<p>weskid - I would make the same argument for any of the unique, branded, self-selected, American college experiences. One can go to Harvard as a fifty-year old post-grad and still “get” the essential Harvard experience; part of what makes these other colleges – many of them LACs – special, is that they can’t be duplicated later in one’s life. Among them, in no particular order, I would include: Wesleyan, Williams, Swarthmore, Amherst, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Bates, Colorado College, Davidson, Washington & Lee, Connecticut College, Trinity College (CT), Oberlin, Carleton, Colgate, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Colby, and Reed.</p>
<p>You can always go to graduate school if you decide you need a fancy terminal degree (which is why so few universities make my list.) But, you’re only a tween once in your life.</p>