<p>Going to be applying to only one of these three schools as an econ major.</p>
<p>What are your opinions on these schools in terms of prestige, campus and student body (average type of student and spirit). Or anything you guys think is worthwhile mentioning really.</p>
<p>Why will you only apply to one?</p>
<p>Wesleyan has the most name recognition out of the three. Bates is probably next, followed by URichmond, but they are all well-respected LACs. Wesleyan and Bates have about the same level of selectivity (Wesleyan is slightly more selective, 20% vs. 24%) while URichmond is easier to get into (30%). URichmond and Wesleyan are similar in size; Bates has about 1,000 less students than the other two.</p>
<p>I don’t know about “average type of student” - there’s likely to be all kinds of students at each of the three. I will note that Wesleyan is pretty ethnically diverse, and so is URichmond - nearly half the students identify as something other than white. Bates is about 72% white. URichmond has a higher proportion of in-state students (20% compared to 11% or less at Bates and Wesleyan), and I suspect that Richmond has more regional appeal than the other two schools. However, the weather is a lot warmer in Richmond than it is in Lewiston or Middletown!</p>
<p>Location is another thing - UR is located on a suburban campus right outside of a small but major city. It’s also the capital of VA, so there may be internship opportunities there. Richmond’s also ~100 miles south of DC, which may be relevant for weekend trips I suppose? Middletown is a small city but only about a half hour from both New Haven and Hartford, and Boston, NYC and Philadelphia are reachable by bus and train in a couple of hours. Bates is more isolated - Lewiston is about an hour from Portland, ME, but Portland is a pretty small city (not a whole lot bigger than Middletown). It’s about 3 hours to Boston. SO do you want to be right outside a major city, in/nearby small cities with easy access to very large ones, or in a pretty ruralish area?</p>
<p>Potentially relevant for an economics major: Wesleyan has major/concentration offerings in informatics and modeling, a quantitative analysis center, and science in society, all which may be good complements to an economics major. There’s also international relations. Richmond has two economics majors - one in the arts & sciences and one that focuses on business applications; they also have mathematical economics major, an international economics major, as well as one in philosophy, politics, economics, and law. They also have concentrations in finance, accounting, international business, business economics, marketing, and management. SO if you are interested in incorporating some business studies into your economics degree, Richmond has the richest course offerings in that area; Wesleyan may be particularly enriching to the quantitative study of economics.</p>
<p>I’ve visited all these schools at least once and am pretty familiar with them with friends and family attending. Here’s my knee-jerk assessment:
Wesleyan: well-known, esp. in northeast, but not as prestigious as it used to be, and not as prestigious as other NESCACs (the least of the “Little Three”). Edgy, liberal student body. More artsy types than at the other two schools. Middletown is OK but not great. Has some graduate programs, and is about 2x the size of Bates.
Bates: very good reputation (also a NESCAC); friendly, welcoming student body, with all “types”, from outdoorsy / granola-y to preppie to athletic, etc. No frats, which gives a very “inclusive” vibe. Very nice campus, lots of new / remodeled buildings and facilities. Great food, great housing options. Lewiston is an old mill town (somewhat like Middletown), but is on a come-back, with some great restaurants. Skiing and Maine coast are both an easy drive. Portland is a nice town 40 min south with pretty good airport. Bates’ new president already is making positive impact on relationship with town, fundraising, general stature of the school. The smallest of these 3 schools (about 1700), no graduate programs.
U of Richmond: Really beautiful campus; larger and more spread out than Bates and Wesleyan. In a very pretty suburb of Richmond which makes it nice and safe, but has more of a country (country club!?) than urban feel. D1 sports (Spiders!) vs. D3 at these other 2 schools. Southern vibe and traditions (i.e., girls dress up for football games). Pretty well known in southeast but gaining national reputation. Has graduate programs including law school, so kinda feels more like a small university than a LAC.</p>
<p>@juillet Only applying to only one because I’m trying to narrow down my college list! Thanks for the info, learned a bit about each of the schools!</p>
<p>@LACluster Thanks! Yeah those were the impressions that I gained from the three colleges.</p>
<p>I watched a video of a tour of Bates campus and it looks pretty amazing (at least in the fall), and Richmond’s is amazing too. Out of the three, I’ve crossed off Wesleyan because the other two sound like more of my type of fit, and now leaning heavily towards Bates!</p>
<p>This may be a matter of “which one is not like the others?”
If you take a look at each school’s Common Data Sets, you’ll see that Richmond is the clear outlier. Nearly forty percent of it’s student body majors in business. Only half a percent of all baccalaureate degrees awarded last year were in Math or in the visual/performing arts. In fact, it has the lowest percentage of STEM majors of the three colleges mentioned here. Add the fact that a comparatively high proportion of its students seem to be members of Greek societies, and my suspicion is that the OP should probably be looking at Washington and Lee, Claremont McKenna and similar small colleges where business majors form a large cohort group.</p>