<p>DefyingGravity04,
He really likes it-- really likes his friends who come from Boston, Palo Alto, Berkley, Chapel Hill, Detroit, Indiana, Virginia, etc., and outside the US, too. (67% out of state, 10% international, 23% Indiana) Likes the Biology Dept and the sciences, as well as the Art Dept. He’s playing a club sport. Likes the natural history museum.</p>
<p>He applied to Earlham and a handful of schools in Ohio(2), MI(1), Ill(1), WI(2), IA(1), KY(1). It was down to Kalamazoo and Earlham-- 2 good, small Biology liberal arts schools. He wanted small with good Bio. (Only large school he considered was Miami in nearby Oxford, OH, which is big in Zoology.) He liked the Quaker aspect, although he was new to it. He liked the strong and committed teaching faculty and the general atmosphere-- Quaker, no frats, friendly, international outlook, open-minded, and truth-seeking. </p>
<p>In the end, he felt comfortable and right, and I think he was persuaded that the Biology Dept had a wonderful tradition of teaching and field work which had produced enough Ph.D. candidates over the years to build a national reputation. He was very impressed with Kalamazoo but felt that Earlham was more of a natural fit in this area for him. </p>
<p>(2 sites below show this Biology strength, and the 2d one shows Earlham’s relative strengths in various disciplines among peers.)</p>
<p><a href=“http://web.reed.edu/ir/phd.html[/url]”>http://web.reed.edu/ir/phd.html</a>
<a href=“http://www.earlham.edu/~ir/bac_origins_report/bac_origins.html[/url]”>http://www.earlham.edu/~ir/bac_origins_report/bac_origins.html</a></p>
<p>dg5052,
I don’t think you were denigrating. I think your advice to DefyingGravity04 was very good and should be taken.</p>