kangaroobro

I'm going to Marlboro in the fall! I hope that it changes my life.

francie12

My son is in the process of getting his life changed at St Olaf. He is a sophomore and loves it, has grown in unexpected directions (discovered a love of Latin, been accepted to teach at Explo this summer, made many new friends). He has found professors he admires, respects and will most likely emulate. He will fulfill a passion that began in the 2nd grade by traveling to Greece during Interim next year. He checked out St Olaf after reading CTCL, and it clicked immediately for him.

jmnva06

I am a graduate of Beloit and it did change my life. As others have noted, the experience was about learning to think and developing strong research skills. I did a independent study as a senior and the one on one time I got with my professor was invaluable. Plus the experience of living with other interesting intelligent folks was amazing.

When my daughter was looking we really only looked at small liberal arts schools. We used CTCL as a starting point. When we visited Beloit, it felt very comfortable to her and she will be attending there in the fall.

englishjw

After reading about the CTCL schools, we added one to our son's college search. The college was Ursinus. While he ultimately decided on a different (similar) school, the entire experience at and with everyone at Ursinus was wonderful. We (son, wife and I) were all convinced that attending this particular CTCL school would have led to significant positive change. We were very impressed.

bopambo

Before our son started looking at colleges a friend recommended the CTCL book. Both my husband and I had attended large state flagship universities, so this small liberal arts college idea was new and intriguing. In our college search we traveled near and far, visiting the large and the small, we kept returning to the small.

H and I had spent our first two years of college largely in humungous survey classes, they certainly paled in comparison to the small discussion/writing based classes S sat in on at the liberal arts colleges. The campuses were small and relationships intimate, with fellow students and with faculty.

We spent a day at UC Berkeley, sitting in on an upper level psychology class with 150 other people. The teacher was world renown and the lecture was very well done, however only 3 or 4 questions were answered and there was no discussion. Small study groups met, but were led by graduate assistants. Sure, there are small classes at UCB, but there are also a lot of huge ones. I was concerned about a mild mannered polite young man being thrown into a heartless bureaucracy where he'd have to scrap for classes and attention. People kept saying how beneficial it is to learn those skills, and I'm sure they're right, but I imagined a lot of valuable time and emotion would be wasted on learning it in a sink or swim situation.

S applied to small liberal arts colleges (including several CTCLs) and 4 UCs. He was accepted to all. He followed his heart and now attends Whitman College, a CTCL school,he's having an amazing experience and loves it there. There's no hiding at the back of the room, he works hard in his classes, but has been rewarded with much personal attention and mentoring. His major department is small and very supportive, all the professors know and care about him. Socially, it's also been great, he's made really good friends and has a life beyond the classroom. He plays sports, does community service and is active in the outdoor program. He decided early on that the quality of life at college was important to him and he avoided places that felt overly competitive.

The only thing that's been an adjustment for all of us is the reaction of acquaintances and strangers when they ask where S goes to college, 90% of the time the name Whitman College is met with a blank stare. Initially, I would launch into a lengthy explanation of how he got into UCB but decided to go to a small liberal arts college instead, yada, yada, yada. Now I don't, I simply say that he goes to a great liberal arts college in Walla Walla, WA, and smile to myself because I know graduate schools know exactly where Whitman is.

rbouwens

I'm going to Beloit in the fall and I hope it changes my life, too!!

newfaith

I'm praying by daughter will consider Beloit, but at this time shes really wanting to go to a school in a major city. I have 18months to change her mind.

Sally_Rubenstone

I have friends here in Western MA whose son will start Beloit in the fall. They are a married couple who met at Beloit and are thrilled that their son is going. He, too, was initially wary of heading to a fairly rural college in the Midwest. But he definitely came around and is now excited about it, too.

Many 17/18-year-olds don't really know what they want. (True of much older folks, too.)

biotechmgr

My son is currently attending McDaniel College as a junior. He was a well rounded HS student but had some personal challenges so we thought a CTCL school would, odds on, be one of the better places for him.

Thus far it has been very successful for him. He needed a smaller school yet not the most competitive one. The liberal arts atmosphere at McDaniel without the intense academic pressures of a top tier LA college proved to the best environment for him. My son has experimented with a few subject areas before deciding on psychology as a major. The advising support is fabulous, what he needed over a large university. The freshman and sophomore seminars provided opportunities for interaction and thoughtful exchange among classmates.

In this environment he has outgrown his personal challenges and become a happy as well as thinking person. As noted by others, finding the best college "home" is an individual choice. Which by the way was our #1 criterion - we felt McDaniel was the best fit and where he felt comfortable, and indeed it has been.

Longhaul

I'm a parent and graduate of Ursinus. I don't think it changed my life, but it certainly enhanced it. I was ahead of Pope. I chose Ursinus because I could see and feel so many of the traits that he discussed when choosing the 40 CTCL schools.

I was before the web explosion. My senior English research project required research at the Library of Congress - truly one of the most exciting academic moments of my life.

I was very involved in the social life of the campus.

I enjoyed my college experiences far more than my HS friends.

I was able to dual major without feeling stress of red-tape to fit all the courses into my schedule. As a matter of fact, all but one of my "sisters" my senior year completed a dual major.

Now that I am doing a nationwide search of colleges with my son, I can say there are other schools I am attracted to, but all have the same traits as Ursinus - Discussion based classes and a strong sense of community. 25 years later, I'd most likely still choose Ursinus.

annasdad

Take heart, it can be done; if you'd asked her a year ago, DD would have told you her first choice was UI Chicago. Why? "It's in Chicago!" After looking at a number of schools, she would up striking it from her list and not even applying there. She'll be enrolling in August at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO, population ~17K; where I'm confident her life will be changed, even though the school's not in Pope's book.

momochan

We largely based S1's college search on CTCL. The book introduced us to so many great schools and helped us look beyond the "name factor" when identifying good fits. We visited 4 CTCL schools in 3 wide-flung states and the welcome each of these schools extended to our family was simply amazing (faculty, students, and admission office). He did overnight visits at 3 of the schools to get a feel for the social and academic env't and enjoyed them all. He ended up applying to 2 of the schools, in addition to 4 others. Happy to say he went 6-for-6 and will be attending Wheaton (IL). There is a tremendously active Facebook group for the Class of 2016 and he is counting the days to the early orientation trip so he can meet his new buddies in person. We are so excited for him.

Geeimawsome

I visited Kalamazoo College yesterday. I must say, I was very impressed. I was originally undecided between Beloit College and Kalamazoo College. They are both great CTCL. Anyways, I am so happy I made the decision to go to Kalamazoo College. I visited Beloit and it was quirky, fun, and welcoming but honestly also kind of dirty. There were cigarettes butts everywhere all over campus ( Not sure if that should have played a factor in choosing it or not, I digress) The dorms and other facilities were not in the best of shape. The surrounding town of Beloit was absolutely depressing for me. You'd have to drive several miles into a different city to fine dine, have fun, or shop (unless you like Walmart). Conversely, Beloit has awesome programs, great teachers, and atmosphere which made it hard to refuse.

Kalamazoo college was absolutely beautiful and SO clean. The dorms were great too. Though they don't have as many programs as Beloit, the support that this school gives to individual students is substantial. Kalamazoo is a small town that does not feel like a small town unlike Beloit. Also, Western Michigan University (major University) is near Kalamazoo which means one has an opportunity to meet more people if the "small college life" becomes annoying.

I believe I would have received a superb education at Beloit or Kalamazoo College--though Kalamazoo appealed to me just a little bit more. Loren Poe's book did changed my life it made me look at smaller schools in a different, nonjudgmental way. I think I applied to 5+ schools from that book alone!

CCsiteObsessed

I was talking today with a church friend who graduated from Lawrence U. approx. 20 years ago, and yes, he said it changed his life and that it took him probably a decade to recognize that. He said the very small classes meant that he couldn't hide but would have to engage, that having almost all students living on campus made a huge difference in the feeling of community, and that he was really forced to learn how to think critically and to write well.

I think a big part of Pope's message was to get folks to look at LACs, especially the lesser known ones. DD will be going to one of the *Colleges of Distinction* which is a similar group of schools that overlaps with *Colleges that Change Lives.*

andesite

I attended Reed College, graduating in 1979.
Reed was an extraordinary experience for me. I originally had no intention of going to Reed. I wanted to attend Johns Hopkins or Williams, or another school on the East Coast to study biology/pre-med AND be a long way from home (I was born in Portland, OR). But several family circumstances intervened and I found myself at Reed.

Reed in 1974 was a school in transition. It had virtually no endowment, was completely tuition dependent as a result, and suffered a significant amount of attrition after the Freshman year, in no small part due to an intense workload and a stultifying social environment. Portland in 1974 was not Portland 2012.

My experience was that I had professors in the sciences (thank you Larry Ruben, Will Bloch!) and across the board that set high academic expectations and were there to TEACH. I was a biology major and had opportunities to do cutting edge research in animal physiology and immunology that was stimulating and taxing at the same time.

I was a very "young" 18 year old when I entered Reed, socially and emotionally. I cannot say that i actually enjoyed all aspects of Reed during that time, but I did find amazing friends that I keep to this day and when I reflect on what I learned at Reed and how I came to know myself and be honest with myself, it added up to a remarkable experience.

But most importantly at Reed, I learned to think. The small class sizes and discussion-focused learning environment was something that drew me into conversations and challenged all my personal and intellectual assumptions. It was (and still is) intense. It was certainly the first time in my life i had equally intelligent people work really hard to convince me that I was full of you know what.

After Reed I worked at Intel and then attended Harvard Business School. HBS has a great reputation, but it was a walk in the park academically compared to Reed. Reed really has a great deal to do with who I am today - professionally (a venture capitalist living in Shanghai, China) personally, and reflectively.

So for me, Reed is classic CTCL school. It is not for everyone, but if it is for you, nowhere else will be better.