siglio21

i heard that academics were very good and the campus is very beautiful...but i've also read that there isn't a lot of diversity at this school etc

can anyone from the school give me their opinion of the college? i'm thinking of applying later on...

TominVT

It is a decent school. On par with Dickinson. Academics are decent. Very little name recognition.

hudsonvalley51

Trinity is a very good school. It often gets criticized on CC for lack of diversity, but it is more diverse than you'd guess from the critics. About 18% of the students are African-American, Asian, Hispanic or Native American. That may not look very diverse compared to UCLA, UC Berkeley, MIT or Swartmore, but it is in the mid-range in terms of percentage of students-of-color among northeastern LACs.

That said, Trinity has a pretty sizeable group of students who attended private high schools, and has strong ties to the various New England prep schools. It also has a fairly high profile fraternity scene which contributes to its "preppy" reputation.

BTW, there is plenty of diversity in the city neighborhoods surrounding Trinity. Some kids find the physical setting of the school intimidating, while others embrace the urban locale and seek to interact with their neighbors in a variety of community service projects.

mythmom

And I do think Trinity has name recognition.

speedo

We visited twice. Excellent academics and lots of internship opps. Pretty good finaid.
Bit of a preppy boarding school vibe. But.... terrible location. You need to visit and take
a look around the neighborhood before you apply. Obvious safety concerns.

mahimahi

Fine school with the following strengths: small class sizes; classes taught by professors not TAs: personal attention from professors, including research in science;well-established freshman seminar program with focus on writing skills; intellectually stimulating "gateway" programs in science, humanities, arts, cities (all by invitation only and operate like honors programs);wonderful study abroad and internship opportunities;very successful alumni who go on to great careers in business, law, medicine, etc. at highest levels of achievement;strong success in graduate fellowships earned by students;great physical beauty of campus and rich traditions;extremely caring administrators and staff.

TCParent

^^Agree. Also, Trinity has a loyal and generous alumni base which continues to donate in this economy. Its Long Walk renovation in 2008 was a major investment that enhanced an already beautiful and magnificent central campus quadrangle. Sports teams remain strong and successful and there is a student-athlete tradition.

Regarding diversity, here are numbers from the class of 2013:

46.6% of students receive aid, including Posse and Questbridge Scholars
19.3% of students self-identify as students of color
38 international students (out of 575 total) represent 27 countries, an increase of 200% since 2007

Trinity recently opened an iHouse, a theme house for international students to celebrate and enhance diversity of campus. It joins the already established theme houses/organizations that celebrate diversity. Also, home schooled students and students representing the large Albanian and Bosnian immigrant communities in greater Hartford attend Trinity.

Further, Trinity uses Hartford as a part of its curriculum in Hispanic Studies, education studies, and may other subjects., maximizing student exposure to various cultures and ethnicities.

I would not question Trinity's commitment to continuous improvement in serving underrepresented populations.

TominVT

Mythmom: Generally, none of the LAC have the name recognition of school like Stanford and Harvard or even sports schools like Syracuse. Most people don't know much about LACs unless they are doing college research or they (or a family member) attended. But Even considering this, Trinity is less known than the swarthmore, williams, middleburys.

I did extensive research before choosing a college. I came accross Trinity and did some research but never visited. I do remember hearing something about a woman from trinity and a cruise with her boyfriend and he was lost overboard. Anyone else see this story?

TominVT

Trinity admissions criteria are pretty selective. As far as selectivity it is on par with Dickinson, Franklin and Marshall, Bates, University of Rochester, Gettysburg etc. (All are rated at 95/100 by Princeton Review for Selectivity).

It is a hair less selective than Holy Cross, Bucknell, Lafayette, Colgate, Villanova and NYU (all rated 96/100) as well as BC and Tufts (97/100).

It is slightly more selective than Skidmore (94/100) and Providence College (93/100).

The names of the schools I put only for comparison purposes for selectivity. There are some big differences between some of these types of schools. I just wanted to give you a frame of reference with other schools in the region.

I hope this helps.

advice1015

I agree you receive great education, at least in the sciences and engineering. I'm not sure how good the other departments are... Classrooms are small so you get to know your professors well.

In terms of diversity, there are lots of people with color and different background but that doesn't tell you much. It only appears diverse to people who came from homogeneous areas. What I see is that there are people from different countries and different parts of the country, but what use is it when they don't interact with each other? Also I feel that there is a lack of diversity within the majority. Everyone loves to go out and drink and party every weekend. It's great for people who love doing that. I'm not against it but I don't enjoy fitting in with that crowd. I probably can't also.

If you are the minority, not of color, Trinity could be the worst place for you. I would only go to this school if you enjoy having fun on weekends with the same type of people and having a good education. But I wouldn't go to this school if you seek for something more. If you want to meet new people from different backgrounds, I wouldn't go to Trinity College.

tryyourbest

I am an international student at trinity, im freshman.

I have to admit that the college is admitting more foreign students year after year, so the students ARE becoming more diverse.

the problem is that minority groups in this college like to stick together. From my observation, there are some really cool international students who like to hang out with american students. But most of international kids just eat together and study together, so i don't see many interracial interactions here, which is not a good thing i think. I am trying to hang out with different ppl, but as a result of my English and culture difference, it is still hard to really involve with the majority white kids.

the academic is very good. all of the professors are really good and are very willing to help you. My advisor is a History professor graduated from Harvard with PHD and he is very nice.Trinity students study very hard, they spend much time on their homework and exams, and they are also smart kids, maybe i guess most of them were being "trained" at their elite prep schools. Professor set a lot of hw and papers and i can hear ppl constantly saying thst how busy they are. the college is also a good feeder college for best graduate business and Law school. I know ppl admitted to Brown but went to trinity because she thinks she will have a better chance to get into a good law school. we have many students double major.

campus is nice. Dorms are nice, many of which are single rooms. Food is fine, we have many food choices, but they don't change very often so some ppl get bored eating the same food over and over again.

People are generally open-minded and nice. my neighors like drinking and partying, sometimes even after 12pm so it can get annoying. People i know like to go to the frats on sat night to relax, if they are not into the frats scene, they choose to do other stuff like community service or cultural organization. Our school has a really great Asian American students association which hosts events every weekends, there is also a fred community projects that will give out new and interesting activities every week, so there is always a lot to do on campus, you will never feel bored if you are a cool student willing to learn and be social.

about hartford, i think it's fine, compared with many other liberal arts colleges which are often in the middle of nowhere, like Grinnell and Williams. hartford is at least a state capital it has major government buildings and major companies, trinity students have their U-pass which is a card u can use it to take the bus for free with unlimited rides, you can take a bus right in college to wal-mart and macy's and target, it is convenient.
I disagree with some of the claims that trinity is doing very bad with its neighborhood, instead, the school has some projects in the city, like we have annual Do it Day, in which students go outside campus to do community service. and we have hartford river cleaning projects, and we have grade school students tutoring service, my friend is doing that right now.

International admission is extremely competitive, like there were nearly 100 students in my country applied, but less than 10 got in. As for domestic admission, i heard that it is not easy, either. many kids who got in are ranked in the top of their classes. and i have a feel that trinity consider ur GPA and ur admission essays as very important criterion. Of course SAT AND TOEFL are also important. Also, trinity seems to put a hell a lot of kids on waitlist. Applying Early Decision will definitely increase ur chance a lot.

Good luck to all of you!

tryyourbest

Continue the previous post:

And i think the real problem that causes these lack of diversity lies in the different social class, not in races. Like if a asian guy and a white guy are both in the top elite group, then they naturally have common topics to share, thus they can hang out together. On the contrary, I do know some american citizens who seems to be the middle or lower class choose to stay with international kids and i asked them why and they said it is easier to relate with international students. I became surprised, so I asked them:" you are americans, why is it even easier for you to relate to international kids?" and they said, very simple:" because they(majority american whites) are richer."

the ironic thing for me is, I feel good being at trin. I mean, I am Asian, and I am surrounded by white ppl all the time,it is still hard to forget the first day of school when I entered a big room with all whites, I was sooo upset and acted awkward, but after 1 week it was fine for me, and now, after 2 months, I enjoy being in the middle of whites! For me, the more whites on campus, the more diverse for me. And I hope that there can be fewer asians so all i see will be white, white and white!(Sorry, that is only for me and that sounds racist, but that will not happen). I really hope i can be assimilated, lol. My Acting class is small, only 14 students, I am the only Asian guy, and I feel sooo good about that. This Friday when I was about to finish dinner in Mather dining hall, an organized group of asian students(a lot, like 50 people) came in to visit our dining hall and had dinner(I guess they are from high schools in Boston), when I was passing across them to get out, I was actually feeling VERY uncomfortable in the middle of Asian people. A asian feels awkward being with asian? lol, I did feel uncomfortable at that time. And I murmured: "why are there so many asian people there?" lol. I guess I feel more comfortable with whites now...it's like injecting other racial stuff into myself and ironically, I am used to it and I enjoy it... I sometimes feel weird for myself...

Swain51

Trinity College's location in Hartford should not be a deterrent to considering the school. First, Trinity has been an active participant in improvements to the neighborhood, including the education corrider of public schools, the college's ice rink on New Britain Avenue which is also available for public use, and numerous community initiatives, many involing tutoring and mentoring Hartford public school students both at Trinity and at the local schools.
Additionally, Trinity is a short car or bus ride away from West Hartford Center, a nice down town with restaurants, movie theatre, and shopping.
Trinity is located within 5 minutes of Hartford Hospital, an excellent hospital providing research and internship opportunities and within 10 minutes of the state capital building and many associated state departments, also providing internship opportunities.
Hartford itself offers the Hartford Stage (an excellent regional theatre), the Bushnell (providing music and theatre), the Wadsworth art museum, the Hartford Civic Center,
the Webster (new music venue) and other opportunities for culture.
Hartford like all urban cities has crime, mostly drug related, and has many poor and low income residents. Trinity itself is a very safe campus which is also beautiful - filled with college gothic achitecture and open tree-filled green spaces. In sum, it has the best of both worlds - a bucolic campus in a city environment.

speedo

Maybe but take a look around before you sign on the dotted line

TCParent

Swain51: I agree. Here is an excellent example of the way Trinity students and professors collaborate with the Hartford community:

Trinity College

I might add that based upon conversations with fellow parents I can say that the personal attention students get from professors is fantastic.