<p>I think there is a BIG difference between schools with vibrant college towns (U Miami Ohio, Penn State, Purdue) and downright desolation…</p>
<p>Sorry but I cannot resist telling this story. My kids are Americans who were born and raised overseas. When the eldest was about 10 years old, during a vague conversation about family or colleges, I mentioned that perhaps she’d like to go to Harvard where many of her relatives had gone. She huffed indignantly and said “I don’t want to go to some little college in the middle of nowhere.”</p>
<p>Oh, please - University of Rochester?? Rochester is a decent-sized city (according to Wikipedia, its population is over 1 million, and it is the third largest city in New York State), and UR is on its outskirts. You may not like upstate NY, but it certainly isn’t rural by any stretch of the imagination! (By that definition, Hofstra on LI is rural!)</p>
<p>Oh Chedva. If only. The school I teach at is across the street from Hofstra. I wish it were rural. Hofstra is lovely, but the surrounding area is very built up suburban sprawl.</p>
<p>If it soothes any ruffled feathers, I think Rochester is a wonderful, beautiful school. Couldn’t get DS interested, mostly because he’s not talented enough for Eastman and not untalented enough not to wish he were.</p>
<p>Kenyon College in Ohio.</p>
<p>whitman in Walla Walla, WA</p>
<p>SUNY - Geneseo</p>
<p>Whitman, Kenyon, Grinnell, Williams, Hamilton</p>
<p>I want to second Weenie’s thought … I’d suggest getting more precise on your definition of “middle of nowhere”. How far from a big city? Does it matter if it is a vibrant college town or if it is a tiny village? Does it matter if the school is big enough to be self-contained or can the school be a really small LAC?</p>
<p>Personally I went to a pretty big school in a vibrant college town that was “in the middle of nowhere” and absolutely loved the experience because between the school, the great college town, and the surrounding physical beauty the experience itself was anything but being “in the middle of nowhere”. And I absolutely preferred this to attending an undergraduate school in a big city or in a big city suburb.</p>
<p>St. Lawrence and Clarkson in upstate NY.</p>
<p>VA Tech, Clemson and Auburn</p>
<p>"in-the-middle-of-nowhere " is in the eye of the beholder!!! one of my kids would think ANY of these schools is isolated, as she loves big cities. the other is comfortable with suburbia, but would still consider many of these too isolated.
a word on the PennState location…remember it has MANY satellite campuses, 15, i think. they are all over and many are nowhere. i’ve been told that unless you’re a strong freshman, most do not get placed on the popular campus, described in the earlier post.</p>
<p>My choice was between Whitman and Occidental, I picked the former for the rural location (town of ~30,000, 4-5 hours from any big city).</p>
<p>I’m from the southwest suburbs of Chicago so basically every college/university in Illinois that isn’t located in the city and suburbs of Chicago.</p>
<p>My daugther attends Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS. It literally IS in the middle of nowhere – i.e., the Konza Prairie – although Manhattan is a great college town and the K-State campus is beautiful. Nonetheless, it’s a 2+ hour drive down I-70 to the Kansas City airport at 70+ mph and the vistas that you see from the highway (grasslands to the horizon with very few trees and no houses or buildings of any kind) make you think that you’ve reached the end of the Earth. Nonetheless, it’s beautiful in a different way from the scenery that I’m accustomed to here in New England.</p>
<p>Hamilton is in the middle of nowhere.</p>
<p>i visited so many small LAC’s and nothing was more rural than Whitman in Walla Walla, WA. Grinnell cam pretty close, though.</p>