I’d add Davidson and Colgate to the Amherst and Williams spectrum.
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I can totally see NiceUnparticular’s point - lots of Amherst/Williams students want banking/consulting/finance/big law in the end- less so for Wes, who are, stereotypically, more artsy/poltical wanting grad school for an academic area– sure plenty of overlap… but there is a truth there to me!
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This is interesting. I think of Bates as being the opposite of Bucknell and Richmond. I love Holy Cross!
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The Fiske Guide has overlapping colleges that students apply to
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That’s right. Assuming we are talking about more or less traditional liberal arts and sciences colleges, we are already talking about a non-”average” mix of students. It gets a little more complicated when talking about undergrad-focused institutions that have things like undergrad business programs, undergrad engineering programs, or so on. Indeed, some are actually focused on those things. But colleges like Amherst and Williams do not have those things.
I guess the point of all this is when thinking about “similarity” of schools, you don’t want to lose focus on the overall institutional structure entirely. On the other hand, when an undergraduate program is divided up into separate major subdivisions, possibly there will be overlapping appeal between the relevant major subdivision and other institutions which ONLY have that sort of undergrad program. But then there still could be differences that are relevant to some prospective students.
Rather than try to resolve all this by some sort of fixed rule, I think it is most helpful just to discuss this in detail as warranted, and ultimately let kids decide what makes sense for them.
The Scoir database my S24’s high school made available also reported the most common overlapping applications.
Overall it wasn’t particularly surprising, but I think sometimes it could be useful, in the sense it might have helped a few kids consider some schools they would not otherwise have considered.
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So imagine my artsy D’s reaction when her Wesleyan alumni interviewer was a finance bro down to the fleece vest and dropping F bombs. This was quite an unpleasant surprise!
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Among the NYC selective public and private school crowd, Vanderbilt, Duke, Northwestern, University of Michigan, and Wash U are overlaps.
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I would add Bates, Oberlin, Macalester and Swarthmore to the Wesleyan/Vassar end of the spectrum (politically active, dense suburban surroundings; often mistaken as women’s colleges.)
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Quinnipiac/Fairfield/Marist/Sacred Heart
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And add Stonehill for a Massachusetts version of these!
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For students seeking an undergraduate-focused experience and an intellectual atmosphere and who will be conducting a national search, Reed and its list of 12 comparison schools appear to be generally well aligned:
Carleton
Colorado College
Davidson
Grinnell
Hamilton
Haverford
Lewis & Clark
Oberlin
Occidental
Pomona
Swarthmore
Whitman
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LACs with a sporty/preppy vibe:
Colgate, Bucknell, Richmond, Union… any others?
(I was about to include Lafayette, but I’m not sure)
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Washington and Lee University
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Outside of NESCACs, and understanding “preppies” these days seem to be dressing a little understated, but more “put together” than the average college kid just rolling out of the dorm . . .
Holy Cross and Davidson.
A lot of Eastern PA LACs. Dickinson, Muhlenberg, Susquehanna, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, and I would in fact include Lafayette.
Midwest, I am thinking Denison. Rhodes if you think of that as Midwest.
Would you accept universities potentially with crossover appeal?
Like Wake Forest, for example. Or Miami of Ohio. Villanova. Lehigh.
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Regarding WLU, other schools with high fraternity and sorority participation include DePauw, Bucknell, and Dartmouth.
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I’d add U. of Louisville as another school to investigate. Its engineering school took Cal Poly’s motto of “learn by doing” as its own. And its admission rate makes it a likely or extremely likely admit for most students.
And in terms of highly similar schools at a range of selectivity levels, U. of Michigan, U. of Wisconsin, and Indiana U would be one set.
U. of Wisconsin, Ohio State, and U. of Minnesota would be another set.
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RIT & WPI have a very large overlap in applicants, from what I gather, along with RPI, Stevens, and slightly less so. MIT too, but obviously WAY harder to get in:) Rose, Mines, Purdue probably fit in here too, though Rose/Purdue may be slightly more center-right (RIT/WPI are quite liberal, especially for STEM schools) if kid happens to be political active –
Also likely also apply to Northeastern and their state flagship (or 2), and maybe 1-2 others of them too, along with the “I” schools…
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However, I think some of this overlap is because they are tech/engineering schools and applicants know they need to cast a wide net, rather than because they have similar cultures.