College Search

[Numinous]

Hey folks, Rose here.  I thought I'd ask the smartest people I know for their advice on a certain matter of some importance.

Next year is my senior year of High School, and although I've largely decided upon which University I'm going to attend, it's unwise to keep all your eggs in one basket.  So, I decided to ask if anyone here had any suggestions, or advice for finding reasonable college choices.

I'm aiming for a liberal arts college, with lots of options, and since I live on the east coast, proximity is something of a priority.  Since most folks here are of the artistic/literary persuasion, I thought somebody might have an idea or two.

For reference, the college I plan on attending. Link!

Thanks in advance.

[MittenNinja]

If proximity wasn't an issue I'd say the University of Minnesota: Twin Cities would be an awesome choice. It's got some great arts programs as well as the twin cities having a very large arts/music scene.

[Higgs Boson]

Well, if you want to be something with science or engineering, and have great grades, MIT!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SDragon]

Should I be worried that the site implies that Bacchus is a current student?

Anyways, there's plenty of great colleges in New England, so if travel isn't an issue, why not check there?

[Hibou]

Yeah, go with that. I go to a university that's one of the top rated in Canada and is big on arts (funny, cause I'm in science), but since it's in Canada it's probably not the best choice. DON'T GO TO UNIVERSITY OF MAINE - PRESQUE ISLE, it's a joke from what I've heard from everyone that has gone or been there.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

As an alum, it's my solemn duty (ahem) to promote William & Mary.  Seriously, you can get a great liberal arts education there.

[Numinous]

A bit of explanation.  I find college websites to be difficult to extract information from, and often deceiving.  I thought I could ask here and get some recommendations from people whose opinion I value.

Further information: I currently reside in NY, and am primarily interested in closer schools due to the nature of tuition prices rising as distance from high school increases.  Also, I am primarily interested in small schools within small towns, as I don't handle cities well, in general.

@ MittenNinja: University of Minnesota?  Did you go there?  I'm interested by the enthusiasm of your recommendation.

@ Phoenix Knight: Could I get your honest opinion on William & Mary?  How is the school in atmosphere and environment?

Thanks everyone for your advice so far, and any other information you could provide is definitely welcome.

[MittenNinja]

I didn't go there personally, but many (and by many I mean almost all) of my friends have gone there/are going there.

If you want a small school however, it wouldn't be a good choice as it's a large campus in a large city (Nearly 700,000 people in minneapolis/st. paul in total).

The plus size is there is an amazing amount of theatre/arts/music within the cities. We have some of the best of all three all right in one city.

[Numinous]

I didn't go there personally, but many (and by many I mean almost all) of my friends have gone there/are going there.

If you want a small school however, it wouldn't be a good choice as it's a large campus in a large city (Nearly 700,000 people in minneapolis/st. paul in total).

The plus size is there is an amazing amount of theatre/arts/music within the cities. We have some of the best of all three all right in one city.

Well, as awesome as that sounds, I think I can safely cross it off my list now.  I'm not a city person, and signing up to spend the next four years of my life in a totally alien city sounds like a bad plan to me.  Thanks for the recommendation though.

[Jharviss]

Beyond the generalization of liberal arts (because that covers everything from English to anthropology to international studies, which aren't all that similar), what are you thinking of majoring in?

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Out of state schools will be much more expensive than in-state,  so you might want to consider a NY school (you've got some nice choices).  Once you're out of state, further distance shouldn't effect tuition much, though other factors (public/private and so forth) will affect tuition.

Cost-of-living is lower in VA than NY, so that might help some in this case (for stuff like food, etc.).

W&M is located in Colonial Williamsburg (which was formerly the capital of Virginia, so there's a lot of effort to preserve the colonial atmosphere around the area.  It's in easy walking distance of Merchant's Square, which has cheese/coffee shops, bookstores, and so forth.

The campus itself is torn between the classic feel of some buildings (you can sit in the same classroom as Jefferson), and relatively modern buildings on "New Campus."  While I was there a number of construction projects were going on, so you'll benefit from some (a parking garage finally solves the parking issue, for example, some new dorms, renovations).  It's moderately spread out, with woods, trails, and so forth, and some students like to bring bikes for getting around (I always found I had enough time to walk if I moved quickly).

As far as standing, you can probably find a website that ranks schools, but I can tell you it will be way up there, and does have a fairly difficult selection process for acceptance.

I didn't live on campus, but I can tell you the dorms I was in were beautiful, especially the "Jamestown" dorms (there's J North and J South), the most recent, where we used some of the lounges for a study group.

The course selection is wide, but it does vary some from semester to semester, and like almost any school, there may be things which are hard to get into or simply not offered.

If you're like most students, you'll spend your first two years mostly meeting General Education Requirements (i.e. you must have at least 2 sciences, and so forth), and your second two meeting your major requirements and taking electives (and missed GERs).

[Numinous]

Beyond the generalization of liberal arts (because that covers everything from English to anthropology to international studies, which aren't all that similar), what are you thinking of majoring in?

This is precisely the issue with my college search.  Almost every search engine and resource requires a flawless understanding of your goals, major, and areas of interest.

The problem with this is that I honestly don't know what I want to study.  I'm aiming for a liberal arts college because english, anthropology, and international studies all sound like fun. :P

@ Phoenix Knight: Thanks for the information, and I'll give the place a look.  Who knows, it might end up as my destination if my current choice doesn't work out.

[Elven Doritos]

The problem with this is that I honestly don't know what I want to study.  I'm aiming for a liberal arts college because english, anthropology, and international studies all sound like fun. :P

@ Phoenix Knight: Thanks for the information, and I'll give the place a look.  Who knows, it might end up as my destination if my current choice doesn't work out.

My suggestion: Go to a community college and get some General Eds out of the way, and take a career planning course. It can help you assess your interests and abilities and match you with careers that would suit you.

It's also much cheaper.

[Numinous]

My suggestion: Go to a community college and get some General Eds out of the way, and take a career planning course. It can help you assess your interests and abilities and match you with careers that would suit you.

It's also much cheaper.

I'd consider this except for two, primary factors.  One is that money isn't a problem, and the other is my primary goal in attending college is to get the hell away from my community.  Seeing as there's a college right in town, going there would leave me painfully vulnerable to my past, which is something I'd like to avoid.

[Hibou]

The thing with picking a major area of study is that not only can you change what you like in the course of a year or two (before and after you go to college), but the professors can as well. I thought Computer Science was totally cool until I started my Intro to Comp Sci class, and found out that 3 of my 4 profs (which is just 3 of 3 if you don't count the lab instructor, who was cool) were awful. Same thing with anthropology: I thought it'd be pretty cool going in (even though I didn't want to major or minor in it) but I found it very hard to learn from the stuff my profs said. On the other hand, German and Philosophy turned out to be totally awesome because of the profs.

What I suggest you do is just grab as large a variety of courses as you can in your first year. Not just between arts/fine arts/music/commerce/science/social science/etc., but between stuff like anthro/psych/math/languages&linguistics/history/chemistry/etc.
Usually this is the best I find, because you have a chance to find out which stuff really sounds interesting (instead of what the brochures tell you), and you get to check out the profs to see if what you would like to major in will be possible for you at your chosen college. It's also a wicked method for getting lots of general reqs done quickly and leaving your later years open for near-total focus on your chosen degree.