<p>can anyone share their views on connecticut college? How is over all standard. Any pros and cons.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help</p>
<p>Perhaps you should try asking your questions over on the Connecticut College thread.</p>
<p>Conn College was on D2’s list of schools to visit. We were favorably impressed. I believe the academics are strong. It’s a beautiful campus and one thing that was interesting to me was that students get a stipend from the university when they are doing an internship (unless it’s a paid internship). Also, my D was interested in an exchange program that the college had with the National Theater Institute. In the end, however, my D thought the school was too much like her high school (a little too preppy). She also wanted to be in an urban area–while Conn College isn’t in the middle of farmland, New London, CT didn’t seem that interesting to her.</p>
<p>It’s an excellent LAC in an attractive non-urban location. It has a couple things working against it: like Vassar and Goucher, it is a former women’s college that went co-ed long ago but still has some trouble attracting boys. Unlike Vassar (and like Goucher), it was not one of the “Seven Sisters”, so it doesn’t have Vassar’s historical academic cachet. It is a member of NESCAC, which means that it has good athletic opponents and decent sports culture/school spirit, and also that some of the academic sparkle from other NESCAC members rubs off.</p>
<p>JHS, it also means that if you have a son applying, he may get a tiny “boost” because he’s a boy.</p>
<p>My son strongly favored it two years ago, but was accepted ED elsewhere. They have a terrific science program which I didn’t know about until we visited. They seemed to give lots of attention to each student, which is not the case at most schools.</p>
<p>3 of us attended a campus visit and did not like Conn. college at all, although the campus is really pretty. This is an expensive college yet the classrooms we saw have metal chairs and tacky desks that are worse than most high schools. They are extremely liberal and have an honor code (one of the few colleges in the nation) where the students police themselves and run things. I would like a little more structure for such a high priced tuition. Open house was a huge cattle call-hoards of people rushing to keep up with single tour guides who did not know how to project their voices very well. They said no appointment was needed for the open house, you just show up. Typical of the laid back attitude in my book. I like planned open houses where the tour guide ratio is not so lopsided–every other college we visited was more impressive than this one. I do think they have a lot to offer for biology majors, beautiful arboreteum across the street and academically it is strong, but as far as my daughter’s major was concerned, they didn’t even include the buildings she wanted to see on the tour. As I said though, these were just our first impressions since my daughter won’t be visiting it again.</p>
<p>Many colleges have honor codes and are much more liberal than CT College. It is more preppy than many LAC’s. Academics are strong, but social life was too preppy for either of my kids.</p>
<p>However, if your child leans toward the preppy side it might be a good fit.</p>
<p>My friend who attended has done remarkably well in life.</p>
<p>My very limited experience is through a friend (old lady like me) who went there undergraduate. She got a good education (is currently an envi sci professor at a top-20 institution) but said she didn’t really bond with the other kids and didn’t like New London. Just one alumna’s opinion. . .</p>
<p>In the college search, my D made this transformation from wanting a big city school to preferring an LAC environment. We checked out Conn, and she really loved the quaint campus (you can catch a glimpse of the Long Island Sound from one part). She liked the cohesive feel of the light stone buildings in an intimate setting. Academically, the school emphasizes its interdisciplinary approach, and it seems there is plenty of advising and individual attention. In particular, my D, who is interested in foreign languages/economics, felt she could put together a good program here.</p>
<p>The main drawback for her was what others have mentioned: the general preppy feeling of the campus. She is a very creative, artsy type(in fact, today, as she left for school, she was wearing some outfit combined with a straw hat)! She was concerned that she would not be able to express herself as readily as in other campus environments she had visited, but this did not stop her from wanting to apply to Conn and possibly attend. In the end, she was accepted to another school ED, so the app never went out.</p>