Williams vs Swat vs Midd

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Trying to narrow down my search...
Prospective economics major (plus a handful of math courses; I'd like to get a PhD in econ), pretty liberal, I love diversity (primarily racial diversity, but also socioeconomic and international diversity), I want to be in a rural area with outdoorsy activities (love skiing, hiking, kayaking, canoeing, etc), good food is always a plus, not too athletic (unless you factor in skiing/other activities listed above), intellectual and academic-oriented (but I still want a social life), small classes and access to professors, a little politically active, and a wide variety of students and clubs/activities (not just preppy lax bros or just intellects or just activists; a bit of everyone I guess)</p>

<p>Middlebury--used to be at the top of my list...I love Vermont, I'm attracted to the large percentage of international students, I like its size (approx. 1,000 more students than Swarthmore), an alum once told me that it has the quirkiest (in a good way) students of the top NESCAC schools (he said it's kind of like Carleton/not really uptight), but I'm concerned about its lack of racial diversity (as well as socioeconomic diversity), endowment not as high as other schools, founded on egalitarian principles--one of the first schools to graduate an African-American student, one of the first New England LACs to become coed</p>

<p>Williams--although PhD productivity isn't nearly as high as Swarthmore, it is higher than Midd; strong math and econ, seems to have more racial diversity than Middlebury, high endowment, I like the Berkshires a lot (a little less than Vermont but still up there)</p>

<p>Swarthmore--THE place to go for Econ PhD perspectives (I think Swat produces the most Econ PhDs), most intellectual, political activity seems reasonable (more than other schools but not as intense as Wesleyan or Oberlin), apparently has awful food and so/so dorms, don't love the location, might be too rigorous--I want a challenge and I am willing to work really hard, but I also want a social life (but I'm not interested in Greek life at all); seems like the honors program is incredibly cut-throat and I don't know if it's worth going to Swarthmore if I end up not doing the honors program, best diversity of the schools but I wish it had more students (like Williams and Midd)</p>

<p>Also--I don't like Amherst--it just doesn't seem like a warm/friendly place and I want an isolated/free-standing school (not interested in consortium), Wesleyan seems too radical, Vassar is too close to home (I live 20 min from NYC), but I am open to all opinions on the schools I like as well as any schools you think I should consider or reconsider. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>You just posted this in four different places… but I don’t see that you have actually asked a question. Plus, you have not actually gotten into any of them. I would suggest you apply to all three (plus some matches/safeties, not sure what your stats are), then come back when you have an actual choice to make. Your analysis looks pretty fair of each.</p>

<p>You have not given enough information on your stats for anyone to be able to recommend additional schools. Although I suspect from your post that you have already evaluated the usual suspects, so any additional suggestions will be met with reasons why you do not want to apply to those.</p>

3

<p>A - “I love diversity”</p>

<p>B - “I want to be in a rural area”</p>

<p>A & B aren’t exactly compatible.</p>

4

<p>int parent said it all, but nonetheless, this parent loved your informative post and you sound like my son and what he wants…well he does wish for columbia, not for columbia but to run around Manhattan. He needs a gap year, I think.</p>

<p>So, since your wants are the same, and the schools you’re applying are the same, what are your stats? my son refused to take the ACT more than once after i burnt him out in 10th grade with the SAT - got into Stanford EPGY OHS,…but since got burnt out and dropped his proof laden multivarable differential calculus course andAP physics which at Stanford High is far beyond what most US highschools’ AP pHysics is…</p>

<p>he kept his Chinese, but may actually get a C, after A’s in chinese at UNR two years ago.</p>

<p>so, his 750 Math Level II, and 770-34 Math SAT/ACT won’t matter…tons of rigor, more than most, but he’s fried it appears and I think might or might not excel in college…a bit busy with Youtube and Facebookk these days…he had beaucoup service till last year, the year that counted, he slacked…eagle scout , volunteer coach soccer, yada yada, teaching skiing at thre moment at a Tahoe resort. </p>

<p>he love humanities, history, philosophy, international relations and plans a math twist with the mathy Econ degree, like Princeton offers, or higher end Econ schools…for example, claremont mckenna is NOT regardless of waht they advertise they onlyrequire one semester of Calc, their sister school is better, Pomona, my son blew off their other sister school, harvey Mudd,where employers stand three deep offering them jobs…</p>

<p>at this rate, i don’t think h e’s getting in anywhere and he didn’t bother to contact them about interviews: a real black eye. no one’s getting into a Most Selective without some sort of interview.</p>

<p>OMG, this is horrid. so many, many disapppointed college bound kids, and then how aobut the graduates who cannot pay their college debt. not good. I digress again.</p>

5

<p>Re: socioeconomic diversity</p>

<p>High ranking LACs are not particularly diverse socioeconomically, based on percentage of Pell Grant using students (from families up to about the bottom 40% of household income, which is higher than the $20,000 that USNews lists):</p>

<p>[Economic</a> Diversity Among the Top 25 Ranked Schools | Rankings | Top National Liberal Arts Colleges | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/economic-diversity-among-top-ranked-schools]Economic”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/economic-diversity-among-top-ranked-schools)</p>

6

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<p>Actually, AWS have higher percentages of Pell grant recipients (22, 20 and 15%, respectively) than do HYP (19, 15, and 12%, respectively). And the former Seven Sisters (Smith 27%,Vassar 23%, Bryn Mawr 22%, Wellesley 21%) collectively outshine the Ivies on this score (Columbia 29%, Harvard 19%, Cornell 17%, Dartmouth 16%, Brown 16%, Penn 16%, Yale 15%, Princeton 12%).</p>

<p>For all the talk about how generous the Ivies are to low-income students, they don’t seem to enroll many of them.</p>

7

<p>Doing better than HYP in socioeconomic diversity is not a particularly great achievement. Then again, most “top” schools do not do particularly well in this respect.</p>