<p>My son is probably going to go to one his academic safety schools. He has a match school that he can go to for the identical cost and it was #1 on his list until he visited the safety school that he is probably going to choose. He can also pick from 2 other schools for nearly the same the cost and one of those is a match and the other another safety. He never looked into, or inquired about rankings. He does not care about rankings. For him it was all about his “gut feeling” and how he feels about the “fit”. It seemed to be about the people (students and staff) that he came across when visiting. I feel that at his favorite school we came across the warmest and most welcoming people. My guess is that played a big part of his choosing a school.</p>
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<p>Good for you! My son has visited a friend at Hendrix a couple of times. The setting and buildings are lovely, and the students seem quite happy. Much of Arkansas, in fact, has a vibe that says, “We like what we’ve got, and if we’re not good enough for you, that’s okay.” Hendrix was a bit like that to me; it felt like Ivy with zero attitude.</p>
<p>My friend’s son went to Willamette for Japanese. He loved it, studied abroad in Japan, and is now headed there after graduation to teach for a while.</p>
<p>Forgot how to quote things on here, but I agree, Mantori. It’s a great school, it just doesn’t bother to promote itself in the way that would make it recognized outside of Arkansas (and maybe some of the bordering states). And everybody in Arkansas seems to highly respect Hendrix. I’ve never heard a bad word about it.</p>
<p>poetgrl, your D’s story is a bit like ours–I can claim credit for finding our son’s safety and persuading him to give it a chance. I first found Goucher while poking around on the CTCL site, and I remember going to their website and thinking, “he’s gonna like this place.” But it took me a while to get him to take a serious look at it (not unnaturally, since he’d never heard of it). Finally I talked him into visiting on our way down to check out GWU, and he loved the place from the moment we got out of the car. Now it looks like he’s about to turn down U. Rochester, among others, for it.</p>