Top Ten Brainiest Students Part 2

Posted on May 11, 2010
Filed Under Advice, Media, News, Unigo.com Top Ten | By bmckenna

grinnell-college-north-campus-new.jpgSome of the final five are among the most expensive in the country – boasting high tuition because of small endowments (one could argue just how brainy is it to pay high tuition?).  One, however, has one of the largest endowments in the United States.  All but one was founded in the 20th century, with two just now approaching the middle age.  Finally, out of the final five, three started out as colleges for women, one for men (but it has been co-ed for 140 years), and one has always admitted both genders. Nearly all have a more flexible approach to academics – many do not award grades, nor do they have structured degree programs.  The question is: does this equal intense academia?

#6: Bennington College

Bennington College of Vermont has just over 600 students.  In the 1990s, it was a hotbed of academic discontent when dozens of professors were fired en masse due to curriculum changes.  The number of students fell as a result, and finances were tight.  Now, however, things are looking up, giving students more time to focus on studies, “Whenever I think of my friends who are just in school to get a degree and get it over with, Bennington seems so refreshing, as everyone is interested in learning. However, this can also mean that students tend to be self-focused because they are so caught up in their work.”

#7: Pitzer College

Pitzer College is part of the Claremont (California) Consortium, also including Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Scripps, and the Claremont Graduate University.  Founded in the 1960s as an all-women’s college, it went coed by 1970.  Despite its placement in the brainiest list, one student wishes that academics were more intense, “There are tons of stupid hippie classes like Native American Folk Tales, but in important subjects like math and economics there is a lot of room for improvement.”

#8:  Hampshire College

Hampshire College is located in Amherst, Massachusetts, a college town champ, and already home to Amherst College, and the University of Massachusetts by the time the college was born in the 1960s.  The consensus seems to be that if you need too much guidance, this is not the place for you, “If you don’t like arguing, the general spirit of activism, the smell of marijuana, really smart people who do too many drugs and manage to write insanely good essays anyway, or woodland creatures, and if you do like a whole lot of direction in your academic work, you’ll be better off elsewhere.”

#9: Sarah Lawrence College

Just 15 miles from Manhattan, Sarah Lawrence College was founded in the 1920s as an all-women’s college, and remains 70% female to this day.  As with Hampshire and Bennington, a lot of the academic planning falls on the student, which leads to comments like this, “This school is not the ideal place for someone who prefers the regular structure of a typical university or college. You think you have a lot of free time, but you really don’t. It’s important to know how to manage your time and to pace yourself.” Perhaps some of the focus on academics arises from the setting, “For a while, we had a problem with people from the local towns throwing beer bottles at us and yelling things like ‘faggot!’ It’s a very conservative town, and we’re a very liberal, out-there school.”

#10: Grinnell College

Grinnell is perhaps the most traditional of colleges in the final five of our list of brainiest colleges (and the oldest, founded in 1846).  Located in Iowa, it has long been racially diverse and embraces its LGBTQ community.  Self governance is the pride of the college – students resolve their own issues. It is also widely known as academically intense, as a freshman notes, “studying takes up almost all of your time during the weekdays and most of the weekends – but professors’ commitment to their students keeps them engaged.”  The college’s endowment was third largest among liberal arts colleges nationwide, which might also help explain this: “Every weekend there is a party at the Harris concert hall that is free and open to all students. The college also does a really good job of bringing musicians, lecturers, etc to campus so that even though Grinnell is in the middle of nowhere, there are still a lot of interesting things to do and see on campus, and all of it is free.”

There you go: the top ten brainiest colleges and universities of America.  Almost universally liberal, and sprinkled throughout the country.  Now get back to your studies! 

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15 Responses to “Top Ten Brainiest Students Part 2”

  1. lqs on May 13th, 2010 3:09 pm

    Good to see Grinnell on your list, but it was founded in the 1840s, not the 1860s. 1846, to be exact.

  2. bmckenna on May 13th, 2010 4:47 pm

    Thanks for pointing that out - now corrected.

  3. Jessica L. Starling on May 21st, 2010 3:10 am

    Grinnell is so amazing. I do miss it dearly. =) Congrats on making the top 10 Grinnell; it\\\’s definitely true.

    Jess
    c/o: ‘08

  4. stoneje on May 26th, 2010 11:18 am

    Well done, Grinnell. You are by far the most brainiest college I ever done been to.

  5. Kirk on May 26th, 2010 11:21 am

    Grinnell will always have a special place in my heart in terms of having spent my formative years there. Despite being an atypical Grinnell student in many ways, I still loved my time there.

  6. John on May 26th, 2010 11:23 am

    Jesse Stone is an idiot.

  7. Katie on May 26th, 2010 12:14 pm

    Grinnell has an open curriculum. How does that make it more traditional than the other schools on the list?

  8. Steve on May 26th, 2010 12:47 pm

    As a fellow Grinnellian once said \"You shouldn\’t be impressed that I graduated from Princeton (where she earned her masters from the Woodrow Wilson School); you should be impressed I graduated from Grinnell!\" I went to U Chicago for my masters after Grinnell, and indeed, I found Chicago (slightly) easier. Grinnell was a great undergrad experience…

  9. Nicole on May 26th, 2010 1:01 pm

    >>“If you don’t like arguing, the general spirit of activism, the smell of marijuana, really smart people who do too many drugs and manage to write insanely good essays anyway, or woodland creatures, and if you do like a whole lot of direction in your academic work, you’ll be better off elsewhere.”<<

    This could go for Grinnell’s entry as well… Except I’d replace woodland creatures with corn fields and as far as academic direction, the ratio of Grinnell professors to students is top-notch.

  10. Gretchen Wilson on May 26th, 2010 3:45 pm

    Traditional is not necessarily bad- nor is it necessarily liberal or conservative by nature. Yes, Grinnell College (not the town) is, politically and socially, a very liberal place. Nevertheless, it has graduated plenty of very traditional AND open minded AND brainy folks.

  11. elizabe on May 26th, 2010 8:39 pm

    I went to Grinnell in the 70s and it already had the best music and cultural offerings of any college I’ve heard of before or since. The endowment came after the music program was top notch. Gracie Slick and the Jefferson Airplane in the 60s, Charles Mingus, Steve Goodman, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen (!!), McCoy Tyner, Leon Redbone - and that’s just what I can remember off the top of my aging head. Then there were the classical offerings - Piatagorsky, oh my. Too many. And the films and the theater groups that stopped through to perform and offer workshops.

    That college in the cornfields was the best.

  12. C. Christie Nute on May 26th, 2010 10:10 pm

    I went to Grinnell in the 1960s and found it an incredibly challenging place academically and a wonderfully diverse place in terms of social and cultural activities. I remember being brought to tears by the beauty of Beethoven’s 3rd (Eroica) Symphony played by an orchestra from an Eastern European country (Sorry, can’t remember which!). After spending my first year doing nothing but hit the books, I decided there should be more to college life than just academics. I got involved in theatre and international folk dancing, and have wonderful memories of those experiences, through which I made friends I still correspond with to this day. Although not, at the time I applied, my first choice for college, the longer I was there the more certain I became that it was exactly the right place for me, and I’ll forever thank Miss Ernestine Robinson, my English teacher at George School (in Pennsylvania) for recommending that I apply to Grinnell. She knew me well, and helped get me to just the right college for me.

  13. Zahabia '94 on May 27th, 2010 8:34 am

    Grinnell was a wonderful experience - from its committed professors and low teacher-student ratio to its ability to bring national and internationally renowned scholars and artists to campus. Hope Grinnell keeps it up! Having spent the next 12 years in DC and NYC, I can fully affirm the advice of a professor upon my graduation on Grinnell’s reputation: not everyone knows about Grinnell, but the people who matter certainly do.

  14. Gwen Carter Charvis on May 27th, 2010 12:29 pm

    My Grinnell experience was and is “priceless” if not even better.

    Regarding Pitzer College, this quote: “There are tons of stupid hippie classes like Native American Folk Tales, but in important subjects like math and economics there is a lot of room for improvement.” is rather annoying. What makes Native American Folk Tales a “stupid hippie class”?

  15. benson on May 28th, 2010 9:54 am

    Funny how there are only comments from Grinnellians. Must be we all got the alumni newsletter.

    c/o ‘03

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