Hey, I’m an international student and I was accepted to both colleges with great aid but now I’m having a hard time deciding between them. I’ve heard that they’re both quite preppy and I don’t mind but I would like to know if anyone who’s been to either school has more insight. I’ve also heard they lack diversity and was wondering how prominent is the divide between students on campus.
Overall I’ve fallen in love with their academic programs so I’m starting to look into the cities, night life, community, student life and internship opportunities. For reference I’d be studying health sciences at Richmond or neuroscience at Trinity.
Without knowing more about you/what you are looking for, and for all that a stranger’s opinion online is worth, I would vote URichmond. Their health sciences program is well integrated with the health services in Richmond, they have an active relationship with a broad range of international universities (which brings more international students as exchange students, further diversifying the student population), and the reports that I have heard back from international students have been very positive.
My experience of Trinity is not as strong. I know a US student who felt that not being able to keep up economically limited her experience.
At both schools the international student population is strongly Chinese, followed by Indian- that may or may not be an interesting element for you.
Both colleges are about 100 miles from a ‘big’ city (to Washington DC for Richmond, to Boston or NY for Hartford).
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I have no experience with Richmond but visited Trinity twice with D20. Hartford is the insurance capital of the world and the state capital. As such, it has a vibrant downtown. Trinity is a gorgeous campus that is in the city but is defined by an obvious perimeter of fences, hedges and gates. The area around the campus has a pretty high crime rate (including homicides) and is not really the kind of place you want to be alone especially at night. Let me say again the campus itself is safe, with security and a blue light system, and students get along fine with no incidents. Leaving campus, you need to know where you are going and be with a group.
FWIW, D did not apply. She found the campus vibe to be split between wealthy private school kids and very low income kids. As a middle class student who would have needed some aid, she didn’t see a place for herself there.
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My kid was accepted to Trinity and in came into serious contention after the accepted student revisit. His interest was economics, and they are quite strong in that area.
The area immediately around the school is not that nice. Otoh, Trinity has done a lot to create opportunities for student in Hartford and in the community and has spun this into a positive. The campus is beautiful, and I recall some stunning dining options!
While DS ultimately ended up elsewhere, he had a friend – middle class AA – who attended and had a great experience. If you are worried about fitting in, I would think about what you like to do for fun and the options for doing that – on any campus. Most people start developing their friend circles through shared activities.
I know far less about Richmond so cannot compare directly.
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No direct experience with either school, and I especially can’t speak to the quality of the programs you are interested in, but in terms of general perception, these two schools are on very different trajectories, imo. Richmond has an massive endowment and is aggressively looking to grow and improve in every way it can; Trinity is much more in survival mode. The same is very much true for the regions in which they are located. Let’s just say I strongly disagree with the poster who said that Hartford has a vibrant downtown :-).
Neither school is particularly diverse and both have an over-representation of wealthy families (the latter will be true at any selective US college). Richmond’s campus is completely self-contained and a pretty decent distance from downtown or other amenities; Trinity is closer to whatever there is to do in Hartford. Richmond has much more temperate and pleasant weather during the winter months.
Trinity is an excellent school, don’t get me wrong, but if it were me or my kid, Richmond would be the easy choice (assuming finances/ease of travel/etc were all equal). Good luck with your decision and congratulations on having two enviable options.
Edited to add: this article may give you some context about the financial situation at Trinity and its dependence on full-pay students, although I think things have stabilized: What College Admissions Offices Really Want - The New York Times
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Can you share why you think this?
I agree Richmond has a much higher endowment, but Trinity’s is nearly $800M, hardly seems ‘survival’ mode. Per the 2021-22 CDS, both schools have 63% full pay students, and similar first year retention rates (90% Trinity, 91.2% Richmond).
For OP, I encourage them to speak with students and read some of the threads for each school here and on Reddit as they do their research.
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You can read the linked NYT piece to get an understanding of some of Trinity’s financial issues. And below are links to a study of colleges’ financial health published in Forbes, and to the Scott Galloway database, where Trinity is in the “survive” category.
As I said, they are both fine schools, and it could very well be that Trinity is a better choice for this individual student’s area of interest. But I stand by my claim that they have very different levels of resources and goals for the years ahead.
Thank you so much!
Richmond has the reputation of being rich conservative kids. Trinity has a vastly better reputation, especially in the northeast. Trinity has a very strong alumni network in business, reflecting its strong history rather than its less stellar recent rankings.
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I had a similar perception and I think Trinity’s challenges are most directly attributable to Hartford’s decline.
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OP seemingly isn’t interested in pursuing business and has not expressed a preference for the Northeast. “Vastly better” is a difficult claim to support in light of the rankings.
Richmond 22 USNWR Liberal Arts, Trinity 46
Richmond 59 Niche, Trinity 177
Richmond 63 WSJ/Times Higher Ed, Trinity 104
In the NYT Chetty data, Trinity has the 5th highest family median income out of the 2,395 schools studied, $257,100. Richmond was 95th,
$149,200.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/
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The data in the first table is from the 1991 cohort (class of 2013). Data from the third table is from the 1980-82 cohort/college classes from about 2002-04. Obviously these data are old, and I’m personally not comfortable with their utility anymore.
Some schools have improved since then, some others might have not. The data I shared above from the 2021-22 CDS show the same percentage of full pay families currently at each school (63%).
Beyond that, I don’t think rankings dictate what is better for a given student. At least, they shouldn’t.
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Richmond has a beautiful campus in a residential area on the outskirts of the city, and the weather is milder most of the academic year. It has a wider range of academic options than is typical for a small liberal arts college.
Trinity is a classic New England campus with brownstone buildings and Ivy covered walls. Charming. Very pretty but more compact than Richmond’s campus. The neighborhood is urban and grittier than Richmond’s neighborhood, but complaints about crime are exaggerated in my experience. Hartford has a vibrant downtown with parks, fine restaurants, hotels, live theater, live music, movies, museums, and sports venues. The neighborhood immediately around Trinity is heavily Latino with interesting food and markets.
Within walking distance of Trinity are Hartford Hospital, Connecticut Children’s Hospital, and The Institute for Living (a long established psychiatric hospital and treatment center). All are research centers and are integrated with the University of Connecticut Medical School, which is located in a nearby suburb. I thought that these facilities would be of interest to someone planning to major in neuroscience.
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