Which LACs would be right for me?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I applied Early to an Ivy League school, and am mostly interested in similar mid-sized universities, but have decided to submit applications to 2-3 Liberal Arts Colleges should I get deferred/rejected.</p>

<p>My high school is very rigorous and well-respected. Naviance records suggest that, based on GPA/SATs, I will be a competitive applicant at the top LACs.</p>

<p>So, what LACs would best map to the following type of student?
-Loves to learn about everything (sciences, humanities, languages etc.) and loves having deep, intellectual conversations with people of different backgrounds. More a "thinker" than a "doer," somebody not solely concerned with the career that will follow college.
-Not terribly into partying. Doesn't mind if it's there, so long as its not the only means of socialization.
-Resents cutthroat environments. Would prefer a place where people don't talk about grades.
-Would prefer not be in the middle of nowhere. But not necessarily a dealbreaker.
-Will probably major in the sciences. Favorite subjects are math/chemistry/computer science. Most likely career is computer science. But, again, loves the humanities.
-Would like to get to know teachers well.
-Wants to meet people of different socioeconomic/ethnic/geographic backgrounds.
-Ideally, will remain on the East Coast. But a plane ride isn't a dealbreaker.
-This might be tautological, but wants to be around really nice kids. Welcoming environment.</p>

<p>Assuming money and credentials are not limiting factors, which of the top, say, twenty LACS would people recommend I look into?</p>

2

<p>Apart from the East Coast, and not rural things, Oberlin sounds like a LAC you should investigate, especially if you like Brown University. </p>

<p>Some other suggestions from the top of my head:
-Carleton College
-Pomona College (other side of the country, but not really like most other LACs owing to the proximity of the other Claremont Colleges)
-Wesleyan University
-Bucknell University (sounds more preprofessional and possibly more greek than you’d like, but it has an excellent focus on a variety of STEM fields. Fantastic professor student interaction as well)</p>

<p>These LACs all reject more than 2/3rds of applicants. These schools, especially Pomona and Carleton, are not safeties regardless of your financial situation or academic standing. If you don’t already have a safety or two, get on that. </p>

3

<p>I think most of the top 20 small LACs would fulfill a good portion of your requirements. Williams is particularly good in sciences with opportunities to double major or at least take advantage of the excellent humanities and social sciences. “Middle of nowhere” is somewhat subjective, but for sure it’s rural with an outdoorsy, nature oriented bent. Three world class museums on or near campus. Wonderful interaction with faculty (which you’d find at many LACs). Happy, confident, intellectually curious kids.The entry residence arrangement encourages ready-made social interaction from Day One.</p>

4

<p>I second Williams</p>

5

<p>Macalester
Haverford </p>

6

<p>Hampshire. Bates. While I think Williams is in a class of its own, both academically and otherwise, it is my opinion that it is too secluded.</p>

7

<p>Computer Science is the rub. Most LACs don’t have the comprehensive offerings of a large university, so most upper level courses are taken on an independent study basis. In contrast, Pomona and Claremont McKenna students have access to classes at Harvey Mudd, which has an excellent CS curriculum. As the schools are adjacent to one another, it is much easier to take classes among them than in a traditional consortium.</p>

<p>You might want to look into Carnegie Mellon and Johns Hopkins. These schools are not LACs, but offer robust liberal arts communities alongside excellent science-based curricula. JHU has a top rated English department and CMU has the Dietrich School of Liberal Arts that offers interdisciplinary study.</p>

<p>As for LACs, if you are willing to pursue CS on a more independent basis, I would recommend Swarthmore for the type of atmosphere you are seeking, one of intellectual engagement both in and out of the classroom. I would also look at Amherst, which benefits from a consortium, though not as convenient as Pomona. I believe that the fraternity culture at Wesleyan and Bucknell would make them a less certain fit. </p>

8

<p>Amherst College is nearly adjacent to UMass-Amherst
(<a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/visiting/map”>https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/visiting/map&lt;/a&gt;).
UMass has a respected CS department (#25 in the USNWR ranking of CS graduate programs).
However, Amherst’s own CS offerings are quite limited.</p>

<p>Only about 4% of Wesleyan men belong to fraternities, so I don’t think that factor should be a show-stopper (though I’m not saying it’s necessarily a great fit in other respects).</p>

<p>If you’re looking for good backstops in case the Ivies (or peer universities) don’t work out, then your sweet spot might be a little lower than the USNWR top 20. Amherst is about as selective as some of the Ivies. Check out Oberlin and Macalester. </p>

9

<p>The five college consortium that includes Amherst and UMass Amherst might be a consideration…</p>

10

<p>If you want these schools as “safety” schools if you get deferred/rejected from Ivy schools then I’d take out schools like Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore etc. that are just as difficult to get into as Ivy schools (and probably look for a history of demonstrated interest as well). Perhaps Macalester, if you are female maybe Barnard, (and some other women’s colleges), and Haverford, could be options of strong LACs in or near urban areas.</p>

11

<p>@happy1 I could swear that both Amherst and Williams do not track demonstrated interest, however you are very accurately portraying the difficulty of gaining admission, both are very selective. I almost suggested Haverford myself. With bico / trico and the Quaker consortium you will have tremendous resources. I was so impressed with the student honors theses that were done there, even more so that you could choose a UPenn or Bryn Mawr prof to do the work with. The Quaker roots may work better for some people, I know the mentality there struck a chord with my D Not in the middle of nowhere, but very suburban. Mac would clearly be a safety…</p>

12

<p>Macalester has a 33% admit rate, 1400 avg CR+M for admitted students, and COA pushing $60K. So it wouldn’t be a safety for too many applicants. Worth a look, though.</p>

13

<p>@Singersdad‌ - you may well be correct about Williams and Amherst not tracking demonstrated interest – I have no firsthand knowledge of those schools criteria which is why I I used “probably”. I put in that comment because my D applied to primarily LACs (but not Williams and Amherst) and the vast majority of them did track demonstrated interest so in general I think it is more common for a LAC to put some weight on that as compared to a larger university.</p>

14

<p>“Assuming money and credentials are not limiting factors…”</p>

<p>Money and credentials are the biggest limiting factors in creating a solid app list. </p>

<p>–Are you 100% positive you can cover your typical Expected Family Contribution (when you run the Net Price Calculators)?<br>
–What are your stats? </p>

<p>It’s good to have your assumptions checked, every now and then.</p>

15

<p>Might look at Holy Cross-good academics, great science program, and unlike most LAC’s Holy Cross has nice location 1 hour from Boston.</p>

16

<p>Holy Cross’ CS courses are rather limited, with most being offered only once every two years.
<a href=“http://academics.holycross.edu/mathcs/courses”>http://academics.holycross.edu/mathcs/courses&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>As noted above, many LACs have rather limited advanced CS offerings, but some have cross registration agreements with research universities with a greater selection of advanced CS offerings. The five college consortium that includes UMass is a pretty good way to study at one of the LACs, but have the option of increased offerings at UMass, as well as access to the UMass career center (an advantage since recruiters may prefer to use their recruiting trips on big schools over tiny schools). If you are female, Barnard’s arrangement with Columbia is also convenient (and two of the LACs in the five college consortium with UMass are women’s schools).</p>

<p>Some LACs do have decent CS offerings on their own, but you have to look in the course catalogs and schedules to check that out.</p>

<p>For math, if you are super-advanced in math (i.e. will complete more advanced math than calculus BC in high school), then the availability of graduate level math courses may be important to you, in which case LACs that have cross registration with research universities would be favored (similar to the CS situation).</p>

17

<p>@ucbalumnus‌, Computer Science at Wesleyan suffers from the same criticism as at other LACs. However, the Math and Physics programs are superlative, with doctoral-level course work available for those who qualify. I think Wesleyan is the only LAC in the country that runs its own graduate programs in so many STEM departments.</p>

<p>Middletown itself, while not entirely rural, has a tendency to shut down earlier than many Wesleyan students would like. OTOH, if your child is not a late night partier, it should not matter. Incidentally, the term, “fraternities” will be obsolete in a few years because of university mandated coeducation of same, but, even so, they have only a supporting role in student life as a whole. Wesleyan’s housing system creates lots of venues for entertainment.</p>

18

<p>If you are looking for LACs that you might consider should you not be admitted to the mid-sized universities to which you applied, you’re going to want LACs that are less selective than those universities. I’m guessing that the majority of LACs that were suggested - while fantastic - are probably just as selective as the places to which you applied. I think you actually want to look outside the top 20 if you are looking for places that might be matches or safeties.</p>

<p>On the East Coast, you might want to seek out Bucknell, Lafayette, Skidmore (kind of remote, but not far from Albany), Franklin & Marshall, Bard, Connecticut College, Trinity College (both of these close-ish to Yale). </p>

<p>If the Claremont Colleges appeal to you, then Pitzer is the least competitive of them - well-regarded, still would have access to cross-registration at Harvey Mudd, but not quite as difficult to get into as Claremont McKenna or Pomona. There’s also Occidental, in LA, and Whitman College, in Washington state.</p>

<p>If the Midwest is okay, then St. Olaf (close to Macalester! and not too far from the Twin Cities), Kalamazoo, and Beloit might appeal.</p>

<p>Down South, there’s Furman University, in SC. The University of Richmond, in VA, might also appeal - but I think they have a heavy emphasis on business.</p>

<p>I don’t think you would have to take upper-level computer science classes as “independent studies” at an LAC, depending on the kind of LAC it was. Especially not a top LAC like Swarthmore or Haverford. LACs have fewer comprehensive offerings than a large university, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have enough to keep the average CS major busy until graduation. All departments have a certain sequence of major classes that you have to take; the sequence plus the fact that you have to take general education and divisional requirements means that most majors will take, at most, around 4-6 upper-level elective classes (by which I mean 300-level and higher). By my count, Swarthmore has about 15 classes above the equivalent of the 300 level there. Amherst offers about 10. Colby offers about 13. Some of them do have far fewer, though (like St. Olaf’s), so you would just have to check out the course catalog and see what’s offered.</p>

19

<p>@juillet, I just want to point out that Pitzer’s 2014 acceptance rate was 13%, as compared to about 12% for Pomona and CMC. </p>

20

<p>Bowdoin! Pros: great food, great academics, nice/collaborative student body. Cons: 15% acceptance rate, weather.</p>