<p>I wasn’t thinking about aid but how disruptive and stressful it would be to attend a college that had to close its doors or drastically cut back on its course offerings etc. I don’t know how much of a risk that might be with some of these smaller colleges that may not have much in the way of endowments.</p>
<p>Wells College (NY) is one that is suffering financially, also Hartwick College (NY).
At one point I think Hartwick sold off artifacts from their Yager Museum. </p>
<p>New York Times had an article a couple years ago pointing out that the smaller privates with under 1,000 students, with small endowments, would be the schools that might suffer financially and possibly close.</p>
<p>I recall reading that Wells had gone co-ed several years ago as an alternative to shutting down. I googled Hartwick and it looks like the severe financial problems are a few years in the past; I hope that is really the case. </p>
<p>Have any of you attended summer “open houses” at colleges? I’m still reluctant to visit in the summer, but my son doesn’t have enough to do this summer (he did find a part-time job but they are only giving him a few hours per week) so maybe this would be a good use of his time. At least during an open house the campus won’t be completely deserted.</p>
<p>S & I visited Hobart & William Smith in August for an Open House we signed up for.
Some of the buildings were closed, he wasn’t happy about that. (did not apply, did not care for HWS) Suggest you call ahead for these summer Open Houses to make sure you can go inside buildings connected to applicant’s interest. (i.e. Music, Art, Science, Athletics etc.)</p>
<p>As soon as finals are over I am going to encourage DS to sign up for the Program at RIT that kathie p mentioned. It looks great. The parent programing looks good too.</p>
<p>I am trying to remain silent regarding college until school is out next week, but i fell like we are running out of time.</p>
<p>simpkin, we did not do “open houses”, but we toured a lot of schools during the summer. We did this because we wanted our son to apply to more schools than average to compare FA packages. This meant that we wanted him to see a lot of schools too. He did not see all schools before applying, but he saw most of them. We also attempted for him to interview at the time of his visits (not always possible because of the number of schools we needed to see with a certain chunk of time). Our son knew that over the summer he was not going to sit in on a class necessarily, and some campuses would be deserted. We were often still able to see a dorm room, and sample the college food (sometimes dining halls were open), and just get a general feel for the area around campus in addition to the campus itself. </p>
<p>The school that my son chose to attend was seen when the campus was empty. He did have a very good meeting with the Director of Admissions, his admission counselor (was very new to her job and this is why the D of A was also involved), he interviewed with both counselors participating, had pretty good tour, it was bright sunny day when flowers were in bloom. He never met a professor or spoke with other students during this visit other than the student tour guide. He never even saw the inside of a dorm room (he did see the laundry area, study room, recreation area, and bathrooms in one dorm I think). He also looked at the academic buildings and did see a main dining hall (closed though). He spoke after he applied on the phone with several students who contacted him. This school is most proactive in having current students call high school students who showed interest. After he was accepted he really had this school within his top 3. Actually, he had his most favorable opinions about this school right after visiting while deserted! He went to an accepted student’s day. This sealed the deal.</p>
<p>I think we may visit Alfred and Lycoming in July, and then look at the Pa. schools and the Baltimore-area schools in late August.</p>
<p>I was trying to discuss this with S today and he said, “What about Stevenson? I’m going to apply there so I want to see it.” I was completely confused by this. I said, “I’ve never heard of Stevenson. Are you thinking of something else?” and he said, “It’s definitely called Stevenson; they send me email all the time.” I said, “You’re not planning to apply to a college just because they send you emails, are you? Don’t you get emails from hundreds of colleges?” and he said, “yes, but i met someone from Stevenson at the college fair at my school, and they were nice, and it’s in Baltimore.” This is what I’m dealing with. He has no idea what kind of college it is, or how big it is, or what majors they offer, nothing; he’s just going to apply because he had a nice conversation with someone at a college fair. :0</p>
<p>simpkin, one of my kid’s GCs told us that this how most high school students choose where they want to attend college, so I guess that means that your son is right in there with the majority. My son was the same way. My son told me that he wanted to go to XYZ because a friend from FB told him that XYZ was his dream school! I guess that means that my son thought he should adopt the same dream! I am editing, in all fairness, to explain. My son received an abbreviated app from this school by mail that was not going to cost money when applying. It offered a quick turn around for a decision. I told him that he could send it in. He was admitted to this school and he wrote this on his FB wall. I told my son that it was good to have this acceptance in hand to compare FA packages, an early acceptance, but that I did not find it a great fit (I told him why, and he was not invested in this school and never visited). As soon as a friend said that this was his dream school, he suddenly became emotionally invested in this school. I had to hammer home once more why I did not think it was a great fit. He was okay with my reasoning, phew! I was relieved that my son took in the info from me and he did consider my opinion regarding that school.</p>
<p>I can see how that could happen, northeastmom. I know that my daughter became emotionally invested in the colleges that accepted her. It’s nice to be wanted. Good reminder to be careful about the free-and-easy applications. I could see my son getting a quick decision and saying, “Oh, I’ll just go there; why should I bother with more applications?”</p>
<p>Simpkin, I highly recommend the Collegiate Restaurant & the Terra Cotta Coffee House on N. Main Street in Alfred, in case you get hungry. :)</p>
<p>Just bumping this thread up in case there are new B student posters unaware that this thread exists.</p>
<p>Well, I am a B student. Actually B- student. I am applying to these colleges:</p>
<p>
UC San Diego
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UC Santa Cruz
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UC Riverside
U of Illinois @Urbana Champaign
Texas Tech
Purdue University
Rochester Institute of Technology
Bradley University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Kettering University
Carnegie Mellon University
Polytechnic Institute of New York
Illinois Institute of Technology
Cal Poly Pomona
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Rensselaer Polytechnic
Worcester Polytechnic
Florida Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology
</p>
<p>What do I want to do? Double major in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. What do I want to do after college? Go to grad school and get a PHD and get tenure as a professor and research all day everyday.</p>
<p>UCB isn’t within your reach if you have a B-.</p>
<p>jsanche32–this thread is primarily for parents of B students to discuss and offer support regarding their child’s application process. It isn’t a chance thread nor is it a place to tell someone they can or can’t get in somewhere unless they ask if a school is a possibility.</p>
<p>Anyone is welcome to post here but please keep the above in mind.</p>
<p>Has anyone visited Elmira College? Their summer open house is the day after Lycoming’s, so I thought maybe we should go. It looks very nice on paper and like a match/safety for the B student. However, the graduation rate is quite low (66%), which is concerning. It’s 72% female; I’m not sure how my son would feel about this – preferable to the opposite, I guess.</p>
<p>Any thoughts on Lycoming? Now I can’t remember why I wanted to see this one. It’s all running together in my head now, and we haven’t even visited any schools.</p>
<p>For those who may be interested Wisconsin Private College Week is scheduled for July 11-16 and the Iowa Private College Week is scheduled Aug. 1-5.</p>
<p>[Wisconsin</a> Private College Week, July 11-16, 2011 - Tour any of our 20 Private Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://privatecollegeweek.com/]Wisconsin”>http://privatecollegeweek.com/)</p>
<p>[Iowa</a> Private Colleges and Universities - Iowa Private College Week](<a href=“http://thinkindependently.com/iowa-private-college-week/index.aspx]Iowa”>http://thinkindependently.com/iowa-private-college-week/index.aspx)</p>
<p>simpkin, we have looked at Elmira. What would you like to know? My son did not end applying. The campus was lovely (hope you like purple). They have a Mark Twain archive/one room museum that is interesting, but you usually can’t just walk in to see it (phone in advance to view it). </p>
<p>For me the downside was early Saturday morning classes for freshmen, I found out there is a prison not too far away and I’d investigate that (I have read that some don’t feel safe because of this, but I’d investigate how valid this is for your family). The biggest downside for me is if one loses a merit scholarship, one can get it back by earning it back and can get the difference or some percentage of the lost money back for the semester or two that may cost more after it is lost. Some may find this a great advantage, but I do not.</p>
<p>It has been about 2 years since we inquired, so some of this might have changed.</p>
<p>Virginia also has private college week. If you tour3 schools you get 3 free applications.(can be for the schools you tour or other schools in the group.)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cicv.org/pcw.htm[/url]”>http://www.cicv.org/pcw.htm</a></p>
<p>Thanks, northeastmom. What is the area around the college like? I don’t know that part of New York at all. Did you get any kind of sense of what kind of kids go there?</p>
<p>The prison doesn’t bother me. I went to Penn State and there was a prison nearby (the State Pen, near Penn State, haha) and I can’t recall that there was ever an issue.</p>
<p>Perhaps someone more familiar with Elmira can comment. I thought it was rural right around the campus and I don’t recall much else.</p>