“Odd sports to choose for the formula in post #8 link. No football, soccer, basketball?”
I think that link just shows the spring sports.
Football is weird, because NESCAC doesn’t send it’s teams to the national tournament because it takes too much time out of academics. So even though Amherst has won the NESCAC football title three years in a row, it doesn’t get any directors cup points for that.
There is no dispute about the top two teams in NESCAC. There is an objective annual ranking for this. As mentioned above, the Directors Cup ranks the teams each year. Williams has won the Cup 19 times. Middlebury has won it once. It’s only been going on for twenty-one years. No other NESCAC team has ever won. Middlebury has finished second six times (more than any other school in division 3), third three times, fourth three times, and fifth three times. Amherst, the next closest NESCAC, has finished second once, third once, fourth five times, and fifth twice.
Middlebury has also won 33 National Championships since 1994 when the NESCAC lifted its ban on post-season play. That’s the most NCAA championships in the NESCAC.
NESCAC is the dominant conference in division three and Williams and Middlebury are the dominant teams.
Williams and Middlebury are not the dominant teams in every sport, however.
Agree with the ranks in #4, but would place Conn ahead of Trinity. At least in my community, Trinity has the rep of a good school, but kind of the safety for boarding school/prep school kids.
So I guess the answer to OP’s question re: athletics is, “it depends on the sport”.
Some Distinguishing Qualities (no order)
Williams: Refuses to apologize for its isolated location – that’s a good thing.
Amherst: Excellent academics with access to a consortium. Area-wide collegiate gender balance can distort social interactions. Unremarkable campus in comparison to some of its peers.
Wesleyan: Progressive. Good vegan food. Interesting alumni. Aspects of progressive history may not have been supported by sound sociological principles. Lacks traditional quads.
Bates: Founded by early abolitionists under severe regional opposition. This aspect of their history may extend to their present-day environment.
Colby: Near perfect LAC size. Colleges smaller than this may sacrifice either athletics or curricular breadth; larger schools may sacrifice the feel of a true LAC.
Hamilton: Benefits from the curricular, architectural, spatial and, to some extent, cultural legacy of having been two colleges. Has a balanced curriculum, but is also a writers’ college. Former fraternity houses are now beautiful residence halls. Football team is striving to recapture past mediocrity.
Yes and whether its mens or womens. If the sport in question were crew, lacrosse or squash, or something else the answer would be very different.
@merc81
Isn’t Colby’s size about the same as Bates, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Amherst- just under 2,000?
Regarding Williams and isolation, I thought Hamilton seemed more isolated than Williams
@wisteria100 you are correct in that they are all about the same size. Williams is more isolated in that it is farther from any sort of urban area. Hamilton is close to Utica and I-90 and not too far from Syracuse whereas Williams is closest (via back roads and an hour drive) to Albany and is not close to any major highways.
Academics:
Now figuring out how big the difference is between 1 and 11 is a tougher task, probably. I would venture that a student could get quite an excellent education at
Conn College.
@wisteria100 : These excellent colleges (#25) have overlapping aspects. My remarks about each could have varied, particularly depending on the length of the description.
Though Colby cannot technically be distinguished by its enrollment size, its size is one of an array of qualities that contribute to the school’s quintessentially NESCAC approach to education.
While Hamilton’s setting offers beautiful rural aspects, the college overlooks the Erie Canal corridor and has been influenced directly and indirectly by the canal’s historical importance (associated railroad lines, etc.). For current students who want access to suburban amenities, the college’s Jitney runs regularly to a nearby mall and cinema. It appears visitors to Clinton may not typically take the Utica exit, however, so initial impressions may be based on that.
With respect to Williams, I think their location is great. However, Williamstown is isolated in a way that Clinton is not.
It appears visitors to Clinton may not typically take the Utica exit, however, so initial impressions may be based on that.
I definitely did not take the Utica exit!
@wisteria100 : That explains some of the comments I’ve read on CC. Clinton is only 9 miles from Utica (population ~62,000) and only 5 miles from an 80-store mall. Charming Clinton itself has a fair amount of stores and restaurants, though even this area is bypassed by initial visitors who choose the least-trafficked interstate exit.
I think the OP needs to provide clarity around what “best” means. Tufts is not a LAC, but s midsized research university so it’s tough to compare it to the others in a general sense. Only 2 offer engineering. If that is part of the criteria, the answer is different from a discussion about foreign language programs, for example. Ditto for sports. If you’re a squash player, you already know abut Trinity’s dominance is that sport whereas Tufts men’s lax and women’s softball have had amazing runs for the last several years. But neither is a swimming powerhouse… Are you interested in selectivity? These are a great schools but I suspect that few kids would be happy at all of them if they had that option.
This is a key point. A number of NESCACs are at the top their class insofar as certain constituencies are concerned. A film student, for example, wouldn’t necessarily pick Williams over Wesleyan nor would someone wanting a beautful, rustic campus necessarily pick Amherst over Hamilton.
Williams has managed to maintain its dominance, but this year was first time in the last three years that Middlebury made the top 5 for the Directors Cup. Both Tufts and Amherst have been ranked higher than Middlebury two of the last three years.
In 2015, NESCAC had 8 teams break the top 100. Bates had its best year ever rising up to #27, Trinity had a good year at #41 and Hamilton broke the top 100 at #96.
In 2014, NESCAC had nine teams break the top 100 with Trinity at #62, Conn College at #94 and Colby at #100
@OHMomof2- There is a separate report for each season, Football, Soccer, Basketball and Swimming are included in the appropriate season. Men’s Crew is not. Men’s Crew may be omitted to balance the number of Men’s and Women’s sports (I didn’t actually count the number of each). Here are the reports for the fall and winter seasons:
There is a corresponding ranking for D1 as well. The Ivy League schools tend not to break into the top 50:
@circuitrider Nor would a pre-med necessarily pick Williams over Bates or Bowdoin.
@Mastadon don’t make it sound like Middlebury had tumbled during those two years. This year marked the 13th straight year that Middlebury finished in the top ten. During those two years outside the top five Middlebury was 7th and 10th. This year marked the first time Tufts made it into the top five. Middlebury steadily remains the second top athletic program in both the NESCAC and Division III.
@Mastodon thanks for the links. Some differences depending on the season.
all I know is Colby has a really shaky men’s ice hockey program since new coach.