Long story short, I got into a nasty argument with my parents last night about college options when it comes to ED’ing. My parents said they’re not willing to foot the bill for an LAC if I ED unless it’s Williams or Amherst. They will be willing to pay the bill for these LACs if I don’t get into other “better” schools, whatever that means. We will be getting some need-based aid, but not a ton. They say that colleges like Hamilton, Haverford, and Bates (ones I am considering ED’ing) are no one’s first choice schools if they can get into better schools and that I’m being too selfish (which is essentially the point of college search isn’t it? they’re not the ones going to college, I am). I haven’t been able to visit the latter two, but tagged along with a friend on a select Saturday visit to Hamilton and really liked the school and the friendly vibe there. I also really like all that I’ve read about Bates and Haverford. Their prestige-obsessed mindset is IMO completely ridiculous unsubstantiated BS and so I’d like some anecdotal evidence to prove them wrong. Thanks in advance.
I can’t do what you asked for, but maybe this will help:
- Show your parents the article from the featured thread on the left side of this page: “Stanford Researcher: Ignore the rankings.”
- Show your parents data from your preferred colleges about alumni jobs/outcomes, and some famous alumni. Compare to W and A. They will see that students from Haverford, Hamilton and Bates do very well.
- Explore the US News ranking system and what goes into it. The actual statistical differences between the schools you like and the tippy-tops on that list are very, very tiny. There is not really a big difference between them in quality. They are substantially the same and the quality of education and the talent of the student body will be similar. Further down the list, it is true that the overall campus experience, due to the student body, would start to be different. I am not saying a bright kid could not get a good education at a much lower ranked college or would not find some other super-bright kids there, but the peer group would indeed be different on average. But if what your parents want for you is for you to be with the best of the best, all the colleges you named will do that!
- Can your guidance counselor speak with your parents to provide another perspective?
Also, you might like Amherst or Williams! My kid chose Williams but also loved Hamilton and Bates and Amherst. I think that he would have been happy at any of those… and, for that matter, I think that a kid who likes Haverford, Hamilton, and Bates would like Williams and Amherst.
Good luck.
It’s not much in reality, but this Forbes article, “10 Expensive Colleges Worth Every Penny,” includes schools such as Amherst, Williams and Hamilton, and therefore might be of some interest to your parents, at least with respect to the specific concern they’ve expressed: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliesportelli/2017/04/26/10-expensive-colleges-worth-every-penny-2017/. Hamilton, fwiw, registers the highest early career earnings among the ten NESCAC LACs (followed by Williams and Amherst), a figure that can be tracked through the U.S. News entries for these schools, e.g. https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/hamilton-college-2728.
The excellent Haverford, not incidentally, has few academic peers nationally.
If your plan is grad school show them the outcomes from Williams, Amherst and Haverford.
Have you visited Williams and Amherst? Can you visit Haverford, with your parents?
During my kids search Haverford and Amherst were my favourite colleges by far.
The way you describe your situation it’s not clear how your parents expect you to ED at Williams or Amherst. The implication is that they already see these two schools as inferior to somewhere else. My assumption would be that they expect you to do ED somewhere else ( let’s say Harvard because that seems to be the one most fixate on). What happens if you don’t get into Williams or Amherst ED?
Good luck.
Don’t you have a thread asking the same about Hamilton? Since you mention Bates, I’ll address that. Our guide at Bates chose it over U Penn. My D’s friend chose Bates over Bowdoin.
But it sounds like your parents are more concerned about you wanting to attend an LAC over a research U. Please don’t assume that LACs are easier to get into than research U’s. Bates’ acceptance rate this year was 18% and is going to be lower next year, because they had a very high yield and are over-enrolled by 10%. I can’t speak to the others you listed, but Bates has a very high acceptance rate to med school and grad school. Bates is currently #1 in the nation for Fulbright scholars amongst all LACs. Bates was awarded 23 grants, while Princeton was awarded 25. Given that Bates has only abut 1900 students, that’s quite an achievement.
Your parents should understand that the people who need to know, know about LACs. You are not going to be at a disadvantage in life because you attend an LAC over a research U.
@Lindagaf Do you know for a fact that Bates is going to target a smaller freshman class for next year because this year they are overenrolled? A lot of colleges deal with over enrollment by not taking many transfers and allowing more upperclassmen to live off campus to free up dorm space for freshmen, vs cutting the size of the new freshman class
Send your parents here to College Confidential and have them create a post. We’ll set them straight. 
@wisteria100 , I’ll message you. Don’t want to derail the thread. I know a person who is very close to the horse’s mouth, lol!
Ironically, parents that are “prestige obsessed” can direct their children downward in some cases. If they’re serious about this, they should at least be sure that the schools they’d prefer for you are on par with the LACs they’d rather you overlook. This analysis based on standardized scoring will give them some idea as to how universities and LACs compare academically (note that the figures posted reflect an earlier version of the exam, however): https://amp.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9.
A few years ago one of our top students selected Haverford over other highly selective schools. It seems like an amazing school. Were your parents attendees of state schools? I got a liberal arts education where my husband did not;he is in a technical field and feels like a LA degree is a bit wasteful. I disagree–I think it helps build who you become in life, which involves so much more than a job. Good luck!
The OP hasn’t said anything AGAINST Williams or Amherst. Doesn’t appear that he/she’s even visited these schools or has any opinions about them. If OP ends up liking either of these through campus visits as much as others, the current standoff would be over with.
I know Haverford students who chose Haverford over Columbia, University of Chicago, Penn, Duke, Northwestern, Berkeley, Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Wellesley, Claremont McKenna, lots of Wesleyan and Vassar and Hamilton, and the list goes on. But you aren’t going to find many Haverford students on these boards flaunting which schools they turned down because they tend to be pretty humble.
My son’s first choice was Haverford. He loves it there. He was a top student at a private college prep high school. He had top grades, great ECs with awards, and very high standardized test scores.
My daughter didn’t even apply to Williams after 2 visits. According to the Princeton review, the students are less happy than at most of the other NESCACS.
She turned down Bates(sob), Hamilton(dumpy town), middlebury(gasp), Smith with a boatload of cash. Haverford was her second choice and she’s very happy there now. She loves the student involvement(honor code), really nice student body, not status obsessed, beautiful campus with access to a city, her profs, and the de-emphasis on grades.
She was wait-listed at Amherst and Wesleyan but didn’t accept spots on the list because she thought she’d be happier at Haverford.
@OldbatesieDoc: I’ve never heard anyone who’s visited Clinton refer to it as dumpy. Have you really seen the village?
@OldbatesieDoc : If she found Clinton dumpy, may I ask what she thought of Lewiston, Maine? As a concerned parent, you may want to compare the relative crime rates of Clinton, NY and Lewiston, ME.
I thought Clinton was a cute little town, albeit very small and not really walkable from the Hamilton campus.
The comment about Williams is interesting too, as Princeton review has it #14 on the list of most loved colleges based on student reviews
This recent NBC video, though hockey-centric, captures some of the history and character of Clinton: https://www.nbcsports.com/video/clinton-arena-2018-kraft-hockeyville-has-long-ice-hockey-history.
You may want to add that Haverford, while wonderful in and of itself, also gives you access to several other top institutions–UPenn, Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr.
Haverford also has a high mid-career average pay of $130K, as opposed to Amherst’s $123K, and is on part with Williams’ $135K (according to payscale’s college ranking by ROI)
Yes yes I am from upstate NY. and I would never choose Bates for Lewiston, except it does give you a large population to practice charity on…I chose Bates for the people, and the “let’s make the world a better place vibe”!