Dickinson vs. Wooster

idiomas
Sun, 05 Feb 2017 22:56:11 +0000

I have a daughter who is a Sophomore at Dickinson (French and Italian double major) and she couldn"t be happier. Youngest daughter was also accepted ED1, but will be doing a Gap Year so she will end up being Class of 2022. I toured Wooster with youngest daughter and thought it was a good school. Since both of my daughters are very much into languages (Dickinson’s foreign language offerings are very impressive considering its size) and study abroad for a full year is in their future, we felt Dickinson was the better choice. They wanted to be in a globally-minded school, where language learning is celebrated, and not just considered as one more mandatory distribution requirement. A considerable amount of students go beyond the Intermediate level required of all students.
Oldest daughter will be studying next school year in Bologna, Italy and Yaoundé, Cameroon. Both of those sites are Dickinson’s own programs so the credits are seamlessly transferred. She currently lives in the Romance Language House and participates in the language tables held during meals on a weekly basis.

Last month, she participated in a service trip to Guatemala where a group of 9 Dickinson students helped build a sustainable school. That was a life-changing experience for her. There are countless service trips offered during the January and Spring Breaks, both domestically and internationally.

Wooster is a nice town, but I liked Carlisle better. Students can easily walk to a crepe shop, noodle house, a taquería, a thai restaurant, various ice cream places, an independent bookstore, etc…

Another factor that we liked is the emphasis on sustainability and being environmentally friendly. Dickinson consistenly ranks high among “green” campuses.

Although liberal arts colleges tend to be not as diverse as public colleges, I have noticed that the percentage of minority students (us included) and international students keeps increasing each year, which I believe is wonderful.

Our 2nd daughter toured 16 colleges (some with her sister and some on her own) and ended up concluding that Dickinson was her 1st choice, just like her sister. They are very different individuals (youngest is interested in Political Science, Law and Policy or International Studies) and both felt that gut feeling that it was the “right fit” college for them.

Your son will have to revisit both schools, walk around, talk to students, eat at the cafeteria, talk to professors in the history department, etc… Both schools are great choices, but I wholeheartedly recommend Dickinson.

You can PM me if you have any other questions.