<p>Which school would be more rigorous for social science, no aid needed.
I am an avid hunter so of course Middlebury is top choice but I’d like to know where else I should apply. I can add 2 out of the 5 (besides Midd)</p>
<p>Hunting isn’t kosher at Brandeis. (Thank you, I’ll be here all week…)</p>
<p>I can tell you that when we went down to the crew team boathouse at Hamilton, which is near Rome along the Erie Ship Canal, duck hunters with their limits were coming out of the canal before the race, so obviously there’s hunting in the area. Colgate isn’t far away, so I imagine the same thing is true in its area. The Adirondack’s lie just to the north, so plenty of hunting there. Can’t tell you about the others, but a good guess would be that hunting is more difficult from Brandeis and Conn due to their somewhat less rural locations.</p>
<p>Academic-wise, they’d all be pretty rigorous, since they’re pretty well ranked. though I’d tend to think the rigor somewhat parallels their rankings. Some schools are more political than others and that tends to show up most in the social science departments, so you might want to be sure that fits your personal preference.</p>
<p>The social sciences are rigorous at all of those schools. Middlebury, Hamilton, and perhaps Colgate may have a reputation for being slightly more rigorous than Skidmore or Connecticut College, but it’s unlikely to make a huge difference in the quality of your education. Hamilton has a great integrated writing program within their liberal arts & sciences education, so if you like to write that could be the place. Middlebury is known for languages.</p>
<p>Brandeis is also a very rigorous place; there you also have the advantage of it being a top research university with strong social science programs in a variety of fields.</p>
<p>LOL let’s hope I get admitted into Middlebury,. There is a difference between having hunters in the area and the school promotes hunting. Good thing about Midd is that its admissions director was a hunting guide and they have a huge hunting presence 
I am also wondering why there is a big ranking gap between Midd and, let’s say, Skidmore or Brandeis. CC does not even list these schools as Top LACs.</p>
<p>Brandeis is not an LAC so it would not be in the same ranking category as the others. Middlebury is one of the highest rated schools in the U.S. We have family friends whose daughter had Middlebury at first choice and was rejected… however she was happily accepted and is a recent proud alum of Harvard.</p>
<p>Brandeis is considered a university, not a LAC. Skidmore is #37 on the US News list, so it’s not a “Top 30”. Conn College is #45.</p>
<p>I don’t think any college is going to allow you to keep guns on campus. You might want to check on arrangements for that at any school. There are gun clubs in the area of all the rural schools and being rural, I’m sure someone on campus hunts, given their outdoor orientation.</p>
<p>According to this Middlebury magazine article: <a href=“http://sites.middlebury.edu/middmag/2014/02/26/the-call-of-the-wild/”>http://sites.middlebury.edu/middmag/2014/02/26/the-call-of-the-wild/</a>
Midd has an armory right on campus for shotguns, knives and hunting rifles. Someone commented that the school could be sponsored by NRA but I haven’t looked into this. </p>
<p>@MrMom62 Thanks I didn’t know CC followed the “Top 30” ranking so that explains it.</p>