What are Hamilton College’s peers?

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What other institutions are similar in terms of vibes/prestige/offerings?

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Whoever you want them to be. Honestly. But the answer you want might be Amherst,Vassar, Wes and Grinnell given open curriculums. Smith too. You won’t see it as competitive but Kalamazoo allows personalization.

Others will tell you Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Middlebury, Skidmore.

Not all are need blind like Hamilton, which may give it a bit more economic diversity.

But peers can really be who you want, unless you want magazines making the decision for you.

Hamilton labels these as their Standard Peer Group.

Standard Peer Group:

  1. Amherst College

  2. Bates College

  3. Bowdoin College

  4. Carleton College

  5. Colby College

  6. Colgate University

  7. Colorado College

  8. Connecticut College

  9. Davidson University

  10. Grinnell College

  11. Haverford College

  12. Lafayette College

  13. Middlebury College

  14. Mount Holyoke College

  15. Oberlin College

  16. Pomona College

  17. Skidmore College

  18. Smith College

  19. Swarthmore College

  20. Trinity College

  21. Vassar College

  22. Washington & Lee University

  23. Wellesley College

  24. Wesleyan University

  25. Williams College

The committee on Academic Policy label these 16.

Committee on Academic Policy (CAP) Peer Group:

  1. Amherst College

  2. Bates College

  3. Carleton College

  4. Colby College

  5. Colorado College

  6. Connecticut College

  7. Davidson College

  8. Grinnell College

  9. Hamilton College

  10. Mount Holyoke College

  11. Pomona College

  12. Swarthmore College

  13. Trinity College

  14. Washington & Lee University

  15. Wellesley College

  16. Williams College

Obviously different schools have different vibes but all these will have some extent of wealth.

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Note that the colleges that Hamilton labels as its peers are not necessarily the same ones that label Hamilton as their peers.

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For schools that name Hamilton as a peer, see, as examples, Colorado College and Reed:

Colorado College

Reed

  • Carleton College, MN
  • Colorado College, CO
  • Davidson College, NC
  • Grinnell College, IA
  • Hamilton College, NY
  • Haverford College, PA
  • Lewis & Clark College, OR
  • Oberlin College, OH
  • Occidental College, CA
  • Pomona College, CA
  • Swarthmore College, PA
  • Whitman College, WA
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Sewanee / University of the South considers Hamilton to be a peer:

When colleges name peers, they tend to have an “upward” bias in selectivity and perceived prestige, so the colleges that Hamilton names as its peers are likely to be more selective with higher perceived prestige than the colleges that name Hamilton as their peers.

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However, in the case of Hamilton’s “standard peer group,” posted above, Hamilton names more schools that place lower than it in its U.S. News category than higher.

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Yes, best to look in the eyes of Hamilton - but anyone can be a peer. Hamilton’s curriculum is different. Is the location type thing far different than a Sewanee? It may be a peer of Grinnell academically in many ways, but one is in NY and one in the midwest.

OP would really define what they are looking for.

Prestige is in the eye of the beholder and everyone sees that differently including some who think it’s fake and not truly relevant at all.

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As an opinion, Hamilton might be compared with schools such as Colby, Middlebury, Williams and Colgate. However, in doing so, be careful not to miss Hamilton’s distinctive attributes: Hamilton vs. Wake Forest - #15 by merc81.

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Vibes, “prestige”, and offerings are sufficiently different concepts such that I am not sure there is going to be a neat list of colleges that score close on all three. Like, Amherst and Hamilton both have open curriculums, but some would suggest Hamilton is maybe not quite a “prestige” peer of Amherst. In my circles, in contrast, Colby and Hamilton seem to be considered very similar in terms of “prestige”, but I am not sure the “vibe” is really exactly the same. I might actually nominate Colorado College for a relatively similar combination of “prestige” and “vibe” (at least if you can get over them being in different regions), but then Colorado College has the very distinctive block scheduling curriculum.

So basically, I think at a certain level these LACs are all unique combinations of attributes, and then the most similar colleges depend on which attributes you focus on.

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I’m going to paraphrase what a NESCAC adcom told me recently: that for their school, they could divide its overlaps (the colleges that share the most applications and cross-admits consistently, year after year) into “three different buckets”, 1) Athletic competitors, 2) Other colleges that share its particular academic approach, and 3) “Regional Powerhouses” (basically, the Ivies.)

Of those three buckets, I would have to say that for Hamilton, the most important would probably be the first. They are among the NESCACs with the highest % of athletes. Other NESCACs within Hamilton’s range include Bates, Williams and Bowdoin:
NESCAC Spoken Here: - #2162 by cquin85

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As with any type of list we see here on CC, there are a few odd men out. Reed putting Lewis & Clark as a peer with Swarthmore seems strange to me.

It would be useful to know what kind of information @owlshead seeks. Are you looking to create a list? Trying to decide which college to attend? Looking for similar schools that might be slightly less difficult to get into? Something else?

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The OP’s other posts suggest they are a Hamilton `30, admitted in February during EDII

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I would suggest the OP start by getting a good college guide book (Fiske is one) from a bookstore, library, or guidance office and read up on other LACs. Try to isolate the attribute(s) you most like about Hamilton and look for those in write ups of other schools.

ETA: Just read above post. Will you be an incoming freshman at Hamilton? If so, congrats and…what is the point of this?

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That seems right to me. Lewis and Clark because of the region. Swarthmore because of the nerds.

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Yes, I’m Hamilton 2030! I really like it but not many people have any idea what it is so I’m trying to describe/compare it to them.

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I think the closest, in terms of “quality/prestige”, weather, and setting, would be Middlebury, Bowdoin, Williams, Colby, Colgate, Carleton, Grinnell, Swat, and maybe Haverford. (Swat and Haverford are a bit more suburban than rural, perhaps… but not too far off…)

Hamilton is an outstanding school – quite writing-intensive, which I really like.

In terms of vibe, I don’t really know – maybe a mix of Midd and Colby? My understanding is that Hamilton is a fairly balanced LAC in terms of culture/vibe.

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I think it is enough to say it is a top liberal arts college and you are very excited about attending in the fall. Should further explaination be necessary (hopefully not) you can note that Hamilton is small in size and is not a sports powerhouse so that is perhaps why they never heard of it.

Congrats and hope you have a great experience.

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You may have an experience that is somewhat similar to my younger daughter’s. She attended a small “primarily undergraduate” university in Canada that none of her friends down here in the US had ever heard of. Her friends kept asking “where?” and “why?”. I told her that once we got to her university this would change to “great school”. We flew up for orientation. The border guard asked “why are you visiting Canada”. I told him that we were attending orientation and that my daughter would be starting university in a few weeks. He asked “what school?”. My daughter pointed to her t-shirt. The next two words out of his mouth were “Great School!”. The entire rest of the trip went the same way. She got a great education, and is now studying in a very good PhD program back here in the US (at a university her friends definitely have heard of).

You are similarly going to find that once you get to Hamilton College people there will know how good it is. Then you will get a great education. You are likely to have small classes and get to know your professors, which will have multiple advantages. If you ever get to the point of applying to graduate programs, then graduate admissions will know how excellent it is.

If your friends have not heard of the school, just do not worry about it. It is a very strong liberal arts college with great professors, small classes, and lots of very good opportunities.

Congratulations! Plan to show up to class in September ready to attend every class, pay attention, and keep way ahead in your school work.

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If they don’t know Hamilton, would they know other small LACs?

I tend to think in terms of “prestige” you could reference universities like UVA and UNC, and maybe NYU or USC (those last two only if they don’t have outdated notions).

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If you wanted to emphasize the open curriculum and give a recognizably comparison, you could say something like, “a smaller, rural version of Brown”. That might at least give a vibe, although again imperfect. Happy to be told that this is wrong.