Just circling back here to say that I’ve done a fair bit of research into Bennington College (since we will be in Williamstown MA next week anyway) and all I can say is – WOW! Holy mental update, Batman! I definitely had an outdated, tired impression of that school from 70s/80s reputation and then the 90s upheaval.
I was super impressed (like, seriously, she’s amazing) with the new president, Mariko Silver, and also pretty persuaded by Bennington’s version of open curriculum, The Plan, and the yearly 7-week Field Work Term in Jan/Feb. Yep, it’s tiny (still <800 undergrads) but incoming class is 220 or so, and Silver and her new team are working hard on selectivity, yield, retention, diversity, and more strategic use of merit aid. The no-tenure thing is controversial for sure (my spouse and I are both tenured faculty, so I’m admittedly biased) but I can see why they did it and how it works to support Bennington’s unique ethos.
Anyway, all that to say that I’m very excited to visit next week with D20 if I can talk her into it. It would come right on the heels of Smith + Mount Holyoke visits, should be interesting comparison. If D20 likes Bennington that should give us more info about including Bard, Hampshire and Sarah Lawrence on the list.
How did your visit to Bennington go?
My daughter is a very happy alumna, who went to Bennington for the arts (after attending an arts-magnet public school) but was so academically inspired while there that she directly went on to get a PhD in Clinical Psych.
Although we live in and she went to high school in a very urban west coast city, she loved her four years in rural Vermont. She did her doctorate back in our urban area, where she still lives.
D20 liked it a lot, and it seems to be on the “definitely maybe apply” list. (As opposed to the “definitely apply” list (Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Barnard) and the “maybe apply” list (Macalester)).
Mount Holyoke was fabulous, great visit, super tour guide and particularly impressive student who spoke at the info session. The half day there was a detailed, compelling, friendly, and encouraging advertisement for what seems like a wonderful community.
Spent the afternoon of the same visit at Smith which was sadly really disappointing. Maybe my expectations were too high for Smith and so weren’t met, while my expectations for MHC were lower and therefore fairly easy to exceed. D20 took Smith off the list before the visit was over.
Thanks for all the input above, everyone. We have a little more clarity on our list and will be doing the next round of visits in March – probably a big loop through NY/NE to see Sarah Lawrence, Wesleyan, Brown, Wellesley, Bates, Middlebury, Skidmore, Bard, Vassar. Might ask D20 to cut 2-3 off that list so we can squeeze the trip into 6-7 days vs. 8-9.
Also scheduled to see Penn and Haverford this fall (we’re local) and D20 would also like to visit NYU just to confirm whether the hyper-urban large university is for her.
Rhodes – very undervalued school IMHO , excellent academics, attractive.
Washington College – small school, small town, surprising amount of arts. She might like it.
St. Mary’s of MD – public LAC – country-club location on the bay.
did someone mention Simmons? Very nice school in Boston.
If she likes Mt. H and Bryn Mawr, she may want to look at Mills, which has a similar feel (or at least I’ve known at least two young women who loved MHC and BMC, and they also loved Mills – one ended up attending Mills and enjoyed it. Also it’s not as pricey)
You could double up on a couple of these schools and do a car trip in 6 or 7 days. We’ve found that 1 school in the morning and another in the afternoon is doable. Wellesley and Brown, Vassar and Bard are pairs that are less than an hour’s derive from each other.
Great advice, @Sue22. D20 did complain about the two-fer days we’ve done so far (St. Olaf + Carleton and Mount Holyoke + Smith) – says she’s too burned out by the afternoon to give the second school a fair shake.
Just have to point out that St Olaf and Carleton College’s are not urban, but are definitely not remote colleges. They are both 40 miles from the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, with a population of over 3 million people. Both colleges run buses multiple times a day from campus to the Twin Cities, and students go in for concerts, shopping, etc.
Update: Visited Sarah Lawrence a couple of weeks ago and loved it. Smith and Bennington off the list post-visit.
Has also said she’s staying in a 4-5 hour driving radius so lots of earlier possibilities drop off the list. (Though she still may apply to Macalester). So the def apply list is Barnard. Bryn Mawr, Mt Holyoke, Sarah Lawrence. Will encourage visits at Bard, Vassar, Wesleyan, Wellesley, and maybe 1 or 2 of Conn College, Clark, College of the Atlantic, Skidmore, Bates. I’d be happy with just 7 or so and hoping that Mount Holyoke and Sarah Lawrence could be considered likelies.
If she’s worried about isolated schools you might want to nix College of the Atlantic. The school is tin and Bar Harbor, although lovely, is the definition of isolated.
@dadof2d Bennington: Too small, too isolated. So, yes, @Sue22, COA should get dropped too but I am completely intrigued and want to go visit myself so I may put it in the Spring Break visit mix as my wild card. (I’m sure I’ll be rethinking that 'round about Portsmouth NH…)
Another update: PSAT11 came in at 650M 700EBRW, and she just got a 30 on a proctored practice ACT. No prep for either of these, and/but she also said tonight she’s not interested in any tutoring or test prep. So, filling in the Match/Likely part of the list is increasingly important.
Definitely apply:
Reach: Barnard
Match: Byn Mawr, Macalester
Likely: Mount Holyoke, Sarah Lawrence
Want to choose 6-8 more to visit this winter and over spring break from this longer list:
Reach: Brown, Wellesley, Vassar, Wesleyan, Bates (high match? @Lindagaf ), Middlebury
Match: NYU (reach?), Skidmore
Likely: Conn College, Bard, Eugene Lang of New School, Clark, Hampshire (match?), Wheaton
College counselor has suggested at least researching this list, none of which seem like a good fit to me (D hasn’t done research yet):
Bowdoin
Hamilton
Hobart William Smith
Lafayette
Oberlin
University of RIchmond
William and Mary
I’d take Middlebury off your list and put Oberlin on from the GC’s list based on vibe. Brown is probably a super reach but no harm in looking. The GC’s list looks way more mainstream than your D’s, which suggests that he/she doesn’t really understand what she’s looking for.
Agree with @gardenstategal that it makes sense to add Oberlin and drop Middlebury, as Oberlin would overlap in terms of culture a lot with Bryn Mawr, Holyoke etc – independent minded, interesting students.
In terms of match, have you considered Dickinson? While it has a fairly “mainstream” vibe, the kids we know from there are smart, hard working, all around nice kids. And the art facilities are gorgeous – a restored shoe factory bordering campus, with student loft apartments next door! My kid was salivating over the prospect of rolling out of his loft apartment and heading to the art department.
Thanks for the helpful messages, @Midwestmomofboys . We know a few Dickinson faculty and agree that’s a good fit. The kid went through this list from GC and took them all off the visit prospect list for Spring:
Bowdoin
Hamilton
Hobart William Smith
Lafayette
Oberlin
University of RIchmond
William and Mary
Oberlin was the toughest to take off but distance from home and distance from a city were the deciding factor. Bard College made it onto visit list even after a look at Google maps and the train/shuttle schedule.
We’re getting closer to our spring break visit list. Need to rule in/out: Vassar, Wesleyan, Conn College, Hampshire, Skidmore, Middlebury. I think I can convince her that Middlebury is not the right culture/vibe fit, and we will also look at the all-helpful Google maps again! (It’s been an eye opener how poor my kid’s geography knowledge is!)