<p>S considering playing multiple sports at several Nescac schools. Which offers the best sports environment? Which is best for a math/economics/science person whose dream would be to never take English again. And, which has the best social, outgoing, fun environment and is the least competitive. Thanks.</p>
<p>I think Williams certainly invests the most money into its athletics program and attaches the most importance overall to its athletic image. the students are certainly outgoing and friendly. Not sure how able S would be to escape English or a Humanities course, though. He should give one a try, it could be that the teaching will be more to his liking at the college level than it was in high school.</p>
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<p>maybe Amherst, almost (but not quite as) athletic as Williams, but with an open curriculum.</p>
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NESCAC schools are all good places for sports. Some schools are particularly known for particular sports, but Williams, Amherst, and Middlebury generally have the strongest athletic programs overall. For example, these three schools were ranked #1, #3, and #2 in last year’s [NACDA</a> rankings](<a href=“http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/D3June19.pdf]NACDA”>http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/D3June19.pdf) of NCAA Division III sports programs nationwide. Williams has monopolized the #1 spot in these rankings for many years.
Williams is probably the most science/math oriented school overall; the math program stands out in particular. Wesleyan also has large science departments (it is the largest of the NESCAC LACs). However, the science and math programs are good at other NESCACs as well, they are just smaller. Economics is probably strong at all NESCAC schools.</p>
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Most NESCACs have distribution requirements, and will require at least some humanities coursework. However, Amherst, Wesleyan, and Hamilton have open curriculums.</p>
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All NESCAC LACs tend to have close-knit communities. However, the settings of these schools vary widely, and include small rural towns (Williams, Middlebury), urban settings (Trinity), or big college towns (Amherst). The “best” depends what you consider “fun”.</p>
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<p>Wesleyan and Middlebury have the newest NESCAC athletic facilities, for what it’s worth.</p>
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<p>How would Bowdoin compare to those? Which has the most diversity…are they mostly filled with upper class north easterners or do they attract southerners, african americans, etc. </p>
<p>Are going to football games popular at any?</p>
<p>Asians and Asian Americans, Jewish Americans and White Anglo-Saxon/Celtic Americans probably comprise the three largest ethnic groups at a majority of NESCAC colleges. African Americans come in a somewhat distant fourth, followed closely by people with Spanish surnames. Southerners normally include members of all of the above to varying degrees and hover somewhere between 5-8% of the enrollments. Generally speaking, the colder the climate, the whiter and more “eastern” the student bodies feel.</p>
<p>I think you’ll see a decent crowd at most football games. It’s Div III so the outcomes are often unpredictable. At Wesleyan, the main quad is converted into a football field every year, so it’s almost impossible to escape.</p>
<p>Isn’t Wesleyan super liberal though? My S is pretty middle of the road. I know a lot of people here want to avoid “jocks” or athletic people, but which schools would athletic people be happier at?</p>
<p>Athletic people happier at: Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Trinity, Colby.</p>
<p>Yes, Wesleyan is super liberal…a middle-of-the-road jock has much better options.</p>
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<p>^^^It’s difficult to make such blanket statements. A majority of athletes at Wesleyan would probably be indistinguishable from any other segment of the community – whether they are academic or political or artistic – they just happen to ALSO excel at a sport. However, football players seem to be the biggest exceptions. Whether this is because of their size and dedication or, rather, because they hang out together at one of the last traditional fraternity houses on High Street, is open to conjecture. But, they probably are who people most often are referring to when they talk about “jocks”. Would they be “happier” at a more conservative place? Probably. It isn’t always easy being in the minority or to feel that you are out of sync with what is going on elsewhere on campus. But, the truth is, there aren’t a whole lot of folks at Wesleyan who don’t feel the exact same way at some time or another. That’s why it is often referred to sardonically as, “Diversity University”. Many “jocks” at Wesleyan turned down more athletically inclined NESCAC colleges because they liked the fact that Wesleyan is not separate from the surrounding community and because they come from places precisely like Middletown, Connecticut – conservative places that teach tough life lessons around hard work and discipline. But, like Eric Mangini, Head Coach of the Cleveland Browns (who never misses a Reunion), they also like being around people different from themselves and the skills they could forge from those experiences. They can find both worlds at Wesleyan.</p>
<p>Nobody’s saying 100% of people at Wesleyan are anti-jock, but if you’re playing the percentages, it wouldn’t be anywhere near the top of the nescac in jockness.</p>
<p>Thanks. Out of the “athletic” environmental schools, which one has a good science/economics/math department. My S is very analytical and is brilliant at math and science. He loves poetry, but writing long papers isn’t his favorite. (although he’s capable of it, and it would be good for him).</p>
<p>Also, if being a multiple sport helps him get in and he probably would not otherwise, which school offers a diversity of classes not aimed at one type of brilliance. (i.e. the writer) He is smart, but is there one school over the other that offers more introductory classes to start with for those areas students aren’t as strong in. (Although, the positive of a LAC is that the English and writing classes are so unique that I think it really appeals to my son versus general “English” at some other schools.)</p>
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<p>And, I’m not trying to argue with you. 
I’m just saying, not everyone’s definition of happiness is being around people just like themselves, 100% of the time (although, obviously, it depends on the individual.)</p>
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<p>I think it all comes back to Williams, again. Not coincidentally, the NESCAC college with the most sports-oriented self-image is also the NESCAC college with the highest percentage of math majors, econ majors and probably the highest percentage of guys with white baseball caps worn backwards (just kidding.) But, not knowing anything about S’s stats, I’d have to advise you to back Williams up with some good matches and safeties.</p>
<p>I hope this helps. I should also apologize for giving Tufts short-shrift; it may, in fact, have everything you are looking for (athletes, science and economics majors) in bulk quantities, but, few people would call it a true LAC.</p>
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That’s probably a fair generalization. The first three are particularly successful overall, as noted above.
You would likely be able to find a great science, econ, or math education at any one, but Williams probably has the most institutional emphasis in these fields (with math standing out in particular). Based on average [url=<a href=“http://www.williams.edu/home/fast_facts/]numbers[/url”>http://www.williams.edu/home/fast_facts/]numbers[/url</a>] for 2004-2008, nearly 40% of Williams majors were in sciences, math/computer science, or economics/political economy. Note that the number of majors doesn’t necessarily correspond to the number of students, because many students double-major. I think it’s unlikely that any other NESCAC school would match that figure, though I can’t say that I’ve checked them all.
Williams may not be a fit in those regards. The distribution requirements include three courses in “Languages and the Arts”, and two courses deemed “writing intensive”.
The annual Williams-Amherst game is a big event by Division III standards, routinely drawing crowds in excess of 10,000. Other than that, not so much. Outside of football, Bowdoin-Colby hockey is big by Division III standards.</p>
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<p>Claudette:</p>
<p>Has your son talked to, or been recruited by, any of the coaches at these schools. The only admissions advantage goes to a specified number of “tips” and “protects” recruited by the athletic department. If your son is not on the recruiting lists, he will NOT get an admissions boost from athletics, which means the heavy sports schools might actually be more difficult to get into. You probably know all this, but I just thought I would check.</p>
<p>For writing, my advice would be to look closely at the resources invested in what are known as “Writing Across the Curriculum” programs. Modeled after a pilot program at Brown in the 1980s, these programs – when properly funded and supported – are an incredible resource. I’ve only looked at efforts to upgrade these programs at Williams and Amherst with part-time faculty or post-doc support, so I can’t really give you any comparative guidance. A liberal arts college that takes writing instruction seriously will almost certainly have a well-developed program with full time faculty assigned to the Writing program.</p>
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<p>Williams, Bowdoin and Colgate might suit your son well. Re: Wesleyan, it’s less of a jock school than those three… but it’s worth noting that athletics at Wes have been on kind of a tear in recent years. I think both men’s soccer and lacrosse, at least, are ranked among the top 10 or so nationally in D-III.</p>
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<p>Actually, many of those “writing intensive” courses would be terrific. Williams is a bit scatter-shot in what they include as “writing intensive”, but many of those courses have a mandataory write - review/comment - revise sequence for papers, which is by far the best way for students to improve their writing. In many cases, the review/comment step is done by student writing tutors and/or classmates.</p>
<p>Williams has the right model for an excellent writing across the curriculum program, they just haven’t spent the money to buld a strong program, although they have now hired an interim director – a post-doc from UMass on a year-by-year contract – who has done her homework and is making the right moves.</p>
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<p>LOL. He’s an athletic guy, but he doesn’t wear his hat backwards! But, his interests are heavily sports and he’s a laidback outgoing guy. </p>
<p>He has generated quite a bit of interest as a multisport guy. He’s trying to decide on whether to concentrate on one at a lower level D1, or play NESCAC and play 2. He would probably prefer a big sports school, however he would like to spend a few more years playing sports and he’s not big time D1.</p>
<p>There are pluses to a smaller school for him, and I"m trying to see if he’d be happy at any of these. Down here, they have a reputation (what little I know) of “nerd” schools where its all about books and political talk, etc. I’m not trying to judge anyone, just seeing if my son would be happy.</p>
<p>He is taking AP English and actually has a good teacher which is helping matters. He does very well in poetry, and I wouldn’t want him to avoid English at all. I just wondered if there are different levels at which you can start. Again, if it’s a class he’s interested in, the writing isn’t much of a problem. I’ve only looked at Bowdoin’s classes, and they are very interesting and I think he’d get more out of it than a larger schools “English 101” class.</p>
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<p>I’m actually glad you brought that up because I was beginning to wonder whether even Williams was a good enough fit? I mean, every NESCAC college is pretty solid across the board in terms of the standard liberal arts and science curriculum, but, they each have their specialties: Middlebury has languages; Wesleyan has film studies, Bowdoin has Arctic Studies. Once you step outside the Science/Math/Econ arc, Williams’ most popular major is Art History. :/</p>
<p>OP, have you looked at Davidson? Not NESCAC, but might be a good fit.</p>
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