes it affordable!
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My nephew who loves to ski applied to Western Colorado University in Gunnison, CO. It’s a great school for the outdoorsy kid. Lots of skiing, hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing areas nearby! It’s a small school with about 2500 undergrads and Gunnison is small town with about 5000ish people. And it’s kind of remote as well (something to keep in mind with regards to going back and forth for vacations and for moving in and out). Definitely not a school for someone who wants a big city! But for some kids it’s the perfect place! On the application you have to write an essay based on the prompt “Why Western,” which means the kids who apply and attend Western genuinely want to be there.
As someone said on the Western schools 3.0-3.3 board, Western has a record of meeting kids where they’re at and moving them forward.
@natty1988 I agree about NAU. Also you can stack merit aid on top of WUE discounts with NAU. I did a visit report about NAU a year ago. It was one of D19’s favorite choices. NAU gets a lot of students from CA and Hawai…
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21476191/#Comment_21476191