Yes, areas in 3/4 of the geographic U.S. have a dearth of liberal arts colleges for many of the historic reasons that have been mentioned here. So insofar as many of the schools mentioned are LACs and, thus, similar to St. Olaf, I would agree.
But as has been mentioned on CC several times, different LACs have different vibes. For instance, I suspect that Muhlenberg and Gettysburg have different very different vibes from one another. Vassar and Colby seem as though they’d be pretty different from one another, too.
My sense is that the vibe at Sewanee is quite different from Colorado College and that neither is all that similar to St. Olaf. Berea, a work college, I suspect would also be quite different. So I think they are unified with respect to size and having a liberal arts curriculum, but different in the feeling of the campuses. Hendrix, however, I suspect might be closer to what I envision St. Olaf to be.
Not as selective, but Concordia-Moorhead was founded by St. Olaf grads as a part of great west expansion. Fargo was one of newest west booming towns, and pioneers came from southern MN to start Lutheran higher education. It serves western MN, ND, WY, MT, ID. It’s last Lutheran college before you get to Seattle.
It focuses music (it competes with St. Olaf head to head) and general liberal arts with very strong pre-professional programs like pre-med/pre-dental. This Concordia has no affiliation with any other Concordia in the US, which sometimes confuse general public outside of Fargo/Moorhead.
They also have incredible language program (that’s located in Bemidji, MN, which is about 2+ hours away from Moorhead), which resemble similar to what Middlebury has. It serves primarily K-12 and US military so a bit different focus.
I am a grad (we call ourselves cobbers, our mascot is angry corn.). My S24 was “forced” to apply, and got the top merits (but he has no interests to live in Fargo/Moorhead). Another MN school he applied was Macalester, which he will be attending this fall. While I love St. Olaf, S24 didn’t like at all during our campus visits.
To answer your question, we’d have to identify what is St. Olaf’s secret sauce - what makes that college feel special?
For my daughter it was:
(a) a fantastically unified campus community with an intense focus on the common good (highest percentage of students voting in the 2020 election of any college; honor code that works with student belongings scattered everywhere and no petty theft; near 100% residential on a defined campus; dining hall where students talk with each other rather than study or wear headphones);
(b) higher than expected global focus (seen in international students who are truly integrated into campus, study abroad participation (top 10 in the US in student percentage who study abroad) and language instruction);
(c) Essentially (and linked to (a)), no greek life;
(d) phenomenal music with widespread campus participation but not a conservatory, so all ensembles accessible to non-music majors if they’re good enough;
(e) classic liberal arts curriculum and faculty/student interactions (with faculty a bit more devoted to students than some more elite liberal arts colleges where the faculty seemed a bit more focused on their own research careers) with surprising percentage of students who go on to PhDs ( as well as the professional degrees like MDs), reflecting outstanding mentoring;
(f) GORGEOUS campus and high on the Hogwarts scale;
(g) cute little town, combined with 45 minutes from major international airport;
(h) 100% need met school, as well as merit awards, with a reasonable admission rate, making it extremely unusual in its selectivity cohort.
I could go on, but the answer to your question - what is the St. Olaf of the S or W? - I suspect is “There is none.” Nor is there a St. Olaf of the NE. I really think this school is a unicorn. There are other schools that are unicorns in their own ways, but their list would look different than what I have above. There are of course also things that might lead different students to think St. Olaf is not a good fit.
I did not attend, nor did my children. But we all love St. Olaf, and think fondly of it every Christmas when we watch their nationally televised PBS music performance.
Some smaller schools need some props. Visited Saginaw State Valley University which sits right in between Bay City and Saginaw. While the two cities don’t have great reputations for crime (this concerned us, of course), the visit really moved it up on our list. The university is fairly isolated and sits about 10-15 minutes in a more rural/suburban area.
My son and I visited (it is play hockey there), and were extremely pleasantly surprised. The campus is relatively small but very “welcoming”. The dorms are amongst the best we’ve seen at any school. The buildings and rooms all look fairly new. What struck was the cleanliness of the campus. The athletic facilities could match most D1 schools. The big positive though was the “friendly” tone of the school. On our tour, countless students said “hello” and seemed genuinely happy. We were part of a group of 5-6 hockey players touring.
This school is not for everyone. It gets snowy and chilly in winter but, we are Canadians so, it doesn’t phase my son. It is also small (but, cozy) and no real big city option nearby (Detroit 90 minutes- that may not bad thing). However, it definitely had that “midwest” welcoming vibe.
I really wanted to post because there is a focus on the big brands sometimes, but, a lot of diamonds in the rough that deserve attention.
Main problem with Olaf is the weather. If you can deal with that, it’s pretty great. Since it is in a small MN town you get a discount in acceptance rate and merit aid. If it was in Vermont or NH or Maine is might be a different story.
We visited both St. Olaf and Hendrix this year, and I think this is accurate. Both are special schools, with thoughtful, self-selected student bodies. St. Olaf is bigger (and feels it), with a beautiful campus that’s more “grand” in feel, and also more isolated. Hendrix is also very pretty, but more compact, set right in town, with facilities a little less dazzling. The students at both seem genuinely friendly and kind, though the St. Olaf kids seemed on the whole more…conventional, maybe is the best word…and the Hendrix kids more offbeat (but not self-consciously so, like you’d find on other campuses – it just seemed like the school draws kids who march to the beat of their own drums). We have seen a lot of schools, and these were both two favorites. They’d be different experiences, but a kid could really fall in love with either. Happy to answer any questions.
My D22 goes to Hendrix; it truly is a special place. The academics are what you’d expect from a true LAC - supportive professors, research and study abroad opportunities, room for lots of electives. But for me, the social scene Hendrix has cultivated is what really sets it apart. During orientation week, the freshman go on a short overnight trip in small groups (options range from horseback riding, canoeing, camping to museums), so you get to know others right away. Throughout the year, they have themed parties 1-2x a month put on by individual dorms and clubs that involve the whole campus, and typically costumes they thrift. But they also offer an alternative quiet activity at the same time. Students can truly be themselves. And the weather is pretty fabulous throughout the school year (except move in day - that is sweltering!).
Thanks for this. D24 is in the process of making her final choice, so it’s great to hear that our impressions of Hendrix are borne out by your family’s experience. Visiting Hendrix felt a bit like discovering a tiny wonderland behind a door that most people hadn’t even noticed. (And the $ can’t be beat!) We are from the east coast, so it’s been hard to find first-hand accounts. Really appreciate this comment!
We had a good visit to University of Alabama at Huntsville. S25 liked the academic options as well as the exercise facilities and encamps movies twice a week. Husband and I emphasized the total awesomeness of the room setup, where you get your own room and share some living space. Wish I had that in my college days!
Best meals of our trip were in Huntsville, too! Totally recommend the Blue Plate Cafe about 5 minutes driving from the campus. And signing up for the tour meant we got free tickets to their cafeteria. Pretty impressive selection and quality of food there (kiddo got pizza and pasta, husband filled up on salad bar, I took advantage of their instant pancake machine).
Only bummer for us was that it rained, so we didn’t really get to see students walking around and interacting. Oh, and the admissions officer didn’t do much to help us understand what the social life was like on campus, since she said most people go to downtown Huntsville for concerts or the like.
S25 considers it a reasonable option, so I count that as a win! Thanks for checking in!!
re: Belmont: I’ve had the experience a couple of times of people looking at me like I had two heads when I’ve said that Belmont’s a Christian college. “Oh no, Belmont is very liberal!” Putting aside the fact that liberal and Christian are not antonyms (and that to the extent it’s liberal, it’s a Tennessee version of it), I think it’s the sort of place that doesn’t feel particularly religious…to Christians, particularly ones who are used to being in a strong majority and seeing Christianity as the default. But Belmont itself is very clear that they consider themselves a Christian college, and you don’t have to dig very deep to find out that, for example, they’ve repeatedly shut down attempts by students to form a Muslim student organization. And that they just started hiring Jewish faculty within the past year or so.
I just posted a long assessment of our spring break college tours on the official “Colleges Crossed Off or Moved Up” post, but thought I might share some of the more quirky experiences on this discussion:
UTK was the first and only place we saw the Grubhub delivery bots, which was entertaining, especially considering how hilly the campus is! Loved seeing the little army of robots going about doing their thing. We also came in on a Sunday and saw several groups of students going around the town picking up trash. When I asked one group, they said they do that every other Sunday. It was the only time I’ve seen volunteer activities on any campus, and warmed my heart.
Unfortunately the rest of our time at UTK didn’t reinforce that volunteer mentality. So many references to other SEC schools by the guides made me feel like this school might have a chip on its shoulder regarding how it is viewed. (And off campus, the official city signs had “Knoxville Art Museum” missing the “x” on their labels. Yikes.)
As for UAH, I so wish it hadn’t been raining and we could have seen students walking around. Everyone was friendly (S25 says he is waiting for me to make the comment that the students are really mean at any campus) and seemed to be having a good time. Weirdest moment? When S25 asked the admissions officer what students do socially when not in school, and she replied with a story about what Disney movie character UAH would be: it seemed strange to expect potential UAH students to know who the heck Milo is in Atlantis and what that means for a social life.
At Auburn, we took in the traditional lemonade at Toomers and got a good meal at the Hey Day market. The joke in our family, though, was that there is something in the water at Auburn that turns the hair color blonde. That was really only on the first night, though, and I think all of our tour guides were then brunettes.
And I can’t think of anything snarky to share about Clemson, beyond the fact that it seemed like the tour guide was trying really hard not to name the Strom Thurmond Institute when he was naming the buildings on campus. He pointed out all the buildings around the quad but completely skipped that one, until someone asked where another building was and he had to say it wasn’t the Strom Thurmond one. Awkward!
The students I talked to didn’t seem to have any issues. It seems like in general larger schools offer more options and smaller schools have fewer options. Personally I am not a picky eater, have no food allergies, and I already tend to eat a lot of the same things over and over so I have no concerns. I do look for the ice cream machine everywhere I go because I love ice cream. If I had to cook for myself I would probably be eating a lot of ramen and cereal so I am happy to be on a meal plan. Also, washing dishes is one of my normal chores and I’m looking forward to a break.
As one who attended both UVA and UNC themselves and had a daughter graduate from UVA last year (we are NC residents got into both UNC and UVA)…the schools and students are so similar it’s hard to distinguish.
If there is a program that fits ideally at UVA and not one at UNC that would be an infinitely more important determinant (adding in-state tuition to that). Greek life is not that important and probably going to be slowly phased out
