Prestige is defined as many people as being uncommon, exclusive, or highly selective, or where the academic strength of the overall student cohort or those at the top of the student cohort leads some to assume that the individual student has such academic strength. A safety (in terms of admission) where the student is at the top end of academic strength of the student cohort does not have these characteristics.
Maybe not the combination of small lac + safety + national prestige, but certainly the combo of small lac + safety + national name. I mean a school such a Lewis and Clark may not be exactly prestigious, but enough people have heard of it and think well of it enough to draw a reasonable number from OOS. Augsburg really is a local-only name. Almost all of the kids will be super local. More will go home on the weekends.
ETA: and by “safety” I am assuming you mean safe for a trans student, not an admissions safety?
No, I mean admissions safety. I assume that if he wants his entire list to be small LAC’s, he’ll need to include some without national reputations.
Having said that, with my oldest it became clear that I underestimated the odds. So, maybe I am doing that again.
2 Likes
What a great EC.
4 Likes
Is St. Mary’s College of Maryland (Maryland’s public LAC) of interest?
It has computer science, business (including finance), and art (including photography and animation) as majors and minors, and data science as a minor.
There are club soccer and ultimate disc teams there.
Admission does not seem to be super competitive by stats, but they do seem to use subjective evaluation of essays, recommendations, etc. and have EA, ED1, and ED2.
Yes, it’s definitely on our list to look at.
Just to be clear, he has no interest in an art degree, or taking even a single art class. A photojournalism degree possibly.
Photojournalism is offered at 18 colleges in the US, of which 6 are located in possibly suitable states: College Navigator - Search Results
I didn’t realize it was so rare.
He’s still not going to major in art, or photography from an art perspective. Same with film. He’d do something like sports broadcasting, but not film as an artistic discipline.
Sometimes they won’t call it a major but will have it as a concentration within a larger major. For instance, Michigan State’s journalism major offers a concentration in photojournalism (source), but it’s not listed in IPEDS because the college didn’t break it down that way. Ditto with San Francisco State’s concentration in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography within its journalism major (source). Some colleges are moving to a major in foreign languages with a concentration in the specific language, as states/boards that are wanting to close programs that are too small are then grouping together and becoming a concentration under a bigger major. Or they’ve always been that way (i.e. biology majors with a concentration in marine biology rather than listing marine biology out as a separate major). Anyway, just because it’s not in IPEDS doesn’t mean it’ doesn’t exist…it may just be harder to find.
3 Likes
Exactly, and not to mention the many schools that have design your own major options.
2 Likes
Erin in the morning has been referred to above. Her latest update is potentially a positive for trans students looking for more options.
That said, any actual changes that might happen (nothing is certain of course) are likely to come too late to be sure for this application cycle, though perhaps some students might like to apply more widely in case the climate has changed enough by decision day.
5 Likes
Thank you for this. I don’t think this will come in time for this kid’s college choice. I think he will pick some place that was in his corner all along. But it’s still great news.
2 Likes