Part of the above confusion came, IMO, when we somehow leaped from discussing comparability of LACs and R1 research unis to discussing how many of a given type of student each school type educates.
To risk fanning the flames, I think that is irrelevant to the discussion about a ranking that includes both types of schools (and no, I am not the one who introduced the term “niche” or “irrelevant”).
The aggregate number of students each type of school educates and the type of student attracted to each model, and why, are to me different topics. Add in graduate and professional schools, and we’re completely far afield.
We were talking about the Forbes ranking and whether it means anything to combine LACs with R1s in one ranking. We lost that discussion.
I think many of us would love for you to keep us up to date here.
One quick bit of unsolicited advice: I don’t know your D’s stats, but as you know these schools are very selective for admissions. Given that and the sometimes unpleasant surprise or reality that fully qualified students aren’t chosen, I think it’s wise to cast a pretty broad net and be open to attending many schools. The results can be head scratching. Maybe somebody doesn’t get into Middlebury but gets into Hamilton.
Although I kind of agree with a poster here who views all the various reasons why kids eliminate this or that school as helpful winnowing, I myself think it makes sense to help the kid work through what can be snap judgements and hasty decisions so they wind up applying to more schools. So, for example, I would encourage her to not eliminate the entire state of Maine if she’s going to apply to Carleton (just making that up). Make the case about “cold is cold” and encourage her to be open. I love what someone said above … people think Maine and they think remote, but the three Maine schools are reasonably close to Portland (Bowdoin and Bates especially so), a cool city in my book, and getting to Boston is not hard. And Bates is in a decently sizeable town. My urban Seattle kid, who went right back to urban after graduation, had no issues whatsoever with her 4 years in Middletown. The campuses of these schools are their own communities and there is more in these college towns than one can appreciate at first blush.
It’s a small point, and just for the sake of clarification for anyone considering these schools – Colby is the outlier here, not Bates. Bowdoin’s maybe 30 mins from Portland, Bates about 45 mins. Colby is over an hour. Again – small point.
Agree, and I think we are in alignment here, but I would still point out that small numbers does not necessarily mean “niche”, I don’t think anyone would say Yale Law School is a “niche” school, so why say a LAC is a “niche” school?
Thanks for the insight! Yes, my kid is definitely casting a wide net and thankfully has a good likely/safety that she loves. She has several NESCAC schools on her list and we’ve been so impressed with them all- but they are competitive for sure! Unfortunately she had to reschedule her Bates virtual info session, I’ll report back on it when she does attend. One thing that’s on her ‘must-have’ list is an equestrian team, and we thought Bates had one but they haven’t posted anything on their Instagram page in about a year and a half- so she’s looking into that. Hopefully they have a team and just aren’t active online.
Hmm. My kid is a junior, and I’ve never seen anything about an equestrian team. Then again, that’s not really my D’s wheelhouse, so maybe she just wouldn’t know much about it. However, I found this page, which indicates they might be active as a club sport. I know that many of the sports listed on this page are active, so hopefully equestrian is, too? there is no contact information listed, but you might be able to find out more from the Athletic Department.
Maybe try calling this equestrian center which states “She trains and coaches the Meadow View show team, the Bates College Equestrian team, and also provides exercise and training service”. They could tell you the status of the team plus more inside information.
As you probably know, there are very few schools that have equestrian as an NCAA sport. You might be able to get more info from the IHSA (which is the league most colleges compete in). Bates, Bowdoin, and Colby all have contact emails for their teams on the IHSA site.