Speaking of small LACs…Berea (in KY) is free for all students. Well, tuition-free, with the expectation that all students work-study to pay for R&B. It’s pretty tough to get into though, especially if you aren’t from Appalachia which is the region its meant to mainly serve.
Albright in eastern PA recently went to meeting 100% of need and it is not difficult to get in. It’s also pretty small.
@OHMomof2 Yes, Albright is one we’ll definitely be looking at, as long as their current financial aid policy remains the same next year.
@OHMomof2, I think you’re right that LACs need the money and the mission to be able to be affordable for low income students. But most of them don’t have the money, even if they had the mission.
I’m not sure it’s a LAC vs U, small vs large thing though @“Cardinal Fang” .
14 of these 29 are LACs: http://www.firstgenerationstudent.com/find/29-elite-colleges-can-actually-afford/
11 of these 25 are also LACs: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/08/29/the-top-colleges-that-cost-the-least-for-needy-students/
FWIW, I really liked the detail of @WildRumpuser 's summaries. The feel of the campuses, the surrounding areas, and how easy or difficult it is to get around without a car are all important components for my daughter. Many of the colleges that “Sasha” considered are on our radar and we can’t visit them all. So this was like a private tour.
It is also a lot of work to compose such lengthy descriptions. I appreciate the effort you made to provide this information to the CC community.
I agree, I really liked @Wildrumpuser’s summaries! 
THANK YOU
Hey, Leo Tolstoy read this thread and he emphatically demands the return of his words and sentences; the OP used up all the available text.
There’s absolutely no obligation to read something you, personally, feel is too long. Those of us who found it useful are happy to have all those words. Again, thank you OP for sharing your observations.
My complaint was that the OP did not visit any colleges on our list. Otherwise, excellent write-ups.
I thought people might be interested in some of the private responses I’ve received.
Macalester has quite a few devoted fans, several of whom wrote to say that Sasha’s tour group was not typical and that Sasha may have given up on Mac too quickly. They said that the people they met on their Mac tours were very nice, that the student body is very nice, and that Mac’s culture isn’t particularly competitive. Ironically, Sasha recently got back in touch with an old friend who went to a summer program with Sasha a few years ago but lives too far away to see on a regular basis. The friend and Sasha seem to have similar academic records, similar extracurricular interests, and similar dispositions. The friend is going to Mac, having been admitted early decision.
My description of Occidental continues to generate pretty strong reactions. Many people really like Oxy. One person wrote to say that his or her kid is quirky but enjoys Oxy very much and has found kindred spirits there. Also, some people say, having your own car doesn’t really matter in a world with Uber. But several people wrote to say that their impressions of Oxy were very similar to ours.
I also have received overwhelmingly positive comments about Beloit and Lawrence. We are far from the only ones who’s final lists included those two colleges, including a surprising number who also were very interested in Puget Sound. At least one parent wrote to say that the parent had one kid at Beloit and another at Puget Sound.
I did hear one negative thing about Puget Sound: apparently, for some people, it is not quite as generous with financial aid as many of the other colleges on Sasha’s list.
I have an interesting little anecdote about Macalester and the unfortunate random elements of a college visit that are all but impossible to eliminate. The admissions folks there encourage parents and kids to go on separate tours. My son thought his tour-guide was really lame, and was pretty turned off about the place. Meanwhile, I thought my tour guide was outstanding, and thought is was one of the best college tours I’d been on! I kept trying to persuade him that he’d just gotten a bad draw and that Macalester was a really great place that should stay on his list, but I can’t say I really succeeded in that effort. It’s tough, this college evaluation stuff, and to a certain extent, the winds of fate are going to blow your kid where they see fit. The comforting thing is that it’s not like there’s one special “soul-mate” college out there for your kid (any more than there’s one “soul-mate” individual), and most can thrive in a number of different environments.
@rayrick - That’s an interesting observation. My S and I had nearly opposite experiences with our guides at Mac. Mine was new, not local, and just a couple months into the school year really didn’t know a huge amount beyond what she’d been taught for the job and her own limited experiences. She did make up for that with enthusiasm, but wasn’t all that informative. My S, OTOH, had a junior (maybe a senior?) who clearly loved the place and was really passionate about it, and had all sorts of anecdotes to share with them. We have a family friend who is also a senior at Mac and had visited with her earlier, so I had all the unofficial information that I needed, and didn’t really mind the less-informed guide. I’m glad my S had the guide he did, though.
He’s applied to Mac RD, and depending on how his other RD schools turn out (and whether he gets in at Mac!), it may well end up being his first choice. I can easily see how that could have been different, though, had he had a different guide. I don’t remember which school it was - Santa Clara, maybe? - where the guide was really unengaged and sounded like he was on autopilot, except when it came to talking about his frat and the B-school, neither of which interested my kid at all. Had he known nothing else about the school, it would’ve fallen off his list based on that.
@WildRumpuser - your description of Oxy is interesting. It was on S’ “medium list” for awhile, but fell off with the paring from 15 to 10 schools (he ended up applying to 6). I never asked why it moved, but it may be for some of the same reasons you indicate, as S seems to have some comparable priorities. He won’t touch Uber, either, due to their labor practices (or lack thereof), so that wouldn’t have been an option for him. Public transit matters. The one school to which he’s applied that has minimal transit options has extensive carshare operations nearby. (Although since he doesn’t drive yet, that’s of dubious value.)
I liked the longer analysis. Plenty of other options here for people who want to read less, after all.
Someone wrote that some of the colleges I described “have wildly varying admissions standards” and “aren’t really in the same ballpark as UPS.” For example, Reed, Colorado College, Oberlin, Occidental and Macalester are much more selective than UPS, Lewis & Clark, Willamette, Beloit, Lawrence, etc…
I agree with everything that person said EXCEPT that the colleges “aren’t really in the same ballpark.”
Of course, for certain high school seniors with certain credentials, Reed, Colorado College, Oberlin, Occidental and Macalester would be unrealistic reaches, even though those same students might have excellent chances of getting into UPS, Lewis & Clark, Willamette, Lawrence or Beloit. But college admissions are unpredictable. And even putting aside that unpredictability, I still would say that all of those colleges ARE in the same “ballpark.” Many or most of the students accepted at each of those colleges have credentials that would put them somewhere in the middle of the pack of accepted students at all of the other colleges mentioned. Yes, Reed, Colorado College, Oberlin, Occidental and Macalester are much more selective, and “harder” to get into, than UPS, Willamette, Lewis & Clark, Beloit and Lawrence, but there is a lot of overlap among the student bodies, measured by the academic credentials of admitted students.
You can see one measure of the overlap by comparing the ACT and SAT stats for the various schools. At a certain point, there’s not that much overlap between colleges. The test scores of more than three quarters of Swarthmore and Pomona admitted students don’t overlap with the test scores of more than three quarters of UPS and Beloit admitted students. However, the test scores of Oberlin admitted students overlap quite a bit with the test scores of Swarthmore admitted students as well as the test scores of Beloit admitted students.
You also can see the overlap when you look at admissions to grad schools. If you peruse the lists of PhD candidates at major universities in particular schools or departments, you probably will find students who went to all of the colleges listed. Admittedly, you probably will find more (per capita) from Swarthmore or Pomona than Oberlin or Macalester, and more (per capita) from Oberlin and Macalester than Beloit or Lawrence, but you’ll find plenty from all of them.
I have no doubt that some people choose Oberlin over Swarthmore, even though there are plenty of people who get in to Oberlin but would not have been viable candidates for Swarthmore. And some people prefer Beloit, Lawrence and UPS to Reed, Colorado College and Oberlin, even though many of their future classmates at Beloit, Lawrence and UPS would not have had a prayer of getting into Reed, Colorado College or Oberlin.
To the students at the stronger end of the bell curve (and their parents), I’d say they may want to look at some of the less selective colleges, which may be better fits. And if the dice don’t roll their way and they end up having to go to one of the less selective colleges on the list even though they had hoped for a different outcome, they shouldn’t feel so bad, since the student body compositions, academic offerings, graduate school placements, etc. overlap quite a bit among colleges that some people initially may perceive not to be “in the same ballpark.”
To the students at the weaker end of the bell curve (and their parents), I’d say they may want to apply to some of the more selective colleges, but they may not, and again, if they don’t end up going to one of the more selective colleges, they needn’t feel so bad. One of the less selective colleges may be a better fit, and there will be smart and engaged students, excellent academic offerings, excellent grad school opportunities, and so on, at many of the less selective colleges I’ve been describing.
Thank you for your detailed account of your search! My daughter is a junior and is looking at very similar schools (and I had looked at UPS when I was “college shopping” for myself back in 1986–I had loved it, although I ultimately ended up elsewhere.
Connecticut College is on D’s list currently. Do others agree it’s boring and isolated?
@thegfg My D liked it. Isolated? Well New London is a city served by Amtrak, buses, etc. - actually also a ferry to Long Island I believe. We had some decent seafood down near the waterfront after our visit. The CGA is right across the street. Campus seemed like one where kids stay around on weekends. It’s definitely pretty.
I didn’t see a town or anything to walk to, though.
@theGFG, I’ve spent a fair bit of time on the Conn College campus, though only on Sunday afternoons/evenings. Maybe it’s a Sunday thing and everyone is studying, but it always feels…sleepy to me. Not a lot of folks out on the big green central fields, light pedestrian traffic. I always find myself wondering where everyone is. But again, could totally be explained by the time I’m usually there.
And I hope your D likes yoga pants. It’s like they’re the school uniform or something.
Ugh, no, she won’t be wearing yoga pants! Thanks for the input.
We didn’t visit Connecticut College so I really have no firsthand information, though I’m generally familiar with the area, and encountered it as part of the http://8ofthebestcolleges.org/ roadshow. The good news is that they’re in good company, but the bad news is their presentation was by far the least inspiring of the bunch. Which could just be lousy marketing, but there it is.
As noted elsewhere, New London is situated on the Amtrak line between New York and Boston, accessible to both big cities, but more for a weekend than for a day. It’s on/near the Thames River and Long Island/Block Island Sound so there are a number of attractive waterfront areas nearby, though I don’t know how accessible they’d be to a student without a car.
“Very interesting synopsis of a lot of colleges. Some of them have wildly varying admissions standards, however, and aren’t really in the same ballpark as UPS, e.g., Reed, Colorado College, Oberlin. Depending on a students grades and scores, the latter might not even be accessible. UPS, Lewis & Clark, Willamette, Beloit have much higher acceptance rates”
@SJTH, agreed. I noticed this in the narrative, when @WildRumpuser referenced Sasha’s stats as not quite Swat level, but then wrote off Vassar and Wesleyan on grounds (No East coast), both of which are similar to Swat in terms of selectivity and in any event much more selective than UPS or any of the finalists on Sasha’s list, including Mac. So there’s a little generalizing going on as it relates to admissions in this piece.
But the descriptions were good and interesting, even though “Sasha” is used too many times. A pronoun here and there would have made it a little less awkward.