Somewhat on topic …
As a 16-year-old beginning to look at colleges, I would have held these thoughts. Picking three schools that have been analyzed in this thread:
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Harvard: Large, and I’ve heard professors interact more with graduate students – whatever a graduate student is. Too closely associated with the orthodoxy, and I’m a zig-when-people-zag type. Plus, I want to be out in the country. So not for me.
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Alabama: Sounds like the type of school that attracts some of the best students in Alabama, and a state is a big place. But I’m out-of-state, and an instate public university would make more sense in comparison. So not for me.
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Harvey Mudd: A size that’s appealing, almost intriguing, as I want close interaction with professors and maybe a good chance to play sports. The really high SAT scores seem to indicate quality. Not in the country, but the suburbs may do. Didn’t really notice whether it’s in CC Top Liberal Arts Colleges or not. Look into further.
The point, and I really haven’t stated my opinion thus far, is that there’s an alternative to the type of college-selection approach that so often references which schools are elite or prestigious, or which athletic conference they are in. My hypothetical may have led me to Harvey Mudd, another’s to Alabama or Harvard. But, candidly, I cannot relate to the common tendency to position colleges above or below each other. I perhaps did this myself by posting some scores, but at the start of this thread I did feel that liberal arts colleges were being underestimated.