flowers & 3am's

Hi, I'm a transfer student and I'd like to hear any opinions on Beloit College (WI) versus Clark University (MA).

I'm interested in psychology and philosophy. I am leaning toward medical school for psychiatry (which means, of course, that it would help to attend a college that is also good in sciences). However, I am also considering research in social psychology or ethics.

Here is my limited point of view so far:

Clark is lower ranked, but has an especially reputable psych dept that seems to offer a lot in the field. Clark also seems to offer many more classes, so I could possibly take more classes in things I like. I don't know if this matters though, because how many classes will I get the chance to take if I enter as a junior? Also, Clark has this thing where a student can get a free fifth year for a masters if she/he has a high gpa. I don't really know if I could do that, but that would be cool if I could apply for med or grad school with a psych masters already under my belt.

Beloit is higher ranked and also seems to be rising in prestige. This makes me wonder if I'd find more friends at Beloit, as they might be more like-minded/academic. Beloit, despite not offering as many classes as Clark, has a major called Health and Society that seems to be a really good combination of what I'm interested in (though Clark has an Ethics and Public Policy concentration that I'd probably do if I attended, at Beloit I'd have a predeveloped major that I could move around in more easily). However, I don't know if a limited class offering will make things annoying for me. Beloit also is only undergraduate (Clark has grad students), so I wonder if I'd get more individual attention there. Both schools are small though, under 3,000 students.

I don't know much about the towns of either, except that neither have much and both are cold.

Here is what I prefer socially:

Tight knit community/future best friends.
Smart, socially aware peers.
Students who are enthusiastic and active in the school.
Really involved profs and advisers.

Here is what I'd like to avoid:

A party school.
Cliquey students.

Please help. I'm sorry if anything I said offends students or alumni, but this is just my summary of the schools in comparision to one another. If I am wrong on any counts, I'm happy to hear why!

THANKS!!!

lollypop39

I don’t know much about Clark but I can tell you about Beloit College. First, Beloit has small class sizes and the professors are easy to get along with. They are so knowledgeable in their areas and open to talk to students, even if you’re not their student. I’m a McNair Scholar and my mentor is a professor I randomly met and held a conversation with and noticed we had a lot in common. Now, I stop by her office all the time. I have yet to take one of her classes. That’s just how Beloit is. The students make things happen here. Like, we saw a problem with Diversity and we banned together and from our efforts the administrations renovated our Intercultural center, created a Director of Multicultural Affairs, and are drafting a Diversity Plan and Diversity website. There’s a big activism spirit on campus. We’ve hosted a few protest and many students go to protests. When activist and human rights organizers come to campus; their events are well attended. We also create majors. The heath and society major and the environmental studies majors were created out of student interests, as well as our Women and Gender studies. The community is very tight knit, esp. since it’s so small. People are really friendly here and it’s easy to talk to anyone. Like, I always find myself getting into random conversations with random people about politics, current events, activism, or anything. There’s over 100 clubs and a lot of people make friends from there. Funny story, one time I was hosting an event for Black History Month with a black folk blues singer. I was so inspired by his songs that I wanted to sing blues. There was a guy there I had never seen before and I asked him if he played guitar. He said yes. I said, let’s make blues. So we got together at my friends place. Called our friends and had a blues singing session for three hours. That’s totally Beloit. I hope I helped.