<p>It is just as silly to take ranking as the sole indicator if a school is good or not as to totally discount ranking. In business we gather as much MI as possible to help us make decisions. The worst thing to do is throw out a piece of data out when it doesn’t suit our needs. I don’t see why it would be different when it comes college selection.</p>
<p>What’s the cliche’? There are lies, d__n lies, and then stats.</p>
<p>People figured out college fit for years! quite successfully, without rankings. I agree, they have become part of the selection process. But I sense they are disproportionately weighed for many.</p>
<p>I don’t see where anyone is talking just about rankings. When I say “top of the pyramid”, I meant in a general sense. I hate rankings-- but for a lot of the uninformed public, that’s what they see. And they serve their purpose for some, just not really for me.And I never said the public as whole is misguided, but surely people who only look at one kind of ranking could be. No one criteria is absolutely dependable (or even somewhat dependable) on its own.</p>
<p>I believe Hamilton offers need based aid only…not merit aid (am I correct?). If that is the case, Hamilton won’t care at all what kind of merit award you got from Case…because Hamilton doesn’t offer merit aid. </p>
<p>If your son LIKES Case better, I’m not sure what your question really is. He is going to college and Case is a fine school. Who wants him to consider Hamilton more seriously…and why?</p>
<p>Thumper brings up a very good point. Hamilton is one of the few schools that are not only need blind but meets 100% of demonstrated need. In order to do that, it has gotten rid of merit awards. Case does not meet full need but has some great merit money in order to attract students to come there.</p>
<p>Does your son have any feelings or opinions on whether he’d be happier in a school that’s located in a city versus rural setting? </p>
<p>Some students will absolutely flourish when nurtured by an LAC bubble. They can get their heads around it and feel/do “big” for 4 years, knowing a high percentage of the people around them each day (Hamilton). </p>
<p>Others like the feeling that school boundaries are porous, there is breathing room, some older students in view, and chance to get off-campus and into an actual city just for variety and change-of-scene. (Case). As I’ve read about it, Case is very well-woven into downtown Cleveland in interesting and positive ways.</p>
<p>My older 2 liked their LAC’s but youngest enjoyed being at a university. He enjoyed crossing by professional school buildings and students; made him feel sophisticated somehow, although he didn’t actually know any of them! All 3 were very happy; I guess we got the personality fit right.</p>
<p>My son likes certain things about the urban setting (pro sports, restaurants, theaters, etc…) but he is also a very athletic, outdoorsy kid so he would also enjoy the rural setting. He thinks he could be happy in either setting. We are currently located in the suburbs of Fort Lauderdale so he is used to the amenities of city life. But he enjoys getting out to more remote areas also.</p>
<p>Someone asked about why I was questioning the decision if he really prefers CWRU and the answer is that I don’t want to be “penny wise and pound foolish.” I am wondering if there is some big benefit that I am missing.</p>
<p>CWRU is not a big school and there are not huge numbers of commuter students (under 15%). There are just about 4,200 undergrads at CWRU. It’s larger than Hamilton, but not overwhelming. U of FL has over 30,000 undergrads. He does not want that, but 4-5,000 is fine.</p>
<p>Here is my opinion…if your son prefers Case, and he likes Case, and he wants to go to Case, and the costs at Case work for you…then he should go to Case.</p>
<p>It sounds like Hamilton is a close second from what you have posted here. Case is a fine school. You would not be getting a lot more for your money by sending him to Hamilton.</p>
<p>That is MY opinion.</p>
<p>And I agree with Thumper and have since I saw the post this morning.</p>
<p>Case is a great place and he’ll love it!</p>
<p>OP, you’re not “missing” anything. Both are very good and well respected schools, and your son can get an excellent education at either one. Hamilton is a very good LAC, but to be honest LACs are a niche market; even the very best of them don’t have particularly strong name recognition, and Hamilton is more obscure than, say, an Amherst or a Swarthmore. Any increment of prestige Hamilton has over Case Western (and I’m not sure there is any) will be confined to some extremely rarefied circles.</p>
<p>Look, I’m not knocking Hamilton. It’ s very good LAC, and there are lots of things to like about good LACs. For my daughters, at least, they seem to be a much better fit. But if my kid were just squarely on the fence between Case Western and Hamilton, and Case Western would cost half as much, I’d be singing Case Western’s praises. And if my kid were actually leaning toward Case, I’d go for it in a heartbeat. This just doesn’t seem like a difficult call to me.</p>
<p>Thank you CC parents.</p>
<p>I agree with bclintock. I love LACs. If you look at my posting history, I am an LAC advocate all of the way. But CW will have bigger national name recognition. Hamilton is another LAC like Trinity, Union, F&M, Muhlenberg, that people on the East Coast will know. Mini will tell you that his alma mater, Wiliams, arguably the most selective and highly rated LAC gets very little name recognition in his life. It’s the very atmosphere, size, attention that makes the LAC a more nurturing experience. It’s not as personal at Case. It is big city, down to business, into the tech there. I am overstating the extremes to show the differences.</p>
<p>Agree completely with bclintonk. I am puzzled why you think Hamilton has so much more “prestige” than Case. Any “greater prestige” is going to be in a very small circle. I don’t think there is much to debate here.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse: AGREE, my cousin brought her Williams philosophy degree back to the west coast and the response was, “huh?” It just did not carry the name brand weight and was mentally lumped in with all the other LACs. It really depends on where the student is going to go geographically or professionally with the degree in terms of paying for the brand rather than the educational experience.</p>
<p>I’d say nationally Case has a very good reputation and quite possibly more name recognition than Hamilton if that is a concern.</p>
<p>Case is well-known. Where is Hamilton anyway and who ever heard of it? </p>
<p>Just kidding of course, but the choice seems clear.</p>
<p>If Case has given a big merit award and Hamilton no aid, why not try Case? If he doesn’t like it he can always transfer to Hamilton the next year and pay full price. At least you would have saved one year of paying full price. It isn’t as if you are choosing between two merit scholarships that will be gone as a transfer student. He may be perfectly happy at Case. My S was very interested in Case. We live not too far and have passed the campus 100’s of times but never really “saw” it until we toured and were very impressed.
If you start out at Hamilton, the Case scholarship likely won’t be available as a transfer student. As an economics major, he should appreciate the value of a no loan education. Case has a very strong reputation here in our town and I personally have never heard of Hamilton and that is after looking at tons of schools with my kids. – although both of them pretty much ruled out small liberal arts schools after looking at just a few so maybe that is why I haven’t heard of it.</p>
<p>If it helps any, I hadn’t heard of either school until coming here so they are both “as well known” around here :D. It sounds like Case is a great fit.</p>
<p>I think it’s worked out incredibly well for you! Not only does your son prefer Case, you get money there.</p>