Small Public College Slideshow

Some Different
College Options:
Small Public Schools
You’ve Probably Never
Heard Of Before but are
Worth Checking Out!
(And other potentially useful college-
related informational tidbits.)
(Includes liberal arts and engineering schools.)

So you're thinking
about where you want
to go to college.
You've thought about
the Ivies. Or Stanford.
Or Northwestern, the
University of Chicago,
Duke, Johns Hopkins,
Washington (the St.
Louis one) or some
other elite, prestigious
and well-known private
university of that ilk.

Well forget about it! You
almost certainly won‘t
get in to any of them.
Those schools don’t want
you. They want the
students who will make
their presence felt in the
classroom every day, not
the quiet study-hounds.
They want the students
who project themselves
as the “leaders of
tomorrow,” not the
students who will merely
be excellent at whatever
it is that they will do.

Besides, what is it about those schools that makes you want to
apply there? To be sure, they do have a lot of good programs and
opportunities, but do you know what they are? Is that why you
want to go? Or have you (and/or your parents) just been sold on a
brand name?

Know this: There are actually very few instances in which the
brand name on your undergraduate degree will be the most
important thing about it. What is important about where you go to
school? Consider the following:

Program: Does the institution offer a program of study that you
would want to study? (And conversely, do you want to study
what they are offering?

Rigor: Will you be sufficiently engaged and challenged (but
hopefully not overwhelmed) there?

Setting: Would you want to spend four (or more) years there?
In that place? In that environment? With those people?

Cost: Can you afford it?

And another thing:

Why do so many of you
always end up applying
to all the same
schools, anyway?!

(C’mon, folks: Show some originality,
eh?)

So what are your other options?
•
There are any number of less elite private universities that would be more
than happy to collect your tuition, from Boston University on the east
coast to University of the Pacific out here and dozens more in between.
•
There are also the small liberal arts colleges, many of them − such as
Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Vassar, Swarthmore, Kenyon,
Carleton, Grinnell, Reed, Whitman and the Claremont Colleges −
prestigious “brand name” schools in their own right. And some of your
personal attributes that work against your being accepted at the larger
and more famous “brand name” schools (especially ethnicity for most of
you) can actually work in your favor at many liberal arts colleges.
•
There are also a number of small schools that specialize in professional
programs like engineering − RPI, Stevens and Rose-Hulman Institutes of
Technology and Kettering University, for example − or the health
sciences − University of the Sciences in Philadelphia or the
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science, to name a
couple.

Of course, good luck winning the financial aid lottery in order to pay for
these schools. (Or good luck getting into Berea College or Cooper Union.)

Or you can…

Stick with public schools!
Forget about the private school PR machine and the hype that it generates;
state-supported can also provide a top-notch education. And they have two
significant practical advantages over private institutions. The most obvious
one is the lower tuition, even for out-of-state students. Now you may have
been fed a line about how this advantage can often be negated and then
some by the “generous” financial aid packages that private schools can
offer. This can be true. More often than not, however, it isn’t. But there is
another distinction that is arguably more important, and it concerns
admissions practices; public schools tend to judge applicants largely on
their actual academic strengths and abilities, and less − often far less − on
the non-academic nonsensical garbage that private schools tend to
fetishize.

Yes, public schools do have some disadvantages relative to private schools
− especially where it concerns funding, and especially in times of tax
revenue shortfalls. But you’ve experienced most of them, having gone to
school at Lowell; did your education here turn out to be of a lesser quality
because of them?

Many of you will look at the campuses of the
University of California system. The 8
established general campuses are all
typically ranked among the top 100
“national” universities. These schools admit
students in an almost entirely numbers-
based manner, something that would work
to the advantage of most of you.

But although UC tuitions are less than the
$40,000+/yr. tuitions of the elite private
schools, these fees are now pushing
$15,000/yr – not cheap. And the UC schools
are large and bureaucratic; UC campuses
(excluding Merced) have enrollments ranging
from 15,000 to 26,000 undergraduates and
17,000 to 38,000 total students.

Santa Cruz
Berkeley

Davis

Santa Barbara Merced

Los Angeles
San Diego Irvine

Riverside

Then there's the CSU system. The
CSU system is tasked with educating
a broader spectrum of the post-
secondary student population than
UC is, which is in large part why it is
often − unfairly − seen as the less
prestigious of the two systems. But
there are two reasons a student may
find a CSU campus more appealing
than UC. First, there's a greater
emphasis on undergraduate teaching
rather than research. And second,
tuition is on the order of $6,500 to
$8,000 per year. But with lower
tuition comes a greater dependence
on the state, which results in fewer
resources and less financial stability.

Another CSU campus worth noting is Humboldt State University in
Arcata. HSU offers a typical range of majors for a school its size,
but is best known for its natural resource programs. Humboldt
provides a unique opportunity to go to a small school (<7,500
students) in a small town (Arcata, pop. ~17,000) for a CSU pricetag.
The setting is also unique: California's beautiful Redwood Coast
region. But with this beauty comes isolation; Humboldt County is a
long way from any major population center. And culturally
speaking, HSU might prove to be outside your comfort zone; there
are almost certainly more students who identify as “hippies” than
who identify with an Asian ethnic group. But if you're looking for
something different, Humboldt may be the place for you.

What else in the CSU system might hold some appeal?
San Diego State has a strong business program, particularly in
entrepreneurship. Other programs with strong reputations range from
speech pathology to jewelry & metalwork.

Cal State Long Beach’s music program has recently been elevated
to conservatory status. Also strong in film and engineering. CSULB
can boast the first Rhodes Scholar produced by the CSU system.

Cal State Fullerton has a strong business program, particularly in
accounting. Also strong in musical theater and nursing. The baseball
team is a perennial powerhouse.

Cal State Chico does, unfortunately, have a reputation as a party
school. But it also has strong programs in journalism and graphic
design. Very sustainability-conscious, and has its own organic farm.

San José State, befitting its location in Silicon Valley, has strong
engineering programs, especially computer and electrical
engineering. Also strong in business, the arts and nursing.

San Francisco State, just across the Stonestown parking lot from us,
earns notice for its arts and humanities programs. The physics
department is known for discovering planets outside our solar system.

“Middle 50% Range” as a Measure of a School
How can you tell if a school is “good?” So much of what makes a school
“good” is subjective, and in no small part depends on the needs and
preferences of the prospective student. A student may not fully know if a
school is right for him or her without visiting. Rankings? They are subjective,
too, depending on what those doing the ranking deem to be important.
An objective metric that will be cited here is the “middle 50% range” of the
SAT or ACT scores of students who matriculate at an institution. Simply put,
the middle 50% test scores are the most typical scores earned by incoming
students. These ranges exclude the top 25% and the bottom 25% of scores,
each of which would potentially be a wider range that would also be less
representative. Assuming that we can judge the overall ability level of a
group of students by their SAT scores − admittedly a big assumption − we
can get an idea of the overall strength of an academic program by assuming
that a strong program attracts strong students, which in turn allows the
faculty to take their students further − again, a big assumption.
These last assumptions, however, are ones you are familiar with, because
they no doubt played a role in bringing you to Lowell. Chances are you
wanted to come to Lowell because of the high-level college-preparatory
program that Lowell offers. This type of program draws a lot of very capable
students to Lowell. But we can offer the program that we offer in large part
because we attract the students that we do. These things have a tendency
to mirror each other, imperfect as the correlation can be.

How do UC and CSU schools stack up against each
other using this “Middle 50% Range” metric?
(About like you’d expect, actually.)
(Sources: US Department of Education, College Board, SFUSD)

Click on the graphic above to see the full chart on the web and peruse it at your leisure.

Middle 50% Range vs. Acceptance Rate:
A Look at Two Schools in Missouri
Many assume that there is a strong correlation between the
acceptance rate at a school and its quality. For example, the Ivy
League schools are widely believed to be the best schools in the
nation, and they have very low acceptance rates. (The same goes
for Stanford and others you could probably name.) The assumption
is that if the acceptance rate is very low, then a lot of students
must be applying because of how great the program is.
But the number of prospective students applying to a school and its
acceptance rate depend on a number of factors. Some schools put
more into PR than others. Schools in heavily populated areas will
also tend to draw more applicants. And there are often elements of
self-selection based on whether or not a prospective applicant
believes he or she has a reasonable chance of being accepted.
In order to see where our assumptions about acceptance rates
breaks down, let’s look at two smaller public universities in the
state of Missouri that we shall look at more closely later: Truman
State University, the state liberal arts school where the acceptance
rate tends to be about 75%, and Missouri University of Science &
Technology, where the acceptance rate is about 90%!

Both Truman State and Missouri S&T have reputations for being very
demanding. As a Truman State English major once put it: “The requirements to
get into Truman are not as rigorous as they should be considering the time and
dedication it takes to get even a B average here. This is not your average
blow-off state school.” Similarly, a Missouri S&T student said this about his
school: “If you don't plan on working you’re a-- off the whole time until you
graduate, you are either a genius, or you're going to drop out.” Their
reputations, and their distances from major cities, winnow the field of
prospective applicants considerably. Plus, both schools are very explicit about
who they will accept, so if one doesn’t meet the explicitly stated criteria, why
apply? Neither school may be widely known outside Missouri or the Midwest,
but both schools and their graduates are highly regarded by academics
(especially Truman State) and employers (especially Missouri S&T) who do
know of them.
Look at the table below, which compares the middle 50% of ACT composite
scores of these schools to those of schools you are more familiar with, as well
as comparing their acceptance rates. Which do you think says more?
School Middle 50% of ACT Composite Scores Accept. Rate
UC San Diego 25-31 38%
US Military Academy 25-31 11%
Missouri S&T 25-31 90%
Boston University 26-30 58%
Truman State University 25-30 75%
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 25-29 33%
University of the Pacific 23-29 36%

If one of your goals in going off to
college is to leave California for a
while − either to experience life
in another part of the country or
to give yourself an opportunity to
grow up a little more and become
a bit more independent − the UC
and CSU systems won't be of
much use to you.

One possibility is the myriad of
private colleges and Universities
out there. But unless you get
lucky with financial aid, this is
the most expensive option.

U of Washington
$29.9K+$10.0K

U of Oregon
$28.7K+10.3K
U of Minnesota
$18.8K+$8.0K U of Wisconsin U of Michigan U of Connecticut
$26.6K+$8.1K $38.9K+$10.9K $29.1K+$11.4K
U of Iowa Penn
Purdue Rutgers
$26.3K+$9.2 State
$28.7K+$10.4K $25.4K+$11.3K
$28.6K
U of Maryland
U of Illinois Ohio State +$9.7K $27.3K+$9.9K
U of Colorado $29.1K+$10.3K $25.4K+$11.2 U of Virginia
$34.1K+$11.7K $38.2K+$9.4K
U of North Carolina
$28.4K+$9.7K

Georgia Tech U of Georgia
$28.6K+$9.2K $28.1K+$9.0K
U of Arizona
$26.2K+$9.3K U of Texas
$32.8K+$9.2K
U of Florida
$26.2K+$7.7K
Figures shown above are annual undergraduate tuition and fees (arts
& sciences majors) + room and board for 2012-13. $1.0K = $1000

Then there are the public universities of other states. The ones you are
most likely to look at are the well-known flagship campuses – the ones
you've heard of because of their Bowl-Division football programs. More
than a few of these schools actually have academic reputations, too. But
these schools are usually big. And the more prestigious among them start
to get almost as expensive for out-of-state students as private
universities.

Question: Have you considered Canada?
Most of Canada's universities are government-supported,
and their tuitions for foreign students are usually
competitive with the tuitions American public universities
charge out-of-state students. Several major universities
that are widely held in high regard are indicated on the map
below. Of these, McGill University, University of Toronto
and University of British Columbia (Vancouver) are
generally recognized as the top three.

Memorial ●
$9.5K+$6.4K
U of Alberta
$19.6K+$6.8K
● U of Saskatchewan
U of British Columbia $14.6K+$7.2K U of New Brunswick
$23.9K+$7.8K ● $14.7K+$7.9K
●
●● U of Calgary ●
U of Victoria ● Simon Fraser U of Manitoba ● Dalhousie
$19.2K+$6.8K U of Ottawa
$16.3K+$6.7K $16.7K+$8.4K ● $12.7K+$8.0K $15.7K+$8.8K
$19.1K+$11.5K
● ● McGill
U of Toronto $18.0K+$8.0K
$28.4K+$11.4
As of Fall 2012, $1 US ~ $1 Canadian. Figures shown are for annual ● ● Queen's
undergraduate tuition and fees (arts & sciences majors) + room and board. U of Waterloo ●● $23.9K+$11.4K
$21.5K+$9.0K McMaster
$20.5K+$9.2K

McGill University is sometimes referred to as the “Harvard of Canada.” It's
not quite as prestigious as Harvard, and being a public school, it is not as
financially well off as Harvard or any of the Ivies. It is not even the oldest
university in Canada – University of New Brunswick and Dalhousie
University are older. But McGill is universally recognized as one of the top
universities in Canada, if not the top school. The medical school at McGill
is the oldest in Canada. And the section of Montréal where McGill is
located is where much of Canada's wealth was once concentrated.
Instruction at McGill is in English, and the English-speaking population is
substantial in the largely French-speaking city. (Actually, half of Montréal
is bilingual.) (Note: If you are interested in attending a university where
instruction is in French, look into Université de Montréal or Université
Laval in Quebec City.)

The University of Toronto is the oldest institution of
higher learning in what is now the province of Ontario.
It is a “collegiate university,” much like Oxford and
Cambridge; the constituent colleges operate with
considerable autonomy. Academically, there are many
comparisons to be made with UC Berkeley: A research
focus – 10 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with
UT – and high-level academic expectations.

Many state and provincial universities are big schools,
schools that have a reputation for treating students as if they
were just one of many – because each student is one of many
at that campus.

Many students can handle that just fine. But what if you
wanted a college experience that is more intimate? What if
you wanted to go to a small liberal arts college – or even a
technical institution – where you won't be just another face
in the crowd and the professors might actually know your
name? What if your desire for these things trumped the
potential culture shock of living in some of these small
towns? What if you wanted all this – but can't quite afford
Middlebury or Williams or Swarthmore? And what if you just
wanted to attend a public school because you believe in the
idea that education is a government responsibility?

Well, schools like that do exist. And the purpose of the rest
of this presentation is to introduce you to a few of them.

Small(er) Public
Liberal Arts Colleges

First: What is a liberal arts college?
You’ve heard of a few of the best known − Amherst,
Swarthmore, Oberlin − but what characterizes one?


An approach to education that focuses on
exposing students to a broad range of knowledge
rather than preparing them for a specific career.
As (ironically) the Yale Report of 1828 put it:
"Our object is not to teach that which is peculiar to any one
of the professions; but to lay the foundation which is
common to them all.”

A focus on teaching undergraduates rather than
on doctoral students and research.

A small size − typically around 2000 students.

What is a public liberal arts college?
Ostensibly, the only difference between a traditional liberal arts college and
a public liberal arts college is governmental funding and control. But there
often can be more differences due to the general differences between
private and public schools. Private schools are often founded with a vision
of what a school ought to be. Public schools, on the other hand, are founded
(and their missions can later be changed) to meet a need of the community
or the state overall. The mission of any school may change over time, but in
general, private schools tend to stick closer to an ideal whereas public
schools exist to meet a need.
So while some public liberal arts colleges stick fairly close to the traditional
model, others stretch the model considerably. PLACs are more likely than
their private counterparts to offer professional programs such as business,
nursing or teaching. (A number of PLACs were originally founded as “normal
schools.”) PLACs can often be several times larger than most of their private
counterparts. An extreme example of this is the College of Charleston. The
College of Charleston had been either a private institution or a municipal
college for most of its history, and its undergraduate enrollment had
typically been about 500. The state of South Carolina took it over in 1970,
and since then undergraduate enrollment has grown to 11,000. (Its larger
size is the only reason CoC is not included in this presentation.)
When you see [COPLAC] on a slide profiling a particular school, that means
that the school is a member of COPLAC, the Council of Public Liberal Arts
Colleges, a consortium of 27 such schools.

Since liberal arts colleges focus on the humanities, social
sciences and natural sciences, there’s no point in
applying if one is interested in a career in engineering or
business, right? Well, in fact, there might be.
A small number of liberal arts-oriented schools do have
engineering programs. And some liberal arts schools have
5-year (3+2) programs in conjunction with engineering
schools, leading to a degree from each of the two
institutions: A BA in physics from the liberal arts school
and an MS from the engineering school in the chosen
engineering discipline.
For those seeking careers in business, it is more common
for a liberal arts school to feature a business major than
any engineering major. But a business degree often isn’t
necessary for a career in business. In fact, many
employers like liberal arts majors because they tend to
have developed communication and critical thinking skills
during their college years.

One final note before we begin the PLAC section in earnest: At the end of
the blurbs for some of the schools, you will see [CoD]. This means that the
school is featured in Colleges of Distinction, a guide book and an
accompanying website that seek to help students “…go beyond the rankings
in commercially-driven lists.” Admittedly, Colleges of Distinction is not the
most widely known college guide book, but the aims of its authors are
similar to the aims of this section of this presentation, namely, to promote
schools that:
 Actively engage students in their own education
 Do a good job of teaching undergraduates by, among other things, having
professors (not graduate assistants) teach classes small enough that the
professors might actually know their students’ names
 Foster a sense of community where students can get actively involved
 Have a good placement records for employment and graduate school,
and that generally foster a sense among their alumni that their college
years were well spent.
For two of the schools featured here, you will also see [CTCL]. This refers to
another guide book and website, Colleges That Change Lives, which
continues the work of the late Loren Pope in promoting schools that feature
“a familial sense of communal enterprise” and “a faculty of scholars devoted
to helping young people develop their powers.”

New College of Florida
Sarasota, FL
As it's name implies, New College was meant to be non-traditional. Students
receive narrative evaluations instead of grades (much like UC Santa Cruz
used to do). Students' performance in individual courses only determine if
they pass a “contract” for the semester – one must pass seven contracts to
graduate. January is reserved for independent study projects, which are
required to graduate. Despite the lack of grades and required courses, NCF
has a very high success rate of getting their students into top graduate
schools. A relatively high number of NCF students (considering the small
size of the school) have won Fulbright scholarships. The campus itself
includes the former Ringling mansion as well as a student center and
cafeteria designed by I. M. Pei, and NCF has come up with novel uses for
storm runoff and air conditioner condensate. If you require extrinsic
motivation to succeed, this is not the school for you. But if you want to be
challenged, and if you like the thought of a very small honors college
environment, NCF may be worth a look. [CoD] [CTCL] [COPLAC]

Undergrads: 800
No Grad Students
Tuition & Fees: $29.8K
Room & Board: $8.6K

State University of New York at Geneseo
Geneseo, NY
SUNY Geneseo has become the “honors college” of the SUNY system.
Among their many recognized programs are performing arts as well as
physics, the latter of which operates a state-of-the-art particle accelerator,
unusual for a school of its size. The biology program is also popular enough
to draw plenty of pre-med wannabes. But the science majors at Geneseo
need to be nearly as well versed in Western humanities − and just as able to
write − as everyone else. Aside from academics, the town’s well-preserved
early 19th century architecture and the legendary sunsets that can be
viewed from campus are also selling points. The SUNYG sports culture? It
mostly revolves around the hockey team. Geneseo was once named by
Newsweek as one of its 25 Most Desirable Rural Schools, but although it’s
located in a rural area at the western edge of the “Finger Lakes” district, it’s
close enough to Rochester to have regular weekend bus service into
civilization. [COPLAC]
Undergrads: 5500
Out of…: 5700
Room & Board: $11.0K

An aside about the SUNY system: Aside from Geneseo, there
are several small liberal arts colleges among the SUNY’s
“University Colleges.” There are also 4 large “University Centers” –
Binghamton, Stony Brook, Albany and Buffalo – a highly esteemed
College of Environmental Science and Forestry and several small
technology colleges (these are technical and professional training
schools rather than true engineering schools). The out-of-state
tuition + fees for each of these schools is about $16,000 per year.
SUNY is not CUNY:
The City University of New York is a
separate system from SUNY and,
understandably, it does not offer the
intimate small college experience. But
it does offer the opportunity to study in
New York City at a reasonable cost
(out-of-state tuition is $485 per unit).
Its flagship institution is City College,
and its most academically highly-
regarded schools are the liberal arts-
oriented Hunter College and the
business-oriented Baruch College.

Undergrads: 7400
Out of…: 8200

SUNY Oswego
Oswego gets plenty of snow; perhaps
that’s why this campus has produced quite
a few TV weathercasters. The library
houses an extensive collection of letters
and papers of Millard Fillmore, one of
American’s worst presidents. Oswego is
another school where hockey is king.
Note: SUNY Oswego does have a
reputation as a party school. [CoD]

St. Mary’s College of Maryland
St. Mary’s City, MD

St. Mary's College is officially designated by the State of Maryland
as its public honors college. The school is small and the professors
are accessible and highly regarded by students. The dining hall is
highly regarded, too. During the senior year, students are expected
to complete a St. Mary’s Project, which may be a research project or
a creative expression in the arts. There are a number of “green”
initiatives on campus – from LEED silver-certified Goodpaster Hall to
the campus composting to the geothermal system. St. Mary's City is
located on the estuary of the St. Mary's River near where it empties
into the Potomac River, which in turn empties into Chesapeake Bay
nearby – so aquatic activities are popular. St. Mary's City was the
1st capital of Maryland in the 17th century. The area is 2 hours from
Washington, D.C., or Baltimore – but you'd need a car. Newsweek
once rated SMC of MD as one of the 25 Most Desirable Rural Schools
in America. [CoD] [COPLAC]

Undergrads: 2000
Very few grad students

University of North Carolina at Asheville
Asheville, NC

Forget your preconceptions about the South; UNCA is a long way
from Tobacco Road. Asheville, a medium-sized city (~80,000+)
situated in the Blue Ridge Mountains, has a reputation as an artsy
town that attracts creative types. To a certain extent, Asheville,
including UNCA, has a reputation as something of a hippie haven,
although “hipster” may be more like it. So given its setting, it should
come as no surprise that students are required to take a three
semester humanities core that covers a broad range of both Western
and Eastern texts. Politically, students at UNCA are reputed to be as
liberal as students at any college anywhere; there's plenty of
activism on campus. UNCA is also attractive to outdoor enthusiasts,
is often cited as a “green” campus, and it’s Environmental Studies
program consistently makes the Fiske Guide to Colleges’ list of
“…pre-professional programs with unusual strength in preparing
students for careers.” [COPLAC]
Undergrads: 3800
Out of…: 3900
Room & Board: $7.6K

University of Minnesota − Morris
Morris, MN

Situated in a small town on the farmed-over prairie of western
Minnesota, the Morris campus of the University of Minnesota was
once the location of a U of M agricultural college, and an American
Indian boarding school before that. (In fact, in order to acquire the
Indian school’s property, U of M had to promise that Native American
students would always be educated there tuition-free. This is why
Native American students make up almost 10% of the student body,
UMM’s main claim to diversity.) UMM is one of the greenest college
campuses anywhere; two wind turbines provide most of the
electricity for the campus, and there is also a biomass plant. The
sciences are strong; biology and chemistry are the 2nd and 3rd most
popular majors. Nearly half of UMM graduates go to graduate school
of one kind or another. The annual spring jazz festival is a big deal.
Morris is not close to a major metropolitan area, but there is a
weekend shuttle to Minneapolis. [COPLAC]

Undergrads: 1900
No graduate students
Room & Board: $7.3K

University of Mary Washington Christopher Newport University
Fredericksburg, VA Newport News, VA
UMW is the only university named for CNU, named for a turn-of-the-17th
a US President’s mom, a vestige of century English pirate, opened its
UMW’s former status as the women’s doors in 1961 as an extension
college for the University of Virginia. campus of William and Mary. In 1996,
Another likely vestige is the high the administration of CNU started the
female-to-male ratio at UMW. process of transitioning CNU from an
Befitting it’s location, UMW is one of “overgrown community college” to a
the few schools that offer a BA in competitive university. It has
historic preservation. The debate expanded its campus and its
program is very strong, especially academic programs and is now seen
policy debate. Seniors are required as an up-and-coming university
to fulfill the experiential learning according to many college rankings.
requirement, designed to challenge Spirit abounds, and attendance at
students to go outside of the bounds football and (both men’s & women’s)
of the typical classroom. The honor basketball games is pretty good for a
code is a big deal here, but overall D-III school. The dorm facilities are
the atmosphere on campus is highly regarded, too. Randall Munroe,
generally described as relaxed and of xkcd fame, majored in physics.
friendly. [CoD] [COPLAC] Undergrads: 4800
Out of…: 5000
Undergrads: 4500 Tuition & Fees: $20.1K
Out of…: 5200 Room & Board: $9.9K
Room & Board: $9.0K

Ramapo College
Mahwah, NJ

Ramapo College, the school that is
officially designated as New
Jersey’s Public Liberal Arts College,
is located in a relatively affluent
suburb of New York City. Like TCNJ,
there are virtually no large lecture
hall classes. Their stated mission
revolves around the “Four Pillars”:
interdisciplinary curriculum,
international education, intercultural
understanding and experiential Undergrads: 5700
Out of…: 5900
learning opportunities. [COPLAC] Tuition & Fees: $21.6K

Salisbury University
Salisbury, MD

Admittedly, the city of
Salisbury is not the nicest
part of Maryland’s Eastern
Shore. But the campus it-
self has been getting
Undergrads: 7900
much, much nicer over the
Out of…: 8600
past decade or so, and this
Room & Board: $9.9K school’s program and repu-
[CoD] tation are on the rise, too.

The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA

The Simpsons creator Matt Groening said of his alma mater that it
was “...a hippie college, with no grades or required classes, that drew
every creative weirdo in the Northwest.” Groening was at Evergreen
in the 1970s shortly after it opened in 1971, but much of the ‘60s
ethos remains. The school motto is the Latin translation of “Let it all
hang out.” Rather than taking several classes per quarter, students at
Evergreen take one full-load interdisciplinary course per quarter.
Students receive narrative evaluations rather than letter grades.
Incoming students agree to the Evergreen Social Contract, which
obligates students to value freedom of thought and expression and to
treat every member of the community in a civil manner. The campus
property itself, located in the state capitol of Olympia, includes a
forest and a beach – the latter is generally considered “clothing
optional.” It is the kind of school that a student who really embraces
what Evergreen is about will get a lot out of − but it’s not for
everybody. [CoD] [CTCL] [COPLAC]

Undergrads: 4500
Out of…: 4800
Room & Board: $9.2K

How do these schools compare with schools you’ve heard of?
Direct comparisons are tricky, because different types of schools have very different
things to offer. But here is how they compare using that “Middle 50% Range” Metric.
(Sources: US Department of Education, SFUSD)


A few more schools of this ilk:
Mid-50% range of SAT or ACT* scores for entering first-year students at these schools are comparable to those at CSU schools.
HSU, SSU and CSUMB are included for comparison and are italicized. *Approximate correlation between ACT and SAT scores can be found here and here.
CA = CSU tuition for California residents. WUE = Tuition for eligible students through WUE program of WICHE.
CoD = Schools that are featured in Colleges of Distinction. COPLAC = Schools that are members of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges.

# of Total, SAT/ACT* SAT/ACT* SAT
School Location Under- Incl. Tuition & Fees Room Mid-50% Mid-50% Mid-50% CO- CoD
grads Post-Bac. & Critical Reading Math Writing PLAC
Board

University of Montevallo Montevallo, AL 2500 3000 $17.9K $6.5K 18-24 20-28 

University of Sci and Arts of Chickasha, OK 1000 1000 $13.2K $5.3K 20-27 18-24  
OK

University of IL at Springfield Springfield, IL 3100 5100 $18.3K $8.2K 20-26 19-25 

Richard Stockton Coll. of NJ Galloway, NJ 7200 8100 $18.7K $10.7K 470-570 490-600 470-560 

SUNY Fredonia Fredonia, NY 5400 5700 $18.2K $10.5K 480-580 490-590

SUNY Cortland Cortland, NY 6400 7300 $16.2K $11.4K 510-590 480-560

SUNY Brockport Brockport, NY 7200 8400 $16.1K $10.3K 470-570 490-580 460-560

Southern Utah University Cedar City, UT 7200 7700 $17.0K/$8.6KWUE $6.0K 19-26 18-25 

Fort Lewis College Durango, CO 3800 3800 $17.6K $7.9K 19-25 18-24  

Winthrop University Rock Hill, SC 4900 5900 $24.7K $7.3K 470-580 480-570

Humboldt State University Arcata, CA 7400 8000 $7.6KCA $10.9K 460-580 450-570

SUNY Plattsburgh Plattsburgh, NY 5800 6400 $16.1K $10.1K 470-550 480-560

University of Wisc. − Superior Superior, WI 2600 2800 $15.5K $5.9K 19-24 18-24  

Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, CA 7700 8700 $7.4KCA $9.2K 450-560 460-570 

University of ME at Farmington Farmington, ME 2200 2300 $18.2K $8.5K 440-570 440-540 460-570  

Midwestern State University Wichita Falls, TX 5500 6200 $9.6K $6.2K 450-560 480-560 430-530 

Western State Colorado Univ. Gunnison, CO 2000 2200 $16.3K/$11.5K $8.7K 18-24 18-24

Keene State College Keene, NH 5100 5300 $19.7K $8.8K 450-550 450-550 450-550 

Southern Oregon University Ashland, OR 5900 6700 $21.5K/$10.0KWUE $9.2K 450-580 440-550 

Shepherd University Shepherdstown, WV 4200 4400 $15.1K $9.1K 460-560 450-550  

Eastern Conn. State University Willimantic, CT 5300 5600 $21.3K $9.9K 460-550 450-550  

Mass. College of Liberal Arts North Adams, MA 1700 1900 $17.5 $9.3K 440-560 450-550  

Henderson State University Arkadelphia, AR 3400 3800 $12.5K $6.3K 18-25 18-24 

University of Hawaii at Hilo Hilo, HI 3500 4100 $17.8K/$9.1KWUE $8.0K 420-540 430-560 410-520

Eastern Oregon University La Grande, OR 3900 4300 $13.2K/$10.3KWUE $8.7K 430-540 430-540 

And Don’t Forget Canada!
In most of Canada, small undergraduate-focused schools
akin to American liberal arts colleges are not common.
But in one region in particular − the Maritime provinces −
such schools are actually the norm. Of the next four
schools profiled here, three are in the Maritimes; the
fourth is a small Anglophone school in the province of
Québec. Checking Maclean’s Canadian university rankings
may give you some other ideas. (Maclean’s is a Canadian
news magazine akin to US News & World Report.) Many
schools make a “Common Data Set” available; you can
use these to compare schools. (But you can’t use SAT
scores; Canadian schools generally don’t require the
SAT.)

  
The
Maritimes

Mount Allison University
Sackville, NB

Ironically, the first people who can see first hand how Mt. Allison
University values personal attention are those who are denied
admission; rejections include a handwritten note explaining specific
areas of weakness. (Personal hand-written notes are included with
acceptance letters, too.) Mt. Allison University is regarded by many
as the top primarily-undergraduate university in Canada. It has
produced 50 Rhodes Scholars over the years, a high number for such
a small school. Although Mount Allison has a strong reputation in the
sciences, it is best known for its arts, fine arts and music programs.
It is home to the oldest university art gallery in Canada, and the arts
scene in Sackville is pretty vibrant overall. Mt. A. also offers an
aviation degree, unusual for a school of this type. Of historical
interest: Mount Allison was the first university in the British Empire to
confer a bachelor’s degree to a woman (1875).

Undergrads: 2500
Tuition & Fees: $15.9K (Can.)
Room & Board: $8.4K (Can.)

Saint Francis Xavier University
Antigonish, NS

Most schools sell class rings to their graduates-to-be, but no school
makes the class ring a point of pride like St. Francis Xavier does.
Seniors are awarded their X-Rings in a ceremony that takes place on
the feast day of St. Francis Xavier. St. Francis Xavier students rate
their school extremely high in terms of professor accessibility and
overall satisfaction with their educational experience. The sense of
community on campus is strong to the point of sometimes being
called an “X-cult.” The university offers many strong programs in
business, the arts and sciences and information systems. Some of
the more unique programs: Aquatic Resources, Celtic Studies and
Jazz Studies. The athletic teams are actually called the X-Men (and
X-Women)! The campus is home to the Coady International Institute,
which promotes innovative approaches to international development.
Antigonish is home to the longest-running Highland Games festival
outside of Scotland.

Undergrads: 4200
Out of…: 4600

Bishop's University
Sherbrooke, QC

Bishop’s is located in Lennoxville, a historically English-speaking (but
now bilingual) community that, along with other nearby communities,
recently merged with the larger, mostly French-speaking city of
Sherbrooke. Bishop’s is one of three English-language universities in
the province of Québec (McGill and Concordia, both in Montréal, are
the others). It is another small university that emphasizes close
working relationships with faculty in a small residential setting and
instruction in the liberal arts and sciences. The Williams School of
Business is well respected. Its academic programs are broadly based
and stress the inter-relationships of disciplines rather than their
specializations. The campus features its own wildlife refuge. A word
of caution: Bishop’s does have a “party school” reputation.

Undergrads: 1800

There are more small schools out there that you might be interested in −
schools that are not necessarily liberal arts-focused, or even undergraduate-
focused. They may have remained small because of geographic remoteness
or because some offerings outshine others. Or the school could simply be
relatively new.

Trent University
University of Lethbridge Peterborough, ON
Lethbridge, AB Undergrads: 7500
Undergrads: 6800 Out of…: 7900
University of Northern Out of…: 7400 Tuition & Fees: $18.3K (Can.)
British Columbia Tuition & Fees: $12.2K (Can.) Room & Board: $9.2K (Can.)
Prince George, BC Room & Board: $5.2K (Can.) Notable Programs:
Undergrads: 2900 Notable Programs: Forensic Science
Out of…: 3600 Neuroscience Env. Resource Science
Tuition & Fees: $17.7K (Can.) Addictions Counseling
Notable Programs:
University of Prince
Environmental Studies Edward Island
Natural Resource Mgmt. University of Charlottetown, PE
Michigan−Dearbor Undergrads: 4000
n Out of…: 4300
Dearborn, MI Room & Board: $9.6K (Can.)
Undergrads: 7200 Notable Programs:
Out of…: 8700 Veterinary Medicine,
Tuition & Fees: $22.9K Biology, Business
Room & Board: N/A*
Mid-50% ACT Eng.: 21-27
University of Colorado Mid-50% ACT Math: 21-26
Colorado Springs Notable Programs:
Rutgers−Camden
Colorado Springs, CO Engineering, Business
Camden, NJ
Undergrads: 8000
Out of…: 10100 University of Alabama Undergrads: 4700
Out of…: 6400
Tuition & Fees: $17.9K in Huntsville Tuition & Fees: $26.9K
WUE T&F: $14.6K Huntsville, AL Room & Board: $11.4K
Room & Board: $9.7K Undergrads: 5900 Mid-50% SAT CR: 480-580
Mid-50% ACT Eng.: 20-26 Out of…: 7600 Mid-50% SAT Math: 490-600
Mid-50% ACT Math: 19-26 Tuition & Fees: $21.1K Mid-50% SAT Writing: 490-570
Notable Programs: Room & Board: $8.2K Notable Programs:
Engineering, Business Mid-50% ACT Eng.: 22-30 Business, Law
Mid-50% ACT Math: 21-28
Notable Programs:
Engineering, Business
N/A* = No campus housing available.

Or perhaps you’re interested in going to a school that
specializes in the visual arts. Or the performing arts.

Alberta College Nova Scotia College
of Art and Design of Art and Design
Calgary, AB Halifax, NS
Tuition & Fees: $15K (Can.) Tuition & Fees: $13.9K (Can.)
Room & Board: $10K (est.) Room & Board: $8.3K (Can.)
Emily Carr University
of Art and Design
Vancouver, BC Ontario College
Tuition & Fees: $12.7K (Can.) of Art and Design
Room & Board: N/A* Toronto, ON
Room & Board: N/A*
Massachusetts
College of Art
and Design
Purchase Boston, MA
College Tuition & Fees: $27.5K
Room $ Board: $12.6K
Purchase, NY
See Profile

University of North Carolina
School of the Arts
Winston-Salem, NC
Room & Board: $6.1K
(performing arts)

N/A* = No campus housing available.

Or perhaps you see yourself studying engineering or
the applied sciences. And rather than going to a large
institution, you would prefer a smaller school that
focused on such academic pursuits. Wouldn't it be
absolutely ideal to go to MIT or CalTech?

Well, you can't (in all probability).

But while those two schools may be the most elite
small engineering- and applied sciences-focused
schools, they aren't the only ones – and a few
alternatives happen to be public schools that offer a
high-quality education and may well be more
affordable than their private counterparts, even for
out-of-state students.

Presenting...

Small(er) Public Engineering
and Applied Sciences Colleges

Colorado School of Mines
Golden, CO

As its name suggests, Colorado School of Mines was born of the gold
mining in the Colorado Territory in the latter half of the 19th century.
Mines is still one of the few institutions that has the broad expertise
in resource exploration, extraction, production and utilization that it
does, but it broadened its focus a long time ago so that it has become
a very well respected overall engineering school. Mines stresses its
core engineering curriculum, believing that engineers are engineers
first, and practitioners of their specialties second. Overall, professors
expect a lot of their students. The emphasis at Mines – and this is
true of most of the schools presented here – is on engineering
practice rather than theory. Employers seem to like this; the job
placement rate and average starting salaries for Colorado School of
Mines grads is high. CSM and the city of Golden abut the Front Range
just west of Denver; the opportunity for outdoor activity abounds.

Undergrads: 4000
Out of…: 5500
Room & Board: $9.2K

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
Rapid City, SD

SDSM&T, which also began as a mining school, owes its existence to
its proximity to the Black Hills, site of an 1870s gold rush. It owes its
Department of Defense funding for the cutting edge research being
done by its Advanced Materials Processing Center to its proximity to
Ellsworth Air Force Base. Materials is one of the four research areas
that SDSM&T specializes in; the others are energy, underground
science and science education. Additionally, the Electrical and
Computer Engineering department conducts significant research in
applied electromagnetics and microwave technology. SDSM&T offers
some distinctive degree programs at the MS level; its atmospheric
science program is nationally recognized, and it is one of the few
schools to offer any degree in robotics or in paleontology – the
Museum of Geology is an important research center for the study of
large vertebrate fossils.

Undergrads: 2000
Out of…: 2300
Room & Board: $5.9K

Montana Tech of the University of Montana
Butte, MT

Unlike the schools presented in the previous 6 slides, Montana Tech
does not award the Ph.D. (yet), thus the emphasis is squarely on
undergraduate education. Also, while men still outnumber women,
the ratio at Montana Tech is more like 3:2 (significantly lower than
the previous 6). Several engineering programs at Montana Tech –
geological, geophysical, mining, metallurgical and petroleum – are
reminders of how important resource extraction is in Montana. But
students can also study more general engineering, scientific and
mathematical fields, or business or nursing, and can do so at a school
where small classes and hands-on learning are the norm. Montana
Tech’s Career Services Office has a very high job placement rate.
Butte’s location in the Rockies just west of the Continental Divide
means that opportunities for outdoor recreation abound, but there’s
plenty to do on campus, too, which students are alerted to by email.

Undergrads: 1900
Out of…: 2100
Tuition & Fees:
$18.1K*
*T&F with WUE: $9.0K
Room & Board: $7.5K

Oregon Institute of Technology
Klamath Falls, OR

OIT is another institution that focuses on undergraduate education
rather than Ph.D.-level research, with the emphasis being on hands-
on learning and practical design principles. In addition to several
traditional engineering programs (mechanical, civil and electrical),
OIT offers programs such as geomatics and renewable energy
engineering. OIT is the only completely geothermally-heated college
campus in America, and it is planning to go entirely off the power grid
in a few years. Although as rigorous as any, the engineering program
at OIT is actually pretty small; in terms of degrees awarded, the
engineering technology program is larger and the health care
technology program is 3 times as large. The main OIT campus is
located in Klamath Falls, close to the California state line.

Undergrads: 3900
Tuition & Fees:
$23.7K*
*T&F with WUE: $11.7K
Room& Board: $8.4K

How do these schools compare with each other and the Cal Poly Schools?
Here is how they compare using that “Middle 50% Range” Metric.
(Sources: US Department of Education, SFUSD)


"If all you want is a good education
(and you want that more than you want
a name-brand degree), you can get a good
education just about anywhere."
Paul Marthers
Former Dean of Admissions
Reed College

The moral of the story is: Don’t be
obsessed with getting into “The Right
School”. Just find a school that’s right
for you. Maybe − just maybe − you’ve
found one here.

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