<p>We haven’t visited either UVM or UNH, but hope to before deciding (live in MA). We’ll have to drag our son who is pretty set on UMass. His parents would like for him to give more thought to his options, though the decision will be his. All I “know” about the schools comes from reading college guides and visiting web sites. My son decided to apply to UVM mainly because a history teacher he likes a lot went there, which is not such a bad reason.</p>
<p>Both schools seem pretty solid, but I gather UVM has a slightly better academic reputation than UNH, and I noticed that students at UNH were a bit negative about their profs in the Princeton Review Guide, though there’s no way to know how representative that is. Both have a party school reputation, with drinking and pot-smoking mentioned as widespread in Princeton Guide. Drinking seems to be an important part of the culture at most northeastern schools, which we are not thrilled about. UVM seems to have a fairly large “hippy-type” element. Both schools rate low in diversity. </p>
<p>UVM doesn’t have a football team and just dropped baseball and softball to save money. UVM has 3-credit courses, so you need to take 5 per semester. UNH has 4-credit courses, so you only need 4 per semester. </p>
<p>From all I can tell, the students seem pretty content both places, enjoying a good college experience; and a degree with good grades from either would be well worth having. Beyond that, it’s hard to know how much each school might be likely to provide guidance in choice of major etc. I like it that UConn has a program specifically for undecideds.</p>