Can you name lacs that you’re familiar with or have seen that would be described as lively and vibrant? When you walk around the campus, it’s not very quiet and you see students all over the place, walking and hanging out. Thanks
I think that’s really most I’ve visited.
Most are like that when students are on campus (although not always during midterms and finals). You will see more students outdoors where the weather is nice. 
Check out the Claremont Consortium colleges.
I ask, because some of the liberal arts colleges we’ve seen, for example: Williams, Haverford…seemed so quiet when walking around the campus.
Depending on the day and time, most students may be in class.
Time of day, day of the week, etc. makes a big difference. We went on a tour of UCLA in the morning on a “school day.” Maybe 9am? The place was so empty that it was shocking. It felt like we were there while the school was closed. By the time the tour was over, though, it was closer to lunch time and there were plenty of people walking around. And that is a huge college. Same thing happened when we visited the 5Cs in Claremont.
Also you aren’t ever going to see the amount of people walking around a SLAC that you would see at a big university that has 30K students. But all the SLACs we visited felt plenty vibrant at the right time of day. Check them out in between classes or around lunch or dinner time (not to mention on Friday and Saturday nights) and you will find lots of people and things going on.
I people watch at my D2’s LAC sometimes a day or two before Thanksgiving (I go there, instead of her flying home, and usually go early – cheaper flights, less busy airports, and I can take her out to dinner with friends on Tuesday night). There is definitely an ebb and flow to the traffic. Students up in the early-ish am are usually in class. It starts to pick up late morning. By 11 there are usually some students slack lining, some playing some kind of game with a mini-trampoline, kids on skateboards and various wheeled modes of transit cruising around. I actually think her college hops most at night – I know none of them go to bed before midnight or one unless they are sick. You won’t see that on a tour.
OP, have your kid sit in on a class and eat in the cafeteria when visiting if possible. That is a good way to get a sense of the student vibe beyond what you may happen to see on the tour.
Also, there is “physical” vibrancy and “intellectual” vibrancy. You can’t see the second kind as well, but a lot of LACs have it.
What does your kid desire? I ask because my mom would not have been able to stand a place that didn’t have the “physical” kind of vibrancy – lots of extroverts, lots of free time to socialize, hanging out in groups. For me, that wasn’t at all desirable. I wanted the idea people – didn’t care if it was in smaller groups, or chatting in a dorm room or at a cafeteria table. So if your kid isn’t complaining, then maybe it is not something to worry about.
Schools with relatively small campus acreages may appear to a visitor to be more vibrant. However, this may be a superficial quality that may not reflect the actual student experience at the college.
Did you visit the Paresky Center at Williams?
@merc81 At Williams we just casually drove by,and then we walked around a bit. We didn’t go in the student center or any dining hall, which is something we did at some other places we stopped in (middlebury and skidmore). We’re still in the very early stages of looking into schools so if we happen to be on a road trip we will check out schools. When it’s time to get serious, we will go on tours and eat in the dining halls, etc.
@intparent you make good points. What I’m looking at is different than what my kid looks at. We have seen some beautiful campuses and she preferred Skidmore, because it was more modern and had a cheerful student union. She thought Vassar, which is a great school was dreary and depressing. It will be interesting when we get closer to seriously looking at schools.
In my opinion, walking around without talking to anyone gives you little feel for the school. Mostly you get landscaping and architecture, which aren’t top of the list criteria to pick by. What year is your D? Spring of sophomore year isn’t too soon for a light schedule of visits, but with tours and classes if possible. Do you have a copy of the Fiske Guide to Colleges? It has write ups that help you learn about the vibe of a school.
It’s interesting that what may feel ‘lively and vibrant’ to one kid, feels cramped or hyper to another. My S didn’t like urban LACs because he felt cooped up and unable to escape the crowds (and our State U was even worse). The small college towns felt right for him. Nephew was the opposite - he didn’t see enough kids ‘doing stuff’ outside. He ended up at our state U where there are always people around, no matter what time he’s out. And I would swear that both S’s LAC and nephew’s State U are lively and vibrant in their own ways. In fact, I’d take it further: It’s more about the kid than the school. There are ‘lively and vibrant’ communities in nearly every college in the country except perhaps some of the commuter schools. It’s really just another way of talking about finding the best fit.
Funny that you mentioned that your D liked Skidmore, because I was about to cite that as one of the most “hopping” schools we visited. Part the appeal for my kid was how artsy it felt – he was very taken with the sheer density of flyers and posters for all the various performances and happenings around campus. Of course we were visiting on a special open-house day AND they were hosting some sort of model UN convention, so the campus was population was a bit artificially inflated. Still, neat school for the right kind of kid.
I noticed the same thing at Williams…lots of people walking around, with a creepy , surreal silence…all u could hear was the rustle of nylon sleeves rubbing against nylon parkas as the students walked. Try Depauw, Denison, Davidson, and St. olaf
Seconding Davidson and St. Olaf (haven’t been to Denison or Depauw). Davidson has a different kind of liveliness than Skidmore, in that it’s got a very vibrant sports culture rather than arts culture, but it was another of the most energetic places we visited. My son’s actually at St. Olaf this very weekend auditioning for a music scholarship, and he’s reporting the same feeling he got at Skidmore, where it just feels like there’s a lot going on.
Furman University, Greenville SC
Try Muhlenberg - I was there for breakfast at about 8:30 in the morning and I was shocked by how many students were up and about.
I would recommend Roanoke College. I got accepted there recently, and by the looks of it, it looks incredible, with a vibrant city right next to it.
I live near St. Olaf and went to a lot of one kid’s competitions there while she was in HS. Our kid’s HS is also a bit of a feeder to it. You are imagining it – it is no more “lively” than most other LACs.
Interesting that others felt the same vibe at Williams as my D1 did. She called it a “heads down” campus, one where most kids were walking around with their heads down either deep in thought or focused on getting to their destination, and it did feel a bit odd. Was beautiful fall weather when we visited so that was not a factor. Don’t get me wrong, Williams is obviously a fantastically fabulous school (and one of her closest friends is thriving there) but I find it interesting that others felt a very similar vibe. Swarthmore also felt that way to her.
Examples of other LACs she found more lively- Bates, Bowdoin, Colorado College, Middlebury, Wesleyan
Eckerd College, their motto is “Think Outside”.