5 college visits in 5 states in 5 days

College Search & Selection
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<p>I am just back after visiting 5 colleges in 5 days with my DD. We visited Vanderbilt, Alabama, Ole Miss, Louisiana Tech and Rice. We were looking at financial safety schools, as well as a couple that would be options with an ROTC scholarship. The tours were a great way to get a sense of some very different schools. Here were our impressions:</p>

<p>1) Vanderbilt - It was a very beautiful campus. Nashville seems to be a great city. After our visit, however, DD is definitely not interested in going there. As we spent time on campus, she noticed that students were not hanging out with each other and chatting. She felt the students were aloof and had an "elitist" attitude. There were few students wearing Vandy shirts and in general, the students dressed up more to go to classes than at other colleges we have visited. I was amazed at how many BMWs, Mercedes, etc. I saw with the student parking passes on them. </p>

<p>2) Alabama - I was surprised at how much my DD liked the campus. People were very friendly all over campus. Many students were chatting together as they walked to class and hung out at the student union. The facilities were nice and the campus very clean. While Alabama is not my DD's first choice, she definitely said she could see herself attending school there, since it is one her safeties.</p>

<p>3) Ole Miss - The campus is more compact and more walkable than Alabama. It is also a beautiful campus and people were friendly. It seemed more racially diverse than Alabama and very much more so than Vanderbilt. I was more impressed with the Honors College here than at Alabama. It is smaller and more selective. Their Center for Manufacturing Excellence is impressive and has a lot of potential for DD who is interested in Engineering, but they only bring in 50 students per year in the program. It was a rainy day on the day of our visit, so I do believe that impression made it less attractive to DD, but she said she could still see herself at this school, even though she preferred Alabama. As a Mom, I preferred Ole Miss. The town of Oxford was charming, especially on the Square.</p>

<p>4) Louisiana Tech - I was especially interested in seeing this campus, as DD will get a full-ride scholarship to this school. For this reason, I wanted to love the campus. The people on campus were incredibly friendly. The facilities were a bit older and seemed like they could use some attention to bring them more up to date. We were not impressed with the Honors program, compared to others we have seen. It definitely had more of a "regional" campus feel to it and would appear to be the most "commuter college" feel of all that we visited. From a campus visual aspect, it was definitely at the bottom of our list. After visiting, DD would prefer not to go there, but said she would, "if she had to."</p>

<p>5) Rice University - It was a lovely campus and very park-like in its setting. It had many more international students (especially Asian) than we had seen at the other schools we had visited. There seems to be a lot to do in the large city of Houston, with free transportation for the students. Again, at this campus, our first impression was that people around the campus did not seem to interact much with one another when going to classes, etc. However, once we had a chance to visit the residence colleges, eat in a "Servery" and watch the students there, there was definitely a warmer sense of community. I, personally, loved the feel of the Residence Colleges and thing that is a great approach for integrating students into a community. DD, on the other hand, wasn't sold on the idea and felt as though it was creating to much of a closed community within each individual "college." Again for my "T-shirts and shorts" DD, she felt as though she would have to get a new wardrobe to fit in on campus, as the students tended to be a bit more stylish than she is.</p>

<p>At the end of this process, DD began to question if she would really "fit-in" with other students at highly-selective universities. While she may have the credentials to get into these schools, she wonders if she will feel "at home" in these settings. She has visited 20 colleges now. She definitely likes the vibe of the southern large universities over the large universities out west where she has visited. She does like many of the Catholic schools she has visited, but not all of them. She did like University of Portland, Gonzaga and Seattle University, but not University of San Diego. The only other college on her list that she has not visited is Notre Dame. Based on her impressions of Vanderbilt and Rice, though, I'm not so sure that she will like that school, either. Based on the comments I've made, does anybody have any insight on what she might think about Notre Dame?</p>

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<p>@midwesternheart - Thank you for your writeup on the schools! We just did a similar tour with my D in the Southeast - Vandy, U of S. Carolina, Clemson, and UGA. Have also seen Notre Dame, TCU, A&M, Baylor, and many of the California schools (we live in NCal). My D also did the Summer Scholars at Notre Dame last summer.</p>

<p>My D and I also noticed the different vibe between the highly selective and moderately selective schools, and I think that is to be expected. Notre Dame and Vandy are similar student bodies in my view, however Notre Dame is definitely more school spirit oriented. My daughter loves Vandy and Notre Dame, however they are both reaches for her. Vandy does have more of the “southern charm” and Nashville is awesome (South Bend is less than awesome!). The “elitist” view you saw may have been stress - our tour guide mentioned many times how difficult Vandy is. </p>

<p>If your D really likes the school spirit aspect, I bet she would like Notre Dame. ND doesn’t have sororities - the social life revolves around the dorms, so I think that helps with the inclusive atmosphere at ND.</p>

<p>We haven’t visited Alabama yet, tho my D has been accepted. Hope to go there soon!</p>

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<p>Is that good, bad or indifferent? I know Southerners dress up to go to football games in ways that Northerners don’t – but I’m not sure that’s bad or good either way. Just a custom.</p>

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<p>I think you’ll find some rich kids with BMWs and Mercedes at any top school. What does it matter? It’s just a car. It’s only a problem if a kid with a BMW lords having a BMW over other kids – but you don’t know that from the mere fact of having a BMW. I think being intimidated by other people’s material success / possessions is often in one’s own head, not really a manifestation of how those people act.</p>

<p>I am reasonably familiar with Vandy’s campus and was just at Notre Dame a few weeks ago. I think ND is lovely, but has a very different feel - hard to predict.</p>

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<p>Gigem86 - Thanks for your comments. I really hope DD likes Notre Dame. There is so much about it that I love, but I’m not the one going to college again. She definitely has to find a place that she feels like she fits in. I hope the school spirit and the wonderful aspects of the residential hall communities will pull through when we visit. I agree with your assessment on South Bend, too!</p>

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<p>Pizzagirl - How would you describe the vibe of Notre Dame in comparison to Vanderbilt? Did you feel as though the students there were interacting as they walked between classes or as they hung out on campus? Was there a sense of friendliness there? That is what we were missing on the Vanderbilt Campus.</p>

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<p>Seems like 6 of one, half dozen of the other to me – typical college campuses, kids interacting in normal ways. Vanderbilt feels more southern and outgoing, ND feels a little more sheltered and thoughtful (then again, I wasn’t there on a football game day!). But - if you don’t like Vanderbilt, no need to force yourself or your daughter to like it. Plenty of fish in the sea and it’s ok to make judgments on “vibes” IMO.</p>

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<p>If interested in Catholic schools might also look at Holy Cross and Georgetown. HC is a smaller version of ND and a little easier to get into.</p>

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<p>If BMWs and Mercedes amaze you, watch out for the private jets!</p>

<p>My wife and brother-in-law both went to ND. It is a great school and they received wonderful educations. However, there is an level of wealth at ND (and probably at other elite private schools) that even amazes meer millionaires - so if you go there, you need to know it is there and be prepared. </p>

<p>For example, my wife’s dorm neighbor was the daughter of the president of the world’s largest beverage company and my brother-in-laws roommate was the son of member of the Forbes 400. We are talking families worth tens of millions to a billion. </p>

<p>It is still true today. A neighbor girl is currently at ND. Her dad is a district manager for a large NYSE-listed company - good 6 figure salary, benefits, options etc. They are by any normal measure affluent. However, their daughter has commented to her family about how poor she feels. $500 of clothes shopping per week is not unheard of among some of the girls in her dorm. In addition, the parents of several of the kids on her floor have sent private jets to take the kids home at term end or on spring break vacation! (Now, I must report that the neighbor girl was invited to fly on a private jet to “the Cape” last summer at the end of the semester - so it can have some advantages.)</p>

<p>Obviously, not everyone at ND or other elites is this wealthy, but chances are you might run in to someone who is. This doesn’t mean these rich kids are not friendly or that they hold their wealth over the other kids. However, if you have grown-up with that level of money, their “normal” is just off from “normal” for the masses or even the mass-affluent.</p>

<p>Also, regarding Vandy - my daughter picked up on the “no fun” vibe during her visit there also. She is at Alabama and is having a great time. She picked Alabama even though she was admitted to ND because ND did not have her specific major, she wanted to go Greek and she wanted warm weather.</p>

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<p>Just to chime in, my daughter is a junior at ND and none of this stuff has effected her, she never talks about it or sees it. She has found most students to be down to earth and community service driven. She has found professors to be warm and thrilled with students who reach out to them. I simply cannot imagine ruling out Notre Dame based on the fear that people are snobby, elite or rich.</p>

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<p>Thank you for the comments about ND. DD is completing her EA application and we hope to be able to visit it and check it out. I think the “vibe” of the campus is important to DD for her overall experience at college. I believe she can excel academically no matter where she goes, but I know she wants to be involved in many different things on campus outside of the classroom. Luckily, she’ll have some great options to choose from in the end. Her college choices have all be predicated on her ability to get an ROTC scholarship or substantial merit aid, so those are the schools that we have focused our attention on.</p>

<p>It is great to get the insight from all of you on the campuses. There is only so much you can learn from the website and brochures. Personal testimonies are great when we haven’t been able to visit ourselves, yet. </p>

<p>Keep the comments coming!</p>

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<p>Holy Cross offers ROTC-believe NROTC.</p>

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<p>As a former poor kid on FA, who attended an expensive NE university with a lot of very wealthy classmates, I think it really depends on your daughter. There’s no question that it can be very intimidating to go to a school with kids who never worry about money and who have a lot of creature comforts that you can only dream about. But, as others have pointed out, just because somebody is wealthy doesn’t mean they are snobs or don’t know how to share. </p>

<p>I’ve tried to teach my own kids to assume the best of people and not to stereotype one way or the other. Having wealthy friends who invite you home or on vacation with them is a wonderful thing. Not being able to go out to eat with them because you’re pinching pennies is not. I think your daughter should go with her gut, but encourage her not to assume too much about what students are like by how they dress or what cars they drive. Some of the most unfriendly kids at my alma mater were the other FA aid kids whose drive and hyper-competitiveness, while understandable, was fairly off putting. </p>

<p>One other thing, not sure what their FA is like, but I know a lot of families who sent very bright kids to Tulane, where they were very happy.</p>

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<p>DD ended up loving Notre Dame when we visited. She felt the students that she met were friendly, engaged and well-rounded. There was a lot of student interaction between classes and in the dining hall when we ate there. There seemed to be so much school pride and so many people proudly wearing their ND coats, hats, etc. As a Catholic, DD was delighted about the discussions about Mass in the residence hall, loved the religious symbols throughout the campus and did not feel as though they were downplaying the fact that they are a Catholic School, while still hearing the commentary about inclusion of students of all faiths. </p>

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<p>thanks for following up here. I very much appreciated your report on these schools. I hope your D makes the right choice.</p>

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<p>I wanted to update anybody who had followed this thread to let you know that, in the end, DD decided that U. Notre Dame was the best fit for her. Even after visiting the campus at a time with sub-zero temperatures and blowing snow, she still loved it. After visiting over 20 schools, and applying to 7, we were grateful that she had several schools where she could see herself in the end, giving her some wonderful options to choose from. When all was said and done, I think it came down to the school spirit, the Catholic presence, the service-oriented students, the strong alumni network, ND Football and their academic reputation. It was a fun journey over these last couple of years that really brought us closer together. Now I have fully switched my attention to DS who is a rising senior. </p>

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<p>Good for her, MH. Did DS accompany DD on any of the visits?</p>

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<p>Yes, DS visited 15 of the schools that DD saw, plus he has seen 6 different ones that she did not see. Of the ones they both visited, he has liked: Santa Clara University, U. of Alabama, Ole Miss and Rice University. Additionally, he enjoyed Clarkson University, RPI, Widener University and Bucknell, which she didn’t visit. We’ll probably take one more trip with him to visit: Northwestern, Notre Dame (DS hasn’t been there yet, himself), Rose Hulman, University of Dayton, Ohio University and Miami University. </p>

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<p>It’s like a second job you have as a trip coordinator and chauffeur, MH.</p>