<p>Have narrowed my list down to 20 schools now! Cutting away more is going to be hard… So I want to try to see which ones might be similar, and maybe be able to eliminate that way. How would you group them, according to different characteristics (for example, atmosphere, location/appearance of campus, quality of education, type of student body, etc)? Any and all categories are welcome! :)</p>
<p>These are the colleges:
Bates
Alfred
Denison
Whitman
Beloit
Kenyon
Lawrence
Knox
Macalester
Middlebury
Brown
Colby
Carleton
Grinnell
Wittenberg
U of Tulsa
Earlham
Clark
Yale
Eckerd</p>
<p>You could even split them into regional categories.</p>
<p>But I’d be tempted to say that the undergraduate experiences at Beloit, Kenyon, Earlham, Carleton, and Macalester (strengths and weaknesses of individual institutions aside) would be fairly similar in regards to location, size, and type.</p>
<p>The most dramatically different categoies you could divide them into are fairly urban/very rural. </p>
<p>Macalaster, Brown, Yale, Clark, Tulsa are in or very near fairly big cities. Most of the rest are a ways from the nearest Gap store. This difference will have a significant effect on your ability to have a variety of things to do off campus (and believe me, even the nicest campus is a place you need to get away from once in a while), as well as your ability to have a variety of stuff to buy (clothes, dorm furnishings, whatever).</p>
<p>Schools with somewhat standard students, educational approaches, or overall feels:</p>
<p>Kenyon
Middlebury
Yale
Colby
Alfred (U or State?)
Denison
Tulsa</p>
<p>Schools with somewhat alternative students, educational approaches, or overall feels:
Whitman
Macalester
Brown
Clark
Beloit
Grinnell
Bates
Carleton</p>
<p>Schools I don’t know enough about to categorize:
Lawrence
Knox
Wittenberg
Earlham
Eckerd</p>
<p>You could also divide the schools up by SAT midrange levels and percentage of students admitted, if you wanted to get an idea for how selective the schools are.</p>