Saw this one from Bates.
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sorry that it is sideways
Very artistic!
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Posted by Williams on their FB and IG accounts:
“Astrophysics major Kaia Glickman ‘25 shared this amazing picture of last night’s Northern Lights as seen from the Science Quad (on what turned out to be Mountain Day Eve 2024).”
The sky turned purple the night before Mountain Day–talk about a sign! 
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Thank you circuitrider! from the tech challenged 
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Thank you for sharing this picture! As a Williams alum it made me smile!
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Saw a bunch of the Bates pics. Just amazing!!!
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It’s such a special place. My Eph has had a wonderful experience.
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WalletHub Rankings
︎21. Hamilton
︎25. Amherst
︎40. Middlebury
︎46. Colby
︎47. Tufts
︎61. Wesleyan
︎87. Trinity
︎97. Connecticut College
Comments
- Williams, Bowdoin and Bates were excluded from consideration for unclear reasons.
- The site notes that, “‘In general, universities tend to rank higher than colleges due to their inclusion of graduate-level programs, greater on-campus opportunities and higher earnings for students post-graduation.’" Five LACs do appear in the top twenty-five, however.
- In general, it is not difficult to find flaws and inconsistencies in the site’s findings and presentation.
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I’m sure Williams would rather have The Northern Lights.
Colby, but no Bates or Bowdoin. Amherst and Smith, but no Williams.
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Agreed. Luckily, none of them are lacking in positive reinforcement.
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Washington Monthly 2024 LAC rankings
(2024 Liberal Arts Colleges Ranking | Washington Monthly)
The NESCACs:
(3) Amherst
(4) Williams
(5) Wesleyan
(11) Bowdoin
(17) Middlebury
(26) Trinity
(28) Bates
(29) Hamilton
(48) Conn
(106) (University Category) Tufts
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Noting that Berea College (KY) was the #1 LAC in the country in this ranking. And while the Washington Monthly describes its ranking as “based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility, research, and promoting public service,” it ranked Berea only #120 for research (#2 in social mobility and #17 in service). And the #2 LAC, Harvey Mudd (a perennially highly ranked LAC), was only ranked #148 in the allegedly important “service” category. Strange ranking results.
2024 Liberal Arts Colleges Ranking
Since 2005, the Washington Monthly has ranked colleges based on what they do for the country. It’s our answer to U.S News & World Report, which relies on crude and easily manipulated measures of wealth, exclusivity, and prestige. We rank liberal arts colleges—four-year institutions that award almost exclusively bachelor’s degrees and that focus on arts and sciences rather than professional programs—based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: social mobility, research, and promoting public service.
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I think it reflects the wide disparities in historical missions and material resources among LACs. They’re uniquely American legacies of the Puritan desire to spread Christian values among the native Americans, the isolated farm villages of New England and other “heathens” that then got swept up in the tide of materialism that engulfed The Guilded Age of the late 19th century. In many ways, they’ve been at odds with themselves ever since. The same institutions must balance being feeder schools to the learned professions (which in its early form included preparation for the ministry); constantly revitalizing the traditional liberal arts as well as keeping a hand in the leading edges of Basic Science, all while hoping that to some extent their efforts contribute to the greater good of society.
Some of them do better on one end of the scale than the other.
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Except that this isn’t actually correct, except for Dartmouth.
The LACs were established like the colleges which went on to become universities, for the purpose of educating the White Christian men in the areas where these colleges were established. Many were established specifically to educate the elite. Some were more focussed on educating men for the ministry, others to provide the more advanced education that the basic one provided to most of the members of the educated classes.
Princeton began as “College of New Jersey”, and could have remained a Liberal Arts College, if they people in charge hadn’t decided on a different trajectory.
Moreover, colleges were being established in the SE as well, where Puritans never dominated. There was W&M, W&L, Charleston, Hampden-Sydney, Transylvania, Tusculum, and more, all established as early or earlier than many of the NE LACs.
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