An unusual college climbing up the LAC ranks is Soka in CA
Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga is a lovely small LAC with generous merit. Beautiful small town, gorgeous campus (think white Spanish style buildings), safe location but only 30 minutes from San Francisco. I grew up in Moraga and did my MBA at their night program. They are pretty well known in the Bay Area but not many other places.
Bentley- similar to Bryant. Perhaps even more Pre- professional. Outstanding business school with great career services (ranked #1 by Princeton Review). Excellent job placement.
Just added new hockey arena on campus. That’s a big deal.
Well known in N ew ENGLAND and internationally but not so much nationally. Excellent merit aid for not just tippy top students.
Easy access to Harvard Square via free shuttle ( 20 minutes ) . From there you can get in to Boston within minutes.
If you are very focused on business, they have some very interesting majors and lots of corporate connections.
@bamamom2021 I was going to say Lycoming as well. Great little school, and Williamsport is a cute town.
All of the southern LACs, including Davidson, get much less attention than their northeastern and midwestern counterparts, and I think some forget they exist. Special shout out to Millsaps and, for women, Agnes Scott. Millsaps is one of a small handful of colleges to require students to pass graduate-style written and oral comprehensive exams in order to graduate. Agnes Scott is the top women’s college in the South followed by Hollins, which is much more rural, artsy, and quirky (e.g. traditions like Tinker Day). ASC has a gorgeous campus outside Atlanta, with particular strengths in the social sciences.
In terms of schools with particular strengths, I’ll point out U Cincinnati for Classics and the College of the Atlantic for marine science and environmental studies. Though strong Classics programs are located almost exclusively at highly selective schools, Cincinnati has an outstanding Classics department that stacks up well against schools like the Ivies, particularly for classical archaeology. The College of the Atlantic is very small even for a LAC and is extremely interdisciplinary, offering only one major (human ecology) that students mold to their interests. The college’s offerings in ecology and sustainability are particularly good, and COA is one of the greenest colleges in the country.
Let’s give them their due!
Any details are helpful. Location vibe strengths fun facts. Just a name doesn’t give the picture here. More personal than a google search. Lol.
Thank you, @privatebanker I love your posts!
Marist College is NY. Campus is beautiful and the views of the Hudson River are spectacular. Nice size (around 4000 students) and nice facilities. Seems to have great internships, study abroad programs, and employment outcomes.
Also my alma mater, Providence College, does not get mentioned much. It is super popular where I live (I think 50 kids applied from our HS last year) and has pretty competitive admissions. Also a nice size at around 4000 students and the campus is really pretty, esp the newer buildings. It has a good reputation in the NE for job hires. It’s mandatory 2 year Western Civ program is a great basis for an LAC education.
Great thread!
SUNY - ESF, one of the hidden gems of the SUNY system. Smaller than almost any other SUNY, extremely focused on Environmental Science and Forestry. Dirt cheap for New York residents and not bad for out of state. It was founded by Syracuse University, and taken over by SUNY, so all students there get full access to Syracuse facilities and activities. SUNY-ESF has these amazing new dorms with private bathrooms for each double! It’s almost a trade school in that you can only major in Environment type tracks, with your humanities rounded out at Syracuse (limited number of credits). It’s always in the top 3 in the US for Environmental Science and has access to lots of natural resources and field locations. If you major in Environmental Engineering, you are almost guaranteed a well-paying job upon graduation. Great Landscape Architecture program too. If you know you want to study Environmental Science, want an affordable option and aren’t going to change you major to English - this is place to go.
SUNY - Geneseo. Almost a public LAC. Not easy to get into. Somewhat self-selective. They accept over 60% of applicants, but they tend to be the kind of kids that might get into the CTCL list. SAT’s matter here. Dirt cheap for NY State residents, very workable for out of state residents. Highly rated for quality of undergraduate teaching. Very high number of students getting Fulbrights. Beautiful campus in rural upstate NY. Extremely loyal and tight alumni network.
NJ public universities with good programs but get no love from state residents: R1: Rutgers New Brunswick and NJIT;
Public LAC: Ramapo. (Popular public LAC ,TCNJ, gets lots of love, with people claiming it’s superior to Rutgers NB. Whatever.) Regional unis: Rowan , Montclair State. These two have made great strides in improving programs and hiring new faculty.
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I will give my alma mater a shout out. WVU College of Engineering is usually ranked high as one of the best value engineering schools in the country. They give very good merit aid based on gpa and test scores which can make it less expensive than your in state school if you are OOS. It has a beautiful campus located in the mountains of WV about 70 miles south of Pittsburgh. I am talking up engineering but the rest of the University has much to offer. The school is known for producing Rhodes Scholars and as of 2018 was #32 on the list just behind Georgetown.
Also to add to the discussion on CNU, we live in the Hampton Roads area and drive by CNU almost daily and the amount construction and expansion the school has undergone in the past 15 years is pretty amazing.
How can we leave out UMass (sorry if it was already mentioned)? Beautiful part of the state (outside the Berkshires). Great state flagship in a state that is chock full of high end schools. Business, Engineering have always been strong. Back in the 80s when I attended, virtually every business student I knew got a job with the Big 8. I was a communications / broadcasting major so took a different path.
Today, they are really strong in tech. Great food! How 'bout that hockey team? Football has moved up to Division 1 and will improve. A10 Hoop which is way stronger than the 80s.
Have friends who went to Tufts with kids in the Umass Honors College - engineering - and they say as good or better than Tufts. One of them has a D who graduated with a six figure salary at Exxon Mobile in TX. Place kids at great firms.
(not a knock on Tufts as the guys I know who went there have done quite well)
Hard to beat that walk from upper Central to downtown Amherst on a beautiful fall day. Really breathtaking. Go sit on the hill looking over the sports fields at Amherst College with the right kids and you drift off to another world.
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re post # 5. Washington U’s Chemistry department is not in the same league as UW-Madison’s. Washington U has many science departments which are not in the same top tier as some public flagship U’s. Wisconsin’s Chemistry department offers several, not just one, chemistry course for freshmen bound for the major and/or medical school. They also have been chemistry education innovators (my source- my Badger Chemist publication received yearly). So a kid gets good chemistry concepts- but doesn’t get all of the add ons available to students at UW.
Wisconsin does not get the name recognition Michigan does.
Well Rochester is probably not underrated. Has excellent faculty in fields I know. Does it belong on @privatebanker’s list of schools that are not mentioned that much on CC but are very good?
A friend’s kid had a great experience at Beloit.
I was impressed by Mount Allison in New Brunswick, Canada.
Rochester is definitely a different kettle of fish. Too well known, discussed and selective to be part of this context. But what the heck doesn’t hurt anything to have them here too. Maybe they could be in an underestimated eliteness thread. lol.
Sorry but I don’t think comparing WashU and Wisconsin’s chemistry departments in post #51 has anything to do with the topic/thread. Just mentioned that a Carthage grad is a key faculty member at a Top 20 university (he got his PhD from Cornell).
Back to the regularly scheduled program. How about the University of Vermont as a potentially undermentioned gem?
^or UN., Durham, NH is a great place very close to the awesome seaport town of Portsmouth, NH. Lived in Portsmouth for 4 yrs before heading to FL. I would live there again in a heartbeat (If I could deal with the weather). One hour from Boston and Portland. Amazing restaurants and pubs, it’s own history, etc.
Close to the mountains and the beach. Beautiful area.
Kalamazoo. Terrific for quiet nerdy students who plan on graduate school or who want a rigorous education in liberal arts. It’s a school of about 1000, and last year they had 6 Fulbright Scholars.
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Two schools that are making waves helping low income and first generation students the entire CUNY system and Georgia State University.
Agree with SUNY ESF!
How about St Anslem in N.H. No one runs for President without making a stop there. Has been the host to many political debates, speeches etc. and houses the New Hampshire Institute of Politics which conducts lots of national polling.
St A’s for sure.