<p>I just need to know what they are known for, how presigious are they, what type of environment is present, and such. Any info on any college is appreciated. I am looking into majoring in CS and Econ. I have national unis on my list, just wanted to add 3-4 LAC’s as well.</p>
<p>1) Brandeis
2) Harvey Mudd
3) Hamilton
4) Grinnell
5) Bates
6) Macalester
7) Lafayette
8) Connecticut College
9) Franklin and Marshall
10) Depauw</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Run the net price calculator on each school’s web site.</p></li>
<li><p>Look in each school’s on-line course catalog to see what CS and economics courses it offers. Look in the on-line schedule to see how frequently each course is offered.</p></li>
<li><p>Consider the social aspects of each school. For example, Depauw’s social life is fraternity and sorority dominated (nearly 70% membership), while Grinnell, Harvey Mudd, and Macalester have no fraternities and sororities. Fraternities and sororities do tend to be associated with higher alcohol consumption.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Uniquely, Brandeis is heavily Jewish, about 55% now, as they’ve been trying to diversify. That can either be a plus or a minus. My daughter is Jewish, and her first reaction after visiting was “Too Jewish”. She’s not the only Jewish kid who has had that reaction among her friends. So it either works for you or it doesn’t.</p>
<p>Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any of those schools as being especially strong in CS, other than Harvey Mudd and maybe Grinnell. Others may know more.</p>
<p>Of all the listed schools, Harvey Mudd would probably be the strongest choice academically for CS and Econ, as you could do CS at Mudd and Econ at either Pomona or Claremont McKenna. Mudd would also be the hardest one to get into, by far.</p>
<p>Brandeis is a small research university, not a LAC.</p>
<p>LACs are not well known to the general public in the United States. None of them have the name recognition of the Ivies, MIT, Stanford or Duke. However, many of them have excellent reputations among people familiar with American colleges. College professors are much more likely than other parents to send their kids to LACs. [Where</a> Professors Send Their Children to College - CBS News](<a href=“http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-37244508/where-professors-send-their-children-to-college/]Where”>http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-37244508/where-professors-send-their-children-to-college/)</p>
<p>Random comments on a few schools on your list:
2) Harvey Mudd - has a science/engineering focus, but with liberal arts breadth requirements. Like a mini MIT. More selective than the others here. Part of a 5-college consortium, which expands the range of available courses. Has one of the highest rates of PhD production (after adjusting for institution size). Good financial aid.
4) Grinnell - one of most well-endowed colleges in America (on a per-student basis). Good facilities, good aid. Rural location. Another LAC with a high rate of PhD production (after adjusting for institution size).
6) Macalester - one of relatively few LACs in an urban location. Relatively high percentage of international students. Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan went there. Good financial aid. Seems to have a decent CS program. Grads appear to be getting good jobs.
7) Lafayette - one of the few LACs with engineering programs.</p>
<p>Any of them should be fine. Except for Harvey Mudd, and Lafayette’s engineering, they all offer pretty much the same product. However, check the sites for breadth/depth of course offerings in CS and econ. Look over the faculty bios. Some LACs only have a couple of professors covering CS.</p>
<p>You wouldn’t want to include Bates as one of your LACs as it does not offer CS, aside from two or three courses in its mathematics department.</p>
<p>OP, how did you come up with that list? Did you research anything about them first?</p>
<p>You’ll get more helpful responses if you do some preliminary research first and come with more specific questions that you haven’t found the answers to.</p>
<p>But since you are here, I’ll take the same cavalier approach to answering that you did to questioning. Given your combined interests in CS and Econ, I would…</p>
<p>Keep Mudd
Strike the rest
Add Claremont McKenna
Add Haverford
Add Williams</p>
<p>Take a look at Bard</p>
<p>It is hard to say which one’s the OP should keep or get rid of, it depends on his stats. From a pure strength of major perspective I agree he should keep Mudd. But if his stats give him no chance of admission, then that may not be a good idea after all.</p>
<p>Mudd has the best CS department of your list (obviously) but doesn’t offer econ. Grinnell has decently strong programs in both.</p>
<p>Yes, but kids at Mudd have to have a secondary concentration in a non-science/math subject, and can take classes at the other consortium colleges as well. So it would be quite easy to do that with Econ.</p>
<p>Harvey Mudd does offer a few economics courses (but not enough to make a major). Given the nature of the school, it would not be surprising if they were more math-oriented than the more numerous economics offerings at the other Claremont colleges that should be easily accessible to Harvey Mudd students.</p>