COLLEGE VISITS

We have visited 60 colleges in the past two years, and we consider that a fundamental part of our job. Having current knowledge of schools is a key asset we bring to our clients. We will feature a different college on this page every month and all featured college articles will remain available in our archives.

Featured College

Hamilton College
Clinton, New York
Tel: (800) 843-2655
www.Hamilton.edu

Hamilton is a pristine liberal arts college nestled into the upstate New York fingerlake region. It really is very pretty and has great facilities and food for its 1,800 students on a 1,300-acre campus. The gender split is 50/50, a real strength in a small liberal arts school, and students have a lot of freedom here. Hamilton lacks distribution requirements and offers an open curriculum, which appeals to many. The school also emphasizes writing and public speaking with its program as well as a senior project or thesis. The only requirements are three writing intensive courses, a Sophomore seminar of about 10 students with an oral and written project as a culmination. Students are encouraged to attend the Adirondack Adventure Week before school begins, but Hamilton lacks programming specifically geared for Freshmen. The college doesn't have any Freshmen dorms, but groups kids together from different classes. Advising is also strong with the open curriculum as students work one on one to craft their courses of study. Division III sports with the exception of Division I squash are the name of the game here. A Senior Thesis is another requirement. Strong research opportunities abound - 90 Hamilton students did research over last summer.

Hamilton has a unique order in which its admission department reviews materials:

1. Transcript
2. Essays - one from common application and one expository writing assignment with teacher comments on the piece
3. Activities - outside school commitments
4. Teacher recommendations
5. Testing - SAT average score is 1320-1480. The SAT is optional at Hamilton. Students can use the ACT instead or a combination of three SAT subtests - writing, math and choice of your own.
6. Interview - encouraged

If you apply online, the fee is waived as Hamilton encourages online applications.

Acceptance Rates: 44% from the Early Decision pool
33% from the Regular Decision Pool

Retention Rate for Freshmen entering Sophomore year - 94%
Student/Faculty Ratio - 10:1
Average Class Size - 16 or 17 students
33% of classes have 10 or fewer students
75% of classes have fewer than 20 students
US News Ranking of #17 among Best Liberal Arts Colleges