What is the feel/vibe of these colleges? I won’t be able to visit because of financial reasons and have been looking through threads but I won’t have enough time to go through everything.
And U Rochester, as well?
For background, I’m into STEM. (Engineering, math, and CS.) I’m quite nerdy and a bit quirky, and I’m not really into Greek life or anything. I love a strong sense of community.
URochester would seem to closely match your academic interests and indicated preferences.
I’ll only comment on the colleges I’m familiar with. Both Bucknell and Wake Forest lean preppy and have large Greek scenes, esp. the former. I’ve heard WF students who aren’t in the Greek system can make their way just fine, however. I think both have a lot of smart, good kids.
St. Olaf is down to early and community-focused. Seems like might be a good fit for you. Don’t know anything about their STEM programs, however.
Good luck!
If you haven’t done so yet, get your hands on some good college guide books (ex Fiske, Princeton Review, Insiders Guide) and read up on the schools. You can probably find the books at your guidance office or in the library.
I can comment on a few of your listed schools:
Lafayette is a good choice for engineering, business and the humanities. Up and coming in ranking and number of applicants. Moderate greek life, enthusiastic alumni. Location is fairly close to Philadelphia and to a lesser extent NYC.
My D18 has been visiting colleges and saw St. Olaf this summer. She liked it and was impressed by its music program and opportunities to play music. She plays French Horn. She will applying there I think.
Dickinson is a good choice if sustainability is important, they have their own student run farm. Their junior year abroad programs are strong. Greek life is not too big there. Academics are also strong and the students do challenging course work and research. Disclaimer, a family member works for Dickinson, so I’m a bit biased.
S attends Wake Forest. He is not in a fraternity and is having a great time. The overall community is quite inclusive. I would describe the student body as very smart, motivated, interesting (most are quite talented at something). Certainly more preppy than earthy crunchy. There is a lot of school spirit which is evidenced in sports and community outreach. Beautiful compact campus and a three yr campus housing requirement go a long way in to building a tight knit community. Everybody is there together.
I visited Lafayette and Richmond with S last year. If you want to go straight into engineering, they are one of the few LAC with engineering. We both thought the vibe was incredibly friendly, with diversity of types of people (i.e., there was no “mold” so to speak). Lots of interdisciplinary opportunities. Quirky kids, regular kids, preppy kids… Area was cute.
Richmond, at first, seemed almost too picture perfect. Absolutely beautiful campus, surrounding a lake. The initial “vibe” seemed preppy but more ethically diverse than Lafayette. The faculty really stood out, particularly in the sciences. Lots of research opportunities. City of Richmond has lots more to offer than Easton area. S chose Richmond (mainly due to a unique major they had) and says he’s found everyone to be welcoming and he has a large friend group (he’s not “preppy”).
My D is a math major at St Olaf. I posted her impressions of St Olaf as a Vibe Report.
https://www.collegeconfidential.com/vibe/st-olaf-college/4129201.html
@liska21 thank you!!! It sounds awesome! When you say CS, do you mean computer science?
Asking because I am considering a math/CS double major or a math/physics double major.
That vibe sounds awesome. Are there any other schools your daughter visited that were similar to St.Olaf?
Yes, Cs= computer science
@equationlover Yes CS = computer science. My D is math/physics. Both departments are great. Math is very big and very active. There is a good summer research and school research program if you are thinking of grad school. It’s a mentorship program (meaning teaching you both research but all the other skills you need for grad school like writing papers for submission to journals, giving conference talks, writing research applications, etc).
Some more fyi re the vibe of St Olaf.
This is a very musical campus and there are recitals, concerts, operas, theater productions, all the time during the week and on weekend. If it sounds painful to spend 4 years around a significant number of people who think going to the student opera, symphony or a friend’s recital or being in said performance is the best kind of social life, then it’ll be a long 4 years. But if you like that kind of thing, then you’ll have multiple options many nights of the week!
This is a dry campus. Yes…people drink off-campus or in quiet gatherings with a small amount of alcohol in their room behind closed doors, but a lot of social life revolves around more quiet gatherings playing board games, watching a movie, singing, … or going to a friend’s music recital or play.
If you will not be in one of the musical groups or a sport team, then you’ll want to get involved with another group to develop a social circle in freshman year. It’s just the reality of a place where so many students are in “varsity sports”, except at St Olaf varsity sport=one of the many, many musical groups (choirs, symphonies, etc). My D is not musical, however she did Great Con and that provided an instant community of like-minded cerebral types and you all live together.
Only campus of these we spent time on was Dickinson, and my middle-of-the-road, not a big partier, but someone who wants to have a social life – loved it. Kids are nice, decent people – the kind of students your parents wanted you to be friends with in high school, because they were respectful, polite to adults and nice to younger kids. There is greek life at Dickinson, but does not appear to be overwhelming. From what we understand, places like St Olaf, Lafayette, and Richmond are similar in vibe.
Totally agree with @Midwestmomofboys assessment of Dickinson. Very friendly place. One of the places where people offered directions when we were looking lost rather than waiting til we asked. This moved way up the list for DS based on visits!