Hi!
Junior here, looking mainly at LACs because of the small classes and closer attention. However, a lot of smaller schools can feel isolating, especially if you’ve grown up in a big city. My top choice right now is Wellesley, for several reasons, including being right near Boston and close to other colleges.
I was wondering what other liberal arts colleges everyone would recommend that meet this sort of criteria (aside from Barnard).
Amherst and Mount Holyoke, part of the 5 College Consortium.
Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore in Philadelphia
Claremont College consortium
Universities that have some LAC like qualities: U Richmond, Wake Forest, Brandeis, Holy Cross
Being part of a consortium make smaller colleges bigger in that you have more course choices, more clubs, more plays and concerts and speakers showing up on campuses.
In addition to Mount Holyoke, Smith is about the same size as Wellesley.
Wellesley is a fair hike from Boston proper. Lovely campus but I’d check on the logistics of actually getting into Boston and, maybe more importantly, back.
As mentioned above, Bryn Mawr would be worth checking out.
+1 to Bryn Mawr
You may want to consider some suburban based LACs with transportation available to the town like Lewis and Clark in Portland OR.
Hamilton used to be two colleges of distinct characteristics, and consequently now offers campus neighborhoods that create variety in living and dining options. However, it would not be suitable for you if proximity to a large city predominates over your other selection criteria.
You might want to look at Macalester. Wesleyan is a bit bigger than some LACs and Middletown feels a little more like a town than a village. And as several have said, BMC might be worth a look. Vassar is not particularly close to NYC but doesn’t feel as remote as some of the others.
Tufts is not a LAC but it is on the small side for a research university and has easy access to Boston. It could be what you are looking for.
It sounds like many of the more rural options are not good options.
With respect to your preference for proximity to a city, these Newsweek articles could be helpful:
https://www.newsweek.com/25-most-desirable-urban-schools-71889
https://www.newsweek.com/25-most-desirable-suburban-schools-71867
Trinity, Dickinson, Union, Vassar? You could also consider small universities such as Brandeis, CWRU, and URochester.
If you are really most interested in small classes, UChicago limits the size of many of the core classes to 19 students. Depending upon your major, you could have very few larger classes.
As far as LACs go, the Claremont Colleges (Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Scripps, Pitzer) campus and shared resources are the most impressive to me. Modeled after Oxford and Cambridge, you can make your environment as small as an LAC up to a mid-size university environment.
If you don’t want a small campus, don’t rule out smaller research universities. LACs don’t have a monopoly on small class size.
Colgate and Tufts (more the small university vs lac outside of sports)
Based on your prior posts, I think that it would help to know your SAT score & whether or not you have your anxiety under control & whether your grades have improved.
Also, any career goals ?
What do you want to study ?
What activities do you enjoy ?
Do you need significant financial aid or are you a full pay applicant ?
US citizen ?
Do you prefer a low stress environment ?
Since you mentioned Wellesley & Barnard, it seems as though you might be most comfortable at an all female school.
Consider Scripps College in Claremont, California. While it has just about 1,050 students, it is part of a consortium of 5 schools (Pomona College, Claremont McKenna College, Pitzer College, Harvey Mudd College & Scripps College).
If co-ed is okay, then consider Lewis & Clark College in the suburbs of liberal Portland, Oregon.
Mount Holyoke College might be of interest to you.
Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs as well.
Macalester seems like a perfect match for your criteria.
“LAC feeling too small” may also be the result of choosing a major which is very small at the college (few upper level courses offered, a single digit number of majors whom you see in every course, etc.).
Agree about Macalester. Rhodes in Memphis also has an urban setting.
Note that some of the LACs recommended place toward the low end when considered by campus acreage. Bryn Mawr, at 135 acres, offers about a quarter the size of larger LAC options, and Macalester, at 53 acres, about a tenth.