I second that Lafayette is great! It was my
D’s top LAC choice (and then she toured a small university, was gobsmacked and that was it for her).
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@poelma15 are you interest in suggestions in the Midwest, south, west, IOW outside of the north east. Also, how far south or west would you consider?
Consider Connecticut College and Wheaton College (Massachusetts).
P.S. Goucher College in Maryland.
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As I mentioned above…Marist, Stonehill, Wheaton.
Agree with Lafayette and Lehigh. And Conn College and Vassar. What about Seton Hall? Providence College is another option.
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U Hartford, College of the Atlantic, Endicott, agree with Stonehill for sure, maybe Fairfield???
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If you want the most useful recommendations it would be helpful to provide your child’s academic stats and (if any) budgetary constraints.
FWIW my D who attended Lafayette also visited F&M, Dickinson, Union College, Siena, Muhlenberg, Skidmore, Trinity, Fordham, and Fairfield.
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Simply as foundational information, the Northeastern LACs with the most flexible curricula may be Amherst, Hamilton and Smith College.
My daughter had a wonderful education at Susquehanna. I toured many schools with my three kids over several years, and the friendliness at SU was unmatched.
The academic rigor wasn’t intense. She was in the honors program and had several mentors who were very helpful. She double majored in photography and art history. Her photography professor has his own business, so he gave the students a lot of advice on how to work for yourself.
She also made quite a few friends. Several of them moved to Maine from Pennsylvania! I’m really happy she went to SU.
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Wheaton (MA), Washington College (MD), Juniata, Connecticut College. I think of these Northeastern schools as “you do you” schools. Places with an undergrad focus where kids can form close connections to professors while exploring what they might like to ultimately major in. They tend to be warm and supportive rather than competitive.
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New York has good choices.
Hobart & William Smith
Marist
Wells
Hartwick
A bunch of good choices in PA.
Susquehanna
Muhlenberg
Juniata
In NH.
St. Anselm
Bennington in VT is worth checking out.
Goucher in MD is worth considering, but maybe not NE enough.
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An interesting option: Skidmore College in New York state. Beautiful setting & surroundings. Well known.
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On Apr. 29, Wells College abruptly announced it was closing.
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Although the announced closing may appear to be abrupt, Wells College’s difficulties have been in the news for many years prior to this announcement.
A website–Syracuse.com–ran an article on May 1, 2024 titled:
“Wells College’s closing comes after more than a decade of money struggles.”
I work for an LAC in the mid-Atlantic that is moderately selective. In my experience, it is no less rigorous than some of the more selective colleges. The faculty don’t expect less of students than at other colleges. If you want to go pre-med, for example, you still have to master challenging concepts and skills. Learning political theory won’t be any easier because it’s taught here. That said, the vibe is not at all competitive on campus. There are all kind of supports for student success, if they choose to take advantage of them. Students can build their own paths in more or less challenging ways, e.g. opting into a thesis, doing research, etc. Having been on a number of tours, this seems to be true at most LAC campuses. Encourage your student to get a feel for the campus environment and to look at the curriculum. Most of the general curricula of LACs are pretty open, as in no specific math requirement but rather a “quantitative skills” angle for which something like a philosophy class in logic might suffice. They should also look at course catalogues. Are there courses that interest them? A student may have disliked history in high school, but find that the courses in Art History or Classics sound fascinating.
I echo other posters in encouraging your student to look at the following LACs:
- St. Lawrence. Some interesting programs like Outdoor Studies and first semester study abroad options.
- Marist. A lot of applied majors with internship opportunities.
- Hobart and William Smith. Strong global ed program, a lot of interesting interdisciplinary majors like Architectural Studies.
- Union. Operates on the trimester so they would only take 3 classes at a time.
- Connecticut College. Has some different curricular tracks and an honor code. They self schedule exams.
- Bard. The senior projects may sound intimidating, but they seem to range from thesis-like papers to hands-on projects such as repairing a bell, if I remember correctly. It could be great for a student to explore a passion.
I hope your student finds things that they can get excited about.
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responded to a different post.
from @merc81
Hampshire and Amherst have nearly complete curricular flexibility. Williams is pretty flexible and Dartmouth is as well, except that it has a foreign language requirement.
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Love seeing these two getting some love on this thread. I think that both of them along with SUNY Geneseo are wonderful schools that too often fly under the RADAR in LAC discussions.
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All three are on my daughter’s list. If she goes to a SUNY, Geneseo is her favorite. It has the feel of an LAC but benefits of being a state school.
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