OT: Connecticut College

[HuskyHawk]

Outside of the publics, tuition, room and board almost everywhere these days is $80,000….it’s amazing how every school somehow settled on that magic number.

Yep. I’m paying it. No real regrets but it was the only school that didn’t give her merit. Have to go to the Midwest or South to find cheaper private schools.

Conn College with that merit package is a good choice if she likes it. How does she feel about Coast Guard cadets? Or how do you feel?

 

[Fishy]

Small sample size, but the handful of people I know who went there are very successful; two of them are married to each other. Seems like a place where a lot of connected, wealthy people go to meet others like them.

The one thing everyone knows about it is that it is expensive, so if merit aid is essentially getting you a 50% discount it’s a great deal. Solid school, very pretty campus and she will probably make lots of great connections.

We know kids at Union now for sports. They like it a lot and so do their parents.

At the levels of aid she has earned, I’d push for a choice among Conn Colllege, Union and Holy Cross. I know a lot of Cross grads, including some among my family, and am guessing it may be worth the upcharge at the end of the day, based on a different trajectory. That alumni base is incredibly strong and loves to hire others, including in the top consulting and Wall St. businesses. School spirit and sports are pretty strong too.

Syracuse continues to have an allure among high school kids that I don’t fully understand, but I think a lot of it has to do with reports of a very healthy party scene.

Outside of hating their basketball teams, I have been really impressed with how certain schools presented themselves - Syracuse, Georgetown and Conn were amazing. Eveyrone we met at Syracuse could listen to your kid’s interest and then reel off four year‘s worth of opportunities available. They put their best foot forward and their alumni network is very strong.

Flip side….Providence was awful. Presentations were incoherent. Everyone there was like a car salesmen on their first day of work…they kinda wanted you to pick Providence, but they were not sure why just yet.

 

[Fishy]

I am sort of an expert on this (wife is a NE travel writer), while Ford's is hands down the best lobster in CT, it is almost impossible to get in unless you want to eat lobster at 11 am or wait two hours. There is a great place called Captain Scott's Lobster Dock a few miles from campus that will fit the bill among many others.

I have actually been to Captain Scott’s. I did enjoy the parking lot atmosphere and the toddlers making their lobster rolls were at the top of their craft.

 

[husky429]

We visited Wesleyan and an acquaintance of my son's who goes there is 2 years older so we spent some time with him there. I thought it had a weird vibe. Neither of my sons liked it. I did like that Middletown was right there and had enough bars and restaurants to keep a college kid busy. A majority of the NESCAC schools, like Conn College, are not walkable to much.

I live in Middletown and I know what you mean. Wesleyan doesn't really present well. Idk how you quite put it... it doesn't really feel like a college campus.

Middletown is just odd overall though. There was gunfire a block from Eli Cannon's today. Wesleyan is as boujee as it gets and there's pretty substantial poverty in many parts once you cross Washington st.

 

[RowdyFan]

I am sort of an expert on this (wife is a NE travel writer), while Ford's is hands down the best lobster in CT, it is almost impossible to get in unless you want to eat lobster at 11 am or wait two hours. There is a great place called Captain Scott's Lobster Dock a few miles from campus that will fit the bill among many others.

Captain Scott's is a local hidden gem. If you don't know which left to take, you could be doing laps around the old Fort neighborhood.

 

[jibsey]

Daughter goes to Union and loves it. It meets full financial need so for us it was actually cheaper than UConn.

Union is a great school and if you can go with that aid cheaper than UCONN it’s pretty amazing. Many family members have gone there.

 

[husky429]

The merit aid is substantial - essentially makes Union and Conn about half the cost of Nova or Georgetown. Holy Cross and Syracuse are somewhere in the middle.

So basically, $30K for Binghamton/Buffalo instate, $40K for Conn/Union, $50K Syracuse, $60K Holy Cross and $80K Georgetown/Nova.

The college admissions process right now is horrible. It’s a meat grinder for these kids.

Only school on that list that might be worth it despite the cost is Georgetown. The opportunities and connections there are on another level compared to the others. Just aren't going to get the small class/small college feel if that's what she wants.

Does she want to live outside new england? Interested in academia or research? Those would definitely be plusses to georgetown. Stayin local, all those necsac schools have a great rep and alumni connections.

 

[Greedo]

I didn’t realize HS kids valued small class sizes.

It never even crossed my mind when I was 17, and I felt I always had access to professors or TAs when needed at UConn. The school of business classes were quite small.

Ha I actually wanted big classes when I was picking a college. I wanted to just be able to relax in a lecture hall and be talked at and not have to worry about being put on the spot or to have to do anything other than listen and take notes.

 

[HooperScooper]

Purely anecdotal, but everyone I’ve ever met who went there is a huge stiff lacking any semblance of a personality.

Well if Fishy's daughter is like him then she'll fit right in there.

 

[HooperScooper]

The merit aid is substantial - essentially makes Union and Conn about half the cost of Nova or Georgetown. Holy Cross and Syracuse are somewhere in the middle.

So basically, $30K for Binghamton/Buffalo instate, $40K for Conn/Union, $50K Syracuse, $60K Holy Cross and $80K Georgetown/Nova.

The college admissions process right now is horrible. It’s a meat grinder for these kids.

If you can swing the $80K then Georgetown's reputation and academics, as I'm sure you are aware, are by far the best of those schools. The neighborhood is pretty cool also (I lived there one summer). But it also depends on what is most important to her. And of course if she goes there she doesn't have to root for the basketball team. She can still be a UConn fan.

 

[06029]

I am sort of an expert on this (wife is a NE travel writer), while Ford's is hands down the best lobster in CT, it is almost impossible to get in unless you want to eat lobster at 11 am or wait two hours. There is a great place called Captain Scott's Lobster Dock a few miles from campus that will fit the bill among many others.

If you have a boat, Fords is a much faster experience. And I love Captain Scotts. this is the time of year I go once a week because my boat is over at Crockers getting ready for the season.

 

[RowdyFan]

We have a long ago relationship with Conn College. Mr. Rowdy Fan was the diving and distance swimmer coach(Men and Women) at Conn College back in the 90's. The athletic department(down the hill) had a difficult time with The Hill(admissions). D3, so no athletic scholarships, but he was able to recruit several stellar scholar-athletes. He coached the first All American athlete Conn College ever had. Shana Davis.
It sits outside New London, across from the Coast Guard Academy. Excellent academics, but ridiculously expensive. Wesleyan takes much better care of their students, especially during this pandemic. Good luck.

 

[ColchVEGAS]

My friend is the tennis coach at Conn College. I am sure he can provide some first hand input if you need any. I myself know nothing about the school outside of the location.

Coming out of high school I thought I wanted the small class size as well, but after half a semester hated the high school feel of the school I was at so I transferred to UConn.

Edit: my friend is not the coach at Conn. He took the Wesleyan job instead so scratch that.

 

[notthestuff]

I graduated from Conn. It really depends on what your kid wants to do. It is a great liberal arts education, but you are pretty much resigned to grad school. I got into really good grad schools out of there, which is what mattered for me. From a college life experience, New London is obviously limited. When I was there it was much more of a party school than I would have guessed. Also the coed bathrooms are an interesting experience at 18 that is not for everyone. There were no Friday classes for the whole school when I was there which I really appreciated. Not sure if that’s the case still. It was also only 4 classes per semester for a full course load back then.

It is a great education if it has what she wants for a degree. I got a lot out of the education but the college experience wasn’t necessarily a great fit for me, there just isn’t much to do on campus or in the area and I was local so ended up home a lot.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Holy cross is the answer over conn college.
My high school has sent a few kids and over the years most transferred. Good education, liberal, has a so so name for grad schools....
Holy cross is the winner

I haven't been there in years so maybe it's different now but the Cross was a pretty bleak campus when I visited friends there.

 

[MexicoHusky]

Move to the midwest

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I live in Middletown and I know what you mean. Wesleyan doesn't really present well. Idk how you quite put it... it doesn't really feel like a college campus.

Middletown is just odd overall though. There was gunfire a block from Eli Cannon's today. Wesleyan is as boujee as it gets and there's pretty substantial poverty in many parts once you cross Washington st.

My dad's from Middletown and his brothers went to Wesleyan so I looked at it when I was looking at schools and it wasn't for me. My brother, on the other hand, loved it and picked it over Penn and had a pretty great experience.

 

[superjohn]

The merit aid is substantial - essentially makes Union and Conn about half the cost of Nova or Georgetown. Holy Cross and Syracuse are somewhere in the middle.

So basically, $30K for Binghamton/Buffalo instate, $40K for Conn/Union, $50K Syracuse, $60K Holy Cross and $80K Georgetown/Nova.

The college admissions process right now is horrible. It’s a meat grinder for these kids.

I looked Conn College and a couple of friends went there. It's a beautiful campus (one of the prettiest I've seen) but tiny student body. If she likes a small student body it's a great school and it sounds like it would be a deal.

Neither friend had any money growing up. One was on the basketball team and really enjoyed it. The other said it's a school for rich kid d bags from NY, Jersey, Boston, and Philly suburbs. He kind of hates everyone though. Said he got a great education academically and socio-economically. It's great for networking if you're into that sort of thing. It's a feeder school for fancy grad schools.

 

[superjohn]

My dad's from Middletown and his brothers went to Wesleyan so I looked at it when I was looking at schools and it wasn't for me. My brother, on the other hand, loved it and picked it over Penn and had a pretty great experience.

I got in a fight when I visited Wesleyan, the kids didn't like me too much there.

 

[huskem55]

Watched the 2004 championship game in a common room with a bunch of other UConn fans. Great school, doesnt have the name brand that may seem important now, but most of my classmates have done phenomenonly well. Biggest con for me was the absurd amount of wealth, but even its a small school, everyone seems to find their niche. Southeast CT is beautiful, as is the campus.

 

[August_West]

The kid is in the last stages of decoding where she will go to college…

She’s basically going to choose from a pair of current Big East schools, (thankfully, she’s tossed Providence), a former Big East school and Connecticut College/Holy Cross/union as small school picks.

I didn’t go to Conn College when she visited, so have no insight into the place. I am a little concerned that a kid who goes to a high school with 4,500 kids is going to be out of place at a college of 1800 kids.

Anyone familiar with the place?

Yeah my brother went there for a bit. It’s a nice school, very quiet though tucked away in the decent part of New London. If it helps you eliminate more schools , I will disclose that I live about 10 miles from there. ;-)

 

[8893]

Yeah my brother went there for a bit. It’s a nice school, very quiet though tucked away in the decent part of New London. If it helps you eliminate more schools , I will disclose that I live about 10 miles from there. ;-)

His daughter can babysit for you!

 

[August_West]

I am sort of an expert on this (wife is a NE travel writer), while Ford's is hands down the best lobster in CT, it is almost impossible to get in unless you want to eat lobster at 11 am or wait two hours. There is a great place called Captain Scott's Lobster Dock a few miles from campus that will fit the bill among many others.

Fords Impossible? I was there on a Saturday at 4 pm 2 -3 weeks ago and had whole restaraunt to myself!

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Couple of scattered opinions:

-Connecticut College sits just north of the "bad" part of New London, Crystal Ave and surrounding streets. Bad being relative to the rest of Southeastern CT. I'm sure the campus is safe but if you were new to New London you may not be aware of it. Just something to keep in mind.

-I loved living in New London but due to being on the water, May - August were the best months so you'd miss that by fall and spring semesters.

-No idea what your daughter plans to do but when I worked in NYC, my last employer was a huge company and was littered with senior leadership that came out of SUNY schools for undergrad.

 

[auror]

Ha I actually wanted big classes when I was picking a college. I wanted to just be able to relax in a lecture hall and be talked at and not have to worry about being put on the spot or to have to do anything other than listen and take notes.

Feels like big classes would prepare you better for the real world where people don't hold your hand

 

[upstater]

Something to consider about Liberal Arts colleges: since most of the curricular offerings are, indeed, Liberal Arts and Humanities, the size of classes doesn't matter as much as it used to. At many large schools, Liberal Arts and Humanities classes are just as small as they are at LACs. The numbers have cratered in these fields from 50% of all students 20 years ago to about 15% now. I hear this argument being made by NY parents all the time regarding our public LAC, Geneseo. Buffalo's classes in many majors are smaller than Geneseo's!

Off topic: as a parent of a high schooler I was fairly shocked when I was told that 40% of the admits at many schools this year did not submit standardized tests. Later in the same talk, our guidance counselors told us that students who do not submit tests are not eligible for aid.

I heard a 5 alarm fire go off in my head but the rest of the parents did not seem to make the connection. Somehow, colleges have succeeded in making matters worse during the pandemic.

 

[HooperScooper]

Feels like big classes would prepare you better for the real world where people don't hold your hand

So you think professors at small colleges hold their students' hands? Lol

Next time at work you have a meeting with 200 people let me know how much collaboration there is from all 200 participants and how it turned out.

As I've said many times, there are pros and cons to both big and small colleges.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Feels like big classes would prepare you better for the real world where people don't hold your hand

I never had the experience of anyone holding my hand in a small class - I did have the feeling of “the potential for embarrassment if I’m not prepared is off the charts.”

When I was a freshman I ended up in an upper level American literature seminar that I was not adequately prepared for and I was completely out of my league. The rest of the students were these sophisticated hipsters that seemed like they were 40.

So one day toward the end of a 90 minute seminar I accidentally knocked over the cup I had been filling up with dip spit over the course of the class. I watched in horror as a veritable lake of dip spit spread across the small round table around which probably 8 of us were seated. They all looked at me like I was an alien. I didn’t know what to do so I took the sweatshirt in my book bag and used it like a sponge to sweep the spit off the table. In retrospect a hilarious moment but at the time one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.

 

[Fishy]

Something to consider about Liberal Arts colleges: since most of the curricular offerings are, indeed, Liberal Arts and Humanities, the size of classes doesn't matter as much as it used to. At many large schools, Liberal Arts and Humanities classes are just as small as they are at LACs. The numbers have cratered in these fields from 50% of all students 20 years ago to about 15% now. I hear this argument being made by NY parents all the time regarding our public LAC, Geneseo. Buffalo's classes in many majors are smaller than Geneseo's!

Off topic: as a parent of a high schooler I was fairly shocked when I was told that 40% of the admits at many schools this year did not submit standardized tests. Later in the same talk, our guidance counselors told us that students who do not submit tests are not eligible for aid.

I heard a 5 alarm fire go off in my head but the rest of the parents did not seem to make the connection. Somehow, colleges have succeeded in making matters worse during the pandemic.

We live in New York and she applied to Geneseo and Binghamton as her ’safety‘ schools, even though both are very good. She had originally intended to apply to Buffalo as well, but made an error with the common app submission and applied to Buffalo State by accident…

A lot of schools went test-optional this year and between that and the class of 2025 kids who took a pandemic gap year, this year was a horror for applicants. So many good schools were flooded with applications and they simply did not have the ability to process them - a lot of kids did not get into schools they should have waltzed into and schools really put a lid on aid because they knew they could.

It was a truly poor experience. Generally, the advice is to have a well-balanced resume, good grades, etc. - in reality, none of it matters. If your kid sunk hundreds of hours into something on his resume and some other kid spent three hours, it’s going to look the same to the admissions rep who spends 20 seconds on each. Basically, they are just going to want to a) protect their stats and b) protect their yield and c) collect as much in application and tuition fees as possible.

 

[BackAftaThis]

We live in New York and she applied to Geneseo and Binghamton as her ’safety‘ schools, even though both are very good. She had originally intended to apply to Buffalo as well, but made an error with the common app submission and applied to Buffalo State by accident…

A lot of schools went test-optional this year and between that and the class of 2025 kids who took a pandemic gap year, this year was a horror for applicants. So many good schools were flooded with applications and they simply did not have the ability to process them - a lot of kids did not get into schools they should have waltzed into and schools really put a lid on aid because they knew they could.

It was a truly poor experience. Generally, the advice is to have a well-balanced resume, good grades, etc. - in reality, none of it matters. If your kid sunk hundreds of hours into something on his resume and some other kid spent three hours, it’s going to look the same to the admissions rep who spends 20 seconds on each. Basically, they are just going to want to a) protect their stats and b) protect their yield and c) collect as much in application and tuition fees as possible.

I was definitely the jerk who put in 3 hours to something because of that mindset. As long as I can say I did it, they don’t know what I actually did. It’s really all a game.