<p>What makes it horribly wretched? Its location, the size, or just the general feel of the place?</p>
<p>It's basically one giant slum. General Electric is the town's largest employer, its forbidding shadow towering over the sketchy people and factory-lined streets. I was afraid to walk out of the car in the parking lot of the only restaurant we could find, a run-down Friendly's ice cream parlor.</p>
<p>Ah. That sounds...inviting. o_o;;</p>
<p>I also wanted to ask: any general ideas on my chances at the schools I had listed in my post at the bottom of the first page? I'm vaguely tempted to cross-post in the "chances" area, but I don't like cross-posting.</p>
<p>One thing you need to seriously consider is what size of school you would like. Do you want a university or LAC. Figuring out the fit will help you narrow down your choices.</p>
<p>I addressed the size issue in both of my major posts, both of which are on the front page.</p>
<p>As for university vs LAC, I really don't have a preference, I think. I'd probably tend more towards a LAC feel, but...<em>shrug</em></p>
<p>bring up my post</p>
<p>Just to offer an opposing viewpoint to HMC -- I see that you are from Maine and I am guessing that you may not have seen many slums. While I know Schenectady has some bad areas, the area around Union College is by no means a slum. Friendly's is not in a scenic area, I'll give you that, but being too frightened to get out of your car? I respectfully suggest that people from more urban settings would not react quite that strongly. Also, there are several places to eat near campus other than Friendly's.</p>
<p>I have been up to Union twice with my son in the past few weeks. I definitely had reservations about Schenectady before we got there. We both thought it looked nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be. Some of the areas around Union are beautiful (just walk off campus to the east) and others range from very nice (Seward Place) to inocuous to a little sketchy. Downtown is currently in the midst of a building boom, with tens of millions of dollars being pumped in. It remains to be seen if it works, but lots or restaurants and pub-type places are scheduled to open withing the next 12 months.</p>
<p>Bottomline -- Schenectady has its share of problems and bad areas, which has affcted Union in the form of a few crime incidents during the 2005-06 academic year, but it also has many interesting places and more and more places for student to go to if they are so inclined. Not as pristine as the rural locations that some LACs have, but a lot more interesting than many (although many Union students, especially underclassmen, supposedly rarely leave campus -- that may change as new places start popping up).</p>
<p>A couple schools for your consideration came to my mind, but not in the complete safety range; most overlap with your existing picks. Maybe just add the state U?</p>
<p>The schools I thought of are: Brandeis, Wellesley, Carnegie-Mellon, Bucknell, Lafayette College. maybe Bryn Mawr but it's small.</p>
<p>I guess my "Pennsylvania kick" comes from driving back & forth between Oberlin & the lower midwest a number of times last year, and this year driving between Oberlin and New York. Virtually my whole drive now is through Pennsylvania, and there are a lot of schools there that are good and a lot closer to Ohio than a lot of schools in various parts of the Midwest.</p>
<p>I'd be amazed if you didn't get into Case and U. Rochester. I'd expect you to be accepted at a couple of the others on your list, too, but the superselectives are highly unpredictable.</p>
<p>I would also like to add a recommendation for University of Rochester. Not quite a saftey for you but close, I think. The school has most of what you are looking for.</p>
<p>
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Kalamazoo has also been a consideration
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S. is a freshman at K College and loves it. Very strong in the sciences/med school placement and offers excellent facilities: <a href="http://www.kzoo.edu/biology/facilities.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.kzoo.edu/biology/facilities.html</a></p>